No More Learning

[320] i. e. dominated by Cleon.

[321] There is a pun here, that cannot be rendered, between [Greek:
apobolimaios], which means, _one who throws away his weapons_, and
[Greek: upobolimaios], which signifies, _a supposititious child_.

[322] Simonides was very avaricious, and sold his pen to the highest
bidder. It seems that Sophocles had also started writing for gain.

[323] i. e. he would recoil from no risk to turn an honest penny.

[324] A comic poet as well known for his love of wine as for his
writings; he died in 431 B. C. , the first year of the war, at the age of
ninety-seven.

[325] Opora was the goddess of fruits.

[326] The Scholiast says fruit may be eaten with impunity in great
quantities if care is taken to drink a decoction of this herb afterwards.

[327] Theoria is confided to the care of the Senate, because it was this
body who named the [Greek: The_orhoi], deputies appointed to go and
consult the oracles beyond the Attic borders or to be present at feasts
and games.

[328] The great festivals, e. g. the Dionysia, lasted three days. Those in
honour of the return of Peace, which was so much desired, could not last
a shorter time.

[329] In spite of what he says, Aristophanes has not always disdained
this sort of low comedy--for instance, his Heracles in 'The Birds. '

[330] A celebrated Athenian courtesan of Aristophanes' day.

[331] Cleon. These four verses are here repeated from the parabasis of
'The Wasps,' produced 423 B. C. , the year before this play.

[332] Shafts aimed at certain poets, who used their renown as a means of
seducing young men to grant them pederastic favours.

[333] The poet supplied everything needful for the production of his
piece--vases, dresses, masks, etc.

[334] Aristophanes was bald himself, it would seem.

[335] Carcinus and his three sons were both poets and dancers. (_See_ the
closing scene of 'The Wasps. ') Perhaps relying little on the literary
value of their work, it seems that they sought to please the people by
the magnificence of its staging.

[336] He had written a piece called 'The Mice,' which he succeeded with
great difficulty in getting played, but it met with no success.

[337] This passage really follows on the invocation, "_Oh, Muse! drive
the War_," etc. , from which indeed it is only divided by the interpolated
criticism aimed at Carcinus.

[338] The Scholiast informs us that these verses are borrowed from a poet
of the sixth century B. C.

[339] Sons of Philocles, of the family of Aeschylus, tragic writers,
derided by Aristophanes as bad poets and notorious gluttons.

[340] The Gorgons were represented with great teeth, and therefore the
same name was given to gluttons. The Harpies, to whom the two voracious
poets are also compared, were monsters with the face of a woman, the body
of a vulture and hooked beak and claws.

[341] A tragic and dithyrambic poet, who had written many pieces, which
had met with great success at Athens.

[342] The shooting stars.

[343] That is, men's tools;--we can set her to 'fellate. '

[344] It has already been mentioned that the sons of Carcinus were
dancers.

[345] It was customary at weddings, says Menander, to give the bride a
sesame-cake as an emblem of fruitfulness, because sesame is the most
fruitful of all seeds.

[346] An Attic town on the east coast, noted for a magnificent temple, in
which stood the statue of Artemis, which Orestes and Iphigenia had
brought from the Tauric Chersonese and also for the Brauronia, festivals
that were celebrated every four years in honour of the goddess. This was
one of the festivals which the Attic people kept with the greatest pomp,
and was an occasion for debauchery.

[347] Competitors intending to take part in the great Olympic, Isthmian
and other games took with them a tent, wherein to camp in the open.
Further, there is an obscene allusion which the actor indicates by
gesture, pointing to the girl's privates, signifying there is the lodging
where he would fain find a delightful abode. The 'Isthmus' is the
perineum, the narrow space betwixt _anus_ and _cunnus_.

[348] He was a 'cunnilingue,' as we gather also from what Aristophanes
says of his infamous habits in the 'Knights. '

[349] Doubtless the vessels and other sacrificial objects and implements
with which Theoria was laden in her character of presiding deity at
religious ceremonies.

