Hen-Pecked!
Centuries ago, In The Wife of Bath, the celebrated early English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer, portrayed the sufferings of Socrates, king of the hen-pecked, in the following verse:
He had by heart the whole detail of woe
Xanthippe made her good man undergo;
How oft she scolded in a day he knew,
How many pisspots on the sage she threw –
Who took it patiently, and wiped his head:
“Rain follows thunder,” that was all he said.
When asked for advice about marriage, apparently Socrates commented: “By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher: and that’s good for every man.”
In more recent times, David Godman recalled that the revered non-dual Indian teacher, Nisargadatta Maharaj, said that when he was married, his wife used to give him a very hard time. She was always bossing him around and telling him what to do. ‘Maharaj do this, Maharaj go to the market and buy that.’
She didn’t call him Maharaj, of course, Godman says, but he couldn’t remember what she did call him.
Maharaj’s wife died a long time ago, when he was in his forties. It is usual for men of this age who are widowed to marry again, so all Maharaj’s relatives wanted him to find another wife.
Maharaj refused, saying, “The day she died I married freedom.”
