For many days before the solemn event, the women of high
birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all
pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to
live with the greatest sobriety.
birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all
pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to
live with the greatest sobriety.
Aristophanes
If this old man instils you with such ardent concupiscence,
why, you can bore through the plank, and so get at his behind.
EURIPIDES. No, I will break his bonds.
SCYTHIAN. Beware of my lash!
EURIPIDES. No matter.
SCYTHIAN. This blade shall cut off your head.
EURIPIDES. "Ah! what can be done? what arguments can I use? This savage
will understand nothing! The newest and most cunning fancies are a dead
letter to the ignorant. Let us invent some artifice to fit in with his
coarse nature. "
SCYTHIAN. I can see the rascal is trying to outwit me.
MNESILOCHUS. Ah! Perseus! remember in what condition you are leaving me.
SCYTHIAN. Are you wanting to feel my lash again!
CHORUS.
Oh! Pallas, who art fond of dances, hasten hither at my call. Oh! thou
chaste virgin, the protectress of Athens, I call thee in accordance with
the sacred rites, thee, whose evident protection we adore and who keepest
the keys of our city in thy hands. Do thou appear, thou whose just hatred
has overturned our tyrants. The womenfolk are calling thee; hasten hither
at their bidding along with Peace, who shall restore the festivals. And
ye, august goddesses,[645] display a smiling and propitious countenance
to our gaze; come into your sacred grove, the entry to which is forbidden
to men; 'tis there in the midst of sacred orgies that we contemplate your
divine features. Come, appear, we pray it of you, oh, venerable
Thesmophoriae! If you have ever answered our appeal, oh! come into our
midst.
EURIPIDES. Women, if you will be reconciled with me, I am willing, and I
undertake never to say anything ill of you in future. Those are my
proposals for peace.
CHORUS. And what impels you to make these overtures?
EURIPIDES. This unfortunate man, who is chained to the post, is my
father-in-law; if you will restore him to me, you will have no more cause
to complain of me; but if not, I shall reveal your pranks to your
husbands when they return from the war.
CHORUS. We accept peace, but there is this barbarian whom you must buy
over.
EURIPIDES. That's my business. (_He returns as an old woman and is
accompanied by a dancing-girl and a flute-girl. _) Come, my little wench,
bear in mind what I told you on the road and do it well. Come, go past
him and gird up your robe. And you, you little dear, play us the air of a
Persian dance.
SCYTHIAN. What is this music that makes me so blithe?
EURIPIDES (_as an old woman_). Scythian, this young girl is going to
practise some dances, which she has to perform at a feast presently.
SCYTHIAN. Very well! let her dance and practise; I won't hinder her. How
nimbly she bounds! one might think her a flea on a fleece.
EURIPIDES. Come, my dear, off with your robe and seat yourself on the
Scythian's knee; stretch forth your feet to me, that I may take off your
slippers.
SCYTHIAN. Ah! yes, seat yourself, my little girl, ah! yes, to be sure.
What a firm little bosom! 'tis just like a turnip.
EURIPIDES (_to the flute-girl_). An air on the flute, quick! (_To the
dancing-girl. _) Well! are you still afraid of the Scythian?
SCYTHIAN. What beautiful thighs!
EURIPIDES. Come! keep still, can't you?
SCYTHIAN. 'Tis altogether a very fine morsel to make a man's cock stand.
EURIPIDES. That's so! (_To the dancing-girl. _) Resume your dress, it is
time to be going.
SCYTHIAN. Give me a kiss.
EURIPIDES (_to the dancing-girl_). Come, give him a kiss.
SCYTHIAN. Oh! oh! oh! my goodness, what soft lips! 'tis like Attic honey.
But might she not stop with me?
EURIPIDES. Impossible, archer; good evening.
SCYTHIAN. Oh! oh! old woman, do me this pleasure.
EURIPIDES. Will you give a drachma?
SCYTHIAN. Aye, that I will.
EURIPIDES. Hand over the money.
SCYTHIAN. I have not got it, but take my quiver in pledge.
EURIPIDES. You will bring her back?
SCYTHIAN. Follow me, my beautiful child. And you, old woman, just keep
guard over this man. But what is your name?
EURIPIDES. Artemisia. Can you remember that name?
SCYTHIAN. Artemuxia. [646] Good!
EURIPIDES (_aside_). Hermes, god of cunning, receive my thanks!
everything is turning out for the best. (_To the Scythian. _) As for you,
friend, take away this girl, quick. (_Exit the Scythian with the
dancing-girl. _) Now let me loose his bonds. (_To Mnesilochus. _) And you,
directly I have released you, take to your legs and run off full tilt to
your home to find your wife and children.
MNESILOCHUS. I shall not fail in that as soon as I am free.
EURIPIDES (_releases Mnesilochus_). There! 'Tis done. Come, fly, before
the archer lays his hand on you again.
MNESILOCHUS. That's just what I am doing. [_Exit with Euripides. _
SCYTHIAN. Ah! old woman! what a charming little girl! Not at all the
prude, and so obliging! Eh! where is the old woman? Ah! I am undone! And
the old man, where is he? Hi! old woman! old woman! Ah! but this is a
dirty trick! Artemuxia! she has tricked me, that's what the little old
woman has done! Get clean out of my sight, you cursed quiver! (_Picks it
up and throws it across the stage. _) Ha! you are well named quiver, for
you have made me quiver indeed. [647] Oh! what's to be done? Where is the
old woman then? Artemuxia!
CHORUS. Are you asking for the old woman who carried the lyre?
SCYTHIAN. Yes, yes; have you seen her?
CHORUS. She has gone that way along with an old man.
SCYTHIAN. Dressed in a long robe?
CHORUS. Yes; run quick, and you will overtake them.
SCYTHIAN. Ah! rascally old woman! Which way has she fled? Artemuxia!
CHORUS. Straight on; follow your nose. But, hi! where are you running to
now? Come back, you are going exactly the wrong way.
