The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lysistrata

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Title: Lysistrata

A modern paraphrase from the Greek of Aristophanes

Author: Aristophanes

Laurence Housman

Release date: January 23, 2026 [eBook #77760]

Language: English

Original publication: London: The Woman's Press, 1911

Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LYSISTRATA ***

Photograph by Messrs. Alexander Corbett, Orchard Street, W.

Miss Gertrude Kingston in the Title Rôle of Lysistrata.

LYSISTRATA

A MODERN PARAPHRASE
FROM
THE GREEK OF ARISTOPHANES

BY
LAURENCE HOUSMAN

LONDON:
THE WOMAN'S PRESS

156, Charing Cross Road, w.c.
1911

CHARACTERS

Lysistrata		Athenians.
Calonice
Myrrhina
Stratyllis

Lampito		A Spartan.

1st Leader of Chorus
2nd Leader of Chorus
3rd Leader of Chorus
Chorus of Women

1st Athenian Woman
2nd Athenian Woman
3rd Athenian Woman
4th Athenian Woman

Athenian, Spartan, Bœotian, and Corinthian Women.

Peace
Cinesias		Myrrhina's Husband.
Manes		His Servant.
Child		Son to Cinesias.

A Committee-man
Spartan Herald
1st Spartan Ambassador
2nd Spartan Ambassador

1st Leader of Chorus
2nd Leader of Chorus
3rd Leader of Chorus
4th Leader of Chorus

Chorus of Old Men
Policemen
Athenians
Spartans

Scene: A street in Athens, with steps leading to the Acropolis.

[Dramatic Rights Reserved].

[Pg 5]

Lysistrata

SCENE I.

Time: Before dawn.

(Enter Lysistrata. She walks to and fro
and looks anxiously to right and left.)

Lys. None here! The place is void, the streets are dumb:

Though I have called, the women have not come!

Ah, had it been for Bacchus, or for Pan,

Or Her who casts her woman-wiles on man,—

White foam-born Aphrodite—swift and loud

With beat of drums had thronged the giddy crowd

To do them honour! Now I stand alone

Uncomraded; and these soft hearts are stone

While stricken Greece goes stumbling to her death.

Yet here comes one!

(Enter Calonice, very slowly, dragging

her feet, yawning and still dressing herself.)

What! Are you out of breath

With running, Calonice? Good, indeed!

O swift of foot, I praise you for your speed!

Cal. Nay, peace, Lysistrata! What trouble now?

Why look you sad, my child? That darkened brow

Becomes you not.

(Tries to embrace her. Lysistrata turns away.) [Pg 6]

Lys.Oh, Calonice, flame

Eats at my heart, and wrath, and heavy shame

That there be women whom men can rightly hold

In base esteem.

Cal. (adjusting her dress.) Aye, true!

Lys.So when 'twas told

How here a voice should speak and bid them rouse

For Athen's sake, naught did they care! They drowse

Lapt in fond dreams.

Cal.Well, they must sleep sometimes!

Lys. Yes, and make sleep the cover of their crimes!

Not sleep alone—

Cal. "Not sleep alone!"

Lys.—but sloth and slavish lust

Have made them tame!

Cal.Ah, give them time! You trust

My word for it, they'll come! Often, no doubt,

'Tis difficult for women to get out:

For those with husbands have enough to do;

And servants need a looking after, too;

And then the children—one to put to bed,

And one to wash, another to be fed;—

Ah! there's no end to it!

Lys.And yet, my friend,

To all these things now there must be an end.

There stands for us a stiffer load to bear.

Cal. Than woman's burden? Why, what is it? Where?

Lysistrata, belongs it ... to our trade?

Lys. Touching alike the matron and the maid.

Cal. (with sudden comprehension). Oh! Is that it?

What? Is it so you mean?

[Pg 7]

Lys. Nay, there's no man in it! Oh, had there been,

Out they'd have buzzed like flies to tainted flesh!

That which I have in mind is something fresh—

Frost, and yet fire: a love which looks like hate,

Barren, yet breeding safety to the State.

Cal. Surely a subtle thing, past women's ken?

Lys. Nay, not so far; yet past the thoughts of men.

The hope of Greece depends on women now.

Cal. What, on us women? A frail hope, I vow!

Oh, what a pass! (Turns away.)

Lys.That wherein now we stand,

Surely is worse: for now on every hand,

State against State, we waste ourselves in war.

Soon shall the breed of Sparta be no more

Than a mere name; and Corinth by her seas

Will lie in ruins!

Cal.Well, and are not these

The foes of Athens?

Lys. Foes! the race which slew

With us the Persian? Athens will go, too,

When Sparta dies: for, Greece being drained of men

And emptied of her strength, we perish then

Beyond redemption!

Cal.Aye, most miserably!

For without men where should we women be?

Lys. Therefore I call on women to unite

And win for us salvation.

Cal.What? To fight?

Lys. A woman's battle.

Cal.Think you we can win?

[Pg 8]

Lys. Word has gone forth: and let them but come in

To Athens from the North and Peloponnese,

The women in alliance shall save Greece.

Cal. Oh! they won't come! What, shall the Spartan wives

Join hands with us, while Spartans risk their lives

In war on Athens? Did I not hear of late

My husband say never was there such hate

As now 'twixt us and them?

Lys.I have a plan

Of peace: each woman must subdue her man.

Cal. What can a woman do, save to go dressed

In saffron robe, with loose Cimmerian vest

And sandalled feet? Can hands which ply their craft

On curl and comb, and ointment, hold the haft

Of weaponed war? (Seats herself.)

Lys.These are the very things

Wherewith to fight; from them salvation springs,—

The saffron robe, the delicate sandalled feet,

The broidered vest, the curl, the ointment sweet!

Cal. How? To what end shall these things help us here?

Lys. (rises). So that henceforth no man shall lift a spear

Against his neighbour.

Cal.Nay, my wits are weak:

Your words sound empty.

Lys.So that Greek 'gainst Greek

Shall take up arms no more,—

Cal.Then joy betide!

Swiftly I'll get me a robe with saffron dyed!

Lys. Nor bear a shield,—

Cal. (re-arranging her dress). I'll don the broidered vest!

[Pg 9]

Lys. Nor wield a sword!

Cal.Sandals, aye, of the best!

Lys. For such an end should women not stand by?

Cal. Nay, by the gods, now ought they not to fly—

Fly to us?

(Dawn has begun.)

Lys.Ah! In every Grecian State

Women are doing as they ought—too late!

Not from the coast nor yet from Salamis

Comes countenance or aid;

(Sounds of approaching voices from all sides.)

Cal.Yet I know this,—

Swift boats came o'er the strait at break of day.

Lys. And the Acharnian women still hold away,

Though first of all I reckoned upon these!

Cal. I heard of one—wife of Theogenes—

Swearing by Hecate she meant to come.

(Voices outside grow louder.)

But see, look yonder now! For there be some;

And here be others. Ha! ha! Whence come these?

Lys. From Anagyrus.

Cal.By the gods, one sees

Something has stirred them now, at any rate!

(Enter Myrrhina, followed by Stratyllis and others;

they are chattering and laughing, excited and half-dressed.

As they come they are finishing their toilets.)

Myrr. (mincingly). Lysistrata, I hope I am not too late.

Will you not speak then? Why so black a brow?

(Goes to Lysistrata, who turns away.)

[Pg 10]

Lys. How can I praise you that you come but now—

So slow, Myrrhina, when Greece seeks our aid?

Myrr. 'Twas dark: I lost my girdle, and was afraid

To come alone.

1st Athen. Woman.I could not find my shoes.

2nd Athen. Woman. Nor I my cap.

3rd Athen. Woman.Nay, truly?

Strat.Well, what news?

What have we come for,—tell us!

Myrr.If the need

Be pressing, let us hear!

Lys.Not so, indeed!

Wait till those other women, who set forth

First to our summons, from the south and north,

From Peloponnese and from Bœotia come.

(More voices are heard approaching.)

Myrr. Oh, when you please! But yonder I see some.

(The women wave greetings. Enter from

the left Lampito with other Spartans.)

Lys. O dear Laconia! Welcome, Lampito!

How shines your beauty, and how bright a glow

Of colour fills your face! O strong of limb!

Were Minotaur your match you'd throttle him.

Lamp. By the twin gods, I would try, any way!

I am a match for men, at fight or play.

(Bends her arm and displays her biceps; a murmur of

admiration goes round; and other women feel theirs.)

Lys. Oh, what fair form is this?

Lamp.Nay, friend, let go!

Am I a victim that you hold me so?

[Pg 11]

Lys. A pledge of victory that shall soon be ours.

Ah, who be these?

(The sun rises. Enter Bœotian Women.)

Lamp.Bœotians.

Lys.What bright flowers!