[350] The whole passage is full of obscene _double entendres_. Theoria
throughout is spoken of in words applicable to either of her twofold
character--as a sacred, religious feast, and as a lady of pleasure.

[351] Where the meats were cooked after sacrifice; Trygaeus points to
Theoria's privates, marking the secondary obscene sense he means to
convey.

[352] "Or otherwise"--that is, with the standing penis. The whole
sentence contains a series of allusions to different 'modes of love. '

[353] One of the offices of the Prytanes was to introduce those who asked
admission to the Senate, but it would seem that none could obtain this
favour without payment. Without this, a thousand excuses would be made;
for instance, it would be a public holiday, and consequently the Senate
could receive no one. As there was some festival nearly every day, he
whose purse would not open might have to wait a very long while.

[354] This was only offered to lesser deities.

[355] In the Greek we have a play upon the similarity of the words,
[Greek: bous], a bull, and [Greek: boan], to shout the battle cry.

[356] Theagenes, of the Piraeus, a hideous, coarse, debauched and
evil-living character of the day.

[357] That is the vocative of [Greek: o? s], [Greek: o? os], the Ionic form
of the word; in Attic Greek it is contracted throughout--[Greek: ois],
[Greek: oios], etc.

[358] An obscene jest. The Greek word, says the Scholiast, means both
barley and the male organ.

[359] Before sacrificing, the officiating person asked, "_Who is here? _"
and those present answered, "_Many good men. _"

[360] The actors forming the chorus are meant here.

[361] Lysimacha is derived from [Greek: luein], to put an end to, and
[Greek: mach_e], fight.

[362] A tragic poet, reputed a great gourmand.

[363] A tragedy by Melanthius.

[364] Eels were cooked with beet. --A parody on some verses in the 'Medea'
of Melanthius.

[365] As a matter of fact, the Sicyonians, who celebrated the festival of
Peace on the sixteenth day of the month of hecatombeon (July), spilled no
blood upon her altar.

[366] A celebrated diviner, who had accompanied the Athenians on their
expedition to Sicily. Thus the War was necessary to make his calling pay
and the smoke of the sacrifice offered to Peace must therefore be
unpleasant to him.

[367] A town in Euboea on the channel which separated that island from
Thessaly.

[368] When sacrificing, the tail was cut off the victim and thrown into
the fire. From the way in which it burnt the inference was drawn as to
whether or not the sacrifice was agreeable to the deity.

[369] This was the part that belonged to the priests and diviners. As one
of the latter class, Hierocles is in haste to see this piece cut off.

[370] The Spartans.

[371] Emphatic pathos, incomprehensible even to the diviner himself; this
is a satire on the obscure style of the oracles. Bacis was a famous
Boeotian diviner.

[372] Of course this is not a _bona fide_ quotation, but a whimsical
adaptation of various Homeric verses; the last is a coinage of his own,
and means, that he is to have no part, either in the flesh of the victim
or in the wine of the libations.

[373] Probably the Sibyl of Delphi is meant.

[374] The skin of the victim, that is to say.

[375] A temple of Euboea, close to Oreus. The servant means, "Return
where you came from. "

[376] This was the soldier's usual ration when on duty.

[377] Slaves often bore the name of the country of their birth.

[378] Because of the new colour which fear had lent his chlamys.

[379] Meaning, that he deserts his men in mid-campaign, leaving them to
look after the enemy.

[380] Ancient King of Athens. This was one of the twelve statues, on the
pedestals of which the names of the soldiers chosen for departure on
service were written. The decrees were also placarded on them.

[381] The trierarchs stopped up some of the holes made for the oars, in
order to reduce the number of rowers they had to supply for the galleys;
they thus saved the wages of the rowers they dispensed with.

[382] The mina was equivalent to about ? 3 10s.

