Monday, April 28, 2014
Consequences of Keeping or Breaking an Oath
καὶ γυναῖκες τίκτοι-This is an item in a list of consequences if those swearing an oath keep it, or break it. If they keep the oath, "may women bear children like their parents;" if they break it, "may women bear monsters," i.e. children with birth defects.
εν ἐοικότα γονεῦσιν, εἰ δὲ μή, τέρατα
and may the women bear children like their parents, but if not, monsters
Liddell-Scott-Jones define γονεύς as "begetter, father, mostly in pl., parents." Here I might translate γονεῦσιν as "fathers" specifically, rather than as "parents" generally. In the days before blood and DNA tests, a child's resemblance to its father was prized, as a sign of its mother's virtue and as evidence of paternity. See Children Who Resemble Their Fathers. The language of this clause in the oath recalls Hesiod, Works and Days 235:
τίκτουσιν δὲ γυναῖκες ἐοικότα τέκνα γονεῦσιν.