SCYTHIAN. Ye gods! ye gods! and all this while Artemuxia is escaping.
[_Exit running. _
CHORUS. Go your way! and a pleasant journey to you! But our sports have
lasted long enough; it is time for each of us to be off home; and may the
two goddesses reward us for our labours!
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE THESMOPHORIAZUSAE"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[544] Aristophanes parodies Euripides' language, which is occasionally
sillily sententious.
[545] He flourished about 420 B. C. and composed many tragedies, such as
'Telephus,' 'Thyestes,' which are lost. Some fragments of his work are to
be found in Aristotle and in Athenaeus; he also distinguished himself as
a musician. The banquet, which gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues,
is supposed to have taken place at his house.
[546] The Thesmophoria were celebrated in the month of Pyanepsion, or
November.
[547] The Thesmophoria lasted five days; they were dedicated to Demeter
Thesmophoros, or Legislatress, in recognition of the wise laws she had
given mankind.
For many days before the solemn event, the women of high
birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all
pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to
live with the greatest sobriety. The presiding priest at the Thesmophoria
was always chosen from the sacerdotal family of the Eumolpidae, the
descendants of Eumolpus, the son of Posidon. At these feasts, the worship
of Persephone was associated with that of Demeter.
[548] Refers presumably to the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a piece of machinery
by means of which interiors were represented on the Greek stage--room and
occupant being in some way wheeled out into view of the spectators
bodily.
[549] A celebrated 'lady of pleasure'; Agathon is like her by reason of
his effeminate, wanton looks and dissolute habits.
[550] Demeter is represented wandering, torch in hand, about the universe
looking for her lost child Proserpine (Persephone).
[551] Troy.
[552] Agathon, in accordance with his character, voluptuousness, is
represented as preferring the effeminate music and lascivious dances of
Asia.
[553] Goddesses who presided over generation; see also the 'Lysistrata. '
[554] A tetralogy, a series of four dramas connected by subject, of which
the principal character was Lycurgus, king of the Thracians. When Bacchus
returned to Thrace as conqueror of the Indies he dared to deride the god,
and was punished by him in consequence. All four plays are lost.
[555] That is, the attributes of a man and those of a woman combined.
[556] That is, you make love in the posture known as 'the horse,'
_equus_, in other words the woman atop of the man. There is a further
joke intended here, inasmuch as Euripides, in his 'Phaedra,' represents
the heroine as being passionately addicted to hunting and horses.
[557] Ibycus, a lyric poet of the sixth century, originally from Rhegium
in Magna Graecia. --Anacreon, a celebrated erotic poet of the beginning of
the fifth century. --Alcaeus, a lyric poet, born about 600 B. C. at
Mytilene, in the island of Lesbos, was driven out of his country by a
tyrant and sang of his loves, his services as a warrior, his travels and
the miseries of his exile. He was a contemporary of Sappho, and conceived
a passion for her, which she only rewarded with disdain.
[558] Phrynichus, a disciple of Thespis, improved the dramatic art, when
still no more than a child; it was he who first introduced female
characters upon the stage and made use of the iambic of six feet in
tragedies. He flourished about 500 B. C.
[559] Philocles, Xenocles, and Theognis were dramatic poets and
contemporaries of Aristophanes. The two first were sons of Carcinus, the
poet and dancer.
[560] Fragment of Euripides' 'Aeolus,' a lost drama.
[561] Fragment of Euripides' well-known play, the 'Alcestis. '
[562] An allusion to the secret practices of mutual love which the women
assembled for the Thesmophoria were credited by popular repute with
indulging in.
[563] That is, to sanctuary.
[564] An effeminate often mentioned by Aristophanes.
[565] An allusion to the pederastic habits which the poet attributes to
Agathon.
[566] An obscene allusion.
[567] On the machine upon which he is perched.
[568] A fragment of the 'Menalippe' of Euripides.
[569] The ether played an important part in the physical theories of
Hippocrates, the celebrated physician.
[570] An allusion to a verse in his 'Hippolytus,' where Euripides says,
"_The tongue has sworn, but the heart is unsworn. _" See also 'The Frogs. '
[571] The name of a slave; being disguised as a woman, Mnesilochus has
himself followed by a female servant, a Thracian slave-woman.
[572] Demeter and Cora (or Persephone), who were adored together during
the Thesmophoria.
[573] Women slaves were forbidden by law to be present at the
Thesmophoria; they remained at the door of the temple and there waited
for the orders of their mistresses.
[574] The god of riches.
[575] The nurse of Demeter. According to another version, Calligenia was
a surname of Demeter herself, who was adored as presiding over the growth
of a child at its mother's breast.
[576] A surname of Demeter, who, by means of the food she produces as
goddess of abundance, presides over the development of the bodies of
children and young people. Curotrophos is derived from [Greek: trephein],
to nourish, and [Greek: kouros], young boy.
[577] Apollo.
[578] Artemis.
[579] An insult which Aristophanes constantly repeats in every way he
can; as we have seen before, Euripides' mother was, or was commonly said
to be, a market-woman.
[580] Lovers sent each other chaplets and flowers.
[581] In parody of a passage in the 'Sthenoboea' of Euripides, which is
preserved in Athenaeus.
[582] He believes her pregnant.
[583] A fragment from the 'Phoenix,' by Euripides.
[584] It seems that the Spartan locksmiths were famous for their skill.
[585] The women broke the seals their husbands had affixed, and then,
with the aid of their ring bearing the same device, they replaced them as
before.
[586] The impression of which was too complicated and therefore could not
be imitated.
[587] As a remedy against the colic.
[588] So that it might not creak when opened.
[589] An altar in the form of a column in the front vestibule of houses
and dedicated to Apollo.
[590] Because the smell of garlic is not inviting to gallants.
[591] The last words are the thoughts of the woman, who pretends to be in
child-bed; she is, however, careful not to utter them to her husband.
[592] The proverb runs, "_There is a scorpion beneath every stone. _" By
substituting _orator_ for _scorpion_, Aristophanes means it to be
understood that one is no less venomous than the other.
