and how strong you seem; why,
you could strangle a bull surely!
you could strangle a bull surely!
Aristophanes
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! [405] But you, my dear, you from hardy Sparta, if _you_ join me,
all may yet be well; help me, second me, I conjure you.
LAMPITO. 'Tis a hard thing, by the two goddesses[406] it is! for a woman
to sleep alone without ever a standing weapon in her bed. But there,
Peace must come first.
LYSISTRATA. Oh, my dear, my dearest, best friend, you are the only one
deserving the name of woman!
CALONICE. But if--which the gods forbid--we do refrain altogether from
what you say, should we get peace any sooner?
LYSISTRATA. Of course we should, by the goddesses twain! We need only sit
indoors with painted cheeks, and meet our mates lightly clad in
transparent gowns of Amorgos[407] silk, and with our "mottes" nicely
plucked smooth; then their tools will stand like mad and they will be
wild to lie with us. That will be the time to refuse, and they will
hasten to make peace, I am convinced of that!
LAMPITO. Yes, just as Menelaus, when he saw Helen's naked bosom, threw
away his sword, they say.
CALONICE. But, poor devils, suppose our husbands go away and leave us.
LYSISTRATA. Then, as Pherecrates says, we must "flay a skinned dog,"[408]
that's all.
CALONICE. Bah! these proverbs are all idle talk. . . . But if our husbands
drag us by main force into the bedchamber?
LYSISTRATA. Hold on to the door posts.
CALONICE. But if they beat us?
LYSISTRATA. Then yield to their wishes, but with a bad grace; there is no
pleasure for them, when they do it by force. Besides, there are a
thousand ways of tormenting them. Never fear, they'll soon tire of the
game; there's no satisfaction for a man, unless the woman shares it.
CALONICE. Very well, if you _will_ have it so, we agree.
LAMPITO. For ourselves, no doubt we shall persuade our husbands to
conclude a fair and honest peace; but there is the Athenian populace, how
are we to cure these folk of their warlike frenzy?
LYSISTRATA. Have no fear; we undertake to make our own people hear
reason.
LAMPITO. Nay, impossible, so long as they have their trusty ships and the
vast treasures stored in the temple of Athene.
LYSISTRATA. Ah! but we have seen to that; this very day the Acropolis
will be in our hands. That is the task assigned to the older women; while
we are here in council, they are going, under pretence of offering
sacrifice, to seize the citadel.
LAMPITO. Well said indeed! so everything is going for the best.
LYSISTRATA. Come, quick, Lampito, and let us bind ourselves by an
inviolable oath.
LAMPITO. Recite the terms; we will swear to them.
LYSISTRATA. With pleasure. Where is our Usheress? [409] Now, what are you
staring at, pray? Lay this shield on the earth before us, its hollow
upwards, and someone bring me the victim's inwards.
CALONICE. Lysistrata, say, what oath are we to swear?
LYSISTRATA. What oath? Why, in Aeschylus, they sacrifice a sheep, and
swear over a buckler;[410] we will do the same.
CALONICE. No, Lysistrata, one cannot swear peace over a buckler, surely.
LYSISTRATA. What other oath do you prefer?
CALONICE. Let's take a white horse, and sacrifice it, and swear on its
entrails.
LYSISTRATA. But where get a white horse from?
CALONICE. Well, what oath shall we take then?
LYSISTRATA. Listen to me. Let's set a great black bowl on the ground;
let's sacrifice a skin of Thasian[411] wine into it, and take oath not to
add one single drop of water.
LAMPITO. Ah! that's an oath pleases me more than I can say.
LYSISTRATA. Let them bring me a bowl and a skin of wine.
CALONICE. Ah! my dears, what a noble big bowl! what a delight 'twill be
to empty it!
LYSISTRATA. Set the bowl down on the ground, and lay your hands on the
victim. . . . Almighty goddess, Persuasion, and thou, bowl, boon comrade of
joy and merriment, receive this our sacrifice, and be propitious to us
poor women!
CALONICE. Oh! the fine red blood! how well it flows!