O fair Bœotia, with the full sweet breast

And locks wherein the sunlight seems to rest,

I give you greeting. Next?

(The Bœotian Women stand staring and

giggling. Enter Corinthian Women.)

Lamp.Corinthians these.

Lys. Oh, welcome Corinth, that between two seas

Lieth embraced, yet stayeth a virgin still.

1st Athen. Woman. O double faced! (Aside.)

2nd Athen. Woman. Her looks belie it. (Aside.)

3rd Athen. Woman. Be still! (Aside.)

Lamp. Who called us hither?

Lys.I.

Lamp.What was your will?

(A pause.)

Nay, here we stand: therefore, I say, disclose

Why hast thou brought to Athens friends and foes.

Corinth. Tell us!

Several Women (excitedly). Aye, speak!

Myrr. (sarcastically).This great, this pressing need.

Lys.Yea, I will speak. (Slowly.) But first, my friends,——

(Exclamation of impatience from all.)

give heed

To one small question.

Several Women. Ask us what you please!

[Pg 12]

Lys. O wives and mothers, to whom war decrees

A life unhusbanded, do ye not yearn

For those who gave you children to return?

(A pause.)

Several Women. Do we not yearn? Oh, me! do we not yearn?

We yearn, we burn, to learn of their return!

Lys. Full well ye know how long they have been kept

On foreign service.

Cal.Aye, ten moons I've slept

A widow!

Bœot.And I!—No husband have I seen

For five long months or more.

Myrr.And mine has been

Absent in Pylos seven.

Corinth.And mine the same.

Lamp. My lover, too. A week ago he came;

Yet scarce had time to lay by sword and shield

Ere back again they called him to the field.

1st Leader of Women. O womanhood, that waits with widowed breast

Safe in the guarded home, yet finds no rest!

Chorus of Women.Ah!

(A long-drawn sigh.)

Lys. So men make war, and women bear the theft.

There's scarcely a gallant or a lover left

In Attica.

(The women burst into tears.)

And those who stay behind

Still goad them to it. O women, would ye find

A way to end this war—say at what price?

Myrr. I'd pawn my frock!

1st Athen. Woman. I too!

[Pg 13]

2nd Athen. Woman. And I!

3rd Athen. Woman.And I!

Cal.I'd take a knife and slice

My body into fillets like fish for pence!

Lamp. And I would climb Taygetus, if thence

I might get sight of peace!

(General consent.)

Lys. Well, hear me then, for now I speak! Ye know

How at each festival they make a show

And a pretence of peace, calling a truce:—

And each man then comes home.

Cal.Ah! for what use?

Just for one greedy bite—then off again.

A snack of comfort. Oh, I know these men!

Lys. And now, to-day, ye look for their return.

Several Women. Yes, yes.

Lys. Brief is the truce, and brief the bliss ye earn

For all your waiting.

All the Women (sighing). Aye!

Lys.For while men fight

Never shall women's love retain its right

In hearth and home.

All the Women.'Tis true!

Lys.Well, hearken then,

And be ye brave!... If ye would make these men

Wishful for peace we women must ... abstain.

Myrr. From what?

Lys.Oh, me! if now I plead in vain.

All the Women. From what? From what?

Lys.It is no easy thing.

[Pg 14]

Lamp. Let it be hard!

Cal.Oh, cease this torturing!

Lys. In this fresh truce, what ye must bear is more

Than ye have borne through all the years of war.

All the Women. What?

Lys.Will ye do it?

Myrr.Yes, even though we die!

(A long pause.)

Lys. Abstain ye, then ... from love.

(All draw back and turn sorrowfully away.)

Oh, sisters, why

Do ye turn from me? Whither will ye go?

Why have ye shut your lips? Why shake ye so

Your heads at me? Why pale and turned to tears?

Will ye, or will ye not?...

(Each one whom she challenges turns from her.)

O ye deaf ears!

O women, where is your high purpose gone?

Myrr. (in low, firm tone). I cannot do it. Let the war go on!

Cal. Nor I. War must go on.

(Comfortably accepting the inevitable.)

Lys.What you—you fish

Ready for filletting!

Cal.Oh, let us wish

For any cure but that!

All the Women.Aye, any cure but that!

Cal.At your desire

I would be willing even to walk through fire!

But—take not love away!

All the Women.Not love! Not love!

[Pg 15]

Lys. (to Myrrhina).And what say you?

Myrr. (trippingly). To walk through fire I would be

willing too.

Corinth. Fire? Oh, that's nothing! Fire?

Bœot. I wouldn't care.

3rd Athen. Woman. I would do anything—go anywhere.

Corinth. But to do this, I couldn't! Well, you see—

'Twould be so useless—so unwomanly.

Lys. Oh, wretched race, which makes all Greece its grave!

Women be vessels driven by wind and wave—

In nothing steadfast.... Ah, Laconia's bride,

Speak for me, Lampito; be on my side!

(Lampito is quiet for a moment, she closes

her eyes and sways to and fro biting her lips,

then speaks with conviction and resolution.)

Lamp. Now, by the gods, a woman's life is hard

When of her lover's lips she stays debarred....

Yet we must do it: the land hath need of peace.

Lys. O bravest woman! One, out of all these!

Cal. But if we do, what profit will it bring?

How without love comes peace or anything?

Lys. Hark! I will show. Let each go to her home,

Put on fair raiment, ply the paint and comb

With secret art,—over the tender breast

With cords of gold unloop the scented vest:

Then wait, and when your warriors return

After long absence, oh, shall they not burn

To kiss the lips where welcome seems to wait

So lovingly? And when a harder fate

Meets their advances, and a voice cries "Go!

Not till ye bring us peace!" Full well I know

Peace will come quickly then.

(The Women during this speech have been gradually

won over: it appeals to their sex-vanity.)

[Pg 16]

Lamp. (rising to full height). O most true word!

Even so fierce Menelaus sheathed his sword

For the bright breasts of Helen!

Myrr.You speak fair!

But, friend, suppose our husbands ... went elsewhere?

Lys. Is yours like that? The covers will be bare.

Cal. What if they come and take the kiss by force?

(The Bœotian Women shake their heads

continuously. The rest listen anxiously.)

Lys. Cling to the door-post, then; or lock the doors!

Cal. What if they beat us?

Lys.Still ye can annoy,

Still fret and vex; for no man can have joy

If ye afflict him.

Cal. (shaking her head). Ah! Mine won't give in!

Lys. Let him hold out—what profit shall he win?

Surely ye know, each in your secret heart,

Smooth are a woman's ways to make men smart.

Cal. There, there, I don't deny it. It's true indeed!

Well, since ye wish it, are the rest agreed?

Corinth. Perhaps. I'll wait and see.

Lys.Nay, answer now!

Oh come, ye women, and take up this vow!

Lamp. Each to persuade her lover or her mate?

Easy for us! But here you have a State

Governed by party—babblers without brain.

Lys. Each must persuade her party.

Lamp.Nay, 'tis vain.

Voteless ye cannot! The fleet stands equipped,

Supply is voted, and each party, whipped

To its own ends, strives only to get hold

Of power, and office, and the public gold.

[Pg 17]

Lys. And when no gold remains, then war will cease.

Cal. Is it till then that we must wait for peace?

Why! in yon Parthenon the State has stores

Of gold that would provide a dozen wars!

Lys. Make your mind easy: I have planned for this:

To-day we seize upon the Acropolis.

(General excitement.)

Word has gone forth, and while we here debate

The elders of our women have passed the gate:

Soon will the prize be ours.

Cal.And all the gold?

Lys. That, and the public peace is yours to hold.

All the Women. Evoe! Evoe! Evoe!

(They run about waving their veils and shouting.)

Lamp.You have planned well!

Lys. So, that our cause may stand inviolable,

Now take the oath, then forward let us fare.

Are you content?

All the Women.We are!

Cal.Nay, have a care!

What are we doing?

Lamp. Speak, then, the word!

Cal.In what form do we swear?

Lys. In blood of bulls poured out upon a shield.

Strat. It were ill-omened on so dark a field

To sue for peace.

Lys.How then?

Cal.Take a white horse,

Slay it; then sit thereon!

Lys.That has no force.

Strat. Why not a goat?

Myrr.A dove?

[Pg 18]

Bœot.No; something big!

Corinth. A cow?

1st Athen. Woman. A fish, a filleted fish! (to Calonice).

Cal. (repulsing her). A pig!

Lys. Nay, sisters, is not this a fairer sign?

Take a great goblet.

(Shouts of "Yes!" and "No!"

Lampito threatens the dissentients).

Slay a cask of wine:

Fill up the cup; then let the oath begin—

"Not until peace will I pour water in!"

Lamp. O Mother Earth, to thee I make this oath!

Lys. Bring cup, and hulk of wine.

(Servant carries away shield and brings

back cup and wine-skin).

and set them both

Here on this altar.

