Αὐτομάτως ἐμὶν φαίνῃ πλέονα τῶν καλῶν ἔχεν· τὸ γὰρ ἐσπουδασμένως ἐθέλεν τὺ ἀκοῦσαι περὶ γυναικὸς εὐκοσμίας καλὰν ἐλπίδα διδοῖ ὅτι μέλλεις πολιοῦσθαι κατʼ ἀρετήν. χρὴ ὦν τὰν σώφρονα καὶ ἐλευθέραν τῷ κατὰ νόμον ἀνδρὶ ποτῆμεν ἁσυχᾶ κεκαλλωπισμέναν ἀλλὰ μὴ πολυκερδῶς, ἦμεν δὲ τᾷ ἐσθᾶτι λευκοείμονα καὶ καθάριον καὶ ἀφελῆ, ἀλλὰ μὴ πολυτελῆ καὶ περισσάν· παραιτητέον γὰρ αὐτᾷ τὰν διαυγῆ καὶ διαπόρφυρον καὶ τὰ χρυσόπαστα τῶν ἐνδυμάτων. ταῖς ἑταίραις γὰρ τάδε χρήσιμα ποττὰν τῶν πλεόνων θήραν, τᾶς δὲ ποθʼ ἕνα τὸν ἴδιον εὐαρεστούσας γυναικὸς κόσμος ὁ τρόπος πέλει καὶ οὐχ αἱ στολαί· εὔμορφον γὰρ τὰν ἐλευθέραν ἰδέσθαι τῷ αὑτᾶς ἀνδρί, ἀλλʼ οὐ τοῖς πλασίον. ἔχοις δʼ ἂν ἐπὶ τᾶς ὄψιος ἐρύθαμα μὲν σαμεῖον αἰδοῦς ἀντὶ φύκιος, καλοκαγαθίαν δὲ καὶ κοσμιότατα καὶ σωφροσύναν ἀντὶ χρυσῶ καὶ σμαράγδω. οὐ γὰρ ἐς τὰν τᾶς ἐσθᾶτος πολυτέλειαν φιλοκαλεῖν δεῖ τὰν γλιχομέναν τᾶς σωφροσύνας, ἀλλʼ ἐς τὰν οἰκονομίαν τῶ οἴκω, ἀρέσκεν δὲ αὐτὰν τῷ αὑτᾶς ἀνδρὶ ἐπιτελέας ποιεῦσαν τὰς ἐκείνω θελήσιας· αἱ γὰρ τῶ ἀνδρὸς θελήσεις νόμος ὀφείλει ἄγραφος εἶναι κοσμίᾳ γυναικί, ποθʼ ὃν χρὴ βιῶν αὐτάν· νομίζεν δὲ προῖκα κατενηνέχθαι ἅμα αὑτᾷ καλλίσταν καὶ μεγίσταν τὰν εὐταξίαν. πιστεύεν γὰρ χρὴ τῷ τᾶς ψυχᾶς κάλλει τε καὶ πλούτῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ τᾶς ὄψιος καὶ τῶν χρημάτων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ φθόνος καὶ νοῦσος παραιρέεται, τὰ δὲ μέχρι θανάτω πάρεντι ἐκτεταμένα.
The Fragment of a Letter to Cleareta is a pseudepigraphical treatise on the wife's aretē attributed to Melissa, a Pythagorean woman. Preserved by the 5th-century CE compiler Stobaeus in his Anthology, the work belongs to a corpus of Pythagorean texts addressed to women, which includes letters ascribed to Theano, Phintys, and Perictione. The surviving passages offer advice on proper conduct for a married woman, emphasizing self-control as restraint in behaviour and speech. It advocates for a wife’s simple and neat dress over luxurious or elaborate adornment, arguing that true ornament is found in character rather than in clothing. The text further stresses conjugal duty, advising that a woman should seek to earn her husband’s respect through dignified household management and virtuous conduct. The fragment survives exclusively as a quotation in Stobaeus’s Anthology and possesses no independent manuscript tradition; its actual composition likely dates to the Hellenistic or early Roman Imperial period, when Pythagorean pseudepigrapha were commonly produced. Though its direct influence is obscure, the letter is evidence for ancient constructions of gender and aretē within Pythagorean philosophy, representing the female-pseudonymous strand of ethical writing and contributing to knowledge of the philosophical instruction directed at women in antiquity.
Melissa the Pythagorean Fragment of a Letter to Cleareta in Greek in PDF
Melissa the Pythagorean Fragment of a Letter to Cleareta in Greek in MD