LAMPITO. And what a delicious savour, by the goddesses twain!
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! [405] But you, my dear, you from hardy Sparta, if _you_ join me,
all may yet be well; help me, second me, I conjure you.
LAMPITO. 'Tis a hard thing, by the two goddesses[406] it is! for a woman
to sleep alone without ever a standing weapon in her bed. But there,
Peace must come first.
LYSISTRATA. Oh, my dear, my dearest, best friend, you are the only one
deserving the name of woman!
CALONICE. But if--which the gods forbid--we do refrain altogether from
what you say, should we get peace any sooner?
LYSISTRATA. Of course we should, by the goddesses twain! We need only sit
indoors with painted cheeks, and meet our mates lightly clad in
transparent gowns of Amorgos[407] silk, and with our "mottes" nicely
plucked smooth; then their tools will stand like mad and they will be
wild to lie with us. That will be the time to refuse, and they will
hasten to make peace, I am convinced of that!
LAMPITO. Yes, just as Menelaus, when he saw Helen's naked bosom, threw
away his sword, they say.
CALONICE. But, poor devils, suppose our husbands go away and leave us.
LYSISTRATA. Then, as Pherecrates says, we must "flay a skinned dog,"[408]
that's all.
CALONICE. Bah! these proverbs are all idle talk. . . . But if our husbands
drag us by main force into the bedchamber?
LYSISTRATA. Hold on to the door posts.
CALONICE. But if they beat us?
LYSISTRATA. Then yield to their wishes, but with a bad grace; there is no
pleasure for them, when they do it by force. Besides, there are a
thousand ways of tormenting them. Never fear, they'll soon tire of the
game; there's no satisfaction for a man, unless the woman shares it.
CALONICE. Very well, if you _will_ have it so, we agree.
LAMPITO. For ourselves, no doubt we shall persuade our husbands to
conclude a fair and honest peace; but there is the Athenian populace, how
are we to cure these folk of their warlike frenzy?
LYSISTRATA. Have no fear; we undertake to make our own people hear
reason.
LAMPITO. Nay, impossible, so long as they have their trusty ships and the
vast treasures stored in the temple of Athene.
LYSISTRATA. Ah! but we have seen to that; this very day the Acropolis
will be in our hands. That is the task assigned to the older women; while
we are here in council, they are going, under pretence of offering
sacrifice, to seize the citadel.
LAMPITO. Well said indeed! so everything is going for the best.
LYSISTRATA. Come, quick, Lampito, and let us bind ourselves by an
inviolable oath.
LAMPITO. Recite the terms; we will swear to them.
LYSISTRATA. With pleasure. Where is our Usheress? [409] Now, what are you
staring at, pray? Lay this shield on the earth before us, its hollow
upwards, and someone bring me the victim's inwards.
CALONICE. Lysistrata, say, what oath are we to swear?
LYSISTRATA. What oath? Why, in Aeschylus, they sacrifice a sheep, and
swear over a buckler;[410] we will do the same.
CALONICE. No, Lysistrata, one cannot swear peace over a buckler, surely.
LYSISTRATA. What other oath do you prefer?
CALONICE. Let's take a white horse, and sacrifice it, and swear on its
entrails.
LYSISTRATA. But where get a white horse from?
CALONICE. Well, what oath shall we take then?
LYSISTRATA. Listen to me. Let's set a great black bowl on the ground;
let's sacrifice a skin of Thasian[411] wine into it, and take oath not to
add one single drop of water.
LAMPITO. Ah! that's an oath pleases me more than I can say.
LYSISTRATA. Let them bring me a bowl and a skin of wine.
CALONICE. Ah! my dears, what a noble big bowl! what a delight 'twill be
to empty it!
LYSISTRATA. Set the bowl down on the ground, and lay your hands on the
victim. . . . Almighty goddess, Persuasion, and thou, bowl, boon comrade of
joy and merriment, receive this our sacrifice, and be propitious to us
poor women!
CALONICE. Oh! the fine red blood! how well it flows!
LAMPITO. And what a delicious savour, by the goddesses twain!