[593] There were two women named Aglaurus. One, the daughter of Actaeus,
King of Attica, married Cecrops and brought him the kingship as her
dowry; the other was the daughter of Cecrops, and was turned into stone
for having interfered from jealousy with Hermes' courtship of Herse her
sister. It was this second Aglaurus the Athenian women were in the habit
of invoking; they often associated with her her sister Pandrosus.
[594] Underneath the baths were large hollow chambers filled with steam
to maintain the temperature of the water.
[595] By kicking her in the stomach.
[596] Clisthenes is always represented by Aristophanes as effeminate in
the extreme in dress and habits.
[597] The coward, often mentioned with contempt by Aristophanes, had
thrown away his shield.
[598] The ancients believed that cress reduced the natural secretions.
[599] A deme of Attica.
[600] The women lodged in pairs during the Thesmophoria in tents erected
near the Temple of Demeter.
[601] The Corinthians were constantly passing their vessels across the
isthmus from one sea to the other; we know that the Grecian ships were of
very small dimensions.
[602] This was the name of the place where the Ecclesia, the public
meeting of the people, took place; the chorus gives this name here to
Demeter's temple, because the women are gathered there.
[603] The spaces left free between the tents, and which served as
passage-ways.
[604] A choric dance began here.
[605] A woman's footgear. --On undressing the supposed child, Mnesilochus
perceives that it is nothing but a skin of wine.
[606] Dr. P. Menier repeatedly points out in his "La medecine et les
po? tes latins," that the ancient writers constantly spoke of ten months
as being a woman's period of gestation.
[607] A cotyla contained nearly half a pint.
[608] Both the Feast of Cups and the Dionysia were dedicated to Bacchus,
the god of wine; it is for this reason that Mnesilochus refers to the
former when guessing the wine-skin's age.
[609] The Cretan robe that had covered the wine-skin.
[610] An allusion to the tragedy by Euripides called 'Palamedes,' which
belonged to the tetralogy of the Troades, and was produced in 414 B. C.
Aristophanes is railing at the strange device which the poet makes Oeax
resort to. Oeax was Palamedes' brother, and he is represented as
inscribing the death of the latter on a number of oars with the hope that
at least one would reach the shores of Euboea and thus inform his father,
Nauplias, the king of the fact.
[611] The images of the various gods which were invoked at the
Thesmophoria, and the enumeration of which we have already had.
[612] Charminus, an Athenian general, who had recently been defeated at
sea by the Spartans. --Nausimache was a courtesan, but her name is
purposely chosen because of its derivation ([Greek: naus], ship, and
[Greek: mach_e], fight), so as to point more strongly to Charminus'
disgrace.
[613] A general and an Athenian orator.
[614] A courtesan.
[615] Aristomache ([Greek: mach_e], fight, and [Greek: arist_e],
excellent) and Stratonice ([Greek: stratos], army, and [Greek: nik_e],
victory) are imaginary names, invented to show the decadence of the
Athenian armies.
[616] Eubule ([Greek: eu], well, and [Greek: bouleuesthai], to
deliberate) is also an imaginary name. The poet wishes to say that in
that year wisdom had not ruled the decisions of the Senate; they had
allowed themselves to be humbled by the tyranny of the Four Hundred.
[617] The cylinder and the beams were the chief tools of the weaver. It
was the women who did this work.
[618] The taxiarch had the command of 128 men; the strategus had the
direction of an army.
[619] The Sthenia were celebrated in honour of Athene Sthenias, or the
goddess of force; the women were then wont to attack each other with
bitter sarcasms. --During the Scirophoria ([Greek: skiron], canopy) the
statues of Athene, Demeter, Persephone, the Sun and Posidon were carried
in procession under canopies with great pomp.
[620] The trierarchs were rich citizens, whose duty it was to maintain
the galleys or triremes of the fleet.
[621] Hyperbolus is incessantly railed at by Aristophanes as a traitor
and an informer. Lamachus, although our poet does not always spare him,
was a brave general; he had been one of the commanders of the Sicilian
Expedition.
[622] It will be remembered that Mnesilochus had employed a similar
device to one imputed to Oeax by Euripides in his 'Palamedes,' in order
to inform his father-in-law of his predicament.
[623] A tragedy, in which Menelaus is seen in Egypt, whither he has gone
to seek Helen, who is detained there.
[624] These are the opening verses of Euripides' 'Helen,' with the
exception of the last words, which are a parody. --Syrmea is a purgative
plant very common in Egypt. Aristophanes speaks jestingly of the white
soil of Egypt, because the slime of the Nile is very black.
[625] This reply and those that follow are fragments from 'Helen. '
[626] An infamous Athenian, whose name had become a byword for everything
that was vile.
[627] The whole of this dialogue between Mnesilochus and Euripides is
composed of fragments taken from 'Helen,' slightly parodied at times.
[628] King of Egypt.
[629] Son of Epicles, and mentioned by Thucydides.
[630] Aristophanes invents this in order to give coherence to what
follows.
[631] An Athenian general whom Thucydides mentions.
[632] A deme of Attica.
[633] No doubt Euripides appeared on the stage carrying some herbs in his
hand or wearing them in his belt, so as to recall his mother's calling.
If the gibes of Aristophanes can be believed, she dealt in vegetables, as
we have noted repeatedly.
[634] A ruined man, living in penury, presumably well known to the
audience.
[635] Apollo.
[636] Surnames of Bacchus.
[637] The archers, or the police officers, at Athens were mostly
Scythians. If not from that country always, they were known generally by
that name.
[638] Which the archer had driven in to tighten up the rope binding the
prison to the pillory.
[639] Perseus was returning from the land of the Gorgons mounted upon
Pegasus, when, while high up in the air, he saw Andromeda bound to a rock
and exposed to the lusts and voracity of a sea monster. Touched by the
misfortune and the beauty of the princess, he turned the monster to stone
by showing him the head of Medusa, released Andromeda and married
her. --Euripides had just produced a tragedy on this subject.