(Calonice takes the cup and exhibits it.)

Thou fair girth and form,

Who clasps and drinks of thee, his blood grows warm;

Who lacks of thee, lacks also of life's crown!

(To Calonice.)

Lift up the victim: set the goblet down.

(The cup is set down. The wine-skin is

held ready above it.)

Fair goddess of Persuasion, and sweet Cup

Of comfortable Love, take and drink up,

Friendly to us, this blood!

(She stabs the wine-skin: the wine flows out.)

Cal. (smacking her lips). It bubbles well!

Corinth. Brightly it runs!

(Women smack their lips.)

[Pg 19]

1st Athen. Woman (sniffing with relish). Aye, and how sweet a smell!

Lamp. By the twin gods, how it awakes my thirst!

Lys. Permit me, O fair comrades, to drink first.

(She takes up the cup.)

Cal. No, by the gods! Wait till the lots be cast.

Lys. Come, Lampito, and let us all link fast

Our hands around the bowl: then let my word

Lead for the rest: and after ye have heard

Let one among you speak: so, having cried

Our common cause, thereto shall ye abide.

(They all lay hands on the cup.)

Lys. "I swear there is no man, lover or spouse"—

(A pause.)

(The other women beckon for Calonice to speak:

she shakes her head and draws back. Lysistrata

catches her by the shoulder and draws her forward.

She still remains silent till Lampito gives her a

hard push from behind.)

Cal. "I swear there is no man, lover or spouse"—

Lys. "Whom I will meet to mate with or yield vows"—

(A pause. Lysistrata stamps her foot.)

Say it!

Cal. "Whom I will meet or mate with to yield vows"—

Lys. "Of love."

Cal. "Of love." (Sobs.)

Lys. "But I will lead a life chaste and austere"—

Cal. (struggling with her emotions).

"But I will lead a life chaste and austere"—

Lys. "Decked in a saffron robe, and in such gear"—

[Pg 20]

Cal (half laughing, half crying).

"Decked in a saffron robe, and in such gear"—

Lys. "That he who loves me needs must love me more"—

—Don't drop the bowl!—

(The women show relief, the Bœotians giggle.

Lampito nudges them. Calonice's spirits

begin to revive.)

Cal. "That he who loves me needs must love me more"—

Lys. "And for the kiss denied feel hunger sore."

Cal. (doubtful and apprehensive).

"And for the kiss denied feel hunger sore."

Lys. "I will provide cold lips for him to taste,"

Cal. Ah, lies, all lies! (Aside.)

"Cold lips for him to taste——"

Lys. "His arm shall not be wound about my waist!"

Cal. (reluctantly, her voice breaking).

"His arm shall not be wound about my waist."

Lys. "If I stand firm, the cup of joy be mine!"

Cal."If I stand firm—(sobs)—the cup of joy be mine!" (Sobs.)

Lys. "If I break faith, let water drown the wine."

Cal. Yes ... I mean it!

(Calonice sobs over the wine-cup.)

Lys. So swear we all. (Lifts the cup.)

All the Women.So, by high Zeus we swear!

Lys. Thus pledged I drink.

Cal..Here! don't you take my share!

(Calonice drinks deep. The other women

seize hold of the cup.)

[Pg 21]

Lamp. Nay, cease, I tell you! Let it pass about

As between equals.

(Drinks and passes it. The cup goes round.

Calonice follows it.)

(A shout is heard within.)

Lamp.Ha! what was that shout?

Lys. That which I planned and told. Know ye by this

Our women warders hold the Acropolis.

(General excitement. Some run to look over the

gate, wave to those within, and run back again.)

(Enter an Old Woman, bearing a key.

She gives it to Lysistrata.)

Now farewell, comrades, farewell, Lampito.

Swiftly let each one to her city go,

There to breed peace! Meanwhile we will hold these

Fair pledges of your troth, as hostages.

Come, Corinth, to your foes be faithful now;

And you in Athens keep your Spartan vow.

(She draws hostages from the Spartans, Corinthians, and

Bœotians, and passes them to the care of the Athenians.)

The Women Chorus. Now for the Women's War!

All the Women.Evoe! Evoe!

1st Leader of Women. O Pallas, bring us peace!

2nd Leader of Women.Nay, wait and see!

Look, who comes yonder!

3rd Leader of Women. Ho, such poor old men,

Marching in rows, and bearing logs: eight, ten—

A dozen or more!

4th Leader of Women. Ugh! how they limp!

1st Leader of Women. And how they drag their tails!

[Pg 22]

2nd Leader of Women. And how they crawl—

Like snails

Up a long wall!

3rd Leader of Women. Oh, me! what mighty warriors be these?

1st Leader of Women. O ye great surges, ye white-crested seas,

Come ye to overwhelm us in your flood

Of feeble waters that were once strong blood!

4th Leader of Women. What must we do

(The Women laugh and flourish defiantly.)

Cal. Ah! there'll be others soon in their alliance—

They'll come and make short work of our defiance.

Lys. I care not for them! For they shall not bring

Enough of threat, or force, or fire to fling

Open these gates, until our terms be won.

Not so, by Heaven!

(She raises her hand, the women rally round her.)

Our cause were then undone

For ever—to have women first proclaimed

So fierce and formidable, and then so tamed!

Be brave, quit you like men! So fare ye well.

Now to the gates! Bar up the citadel!

(Exeunt Lampito with the Corinthians and Bœotians.

The Athenian Women pass in through the gates.

Lysistrata enters last.)

Chorus (sung as the women pass out). Pallas Athene, hear!

Bend from thy throne,

And make, with lifted spear,

Our cause thine own!

[Pg 23]

O walls of Athens, homes of Greece,

The women's war shall bring you peace.

(The gates are shut and bolted.)

(The stage remains empty and silent, the slow,

heavy tread of the men is heard approaching.)

(From within the gates a woman calls

"Cuckoo!" three times.)

(Enter Chorus of Old Men. Some carry a heavy log

on their shoulders, others bundles of firewood.

Two of them bear upon a pole a brazier or firepan.)

1st Leader of Men. Advance, march firmly on; be not dejected!

Although like beasts of burden on our shoulder

We bear this yoke of olive which we have hauled for

So great a distance——

Several Men. So great a distance!

(They move a step forward.)

2nd Leader of Men. And which with sore abrasion

Galleth the flesh:—

Several Men. Ho-hopp! Galleth the flesh!

(Another step forward.)

1st Leader of Men. Although its weight is great

And the occasion

Most melancholy and most uncalled for——

Several Men. Ho-hopp! Uncalled for!

(Another step forward.)

2nd Leader of Men. Still swiftly we advance toward the gate,

1st Leader of Men. Summoned by Fate——

Several Men. Ho-hopp!

(Another step forward.)

[Pg 24]

1st Leader of Men. To the high gods' assistance.

3rd Leader of Men. Truly in a long life as one grows older,

One learns that troubles still come unexpected!

4th Leader of Men. So here's a fresh example set before us!

Whoever would have thought, O Strymodorus,

That woman——

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Leaders of Men. Woman!

4th Leader of Men. Whom, in her sphere, the home

A manifest but necessary pest——

Several Men. Ho-hopp!

(Another step forward.)

4th Leader of Men. We meekly have supported.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Leaders of Men. Supported!

Several Men. Ho-hopp!

(Another step forward.)

4th Leader of Men. Would ever have resorted——

3rd Leader of Men. To such a course as this!

1st, 2nd, and 4th Leaders of Men. As this!

Several Men. Ho-hopp!

(Another step forward.)

3rd Leader of Men. And got possession of the Virgin shrine

And of the Acropolis—my Acropolis.

1st, 2nd, and 4th Leaders of Men. My Acropolis!

3rd Leader of Men. And blocked the Propylæa—yours and mine.

1st, 2nd, and 4th Leaders of Men. Yours and mine!

3rd Leader of Men. With hostile bolts and bars.

[Pg 25]

All the Men. Ho-hopp!

(Those in front flag, the forepart of the log is let down.

The four Leaders come forward, leaving the others

to do the carrying. All immediately strike work.)

1st Leader of Men. So, ye propitious stars,

Now let us haste.

2nd Leader of Men.And without waste of time

Take up our task sublime:

3rd Leader of Men. And heaping up the pyre

Round all whom in this plot we count the worst—

4th Leader of Men. With our own hands set fire

To women so abominable, so accurst!

1st Leader of Men. Let us take first

Lysistrata, the wife

Of Lycon:

2nd Leader of Men. Never again

While I have life

Shall she be heard making her mock on men.

3rd Leader of Men. But now the steepest part of all the track

Toward those gates whereto I press with speed

Remains to pass:

And I must lift, alas!

This load.

(He indicates the log of olive.)

And bear it up, alack, alack,

Unaided on my galled and jaded—

Back.

