Note 77 — Women in Greek Poetry
Reading edition
One may say, of course, if one likes, that this is all ironical, that she does not mean it, and that in reality she is as jealous as anyone else could be, as her subsequent actions show. Personally, I do not believe that the passage is meant to be in the least ironical; the absence of jealousy is always a feature of the model wife (cp. Eur. And. 222, and numerous similar passages); but even if this be granted, it makes no difference to the point at all. Whatever the audience are to think, the characters on the stage are supposed to take her seriously; and this fact throws a sufficient light on what was then thought to be the duty of a loving wife.
It is satisfactory to notice that neither does Heracles attach any undue importance to Iole. In his last words to Hyllus, after elaborate instructions as to how his funeral-pyre is to be built, he adds casually—
ἀλλ’ ἀρκέσει καὶ ταῦτα· πρόσνειμαι δέ μοι χάριν βραχεῖαν πρὸς μακροῖς ἄλλοις διδούς.
“Just marry Iole for me, will you?” (l. 1216.)