[640] Mnesilochus speaks alternately in his own person and as though he
were Andromeda, the effect being comical in the extreme.
[641] A notorious glutton, mentioned also in the 'Peace. '
[642] Through Euripides, his father-in-law.
[643] On the occasion of the presentation of the tragedy of 'Andromeda,'
in which the nymph Echo plays an important part.
[644] Unknown; Aristophanes plays upon the similarity of name.
[645] That is, the Thesmophoriae, viz. Demeter and Persephone.
[646] Throughout the whole scene the Scythian speaks with a grotesque
barbarian accent.
[647] The pun depends in the Greek on the similarity of the final
syllables of [Greek: subin_e], and [Greek: katabin_esi]. It can be given
literally in English.
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
INTRODUCTION
The 'Ecclesiazusae, or Women in Council,' was not produced till twenty
years after the preceding play, the 'Thesmophoriazusae' (at the Great
Dionysia of 392 B. C. ), but is conveniently classed with it as being also
largely levelled against the fair sex. "It is a broad, but very amusing,
satire upon those ideal republics, founded upon communistic principles,
of which Plato's well-known treatise is the best example. His 'Republic'
had been written, and probably delivered in the form of oral lectures at
Athens, only two or three years before, and had no doubt excited a
considerable sensation. But many of its most startling principles had
long ago been ventilated in the Schools. "
Like the 'Lysistrata,' the play is a picture of woman's ascendancy in the
State, and the topsy-turvy consequences resulting from such a reversal of
ordinary conditions. The women of Athens, under the leadership of the
wise Praxagora, resolve to reform the constitution. To this end they don
men's clothes, and taking seats in the Assembly on the Pnyx, command a
majority of votes and carry a series of revolutionary proposals--that the
government be vested in a committee of women, and further, that property
and women be henceforth held in common. The main part of the comedy deals
with the many amusing difficulties that arise inevitably from this new
state of affairs, the community of women above all necessitating special
safeguarding clauses to secure the rights of the less attractive members
of the sex to the service of the younger and handsomer men. Community of
goods again, private property being abolished, calls for a regulation
whereby all citizens are to dine at the public expense in the various
public halls of the city, the particular place of each being determined
by lot; and the drama winds up with one of these feasts, the elaborate
menu of which is given in burlesque, and with the jubilations of the
women over their triumph.
"This comedy appears to labour under the very same faults as the 'Peace. '
The introduction, the secret assembly of the women, their rehearsal of
their parts as men, the description of the popular assembly, are all
handled in the most masterly manner; but towards the middle the action
stands still. Nothing remains but the representation of the perplexities
and confusion which arise from the new arrangements, especially in
connection with the community of women, and from the prescribed equality
of rights in love both for the old and ugly and for the young and
beautiful. These perplexities are pleasant enough, but they turn too much
on a repetition of the same joke. "
We learn from the text of the play itself that the 'Ecclesiazusae' was
drawn by lot for first representation among the comedies offered for
competition at the Festival, the Author making a special appeal to his
audience not to let themselves be influenced unfavourably by the
circumstance; but whether the play was successful in gaining a prize is
not recorded.
* * * * *
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
PRAXAGORA.
BLEPYRUS, husband of Praxagora.
WOMEN.
A MAN.
CHREMES.
TWO CITIZENS.
HERALD.
AN OLD MAN.
A GIRL.
A YOUNG MAN.
THREE OLD WOMEN.
A SERVANT MAID.
HER MASTER.
CHORUS OF WOMEN.
SCENE: Before a house in a Public Square at Athens; a lamp is burning
over the door. Time: a little after midnight.
* * * * *
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
PRAXAGORA (_enters carrying a lamp in her hand_). Oh! thou shining light
of my earthenware lamp, from this high spot shalt thou look abroad. Oh!
lamp, I will tell thee thine origin and thy future; 'tis the rapid whirl
of the potter's wheel that has lent thee thy shape, and thy wick
counterfeits the glory of the sun;[648] mayst thou send the agreed signal
flashing afar! In thee alone do we confide, and thou art worthy, for thou
art near us when we practise the various postures in which Aphrodite
delights upon our couches, and none dream even in the midst of her sports
of seeking to avoid thine eye that watches our swaying bodies. Thou alone
shinest into the depths of our most secret charms, and with thy flame
dost singe the hairy growth of our privates. If we open some cellar
stored with fruits and wine, thou art our companion, and never dost thou
betray or reveal to a neighbour the secrets thou hast learned about us.
Therefore thou shalt know likewise the whole of the plot that I have
planned with my friends, the women, at the festival of the
Scirophoria. [649]
I see none of those I was expecting, though dawn approaches; the Assembly
is about to gather and we must take our seats in spite of
Phyromachus,[650] who forsooth would say, "It is meet the women sit apart
and hidden from the eyes of the men. " Why, have they not been able then
to procure the false beards that they must wear, or to steal their
husbands cloaks? Ah! I see a light approaching; let us draw somewhat
aside, for fear it should be a man.
FIRST WOMAN. Let us start, it is high time; as we left our dwellings, the
cock was crowing for the second time.
PRAXAGORA. And I have spent the whole night waiting for you. But come,
let us call our neighbour by scratching at her door; and gently too, so
that her husband may hear nothing.
SECOND WOMAN. I was putting on my shoes, when I heard you scratching, for
I was not asleep, so there! Oh! my dear, my husband (he is a Salaminian)
never left me an instant's peace, but was at me, for ever at me, all
night long, so that it was only just now that I was able to filch his
cloak.
FIRST WOMAN. I see Clinarete coming too, along with Sostrate and their
next-door neighbour Philaenete.
PRAXAGORA. Hurry yourselves then, for Glyce has sworn that the last comer
shall forfeit three measures of wine and a _choenix_ of pease.