[383] Which is the same thing, since a mina was worth a hundred drachmae.

[384] For _cottabos_ see note above, p. 177. [Footnote 287. Transcriber. ]

[385] _Syrmaea_, a kind of purgative syrup much used by the Egyptians,
made of antiscorbutic herbs, such as mustard, horse-radish, etc.

[386] As wine-pots or similar vessels.

[387] These verses and those which both Trygaeus and the son of Lamachus
quote afterwards are borrowed from the 'Iliad. '

[388] Boulomachus is derived from [Greek: boulesthai] and [Greek: mach_e]
to wish for battle; Clausimachus from [Greek: klaein] and [Greek:
mach_e], the tears that battles cost. The same root, [Greek: mach_e],
battle, is also contained in the name Lamachus.

[389] A distich borrowed from Archilochus, a celebrated poet of the
seventh century B. C. , born at Paros, and the author of odes, satires,
epigrams and elegies. He sang his own shame. 'Twas in an expedition
against Sa? s, not the town in Egypt as the similarity in name might lead
one to believe, but in Thrace, that he had cast away his buckler. "A
mighty calamity truly! " he says without shame. "I shall buy another. "





LYSISTRATA




INTRODUCTION

The 'Lysistrata,' the third and concluding play of the War and Peace
series, was not produced till ten years later than its predecessor, the
'Peace,' viz. in 411 B. C. It is now the twenty-first year of the War, and
there seems as little prospect of peace as ever. A desperate state of
things demands a desperate remedy, and the Poet proceeds to suggest a
burlesque solution of the difficulty.

The women of Athens, led by Lysistrata and supported by female delegates
from the other states of Hellas, determine to take matters into their own
hands and force the men to stop the War. They meet in solemn conclave,
and Lysistrata expounds her scheme, the rigorous application to husbands
and lovers of a self-denying ordinance--"we must refrain from the male
organ altogether. " Every wife and mistress is to refuse all sexual
favours whatsoever, till the men have come to terms of peace. In cases
where the women _must_ yield 'par force majeure,' then it is to be with
an ill grace and in such a way as to afford the minimum of gratification
to their partner; they are to lie passive and take no more part in the
amorous game than they are absolutely obliged to. By these means
Lysistrata assures them they will very soon gain their end. "If we sit
indoors prettily dressed out in our best transparent silks and prettiest
gewgaws, and with our 'mottes' all nicely depilated, their tools will
stand up so stiff that they will be able to deny us nothing. " Such is the
burden of her advice.

After no little demur, this plan of campaign is adopted, and the
assembled women take a solemn oath to observe the compact faithfully.
Meantime as a precautionary measure they seize the Acropolis, where the
State treasure is kept; the old men of the city assault the doors, but
are repulsed by "the terrible regiment" of women. Before long the device
of the bold Lysistrata proves entirely effective, Peace is concluded, and
the play ends with the hilarious festivities of the Athenian and Spartan
plenipotentiaries in celebration of the event.

This drama has a double Chorus--of women and of old men, and much
excellent fooling is got out of the fight for possession of the citadel
between the two hostile bands; while the broad jokes and decidedly
suggestive situations arising out of the general idea of the plot
outlined above may be "better imagined than described. "

* * * * *

LYSISTRATA


DRAMATIS PERSONAE

LYSISTRATA.
CALONICE.
MYRRHINE.
LAMPITO.
STRATYLLIS.
A MAGISTRATE.
CINESIAS.
A CHILD.
HERALD OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS.
ENVOYS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS.
POLYCHARIDES.
MARKET LOUNGERS.
A SERVANT.
AN ATHENIAN CITIZEN.
CHORUS OF OLD MEN.
CHORUS OF WOMEN.

SCENE: In a public square at Athens; afterwards before the gates of the
Acropolis, and finally within the precincts of the citadel.

