Plutarch, Conjugalia Praecepta, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 32

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[32] Pheidias made the Aphrodite of the Eleans with one foot on a tortoise,¹ to typify for womankind keeping at home and keeping silence. For a woman ought to do her talking either to her husband or through her husband, and she should not feel aggrieved if, like the flute-player, she makes a more impressive sound through a tongue not her own.

Conjugalia Praecepta. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Advice to Bride and Groom (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 32 focus

[32] τὴν Ἠλείων ὁ Φειδίας Ἀφροδίτην ἐποίησε χελώνην πατοῦσαν, οἰκουρίας σύμβολον ταῖς γυναιξὶ καὶ σιωπῆς. δεῖ γὰρ ἢ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα λαλεῖν ἢ διὰ τοῦ ἀνδρός, μὴ δυσχεραίνουσαν εἰ διʼ ἀλλοτρίας 15 γλώσσης ὥσπερ αὐλητὴς φθέγγεται σεμνότερον.

Translations (1)

Conjugal Precepts Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 32 focus

[32] Phidias made the statue of Venus at Elis with one foot upon the shell of a tortoise, to signify two great duties of a virtuous woman, which are to keep at home and be silent. For she is only to speak to her husband, or by her husband. Nor is she to take amiss the uttering her mind in that manner, through another more proper organ.

Notes on the current edition

Advice to Bride and Groom

1. Pausanias, vi. 25. 1; cf. also Plutarch, Moralia, 381 E. Roscher, Lexikon d. gr. u. rom. Mythologie, i. p. 412, mentions two ancient bronzes, one Greek and one Etruscan, in which Aphrodite is represented with one foot on a tortoise.

Plutarch Conjugalia Praecepta 32

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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