FIRST WOMAN. Don't you see Melistice, the wife of Smicythion, hurrying
hither in her great shoes? Methinks she is the only one of us all who has
had no trouble in getting rid of her husband.
why, you can bore through the plank, and so get at his behind.
EURIPIDES. No, I will break his bonds.
SCYTHIAN. Beware of my lash!
EURIPIDES. No matter.
SCYTHIAN. This blade shall cut off your head.
EURIPIDES. "Ah! what can be done? what arguments can I use? This savage
will understand nothing! The newest and most cunning fancies are a dead
letter to the ignorant. Let us invent some artifice to fit in with his
coarse nature. "
SCYTHIAN. I can see the rascal is trying to outwit me.
MNESILOCHUS. Ah! Perseus! remember in what condition you are leaving me.
SCYTHIAN. Are you wanting to feel my lash again!
CHORUS.
Oh! Pallas, who art fond of dances, hasten hither at my call. Oh! thou
chaste virgin, the protectress of Athens, I call thee in accordance with
the sacred rites, thee, whose evident protection we adore and who keepest
the keys of our city in thy hands. Do thou appear, thou whose just hatred
has overturned our tyrants. The womenfolk are calling thee; hasten hither
at their bidding along with Peace, who shall restore the festivals. And
ye, august goddesses,[645] display a smiling and propitious countenance
to our gaze; come into your sacred grove, the entry to which is forbidden
to men; 'tis there in the midst of sacred orgies that we contemplate your
divine features. Come, appear, we pray it of you, oh, venerable
Thesmophoriae! If you have ever answered our appeal, oh! come into our
midst.
EURIPIDES. Women, if you will be reconciled with me, I am willing, and I
undertake never to say anything ill of you in future. Those are my
proposals for peace.
CHORUS. And what impels you to make these overtures?
EURIPIDES. This unfortunate man, who is chained to the post, is my
father-in-law; if you will restore him to me, you will have no more cause
to complain of me; but if not, I shall reveal your pranks to your
husbands when they return from the war.
CHORUS. We accept peace, but there is this barbarian whom you must buy
over.
EURIPIDES. That's my business. (_He returns as an old woman and is
accompanied by a dancing-girl and a flute-girl. _) Come, my little wench,
bear in mind what I told you on the road and do it well. Come, go past
him and gird up your robe. And you, you little dear, play us the air of a
Persian dance.
SCYTHIAN. What is this music that makes me so blithe?
EURIPIDES (_as an old woman_). Scythian, this young girl is going to
practise some dances, which she has to perform at a feast presently.
SCYTHIAN. Very well! let her dance and practise; I won't hinder her. How
nimbly she bounds! one might think her a flea on a fleece.
EURIPIDES. Come, my dear, off with your robe and seat yourself on the
Scythian's knee; stretch forth your feet to me, that I may take off your
slippers.
SCYTHIAN. Ah! yes, seat yourself, my little girl, ah! yes, to be sure.
What a firm little bosom! 'tis just like a turnip.
EURIPIDES (_to the flute-girl_). An air on the flute, quick! (_To the
dancing-girl. _) Well! are you still afraid of the Scythian?
SCYTHIAN. What beautiful thighs!
EURIPIDES. Come! keep still, can't you?
SCYTHIAN. 'Tis altogether a very fine morsel to make a man's cock stand.
EURIPIDES. That's so! (_To the dancing-girl. _) Resume your dress, it is
time to be going.
SCYTHIAN. Give me a kiss.
EURIPIDES (_to the dancing-girl_). Come, give him a kiss.
SCYTHIAN. Oh! oh! oh! my goodness, what soft lips! 'tis like Attic honey.
But might she not stop with me?
EURIPIDES. Impossible, archer; good evening.
SCYTHIAN. Oh! oh! old woman, do me this pleasure.
EURIPIDES. Will you give a drachma?
SCYTHIAN. Aye, that I will.
EURIPIDES. Hand over the money.
SCYTHIAN. I have not got it, but take my quiver in pledge.
EURIPIDES. You will bring her back?
SCYTHIAN. Follow me, my beautiful child. And you, old woman, just keep
guard over this man. But what is your name?
EURIPIDES. Artemisia. Can you remember that name?
SCYTHIAN. Artemuxia. [646] Good!
EURIPIDES (_aside_). Hermes, god of cunning, receive my thanks!
everything is turning out for the best. (_To the Scythian. _) As for you,
friend, take away this girl, quick. (_Exit the Scythian with the
dancing-girl. _) Now let me loose his bonds. (_To Mnesilochus. _) And you,
directly I have released you, take to your legs and run off full tilt to
your home to find your wife and children.
MNESILOCHUS. I shall not fail in that as soon as I am free.
EURIPIDES (_releases Mnesilochus_). There! 'Tis done. Come, fly, before
the archer lays his hand on you again.
MNESILOCHUS. That's just what I am doing. [_Exit with Euripides. _
SCYTHIAN. Ah! old woman! what a charming little girl! Not at all the
prude, and so obliging! Eh! where is the old woman? Ah! I am undone! And
the old man, where is he? Hi! old woman! old woman! Ah! but this is a
dirty trick! Artemuxia! she has tricked me, that's what the little old
woman has done! Get clean out of my sight, you cursed quiver! (_Picks it
up and throws it across the stage. _) Ha! you are well named quiver, for
you have made me quiver indeed. [647] Oh! what's to be done? Where is the
old woman then? Artemuxia!
CHORUS. Are you asking for the old woman who carried the lyre?
SCYTHIAN. Yes, yes; have you seen her?
CHORUS. She has gone that way along with an old man.
SCYTHIAN. Dressed in a long robe?
CHORUS. Yes; run quick, and you will overtake them.
SCYTHIAN. Ah! rascally old woman! Which way has she fled? Artemuxia!
CHORUS. Straight on; follow your nose. But, hi! where are you running to
now? Come back, you are going exactly the wrong way.
SCYTHIAN. Ye gods! ye gods! and all this while Artemuxia is escaping.