1st Leader of Men. Tarry awhile: this fire needs looking to,

Lest at our goal we find it perished quite,

And what, then, should we do?

(They gather round firepan.)

[Pg 26]

2nd Leader of Men. Faugh! Faugh! Now by my soul

This fire out of its pan

Like a mad dog has leapt and tries to bite—

Flies at my eyes, depriving me of sight!

4th Leader of Men. Oh, sorry joke!

3rd Leader of Men (rousing the carriers).

But haste, and to the citadel press on!

The goddess needs your aid.

1st Leader of Men. Quick, Laches, now or never!

Though I am stayed

By this most stubborn fire, I come anon.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Leaders of Men. Faugh! Faugh! Oh, what a smoke!

2nd Leader of Men. Yet, favoured of the gods, it lives, it wakes!

3rd Leader of Men. Therefore I say, abandon now this yoke.

And, kindling at the flame these vine-wood stakes,

Rush forward!

4th Leader of Men.And with a sudden stroke

Beat in the doors!

1st Leader of Men. For if these rebel women—when we knock,

2nd Leader of Men. Or when we call,

1st Leader of Men. Fail to unloose the lock—

3RD Leader of Men. Then let us fall

Swiftly upon them—

4th Leader of Men. With fell fire and shock

Of onset!

1st Leader of Men. Rout them!

2nd Leader of Men. Smoke them from their hive—

3rd Leader of Men. And burn them up alive!

(They fall to action with the unlit torches.)

[Pg 27]

4th Leader of Men. Ay, you say well!

But first uplift this load

And set it as a trophy on our road.

3rd Leader of Men. Proof of the victory which here befell!

(They set the log up on end.)

1st Leader of Men. And now—for it is time that ye began—

Quick to your business, pan!

(They thrust their torches into the firepan.)

2nd Leader of Men. Catch, kindle, burn, lend me a torch of fire.

(Four women's heads appear over the ramparts watching them.)

4th Leader of Men. And light me to the goal of my desire,

1st Leader of Men. Where rampant women, daring to rebel,

With impious hands have seized my citadel.

(They catch sight of the women, and crouch with their

lighted torches below the steps leading to the gates.)

(Enter Chorus of Women from citadel. They pretend

to be unaware of the old men's presence.)

1st Leader of Women. What fire is this?

What smoke that mounts to Heaven?

Oh, women, hasten! Was the warning given

Too late?

2nd Leader of Women. What if it be

One of our sisters, that too tardily

Hath hither run; and even now, entrapped

By evil men and unjust laws, stands lapt

In flame of martyrdom!

[Pg 28]

1st Leader of Women. Come, quickly come!

O women, bring

Your pitchers from the spring!

(Enter the Water Carriers.)

3rd Leader of Women. Oh, me! I am afraid

Lest we have come too late to offer aid.

2nd Leader of Women. Not so! (pointing to the Old Men).

1st Leader of Women.Tarry, for I have heard

That certain gay old dogs,

Men past their prime,

With brains and senses blurred,

Diseased by age,

Have come forth carrying logs

And full of rage,

To burn us to a cinder.

All the Women Chorus (fiercely). Ah!

(The Old Men grow uncomfortable.)

2nd Leader of Women. So dark a crime

Shall we not hinder?

All the Women Chorus. Yes!

1st Leader of Women. Therefore, O maiden of the golden crest,

Guardian divine,

We women hold thy shrine.

2nd Leader of Women. So to our gain,

O goddess, now unsheath

Thy strength: and if these men set fire beneath

Send thou down—Rain!

All the Women Chorus (lifting their pitchers).

Send thou down—Rain!

3rd Leader of Women. What's this I see below us?

[Pg 29]

1st Leader of Women. O greybeards, old in sin,

Is it thus that ye begin

To overthrow us?

(The Old Men scatter and slink away into

shelter, hiding behind each other's backs.)

1st Leader of Men. This is most unexpected! Nay what form

Of war is this?

2nd Leader of Men. Get back!

We are detected!

Get back, get back!

3rd Leader of Men. See from the Acropolis women in a swarm

All unprovoked come running to the attack!

4th Leader of Men. Tut, tut! Go back, go back!

1st Leader of Women. Why do ye threaten us? Are we so few?

The women ye now see in front of you

Are not one-thousandth part of them that wait

Our call within the gate.

1st Leader of Men. O brothers—brothers, will ye let them prate?

You want a whipping! (To the women.)

2nd Leader of Men.Yes, a good thick stick

Broken across your backs.

Strat.Come, sisters, quick!

Set down your pitchers!

(The Women set them down.)

There! now take your choice:

Which of us first?

3rd Leader of Men.Ah, you had had no voice

Left, had I dealt with you as I would like!

[Pg 30]

Strat. Well, here I am then (advances).

What, will no one strike?

(The Men are silent.)

Not one?

(To Leader of Men.)

Come, be a man, lift up your mace—

Smite: and thereafter never show your face.

1st Leader of Men. Be silent!

Else I'll strip and beat you bare!

All the Women Chorus. Ah, do it! do it! do it!

Hurt but one hair,

Or with one finger dare to lay a scratch

Upon her body!

1st Leader of Men.Well? And when I match

My fists to hers—where will the hurt be, then?

Strat. Quick in the minds and consciences of men—

Deeper than fang can bite or gadfly sting!

2nd Leader of Men.Well said the poet—"No more shameless thing

Exists, than woman!"

Strat.Oh, take up once more

Your pitchers, women! Ye need not fear war

With such faint hearts as these. Call them not men!

(The Women take up their pitchers and begin to retire.

The Old Men grow bold again.)

1st Leader of Men. Call yourselves women! There, be off again!

2nd Leader of Men (with curiosity). What was that water for?

Strat.For what that fire?

Old foot-in-the-grave, was it your funeral pyre

You came to light?

3rd Leader of Men (furiously). No, yours!

[Pg 31]

Strat. Sought ye to learn

How water puts out fire?

3rd Leader of Men. How fire can burn!

Wait! You shall get a scorching!

Strat. (turning and advancing towards him).

Oh, you grub!

Have you brought soap then? Do you want a tub?

All Women Chorus. D' you want a tub?

3rd Leader of Men. A tub?

Strat.A nuptial bath. Oh, to thy side

Take me, Tithonus! Let me be thy bride!

(The Women laugh.)

3rd Leader of Men. Fire, fire on them!

(The Men advance with torches. The

Women lift and swing back their pitchers.)

Strat.Then, pitcher, to thy task!

(The Women run down the steps and

empty their pitchers over the men.)

All Men Chorus. Oh me! Woe, woe!

Strat. What, is it hot?

All the Women Chorus (laughing). Hot? Is it hot?

All the Men Chorus. Hot? Hot? Why do you ask?

Oh stop, let be! let be!

1st Leader of Men. What are you doing? Oh women, let me go!

Strat. We water you, being young, that ye may grow.

All the Men Chorus (trembling, and with chattering teeth).

I'm old: I'm cold!

All the Women Chorus (imitating them).

I'm old: I'm cold!

[Pg 32]

Strat.Get back into your pot!

Go to your fire, and warm yourself!

(The Women pick up their pitchers, and run off laughing.)

(The Old Men huddle miserably about the fire.)

(Enter Committee-man, accompanied by his Secretary.)

Com.What? What?

What means this noise of women? Have the jades

Started their rackettings again—their raids,

Their drummings, and their voices from the roof

At public meetings? Aye, had we not proof

When Strellus in debate, only last week,

On Naval policy, began to speak

Of unlaunched keels left rotting on the slips:

Says he—most wisely—"You must man your ships

"As well as build them." Suddenly in burst

A voice from nowhere—"Man your women first!"

It was his daughter! Athens being drained

Of marriageable men, affairs grow strained

Within the home. Then, on another occasion,

Brennus was holding forth about invasion,

Conscription, taxes, and the waste of war:

When all at once a voice squeaks through the door—

"What about women?"

Athen. Woman (opening and shutting door of Acropolis).

"What about women?"

Com. Well, then, what about 'em?

Ugh! if I had my way I'd up and out 'em.

In no time! Women!

[Pg 33]

1st Leader of Men. Yes, we quite agree:

"Women!" Nay wait, and you shall hear and see

How we've been treated!

(They all come out and display themselves.)

There! Behold what payment

To us is meted!

2nd Leader of Men. See how from our raiment

The water drops

Run down!

3rd Leader of Men. See, see, what sops

Thus

They have made of us!

1st Leader of Men. We are like rain-flushed sewers!

2nd Leader of Men. Like bursting mains!

3rd Leader of Men. Women with ewers—

4th Leader of Men. Have turned us into drains!

Com. Oh, fitly are ye punished, for have not ye

Yourselves trained women to this villainy?

All the Men Chorus. We trained them?

