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[4]

And as for the maxim "A pledge, and ruin is nigh," some have assumed that by it Chilon was advising against marriage; for among most Greek peoples the agreement to marry is also called a "pledge," and this is confirmed by the common experience of men in that the worst and most numerous ills of life are due to wives. But some writers say that such an interpretation is unworthy of Chilon, because if marriage were destroyed life could not continue, and that he declares that "ruin" is nigh to such pledges as those made in connection with contracts and with agreements on other matters, all of which are concerned with money. As Euripides says:“ No pledge I give, observing well the loss
Which those incur who of the pledge are fond;
And writings there at Pytho say me nay.
”Eur. fr. 923 [Nauck（2）]

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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