[_Exit running. _
CHORUS. Go your way! and a pleasant journey to you! But our sports have
lasted long enough; it is time for each of us to be off home; and may the
two goddesses reward us for our labours!
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE THESMOPHORIAZUSAE"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[544] Aristophanes parodies Euripides' language, which is occasionally
sillily sententious.
[545] He flourished about 420 B. C. and composed many tragedies, such as
'Telephus,' 'Thyestes,' which are lost. Some fragments of his work are to
be found in Aristotle and in Athenaeus; he also distinguished himself as
a musician. The banquet, which gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues,
is supposed to have taken place at his house.
[546] The Thesmophoria were celebrated in the month of Pyanepsion, or
November.
[547] The Thesmophoria lasted five days; they were dedicated to Demeter
Thesmophoros, or Legislatress, in recognition of the wise laws she had
given mankind.
For many days before the solemn event, the women of high
birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all
pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to
live with the greatest sobriety. The presiding priest at the Thesmophoria
was always chosen from the sacerdotal family of the Eumolpidae, the
descendants of Eumolpus, the son of Posidon. At these feasts, the worship
of Persephone was associated with that of Demeter.
[548] Refers presumably to the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a piece of machinery
by means of which interiors were represented on the Greek stage--room and
occupant being in some way wheeled out into view of the spectators
bodily.
[549] A celebrated 'lady of pleasure'; Agathon is like her by reason of
his effeminate, wanton looks and dissolute habits.
[550] Demeter is represented wandering, torch in hand, about the universe
looking for her lost child Proserpine (Persephone).
[551] Troy.
[552] Agathon, in accordance with his character, voluptuousness, is
represented as preferring the effeminate music and lascivious dances of
Asia.
[553] Goddesses who presided over generation; see also the 'Lysistrata. '
[554] A tetralogy, a series of four dramas connected by subject, of which
the principal character was Lycurgus, king of the Thracians. When Bacchus
returned to Thrace as conqueror of the Indies he dared to deride the god,
and was punished by him in consequence. All four plays are lost.
[555] That is, the attributes of a man and those of a woman combined.
[556] That is, you make love in the posture known as 'the horse,'
_equus_, in other words the woman atop of the man. There is a further
joke intended here, inasmuch as Euripides, in his 'Phaedra,' represents
the heroine as being passionately addicted to hunting and horses.
[557] Ibycus, a lyric poet of the sixth century, originally from Rhegium
in Magna Graecia. --Anacreon, a celebrated erotic poet of the beginning of
the fifth century. --Alcaeus, a lyric poet, born about 600 B. C. at
Mytilene, in the island of Lesbos, was driven out of his country by a
tyrant and sang of his loves, his services as a warrior, his travels and
the miseries of his exile. He was a contemporary of Sappho, and conceived
a passion for her, which she only rewarded with disdain.
[558] Phrynichus, a disciple of Thespis, improved the dramatic art, when
still no more than a child; it was he who first introduced female
characters upon the stage and made use of the iambic of six feet in
tragedies. He flourished about 500 B. C.
[559] Philocles, Xenocles, and Theognis were dramatic poets and
contemporaries of Aristophanes. The two first were sons of Carcinus, the
poet and dancer.
[560] Fragment of Euripides' 'Aeolus,' a lost drama.
[561] Fragment of Euripides' well-known play, the 'Alcestis. '
[562] An allusion to the secret practices of mutual love which the women
assembled for the Thesmophoria were credited by popular repute with
indulging in.
[563] That is, to sanctuary.
[564] An effeminate often mentioned by Aristophanes.
[565] An allusion to the pederastic habits which the poet attributes to
Agathon.
[566] An obscene allusion.
[567] On the machine upon which he is perched.
[568] A fragment of the 'Menalippe' of Euripides.
[569] The ether played an important part in the physical theories of
Hippocrates, the celebrated physician.
[570] An allusion to a verse in his 'Hippolytus,' where Euripides says,
"_The tongue has sworn, but the heart is unsworn. _" See also 'The Frogs. '
[571] The name of a slave; being disguised as a woman, Mnesilochus has
himself followed by a female servant, a Thracian slave-woman.
[572] Demeter and Cora (or Persephone), who were adored together during
the Thesmophoria.
[573] Women slaves were forbidden by law to be present at the
Thesmophoria; they remained at the door of the temple and there waited
for the orders of their mistresses.
[574] The god of riches.
[575] The nurse of Demeter. According to another version, Calligenia was
a surname of Demeter herself, who was adored as presiding over the growth
of a child at its mother's breast.
[576] A surname of Demeter, who, by means of the food she produces as
goddess of abundance, presides over the development of the bodies of
children and young people. Curotrophos is derived from [Greek: trephein],
to nourish, and [Greek: kouros], young boy.
[577] Apollo.
[578] Artemis.
[579] An insult which Aristophanes constantly repeats in every way he
can; as we have seen before, Euripides' mother was, or was commonly said
to be, a market-woman.
[580] Lovers sent each other chaplets and flowers.
[581] In parody of a passage in the 'Sthenoboea' of Euripides, which is
preserved in Athenaeus.
[582] He believes her pregnant.
[583] A fragment from the 'Phoenix,' by Euripides.
[584] It seems that the Spartan locksmiths were famous for their skill.
[585] The women broke the seals their husbands had affixed, and then,
with the aid of their ring bearing the same device, they replaced them as
before.
[586] The impression of which was too complicated and therefore could not
be imitated.
[587] As a remedy against the colic.
[588] So that it might not creak when opened.
[589] An altar in the form of a column in the front vestibule of houses
and dedicated to Apollo.
[590] Because the smell of garlic is not inviting to gallants.
[591] The last words are the thoughts of the woman, who pretends to be in
child-bed; she is, however, careful not to utter them to her husband.
[592] The proverb runs, "_There is a scorpion beneath every stone. _" By
substituting _orator_ for _scorpion_, Aristophanes means it to be
understood that one is no less venomous than the other.
