Menander Rhetor, 1.364 (1.16.20–21): regulations about women's attendance

Menander Rhetor, 1.364 (1.16.20–21): regulations about women's attendance

second half of the 3rd century CE

Rhetorical treaty

Literary source

After justice, let us consider moderation and prudence. There are two proofs of moderation: the public administration and the private households. Public administration includes the education of boys and girls, marriages and cohabitation, and laws about crimes against good order. Also, there are many cities which appoint overseers of women’s behavior. In other cities it is improper for a young person to appear in public before market time or after dark, or for a woman to sell goods or to do any of the other things that happen in the marketplace. At some festivals women do not appear at all, for instance in Olympia. We must, then, pay special attention to these things in encomia. As to private life, consider whether adultery and other crimes occur very rarely in the city.

translation by Alexander Meeus for the Cynisca project

Μετὰ δὲ τὴν δικαιοσύνην [καὶ] τὴν σωφροσύνην καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν ἐπισκεψώμεθα. σωφροσύνης μὲν οὖν διττὸς ἔλεγχος, ἔν τε τῇ κοινῇ πολιτείᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις οἴκοις. ἐν πολιτείᾳ μὲν κοινῇ περί τε παίδων ἀγωγῆν καὶ παρθένων καὶ γάμων καὶ συνοικήσεων καὶ τῶν νομίμων τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν τοῖς ἀκόσμοις. καὶ γὰρ γυναικονόμους πολλαὶ τῶν πόλεών εἰσιν αἳ χειροτονοῦσιν. ἐν ἄλλαις δὲ τῶν πόλεων οὔτε πρὸ πληθούσης ἀγορᾶς νέον φαίνεσθαι οὔτε μετὰ δείλην ὀψίαν καλόν, οὐδὲ γυναῖκα καπηλεύειν ἢ ἄλλο τι ποιεῖν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀγοράν. ἐν ἐνίαις δὲ πανηγύρεσιν οὐδὲ γυναῖκες φαίνονται, ὥσπερ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ. χρὴ τοίνυν καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις παρατηρεῖν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἰδίοις βίοις ἤδη καὶ εἰ ἐλάχιστα μοιχεία καὶ ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα ἐν τῇ πόλει φαίνεται.

Leonhard Spengel (ed.), Rhetores graeci, vol. 3, Leipzig 1856.