ADVICE TO MARRIED COUPLES
To Pollianus and Eurydice with Plutarch's best wishes.
. . . When people in olden times assigned a seat with Aphrodite to Hermes, it was because the pleasure of marriage stands in special need of reason; when to Persuasion and the Graces, it was in order that the married pair might obtain their wishes from each other by means of persuasion, and not by contention and strife.
5 comments:
Lovely sentiment, expressed with the easy reference to classical mythology that I love in 19th Century writing. (Some maintained their habit into the early 20th, but it is mostly good by WWI. So, I suppose, were many of those with the right educations time make such references.)
*mostly gone by...
Um, no. Hermes/Mercury is communication first and foremost, rationality/intelligence second, in this context.
Aphrodite/Venus means compatibility with diamonds, white topaz, and a spectrum of corrosive wearing away vs comfortable luxury on the Venus spectrum.
When Westerners interpret and translate the Greek words... it's like they are missing 75% of the context here. They don't understand the mythological mindset of the ancients.
it was in order that the married pair might obtain their wishes from each other by means of persuasion, and not by contention and strife.
Communication, not persuasion. The persuasion is more Venus energy.
I don't know- my wife and I, both being a bit pugnacious, enjoy a bit of arguing now and then to be honest. Perhaps if it said "mostly by persuasion", I could endorse it.
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