[593] There were two women named Aglaurus. One, the daughter of Actaeus,
King of Attica, married Cecrops and brought him the kingship as her
dowry; the other was the daughter of Cecrops, and was turned into stone
for having interfered from jealousy with Hermes' courtship of Herse her
sister. It was this second Aglaurus the Athenian women were in the habit
of invoking; they often associated with her her sister Pandrosus.
[594] Underneath the baths were large hollow chambers filled with steam
to maintain the temperature of the water.
[595] By kicking her in the stomach.
[596] Clisthenes is always represented by Aristophanes as effeminate in
the extreme in dress and habits.
[597] The coward, often mentioned with contempt by Aristophanes, had
thrown away his shield.
[598] The ancients believed that cress reduced the natural secretions.
[599] A deme of Attica.
[600] The women lodged in pairs during the Thesmophoria in tents erected
near the Temple of Demeter.
[601] The Corinthians were constantly passing their vessels across the
isthmus from one sea to the other; we know that the Grecian ships were of
very small dimensions.
[602] This was the name of the place where the Ecclesia, the public
meeting of the people, took place; the chorus gives this name here to
Demeter's temple, because the women are gathered there.
[603] The spaces left free between the tents, and which served as
passage-ways.
[604] A choric dance began here.
[605] A woman's footgear. --On undressing the supposed child, Mnesilochus
perceives that it is nothing but a skin of wine.
[606] Dr. P. Menier repeatedly points out in his "La medecine et les
po? tes latins," that the ancient writers constantly spoke of ten months
as being a woman's period of gestation.
[607] A cotyla contained nearly half a pint.
[608] Both the Feast of Cups and the Dionysia were dedicated to Bacchus,
the god of wine; it is for this reason that Mnesilochus refers to the
former when guessing the wine-skin's age.
[609] The Cretan robe that had covered the wine-skin.
[610] An allusion to the tragedy by Euripides called 'Palamedes,' which
belonged to the tetralogy of the Troades, and was produced in 414 B. C.
Aristophanes is railing at the strange device which the poet makes Oeax
resort to. Oeax was Palamedes' brother, and he is represented as
inscribing the death of the latter on a number of oars with the hope that
at least one would reach the shores of Euboea and thus inform his father,
Nauplias, the king of the fact.
[611] The images of the various gods which were invoked at the
Thesmophoria, and the enumeration of which we have already had.
[612] Charminus, an Athenian general, who had recently been defeated at
sea by the Spartans. --Nausimache was a courtesan, but her name is
purposely chosen because of its derivation ([Greek: naus], ship, and
[Greek: mach_e], fight), so as to point more strongly to Charminus'
disgrace.
[613] A general and an Athenian orator.
[614] A courtesan.
[615] Aristomache ([Greek: mach_e], fight, and [Greek: arist_e],
excellent) and Stratonice ([Greek: stratos], army, and [Greek: nik_e],
victory) are imaginary names, invented to show the decadence of the
Athenian armies.
[616] Eubule ([Greek: eu], well, and [Greek: bouleuesthai], to
deliberate) is also an imaginary name. The poet wishes to say that in
that year wisdom had not ruled the decisions of the Senate; they had
allowed themselves to be humbled by the tyranny of the Four Hundred.
[617] The cylinder and the beams were the chief tools of the weaver. It
was the women who did this work.
[618] The taxiarch had the command of 128 men; the strategus had the
direction of an army.
[619] The Sthenia were celebrated in honour of Athene Sthenias, or the
goddess of force; the women were then wont to attack each other with
bitter sarcasms. --During the Scirophoria ([Greek: skiron], canopy) the
statues of Athene, Demeter, Persephone, the Sun and Posidon were carried
in procession under canopies with great pomp.
[620] The trierarchs were rich citizens, whose duty it was to maintain
the galleys or triremes of the fleet.
[621] Hyperbolus is incessantly railed at by Aristophanes as a traitor
and an informer. Lamachus, although our poet does not always spare him,
was a brave general; he had been one of the commanders of the Sicilian
Expedition.
[622] It will be remembered that Mnesilochus had employed a similar
device to one imputed to Oeax by Euripides in his 'Palamedes,' in order
to inform his father-in-law of his predicament.
[623] A tragedy, in which Menelaus is seen in Egypt, whither he has gone
to seek Helen, who is detained there.
[624] These are the opening verses of Euripides' 'Helen,' with the
exception of the last words, which are a parody. --Syrmea is a purgative
plant very common in Egypt. Aristophanes speaks jestingly of the white
soil of Egypt, because the slime of the Nile is very black.
[625] This reply and those that follow are fragments from 'Helen. '
[626] An infamous Athenian, whose name had become a byword for everything
that was vile.
[627] The whole of this dialogue between Mnesilochus and Euripides is
composed of fragments taken from 'Helen,' slightly parodied at times.
[628] King of Egypt.
[629] Son of Epicles, and mentioned by Thucydides.
[630] Aristophanes invents this in order to give coherence to what
follows.
[631] An Athenian general whom Thucydides mentions.
[632] A deme of Attica.
[633] No doubt Euripides appeared on the stage carrying some herbs in his
hand or wearing them in his belt, so as to recall his mother's calling.
If the gibes of Aristophanes can be believed, she dealt in vegetables, as
we have noted repeatedly.
[634] A ruined man, living in penury, presumably well known to the
audience.
[635] Apollo.
[636] Surnames of Bacchus.
[637] The archers, or the police officers, at Athens were mostly
Scythians. If not from that country always, they were known generally by
that name.
[638] Which the archer had driven in to tighten up the rope binding the
prison to the pillory.
[639] Perseus was returning from the land of the Gorgons mounted upon
Pegasus, when, while high up in the air, he saw Andromeda bound to a rock
and exposed to the lusts and voracity of a sea monster. Touched by the
misfortune and the beauty of the princess, he turned the monster to stone
by showing him the head of Medusa, released Andromeda and married
her. --Euripides had just produced a tragedy on this subject.
