Aesop's Fable: Adulterer and Husband

Greek Homeric Greek and Early Greek Poetry
1

I have a question about the Aesop fable Adulterer and Husband (#116 in Babrius, Perry Index #350). Here are the contents of the poem:

Νυκτὸς μεσούσης ᾖδε παῖς τις εὐφώνως.
γυνὴ δ’ ἀκούει τοῦδε, κἀξαναστᾶσα
θυρίδων προκύπτει, καὶ βλέπουσα τὸν παῖδα
λαμπρῆς σελήνης ἐν φάει καλὸν λίην,
τὸν ἄνδρ’ ἑαυτῆς καταλιποῦσα κοιμᾶσθαι
κάτω μελάθρων ἦλθε, καὶ θύρης ἔξω
ἐλθοῦς’ ἐποίει τὴν προθυμίην πλήρη.
ὡνήρ δὲ ταύτης ἐξανίστατ’ ἐξαίφνης
ζητῶν ὅποὐστί, κοὐκ ἰδὼν δόμων εἴσω
μηδὲν χανών τε καὐτὸς ἦλθεν εἰς οἶμον.
καὶ τῇ συνεύνῳ φησί “μηδὲν ἐκπλήσσου,
τὸν παῖδα δ’ ἡμῶν πεῖσον ἐν δόμοις εὕδειν.”
ὃν καὶ λαβὼν παρῆγεν. εἶτα κἀκεῖνος,
ἄμφω θελόντων δρᾶν τι, τῇδ’ ἐρᾳθύμει.
Τουτὶ μὲν οὕτως· ἔμφασις δὲ τοῦ μύθου,
κακὸν ἐπιχαίνειν, ὅταν ἔχῃ τις ἐκτῖσαι.

Perry translates the end of the fable as follows: “Then he took the boy and brought him indoors. Thereafter he in turn, whenever the two were inclined to do anything, amused himself with the boy. So it happened. And the meaning of the fable is this: It’s bad for anyone to let himself be imposed upon, when it lies within his power to avenge himself.”

I don’t know any Greek, so I’m not sure what Perry means when he says that the man amused himself with the boy. Can someone please clarify what Perry means based on the actual Greek text? Thanks in advance for any help!

2

Here’s the Greek of the bit you’re asking about:

ὃν καὶ λαβὼν παρῆγεν. εἶτα κἀκεῖνος,
ἄμφω θελόντων δρᾶν τι, τῇδ’ ἐρᾳθύμει.

I don’t think that Perry understood it. I’d translate it this way:

“And having taken him, he brought him along. Then, he too [the husband], when the two [the slave and the woman] were willing to do something together, amused himself right there.”

Ie., he liked to watch. This is foreshadowed earlier in the story with κοὐκ ἰδὼν δόμων εἴσω μηδὲν χανών τε, “and seeing nothing in the house, and gaping [with disappointment]…”

The moral of the story is a play on this:

Τουτὶ μὲν οὕτως· ἔμφασις δὲ τοῦ μύθου,
κακὸν ἐπιχαίνειν, ὅταν ἔχῃ τις ἐκτῖσαι.

“And so it was that way, but the emphasis of the story is that it’s bad to gape at something, whenever someone is able to make it good.”

3

I shouldn’t think that χανών implies disappointment, and I doubt that the closing τῇδ’ ἐρᾳθύμει (“he amused himself like this”?) refers to voyeurism. κἀκεῖνος (“he too”) rather suggests that he participated in the same activity. But it’s all a bit obscure.

4

Babrius likes to use χάσκω to signify disappointment. See 16:

Ἄγροικος ἠπείλησε νηπίῳ τίτθη
κλαίοντι “σῖγα. μή σε τῷ λύκῳ ῥίψω.”
λύκος δ’ ἀκούσας τήν τε γραῦν ἀληθεύειν
νομίσας ἔμεινεν ὡς ἕτοιμα δειπνήσων,
ἕως ὁ παῖς μὲν ἑσπέρης ἐκοιμήθη,
αὐτὸς δὲ πεινῶν καὶ λύκος χανὼν ὄντως
ἀπῆλθε νωθραῖς ἐλπίσιν παρεδρεύσας.

LSJ discusses this usage, “prov. of disappointed hopes”.

–

The poem all but harps on the inside versus outside contrast. Adverb of place, contrasting the εἰς οἶμον, makes better and plainer sense for τῇδε than adverb of manner.

–

Voyeurism versus participation could go either way, perhaps. The second would certainly be more stereotypically Greek. But χανών and then ἐπιχαίνειν is careful word choice, well-motivated with voyeurism, as is the lack of punishment for the woman. This lack of punishment is odd, as the truly stereotypical Greek ending for the poem would have been for the husband to lock the wife outside while he shacks up with the παῖς.

5

All fair points Joel, even if I’m not convinced. I see that επιχαινειν is a conjecture for επιχαιρειν (apparently accepted by Laura Gibbs), though it does look tempting. I’ve taken a look at Babrius 16 and there certainly λυκος χανων sets up the subsequent disappointment, but in 116 there’s no wolf to trigger the allusion. But I’m not sure what to make of μηδεν χανων τε (μηδεν τε χαινων?—facile, and still obscure), nor of the moral (but εμφασις doesn’t mean emphasis).