Com. Have ye not sped them in the game of sex?

All the Men Chorus. Game of sex?

Com. And bled your pockets to adorn their necks?

1st Leader of Men. No, I've not!

Com. Taught them to twine and coil and paint their eyes,

And paid the price for all their amorous sighs

Present and absent, faithful and foresworn?

2nd Leader of Men. We pay the price?

Com. Aye! round their necks full many a clasp is worn

Not of your making.

[Pg 34]

1st Leader of Men. Not of our making?

(The Old Men turn and consult each other accusingly.)

Com..Where do such things lead?

Where but to this?—that when I come in need—

Aye, and with warrant—of money for the State,

I am shut out, and women hold the gate.

There they combine, call themselves "comrades", "sisters"—

Rebels and law-breakers and tax-resisters!

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Leaders of Men. Comrades? Sisters? Rebels? Law—

(While he speaks the women have come out again,

and stand in rows listening silently.)

Com. Stand not to stare, ye fools! Search till ye find

That woman, by whose word they stand combined!

Fetch me Lysistrata! Bring rams and lay

Levers beneath the gates, and force your way!

(Enter Lysistrata. The Women spread their cloaks

and make a carpet for her to walk upon.)

Lys. Nay, use no force! Lay down your battering ram!

Seek ye conciliation? Here I am

How can force help you here? Are levers meant

To take the place of reason and consent?

Com. Abominable creature! Hold your peace!

Seize her and bind her fast!

(No one stirs.)

Police! Police!

Where are the police?

(Enter a Policeman.)

[Pg 35]

Strat.Now, by Artemis!

Who first dares touch her, he shall weep for this,

If he remain a man!

(Policeman falls back.)

Com.Are you afraid,

Fellow? Go, then, call others to your aid—

Bring reinforcements!

(He goes, and returns with a second Policeman.)

Strat.Now look what you do?

If you but touch her, we will jump on you!

Com. More reinforcements!

(They go and return with a third Policeman.)

Aye, bind this one first!

And gag her too! (Points to Stratyllis.)

These chatterers are the worst!

Strat. For cowards who fear the truth!

(Police advance up steps.)

1st Athen. Woman. See that you lay

No hand on her!

(Other Women threaten—the Police retreat.)

Com.Why do ye run away?

What's this? What's this? Back boobies, to your task!

(The Police rally, and again advance.)

2nd Athen. Woman (pushing back the other and taking her place).

By Pallas, I will make a Gorgon's mask

Of him who touches her!

(The Police hesitate. During the speech of the Committee-man

which follows the Women cry "Quack, Quack!" at intervals.)

[Pg 36]

Com. (putting a pole into their hands).

For shame, for shame!

Will ye be beaten? Are ye all so tame?

Stricken of women, and of strength bereft!

Rally and march! Right left, right left, right left!

(The Police advance with the pole in a compact body.)

Lys. Now by the light of heaven, ye shall begin

To know our strength! Ho, women! there within!

(The Women crowd to the gates.)

(Lysistrata backs up the steps. The Police mount after her.)

(The Women open to right and left, and hold their

scarves ready to noose the Policemen.)

(Some of the Women seize hold of the poles.)

Com. Twist back their hands, policemen!

Lys.Help! A stroke

For freedom! Come, ye women, ye market folk,

Ye buyers and sellers, ye keepers of the home,

Ye workers rich and poor, I bid you come!

(They all rush out.)

1st Athen. Woman. Will ye not drag? Will ye not beat and smite?

Will ye not face the foe, and put to flight?

(The Women throw their cloaks over the Police,

tie them up, and drag them into the citadel.)

(The others dance and scream with joy.)

Lys. Stop! Do no harm to them. Return again!

Com. Alas, how miserably have fared my men!

[Pg 37]

Lys. What did ye look for? When ye crossed our path

Thought ye that we were slaves? Is there no wrath

In woman, and no hurt if she be stirred?

1st Leader of Men. Master Commissioner, waste not a word

On such wild beasts as these.

2nd Leader of Men.Did you not see

To what a drenching bath

They treated me

Who dared to cross their path—

Having done nothing!

Lys.Nothing? In such wise

The swelled head has to learn through swollen eyes.

3rd Leader of Men. Oh, Zeus, what shall we make of fiends

like these,

Monsters intolerable?

4th Leader of Men. Nay, but inquire of them and bid them tell

How came they, with what intent, to seize

Our sacred citadel?

2nd Leader of Men. Ask, ask, repeat,

And do not be persuaded

By feminine deceit:

1st Leader of Men. Nor, I entreat,

Let the straightforward question be evaded.

3rd Leader of Men. Why, ask them why—

4th Leader of Men. And pause for a reply—

3rd Leader of Men. Why, on the untrodden rock

Of our Acropolis,

With bolt and bar and lock,

Have they done this?

Com. There, plain put, is the question. (To Lysistrata.)

Come then, tell—

Why have you seized upon our citadel?

[Pg 38]

Lys. To save the public fund from ends more fit,

And that ye should not fight because of it.

Com. Think you it is for money that we fight?

Lys. Not that alone: for evil is the plight

Of Athens now! Lo, sunk into the dust

She lies a victim to man's pride and lust

For power.

All the Women. Aye! true enough! 'tis true, 'tis true!

Com. Dear me! indeed! And pray what would you do

To make things better?

Lys.If fair words avail,

Patience, and you shall hear.

Com.Go, croak your tale!

Lys. Aye, for of former times now would I speak,

And former wars, when women all too meek

Bore and endured; and then, when, sick at heart,

Yet with a smile, we sought to know what part

Ye played for peace, in wrath the answer flew—

"Be silent, woman! What is that to you?"

And I was—silent.

Cal. (aside). Not I!

Com.Aye, and you had best

Be silent now!

Lys.Silent I strove to rest

There in the home: till presently again

Came news of further mischief; and when, fain

To learn the cause of it, one dared to ask

"How is it, husband, that ye do this task,

Ye men, so ill?"—quick, with a furtive eye,

Grudging one's right to question, he would cry,

"Stick to your loom! Leave politics to men,

Lest ye fare worse!"

[Pg 39]

Com.Aye, he spake rightly then!

Lys. How was it right? Shall it not be our turn

Ever to speak our thoughts, and yours to learn

And profit?

Com.What! must I yield place and give

Woman her way? Then may I cease to live!

Functions performed by one, two cannot share!

Lys. Try then the woman's part, and leave the care

Of State henceforth to us!

(Committee-man and Chorus all laugh.)

Com. (contemptuously). How will you do it?

Lys.That we shall arrange.

Com. What? With my money?

Lys.Why should that seem strange?

Are not your homes, your servants, and your whole

Domestic property in our control?

Com. We want the money to carry on the war!

Lys. Why? To what end? What are you fighting for?

Com. How else shall we be saved, or Greece be freed?

Lys. We'll save you.

Com.You? A sorry plight indeed!

Lys. Trust us—you shall be saved against your will.

Com. Pooh! The idea!

Lys.That makes you angrier still?

Com. It is absurd! Women save men from war!

We don't want to be saved!

[Pg 40]

Lys.So much the more

Ye need salvation.

Com.And pray, what concern

Have you in the matter?

Lys.Ah, that you must learn.

Com. Speak, or you'll get a beating!

Lys. (sarcastically).O restrain

That master-hand!

Com.See then, that you refrain

From vexing me!

Lys.Vexing? Why, soon through Greece

We shall be known and named—Makers of Peace!

Com. Pray, on what plan?

Lys.First from the public street

Remove those monuments of male conceit—

The military loungers!

Cal.Aye, good sooth!

Fools who go swaggering from booth to booth,

In time of peace, rigged in full fighting kit!

Com. Well, wherefore not?

Lys.Oh, I am sick of it!

What are they armed for?

Com.It becomes them well.

Cal. Becomes them? What?—to buy a mackerel

Girt with a sword and brandishing a shield.

Ugh!—one I saw last week, back from the field

All plumed and combed—the captain of a troop,

And in his helmet he was carrying soup!

Another with a javelin dancing jigs

To frighten an old woman who sold figs—

Picking out all the ripe ones.

[Pg 41]

Com.Well, of course,

All government has to depend on force.

How would you manage? Eh?

Lys.Avoiding fuss.

As with a tangled thread: we take it thus,

Singly—one line of wool from all the skein;

Then here and there we draw it without strain,

Finer and smoother. So would we end war

By peaceful embassies, still sending more

If the first failed, still weaving in and out—

Till men forgot the thing they fought about.

Com. And think you, then, that one could extricate

With such wool-gatherings the affairs of State,

You silly woman?

Cal.Had you sense, you'd try!

Lys. Here in our city the same cure would apply.

Com. How, pray?