[640] Mnesilochus speaks alternately in his own person and as though he
were Andromeda, the effect being comical in the extreme.
[641] A notorious glutton, mentioned also in the 'Peace. '
[642] Through Euripides, his father-in-law.
[643] On the occasion of the presentation of the tragedy of 'Andromeda,'
in which the nymph Echo plays an important part.
[644] Unknown; Aristophanes plays upon the similarity of name.
[645] That is, the Thesmophoriae, viz. Demeter and Persephone.
[646] Throughout the whole scene the Scythian speaks with a grotesque
barbarian accent.
[647] The pun depends in the Greek on the similarity of the final
syllables of [Greek: subin_e], and [Greek: katabin_esi]. It can be given
literally in English.
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
INTRODUCTION
The 'Ecclesiazusae, or Women in Council,' was not produced till twenty
years after the preceding play, the 'Thesmophoriazusae' (at the Great
Dionysia of 392 B. C. ), but is conveniently classed with it as being also
largely levelled against the fair sex. "It is a broad, but very amusing,
satire upon those ideal republics, founded upon communistic principles,
of which Plato's well-known treatise is the best example. His 'Republic'
had been written, and probably delivered in the form of oral lectures at
Athens, only two or three years before, and had no doubt excited a
considerable sensation. But many of its most startling principles had
long ago been ventilated in the Schools. "
Like the 'Lysistrata,' the play is a picture of woman's ascendancy in the
State, and the topsy-turvy consequences resulting from such a reversal of
ordinary conditions. The women of Athens, under the leadership of the
wise Praxagora, resolve to reform the constitution. To this end they don
men's clothes, and taking seats in the Assembly on the Pnyx, command a
majority of votes and carry a series of revolutionary proposals--that the
government be vested in a committee of women, and further, that property
and women be henceforth held in common. The main part of the comedy deals
with the many amusing difficulties that arise inevitably from this new
state of affairs, the community of women above all necessitating special
safeguarding clauses to secure the rights of the less attractive members
of the sex to the service of the younger and handsomer men. Community of
goods again, private property being abolished, calls for a regulation
whereby all citizens are to dine at the public expense in the various
public halls of the city, the particular place of each being determined
by lot; and the drama winds up with one of these feasts, the elaborate
menu of which is given in burlesque, and with the jubilations of the
women over their triumph.
"This comedy appears to labour under the very same faults as the 'Peace. '
The introduction, the secret assembly of the women, their rehearsal of
their parts as men, the description of the popular assembly, are all
handled in the most masterly manner; but towards the middle the action
stands still. Nothing remains but the representation of the perplexities
and confusion which arise from the new arrangements, especially in
connection with the community of women, and from the prescribed equality
of rights in love both for the old and ugly and for the young and
beautiful. These perplexities are pleasant enough, but they turn too much
on a repetition of the same joke. "
We learn from the text of the play itself that the 'Ecclesiazusae' was
drawn by lot for first representation among the comedies offered for
competition at the Festival, the Author making a special appeal to his
audience not to let themselves be influenced unfavourably by the
circumstance; but whether the play was successful in gaining a prize is
not recorded.
* * * * *
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
PRAXAGORA.
BLEPYRUS, husband of Praxagora.
WOMEN.
A MAN.
CHREMES.
TWO CITIZENS.
HERALD.
AN OLD MAN.
A GIRL.
A YOUNG MAN.
THREE OLD WOMEN.
A SERVANT MAID.
HER MASTER.
CHORUS OF WOMEN.
SCENE: Before a house in a Public Square at Athens; a lamp is burning
over the door. Time: a little after midnight.
* * * * *
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
or
Women In Council
PRAXAGORA (_enters carrying a lamp in her hand_). Oh! thou shining light
of my earthenware lamp, from this high spot shalt thou look abroad. Oh!
lamp, I will tell thee thine origin and thy future; 'tis the rapid whirl
of the potter's wheel that has lent thee thy shape, and thy wick
counterfeits the glory of the sun;[648] mayst thou send the agreed signal
flashing afar! In thee alone do we confide, and thou art worthy, for thou
art near us when we practise the various postures in which Aphrodite
delights upon our couches, and none dream even in the midst of her sports
of seeking to avoid thine eye that watches our swaying bodies. Thou alone
shinest into the depths of our most secret charms, and with thy flame
dost singe the hairy growth of our privates. If we open some cellar
stored with fruits and wine, thou art our companion, and never dost thou
betray or reveal to a neighbour the secrets thou hast learned about us.
Therefore thou shalt know likewise the whole of the plot that I have
planned with my friends, the women, at the festival of the
Scirophoria. [649]
I see none of those I was expecting, though dawn approaches; the Assembly
is about to gather and we must take our seats in spite of
Phyromachus,[650] who forsooth would say, "It is meet the women sit apart
and hidden from the eyes of the men. " Why, have they not been able then
to procure the false beards that they must wear, or to steal their
husbands cloaks? Ah! I see a light approaching; let us draw somewhat
aside, for fear it should be a man.
FIRST WOMAN. Let us start, it is high time; as we left our dwellings, the
cock was crowing for the second time.
PRAXAGORA. And I have spent the whole night waiting for you. But come,
let us call our neighbour by scratching at her door; and gently too, so
that her husband may hear nothing.
SECOND WOMAN. I was putting on my shoes, when I heard you scratching, for
I was not asleep, so there! Oh! my dear, my husband (he is a Salaminian)
never left me an instant's peace, but was at me, for ever at me, all
night long, so that it was only just now that I was able to filch his
cloak.
FIRST WOMAN. I see Clinarete coming too, along with Sostrate and their
next-door neighbour Philaenete.
PRAXAGORA. Hurry yourselves then, for Glyce has sworn that the last comer
shall forfeit three measures of wine and a _choenix_ of pease.
FIRST WOMAN. Don't you see Melistice, the wife of Smicythion, hurrying
hither in her great shoes? Methinks she is the only one of us all who has
had no trouble in getting rid of her husband.
