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Mixing with Men and Nausicaa's Nemesis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Douglas L. Cairns
Douglas L. Cairns
Affiliation:
University of Otago
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Extract

This discussion concentrates on the meaning of Nausicaa's words in lines 286–8, in particular on the force of the phrase κα⋯ δ' ἄλλῃ κτλ. and the sense of the verb μ⋯σγηται. On the latter Hainsworth comments, ‘In later usage the simple verb in such a context is used as a euphemism for the sexual act. The line must have sounded most odd to the classical age.’ Thus he translates ‘associate with’, citing Odyssey 7.247 as an exact parallel; since, in that place, the verb refers to nothing more than ordinary human intercourse (neither gods nor men ‘have anything to do with’ Calypso), with no further connotations, one must conclude that Hainsworth sees no innuendo whatever in 6.288.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , May 1990 , pp. 263 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1990

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References

1 A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey, Vol. 1 (Oxford, 1988), ad loc.Google Scholar

2 See 1.209, 4.178, 24.314, as well as 7.247. The verb can also mean as little as ‘come into contact with’, ‘be in/enter the company of’; 5.378, 386, 6.136 etc.

3 1.433, 5.125–6, 10.334, 15.420–1, 19.266, 23.219; cf. Il. 2.232, 3.445, 6.25, 161, 165, 9.133, 275, 14.295, 19.176, 24.131.

4 1.73, 7.61, 8.268 (the story described as one of φιλ⋯της in 267), 11.268, 306–7, 15.430, 18.325, 22.445; cf.Il. 21.142–3.

5 20.7 and 12, of the maidservants' intimacy with the suitors.

6 A shame culture is defined by its earliest proponents as one in which concern for external sanctions, for punishment and disgrace, is the force which promotes socially approved behaviour; its members are thus supposed not to possess standards of their own; see Mead, M. (ed.), Co-operation and Competition among Primitive Peoples (New York, 1937), pp. 493–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Benedict, R., The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (London, 1947), p. 223Google Scholar; that the shame culture-guilt culture antithesis is, at least in its original formulation, untenable is shown by Piers, G. and Singer, M. B., Shame and Guilt: A Psychoanalytic and a Cultural Study (Springfield, IL, 1953, 2New York, 1971)Google Scholar, yet it is still found, without explicit modification, in classical contexts.

7 cf. Dickie, M., ‘DIKE as a Moral Term in Homer and Hesiod’, CP 73 (1978), 91–101, at 94.Google Scholar

8 cf. Il. 6.329–30, where Hector argues that Paris himself would fight or fall out with anyone whom he caught slacking - σ δ' ἃ μαχ⋯σαιο και ἄλλῳ… On these two second-person formulations see Hohendahl-Zoetelief, I. M., Manners in the Homeric Epic (Mnem. Suppl. 63, Leiden, 1980), pp. 11–13.Google Scholar

9 The situation in this case is innocent in that Nausicaa has a duty to Odysseus as a guest, a duty to which she herself refers (6.206–8).

10 On the sense of line 287 and the difficulty in construing the genitives see Hainsworth, ad loc.

11 The meeting between Nausicaa and Odysseus is very subtly handled, and, in particular, our knowledge of N.'s readiness for marriage is consistently exploited to colour our interpretation; it is possible that N. is so sensitive to criticism of her having found a husband from elsewhere precisely because she hopes to do just that; thus she may feel rather more vulnerable to criticism than might a girl with no thought of marriage in her mind. This does not entail, however, that N. should regard herself as guilty of ‘mixing with men’ in the manner which she would criticize in others, and any hidden anxieties she may feel do not affect the logic of her explicit remarks.

12 Rieu's (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1946 etc.) ‘consorts with’ is on the right lines.