Lys.Well, first of all you clean the fleece:

That's sanitation—you wash out the grease,

Pick out the briars: that means segregate

The undesirable—relieve the State

Of rogues and knaves. Then, too, you must untwist

The clotted tufts—the cliques—whose grasping fist

Keeps others out of office. Head from head

Pluck them, and play them out, and let them spread;

Then pile them in one ball as light as down

Using no pressure. So shall every town

Be as one whole. Next to your counsels call

Your colonies as well; then out of all

Shape your material: put no heavier yoke

Or strain on any, and therefrom weave a cloak

Of friendship for the people.

[Pg 42]

Com. (obtuse and contemptuous). Nay, what wit

Is here? "Take wool, and make a ball of it:

Weave it, and wind it, roll it round and round

Till something come of it!" Now is that sound?

And what on earth have women to do with war?

Lys. O purblind fool! our part therein is more

Than any man's! For women bring forth life

In pain and anguish: then, when ye fall to strife,

And in the field conduct your long campaigns,

The wife deserted in the home remains;

And the maid, robbed of her most precious years,

Grows old before her time, while disappears

The hope of motherhood: her day is brief.

Com. The man grows old as well.

Lys.Oh, past belief

The folly of such words! For, be he grey

When he returns, the man can have his way

And wed a maid. But what man to his side

Will take of his own choice a barren bride?

Com. No, not in wedlock: but a man may range

Outside the bond. Surely a fair exchange—

No robbery. (Smirks.)

Lys. Now, by the gods, if all exchange is fair,

Take this and crown yourself!

(Pulls cap over his head.)

Go! wear your hair

In curls and fillets! Carry a market flail

And learn to curb your tongue. Put on this veil,

This girdle, bear a distaff and go clad

In woman's weeds!

(The Women set upon him and clothe him.)

[Pg 43]

Com.Oh, woman, are ye mad?

Help, help, I say!

(Exeunt Chorus of Old Men.)

1st Athen. Woman.We'll help you!

2nd Athen. Woman.There, take this!

3rd Athen. Woman. And this from me!

4th Athen. Woman.Now, go and ask a kiss.

From Clisthenes!

(They tie him up ridiculously in women's garments.)

Com.Oh, woe is me! Oh, shame!

Thus to endure deeds that one dare not name!

Nay, I will go, even thus—oh, sorry sight!—

And bid all Athens look upon my plight.

Oh, what a ravel is this!

Lys. You twist in vain!

Be careful that you do not break my skein.

(Exit Committee-man, followed by his Secretary.)

INTERLUDE.

(The Women are discovered seated upon the steps
leading to the Acropolis. Some have pitchers beside
them, others plait and spin, one plays upon the lyre.)

Chorus (singing). Pallas Athene, hear!

Bend from thy throne,

And make with lifted spear our cause thine own.

(Enter Leader of Chorus.)

[Pg 44]

1st Leader of Women. O women, turn back from your labours,

And leave in their niche by the wall

Your pitchers, and hark to the call

Of friends in their need, and of neighbours

Who beg for a boon.

(Here, and at intervals throughout the speech, shouting
of men is heard at a distance; occasionally the words
"Down with the women, down!"
"Down with Lysistrata!" are heard.)

For surely ye tire not with dances,

Nor faint as ye foot to the tune

Of minstrels: so now in the chances

Of war let your speed be as then,

And as daring your deed as the glances

Ye cast upon men!

(The Women are laying by their pitchers, filleting
their hair and girding their robes. From the Acropolis
come other women bearing shields, spears, and
helmets, which they distribute as the Chorus continues.)

For here is a Cause to your hand

More holy than any before:

And in it lies beauty, and wisdom,

And courage, and love of your land.

Nay, surely the mothers who bore you,

The silent mothers of yore,

They also were made of this metal,

And out of the bed of the nettle,

Wherein they bred you of old,

They, too, who spake not a word,

They, too, brave hearts, could have told

Their tale of the wrongs unheard.

So forward I bid you, nor fail,

Nor yield what ye hold in your hand:

For this wind which now blows in your sail

Shall bear you to land!

[Pg 45]

SCENE II.

The same scene, toward evening, a day later.

(Chorus of Old Men seated asleep below the steps.

Enter Leader of Men's Chorus.)

1st Leader of Men. Now, let him sleep no more who would be free!

2nd Leader of Men (waking up).

Come, sirs, bestir yourselves! for to my mind

There's more behind

This matter than at first appeared.

3rd Leader of Men (nodding mysteriously).

Beneath this woman's business lurks a beard!

(Perturbation among the Old Men.)

4th Leader of Men. Hot, Hot, I scent the plot

Of Hippias. (Panic among the Old Men.)

Aye, me! Greatly I fear!

1st Leader of Men. I think our women have been led away

By foes; and that the Spartans now are here,

Hiding within the house of Clisthenes,

Ready to seize

Our money and our pay! (Increasing panic.)

2nd Leader of Men. Oh, is't not peril to let women mix

In State affairs, and talk on politics,

And prate of peace and war?

3rd Leader of Men. No more, no more, will I endure it!

'Tis not to be allowed.

4th Leader of Men (shaking his fist).

Lysistrata! Heaven be my aid,

Ere yet my race is run,

To smite the chattering jaw of that old jade!

(Meanwhile the Women's Chorus have

come on, and stand behind listening).

[Pg 46]

1st Leader of Women. Surely when that is done

Your Mother will be proud of such a son!

(The Old Men start back in fear.)

2nd Leader of Women. She will be glad to recognise that face!

1st Leader of Women. But come, ye happier mothers of the race,

(To the Women.)

And set your burdens down while I relate

Why we, weak women, seek to serve the State

As well as men—paying the debt we owe.

(The Women lay down their shields, and

sit beside them in groups.)

Was not this land my nurse? Aye, long ago,

Even on the child her tender yoke was laid,

When first to Artemis, a budding maid,

I vowed my virgin body. Did ye so—

Ye men—take up such vows? Did ye forego

Till ye were ripe the sweets of love in youth?

(The Men exchange conscious looks.)

Gladly I bound myself, although in sooth

The fruit, I saw, was goodly to the taste;

And since before these altars I dwelt chaste,

Do I not owe a debt? Is it amiss

If I give counsel? Do ye grudge me this?

I, too, pay taxes: from my flesh there runs

Rich tribute; ye bear arms, but I bear sons

And daughters; ye bring death, but I raise life;

I build the fruitful home, while ye breed strife,

Envy, and fear! O miserable men!

Old in your sins, take up that task again,

Which once your father bore, who freed this land

From Persia's yoke! If not, then we will stand

Instead of you:

(The Women rise to their feet.)

[Pg 47]

Aye, fearing not your frown,

Light-sandalled though we be, will tread you down!

(She turns away and moves up steps.

The other women also retire.)

1st Leader of Men (scratching his head puzzled).

Now it appears to me

This is all wrong!

2nd Leader of Men. And it must be

Put down.

3rd Leader of Men.If left alone

Ere long it will have grown

Beyond a joke!

4th Leader of Men. Time, then, that we began!

Therefore with speed

Let every manly man

Strip off his cloak,

And for the word now substitute the deed!

(They throw off their long mantles, and reveal themselves

very scantily clad and girt as for wrestling. Their arms

and legs are very thin and scraggy.)

1st Leader of Men. Physical force,

Basis of government,

True source of the consent

Men yield to law;

Come, come now to mine aid!

2nd Leader of Men. And with thy shaggy paw

Push me to victory o'er this barricade,

Raised by that wicked jade,

Lysistrata,

Against the rod of man's authority!

3rd Leader of Men. Shall woman——

1st, 2nd, and 4th Leaders of Men. Woman!

3rd Leader of Men.In a majority

Govern the State?

[Pg 48]

4th Leader of Men.Never, I will defeat it!

2nd Leader of Men. No, no! a thousand times; and I repeat it—

No, no!

3rd Leader of Men. Never!

1st Leader of Men. No agricultural labourer am I,

Yet I defy

Woman to wield a spade

As I can.

2nd Leader of Men. Can she summon to her aid

The expletives and the explosives

Needful for moving one's inferiors,

And modifying by their harsh corrosives

The stubborn and recalcitrant exteriors

Of this hard-crusted world?

1st and 4th Leaders of Men. No, no!

3rd Leader of Men.Shall I be hurled

From power by custom mine?

4th Leader of Men. Shall I my place resign

To woman——

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Leaders of Men. Woman!

4th Leader of Men. To whose care we give

Our homes, our wealth, our children, and who live

Only by our consent?

All the Men Chorus. No!

3rd Leader of Men. Shall we allow the sex war—this attack

Of infamous discontent

Behind our back—

On man's prerogative?

All the Men Chorus. Never!

1st Leader of Men. For through man's heart there runs in flood

(Nature's mysterious and imperious mandate)

A noble and a natural thirst for blood:

[Pg 49]

2nd Leader of Men. To form a ring and fight!