* * * * *

LYSISTRATA


LYSISTRATA (_alone_). Ah! if only they had been invited to a Bacchic
revelling, or a feast of Pan or Aphrodite or Genetyllis,[390] why! the
streets would have been impassable for the thronging tambourines! Now
there's never a woman here-ah! except my neighbour Calonice, whom I see
approaching yonder. . . . Good day, Calonice.

CALONICE. Good day, Lysistrata; but pray, why this dark, forbidding face,
my dear? Believe me, you don't look a bit pretty with those black
lowering brows.

LYSISTRATA. Oh! Calonice, my heart is on fire; I blush for our sex. Men
_will_ have it we are tricky and sly. . . .

CALONICE. And they are quite right, upon my word!

LYSISTRATA. Yet, look you, when the women are summoned to meet for a
matter of the last importance, they lie abed instead of coming.

CALONICE. Oh! they will come, my dear; but 'tis not easy, you know, for
women to leave the house. One is busy pottering about her husband;
another is getting the servant up; a third is putting her child asleep,
or washing the brat or feeding it.

LYSISTRATA. But I tell you, the business that calls them here is far and
away more urgent.

CALONICE. And why _do_ you summon us, dear Lysistrata? What is it all
about?

LYSISTRATA. About a big affair. [391]

CALONICE. And is it thick too?

LYSISTRATA. Yes indeed, both big and great.

CALONICE. And we are not all on the spot!

LYSISTRATA. Oh! if it were what you suppose, there would be never an
absentee. No, no, it concerns a thing I have turned about and about this
way and that of many sleepless nights.

CALONICE.
It must be something mighty fine and subtle for you to have
turned it about so!

LYSISTRATA. So fine, it means just this, Greece saved by the women!

CALONICE. By women! Why, its salvation hangs on a poor thread then!

LYSISTRATA. Our country's fortunes depend on us--it is with us to undo
utterly the Peloponnesians. . . .

CALONICE. That would be a noble deed truly!

LYSISTRATA. To exterminate the Boeotians to a man!

CALONICE. But surely you would spare the eels. [392]

LYSISTRATA. For Athens' sake I will never threaten so fell a doom; trust
me for that. However, if the Boeotian and Peloponnesian women join us,
Greece is saved.

CALONICE. But how should women perform so wise and glorious an
achievement, we women who dwell in the retirement of the household, clad
in diaphanous garments of yellow silk and long flowing gowns, decked out
with flowers and shod with dainty little slippers?

LYSISTRATA. Nay, but those are the very sheet-anchors of our
salvation--those yellow tunics, those scents and slippers, those
cosmetics and transparent robes.

CALONICE. How so, pray?

LYSISTRATA. There is not a man will wield a lance against another . . .

CALONICE. Quick, I will get me a yellow tunic from the dyer's.

LYSISTRATA. . . . or want a shield.

CALONICE. I'll run and put on a flowing gown.

LYSISTRATA. . . . or draw a sword.

CALONICE. I'll haste and buy a pair of slippers this instant.

LYSISTRATA. Now tell me, would not the women have done best to come?

CALONICE. Why, they should have _flown_ here!

LYSISTRATA. Ah! my dear, you'll see that like true Athenians, they will
do everything too late[393]. . . . Why, there's not a woman come from the
shoreward parts, not one from Salamis. [394]

CALONICE. But I know for certain they embarked at daybreak.

LYSISTRATA. And the dames from Acharnae! [395] why, I thought they would
have been the very first to arrive.

CALONICE. Theagenes wife[396] at any rate is sure to come; she has
actually been to consult Hecate. . . . But look! here are some arrivals--and
there are more behind. Ah! ha! now what countrywomen may they be?

LYSISTRATA. They are from Anagyra. [397]

CALONICE. Yes! upon my word, 'tis a levy _en masse_ of all the female
population of Anagyra!

MYRRHINE. Are we late, Lysistrata? Tell us, pray; what, not a word?