3rd Leader of Men. To cut off heads at sight!

4th Leader of Men. It is our right!

Women don't understand it.

All the Men Chorus. No!

1st Leader of Men. But if we grant to these

Facilities

For doing what man does—

2nd Leader of Men.And what man alone

Has any right to do!

1st Leader of Men. Aye, even one small handle for their own—

They will go far!

3rd Leader of Men. We shall be overthrown

At our own game!

4th Leader of Men. And think what scandal then!

And think what shame,

If that should happen!

2nd Leader of Men. Never, no never!

No, I won't allow it!

4th Leader of Men (with action).

So, take we each a torch,

And, thrusting, let it scorch

The gaping mouth, the giddy, gabbling tongue,

The—

(The other Men follow him in dumb show.

The Women clang their weapons; the

Men retreat hastily; through the whole of

the ensuing speech they carry on a continuous

business of getting behind each other till they

are all off the stage, leaving their cloaks behind them.)

1st Leader of Women. Now, by the gods,

I'll give my wrath its rein!

No more shall ye provoke and I refrain.

[Pg 50]

2nd Leader of Women. Come, then, my comrades,

and put off this yoke

Of woman's weeds; let not the trailing cloak

Cumber your limbs, nor the loose girdle hang!

We too can strip,

And gird, and curl the lip,

And bare the fang,

And answer stroke for stroke

And blow for blow!

3rd Leader of Women. Call ye us rebels? Full soon shall ye know

How Greece is with us! We have Lampito,—

She lives for us, and Corinth by the seas,

And all Bœotia.

1st Leader of Women.Go! Make your decrees,

Pile up your punishments, ye that breed hate

Through kindred cities, hurling state on state

In wasteful bloodshed! But more strong are we,

We women, bound in deathless fealty

To break this war. Our hands shall hold in check

Your armaments, and bow the stubborn neck

Of all your pride!

(During this speech some of the Women have

descended to the lower stage; they collect the

men's cloaks and return.)

(Enter Lysistrata.)

2nd Leader of Women. O thou, the shaper of this fair event,

Why com'st thou now,

So pale, and sad of brow,

And heavy with discontent?

Lys. (gloomily). Woman's weak will and her lascivious way

O'erload my heart!

1st Leader of Women. Oh! What means that to say?

[Pg 51]

Lys.The truth, the bitter truth!

3rd Leader of Women.Bodes it so ill?

May we not know?

Lys.How shall my tongue be still?

Yet how, unshaméd, may I speak of it?

4th Leader of Women. Nay, do not keep it from us!

... It is fit

That we should know—the worst.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Leaders of Women. Nay, tell us then!

Lys. Brief is the truth; we hanker for the men!

All the Women Chorus. O Zeus!

Lys.Why call on him? Is it not so?

I cannot keep them here. Foresworn they go

By stealth to join their husbands. One I caught

Scraping a cleft of rock: and one had brought

Rope from Poseidon's well, and down the wall

So sought to creep! Another—chosen of all

To guard the gate—deserted from her trust.

And yet another of them, crazed with lust,

Feathered herself with wings, and light as air

Feigned to go flying. I took her by the hair

And hurled her back to sense! Yet still they come,

Coining excuses to be sent back home.

(Enter 2nd Athenian Woman furtively.)

There's one of them. Ho, you! Whither away?

2nd Athen. Woman. I was but going home—just for the day:—

I fear the moth has got into my fleece.

Lys. What moth? Get back!

2nd Athen. Woman.By the two goddesses,

I promise you I will return with speed:

A spreading in the sun is all they need.

Lys. Don't spread them: do not go!

[Pg 52]

2nd Athen. Woman (whimpering). Must all my toil

Be wasted then?

Lys.Aye, for it will not spoil

So swiftly as will this.

(Enter 3rd Athenian Woman.)

3rd Athen. Woman.My flax, my flax!

Which all unkempt I left at home.

Lys. (ironically).There cracks

A careful heart! Here! Come you back again.

3rd Athen. Woman. Yes, after I have wound it on the skein.

Lys. Don't wind it; leave it! If one plays that game,

A hundred more will want to do the same.

(Enter Corinthian Woman.)

Corinth. (she bears something wrapped in her robe).

Help! A physician! Nay, I prithee, quick,

Quick, let me pass, I say! My child is sick.

Lys. Your child; since when? Yesterday you had none.

Corinth. 'Twas born last night! (Lysistrata holds her.)

Oh, loose me! Let me run!

Lys. What ails it? (Reveals helmet.)

Oh, this was indeed a birth

Miraculous—a thing of wondrous worth.

(Tosses it away. Calonice gets hold of

it and smacks it.)

Go, get you in!

Corinth.Nay, here I cannot sleep—

Shut in a shrine where sacred serpents creep.

3rd Athen. Woman. And I, unhappy, I am sleepless too!

All night the owls go crying "Tuwhit! Tuwhoo!"

"Tuwhit! Tuwhoo!"

[Pg 53]

All the Women. "Tuwhit! Tuwhoo!"

Lys. O women, cease from juggling tricks and lies!

Is't love ye long for, that ye waste in sighs

Your widowed hours? Stand firm, and all is well!

Was this not told us by the oracle?

1st Leader of Women. How was it told?

2nd Leader of Women.Nay, tell me!

3rd Leader of Women.Tell us, how!

(The Women gather excitedly about her.)

Lys. Hear, O ye women, and be silent now!

"When the swallow

From the hawk

Flies, and when he seeks to follow,

Close in bower

To one place

Let them cower:

And, for a space,

Let them then—

From love abstain."

Chorus of Women. Ah!

Lys. "But if from the shrine ye fly,

Borne apart by wind or word,

Soon shall every swallow die,

Mocked and marked—a victim bird!"

Chorus of Women. Ah!

1st Leader of Women. By Heaven, the voice of the oracle is clear!

Let us not then,

Through any pain or fear

Yield ourselves up into the hands of men!

(Enter Stratyllis.)

Strat. Ho, women, comrades! Ho! Come quickly all!

1st Athen. Woman. What is the matter now? Why do you call?

[Pg 54]

Strat. I see a man approaching—

All the Women. A man!

Strat.Frantic, torn

By— (She points.)

Lys.O bright Cyprian goddess, ocean-born,

How straight a course you steer!

1st Athen. Woman.Where, where is he?

Strat. Yonder by Ceres' shrine.

(A great scramble of the Women to look at him.)

1st Athen. Woman.Ah, now I see.

Lys. Knows any who he is?

Myrr.Oh, me! Alas!

It is my husband, my Cinesias!

Oh, my dear love! (Kisses hands toward him.)

Cal.What are you looking at,—

Smacking your lips like that, you little cat?

What right to a husband has she got, I say,

While we must go without?

Lys.Women, away!

(The Women retire reluctantly.)

(To Myrr.) This is your business, then.

Now to the test! Go, plant your choicest weapons in his breast:

Love him, yet love him not. Show him the bliss

That beauty offers; but withhold the kiss—

The cup by which you swore.

Myrr.Mistrust me not.

Lys. Go, and make ready! I will have him hot

Ere you return.

(Exit Myrrhina.)

(Enter Cinesias, followed presently by his

servant Manes leading a small child.)

[Pg 55]

Cin.Ah, me! What pangs I feel!

O Love, why hast thou racked me on this wheel?

Lys. Halt! Who comes here?

Cin.'Tis I, a man.

Lys.Then stay!

Man, get you gone!

Cin.Whose bidding to obey?

Lys. A watcher of the shrine.

Cin.Oh, be a friend!

Call forth Myrrhina to me!

Lys.To what end?

Cin. Tell her—oh, tell her, there's a house on fire!

Lys. Whose house?

Cin. Her house: my house!

Lys.What's your desire?

Cin. Bid her come quickly!

Lys.Nay, but who art thou?

Cin. Cinesias, her husband!

Lys.Surely, now,

That cannot be!

Cin.Why not? (Lysistrata laughs.)

Answer me, then!

Lys. Cinesias is the handsomest of men,—

Limbs like Apollo, and a head like Jove,

And eyes whose glances are the fires of love!

Cin. Whence had you that?

Lys.It is Myrrhina's word.

Full often of Cinesias have we heard—

A different man from you.

Cin.Nay, but I swear

I am Cinesias!

[Pg 56]

Lys.What! That mop of hair,

That nose, those legs—the cause of all her sighs?

Ye gods! how Love deceives a woman's eyes!

Cin. But it is I!

Lys.Oh, if it were, no name

Could be more welcome or more known to fame.

For every day we hear his praises sung,

With every meal his name is on her tongue.

Bites she an apple, breaks she an egg—she sighs

"Oh, that Cinesias might share the prize!"

Cin. Ye heavens, can this be true?