LYSISTRATA. I cannot say much for you, Myrrhine! you have not bestirred
yourself overmuch for an affair of such urgency.

MYRRHINE I could not find my girdle in the dark. However, if the matter
is so pressing, here we are; so speak.

LYSISTRATA. No, but let us wait a moment more, till the women of Boeotia
arrive and those from the Peloponnese.

MYRRHINE Yes, that is best. . . . Ah! here comes Lampito.

LYSISTRATA. Good day, Lampito, dear friend from Lacedaemon. How well and
handsome you look! what a rosy complexion! and how strong you seem; why,
you could strangle a bull surely!

LAMPITO. Yes, indeed, I really think I could. 'Tis because I do
gymnastics and practise the kick dance. [398]

LYSISTRATA. And what superb bosoms!

LAMPITO. La! you are feeling me as if I were a beast for sacrifice.

LYSISTRATA. And this young woman, what countrywoman is she?

LAMPITO. She is a noble lady from Boeotia.

LYSISTRATA. Ah! my pretty Boeotian friend, you are as blooming as a
garden.

CALONICE. Yes, on my word! and the garden is so prettily weeded too! [399]

LYSISTRATA. And who is this?

LAMPITO. 'Tis an honest woman, by my faith! she comes from Corinth.

LYSISTRATA. Oh! honest, no doubt then--as honesty goes at Corinth. [400]

LAMPITO. But who has called together this council of women, pray?

LYSISTRATA. I have.

LAMPITO. Well then, tell us what you want of us.

LYSISTRATA. With pleasure, my dear.

MYRRHINE. What is the most important business you wish to inform us
about?

LYSISTRATA. I will tell you. But first answer me one question.

MYRRHINE. What is that?

LYSISTRATA. Don't you feel sad and sorry because the fathers of your
children are far away from you with the army? For I'll undertake, there
is not one of you whose husband is not abroad at this moment.

CALONICE. Mine has been the last five months in Thrace--looking after
Eucrates. [401]

LYSISTRATA. 'Tis seven long months since mine left me for Pylos. [402]

LAMPITO. As for mine, if he ever does return from service, he's no sooner
back than he takes down his shield again and flies back to the wars.

LYSISTRATA. And not so much as the shadow of a lover! Since the day the
Milesians betrayed us, I have never once seen an eight-inch-long
_godemiche_ even, to be a leathern consolation to us poor widows. . . . Now
tell me, if I have discovered a means of ending the war, will you all
second me?

MYRRHINE. Yes verily, by all the goddesses, I swear I will, though I have
to put my gown in pawn, and drink the money the same day. [403]

CALONICE. And so will I, though I must be split in two like a flat-fish,
and have half myself removed.

LAMPITO. And I too; why, to secure Peace, I would climb to the top of
Mount Taygetus. [404]

LYSISTRATA. Then I will out with it at last, my mighty secret! Oh! sister
women, if we would compel our husbands to make peace, we must refrain. . . .

MYRRHINE. Refrain from what? tell us, tell us!

LYSISTRATA. But will you do it?

MYRRHINE. We will, we will, though we should die of it.

LYSISTRATA. We must refrain from the male organ altogether. . . . Nay, why
do you turn your backs on me? Where are you going? So, you bite your
lips, and shake your heads, eh? Why these pale, sad looks? why these
tears? Come, will you do it--yes or no? Do you hesitate?

MYRRHINE. No, I will not do it; let the War go on.

LYSISTRATA. And you, my pretty flat-fish, who declared just now they
might split you in two?

CALONICE. Anything, anything but that! Bid me go through the fire, if you
will; but to rob us of the sweetest thing in all the world, my dear, dear
Lysistrata!

LYSISTRATA. And you?

MYRRHINE. Yes, I agree with the others; I too would sooner go through the
fire.

LYSISTRATA. Oh, wanton, vicious sex! the poets have done well to make
tragedies upon us; we are good for nothing then but love and
lewdness!