Lys.I will be bound

On oath to it! Also when talk goes round

Concerning—men, his wife is fain to swear

There's none that with Cinesias can compare!

Cin. Oh, call her to me!

Lys.Have you anything

That she may know you by?

Cin.Aye, take this ring!

Once it was hers.

Lys.I will go bid her come.

Cin. Quickly, I pray! For since she fled no crumb

Of comfort have I known:

(Exit Lysistrata.)

Robbed of my mate

I find no rest, my house is desolate,

My appetite is lost, and sleep has flown:

Love tortures me because I live alone.

Myrr. (within). Love him? Of course I love him. Ah, but he

Cares not, nor wishes to be loved by me.

Cin. My little wife, my life, my peace, come hither!

Come to me, sweet!

[Pg 57]

(Myrrhina enters and crosses the stage

averting her face.)

Myrr.Nay, I may not go thither.

Cin. Come, come, Myrrhina! Oh, come down with speed.

(She stands with her back to him.)

Myrr. I have an oath. It is not peace you need.

Cin. Not peace I need! Why, I am all undone

For lack of you.

Myrr.Farewell. (She moves away.)

Cin.Your little son—

Your child is here. Hark how he cries for you!

Child. Mamma! Mamma! Mamma! (She stops.)

Cin. (taking the child in his arms). Think what you do!

Have you no pity on a little child?

See how the tangled curls have all run wild

For lack of care; and, like the little head,

The tender body goes unwashed, unfed!

Myrr. Pity it is when fathers so neglect

Their children!

Cin.Nay, what else can you expect?

How can a man learn to become a nurse?

Myrr. He can but try.

Cin.'Twould but make matters worse.

Come down, my girl, and let the soft arms cling

Once more around your neck!

Myrr. (turning round).Oh! what a thing

It is to be a mother! Needs must I go.

What other way remains, I do not know.

(She begins to descend.)

Cin. Oh, how much younger and more fair she seems,

And lovelier to behold than in my dreams!

[Pg 58]

Myrr. (descending to the lower stage).

Child of a wicked father! Oh, run, run,

Quick to your mother's arms, my little son,

My own, my sweet! Again, again, that kiss!

(Cinesias tries to embrace her, she turns away with

her face in the child's neck. He tries to get the

child away, but it cries and clings to her.)

Cin. (sternly). O wretched woman, why have you done this—

Herding with other women, robbing me

And your own nature of felicity?

Myrr. Take your hand from me!

Cin.Since you left my doors,

Ruin befalls my property and yours.

Myrr. I care not for it.

Cin.Your toils are all undone;

Your house is turned into a poultry run.

Myrr. The shame be yours, then!

Cin.Board and chamber lack

The woman's presence. Will you not come back?

Myrr. No, by high Heaven! Not until you cease

From waging useless war, and turn to peace!

Cin. Peace? How can I make peace? What mean you, pray?

Myrr. You voted for the war: you went away

And left me all alone. (Pretends to cry.) What did you care?

You'd make peace if you loved me!

Cin. (soothingly).Ah, there, there!

It shall be thought on—since you wish it so.

Myrr. When you have well thought on it, let me know.

Till then, farewell. (She moves away.)

[Pg 59]

Cin.Nay, sweetheart, stay awhile!

Myrrhina, oh, come nearer! Ah, that smile

Says that you love me.

Myrr. Yes.

Cin. (opening his arms to her). Come then!

Myrr. Nay, nay,

My arms are full already! Take not away

A mother from her child.

(Cinesias endeavours to separate them.)

Cin. (impatiently).Come, brat, have done!

Here, Manes!... (Manes is slow in coming.)

Manes!... There, now off you run!

(Manes takes the child, but waits as if to speak.)

Well, and what now?

Manes.A messenger, my lord:

Your ship in harbour, with the troops aboard,

Lies waiting to cast off!

Cin. (impatiently). Oh, let it wait!

Go, get my arms: then stay at yonder gate

Until I come.

(Exit Manes leading the child.

Cenesias approaches his wife. She repulses him.)

Well, and why now so loath?

Myrr. Nay, touch me not! for I have sworn an oath

Which I must keep.

Cin.An oath which has no sense.

On my head be it! A husband can dispense

His wife from oaths. Rest you!

(They look at each other with meaning:

he intently, she bashfully.)

Myrr. (faltering).There must be found

Some place to rest on.

[Pg 60]

Cin. (opening his arms). Nay, sweetheart, look round!

Rest here!

Now, kiss me!

Myrr.Nay, not in the public street!

Cin. No one can see us here upon this seat.

Come, sit you down!

(He seats himself and tries to draw her to his knee.)

Myrr.What? on this hard, cold stone?

I'll fetch you something!

Cin. (fondly). Not for one alone!

Myrr. I'll be your footstool!

(Exit Myrrhina.)

Cin. (gazing after her).Does not this declare

How well she loves me? Oh, how sweet an air

Breathes from her raiment; and how from her eyes

Fond love and longing mock her brief disguise

Of seeming frowardness!

(Re-enter Myrrhina, carrying a rolled mat.

She arranges the mat on bench.)

Myrr.There! sit and rest!

Put up your feet. Now, will you not divest

Yourself of that great cloak?

(Takes off his cloak.)

Why, on my life!

I have forgot the cushions.

Cin.Nay, sweet wife,

Let cushions wait!

Myrr.But you can't sit on this:

I say you shall not!

Cin.Give me first one kiss!

Myrr. (kissing the tips of her fingers and touching

his lips with them).

There, keep it safe!

(She runs off up stage.)

[Pg 61]

Cin.Be swift, do not delay!

Surely she loves me well!

(He goes and picks up a flower she has let fall,

and begins kissing it. Re-enter Myrrhina,

her arms full of cushions and coverings,

which trail after her as she goes.)

Now, well-a-day!

What have we here?

Myrr. (arranging cushions). There, that one is for you—

This one for me: and this one?—this will do

To put between us lest we fall to blows.

This one is for your feet, and that one goes

Behind you: then this covers you (arranges draperies); and this—

Where shall this go?

Cin.O sweetest wife, a kiss!

(Attempts to embrace her, and clasps cushion.)

Nay, but by Hercules, sweet friend, you hurt!

I am on fire! This is a very shirt

Of Nessus!

(He struggles with draperies.)

Myrr.Dear, dear! Why are all you men

So hasty in your joy! Here, loose it then!

(Taking covering off him.)

Now you must have a fillet for your hair.

(She stoops and takes off a sandal string.

Kneels beside him and begins to tie on fillet.)

Cin. Oh, how your fingers burn me! Ah, how fair,

How fair thou art! O tender, gentle, sweet,

Soft hands of love!

(He jumps up to seize her.)

Myrr.Now, then, put up your feet;

I'll loose your sandals.

[Pg 62]

Cin. Nay!

Myrr.What then? Your sword.

Shall I unbuckle it?

(She kneels and looses his girdle.)

Let not my lord

Forget his promise that the war shall cease.

Cin. Else may I perish!

(She lays aside his sword.)

Myrr.For when you bring peace

Comfort comes back again. Now let me comb

These shaggy locks. It's time I had you home!

(She sits on parapet above him, undoes fillet, and

starts combing; she pulls his hair, he winces.)

Oh! what a tangle's here! This will need oil.

Cin. Nay, let it wait!

Myrr.What? Let your beauty spoil

For lack of ointment? Never!

(Runs off.)

Cin. (starting up frantically). Oh, let that man

Perish most miserably who first began

The use of ointments!

Myrr. (re-entering with oil-flask). Spare the curse! Belike

It was a woman.

Cin.Then let Heaven strike

The head of her, or him, whose precious balm

Now so afflicts me!

Myrr. (paying no attention). See, into my palm

I pour it, thus:

(She advances with hand full of oil.)

Don't touch me! Then I lave

These tangled locks.

(He jerks away.)

Oh! why do you behave

So frowardly?

[Pg 63]

Cin.You've poured it down my face!

Myrr. Why didn't you keep still? There, that's your place.

(Indicating her lap, she makes him sit down again.)

Now let me wipe it.

Cin.Sweetheart!

(She stoops as if to kiss him.)

Myrr.Why! how strong

This ointment smells! Oh, me! I've brought the wrong!

This was the cooking oil!

Cin. Aye, so I fear!

I'm baked and basted now! Oh, come more near!

Lean on my breast, sit down upon my knee,

Clasp me in those dear arms!

Myrr. (eluding his embrace). Let be! Let be!

Will you fulfil your promise? Did you say

You'd vote for peace?

Cin.Leave that—to another day!

(He endeavours to draw her down to him; she slips under

his arm, runs up the steps and through the gates.)

Myrr. Ah, ha! Ah, ha! Leave that to another day!

(Exit.)

Cin. Oh, me! She's gone! She's gone! Look how my wife

Lured and then left me! Yes, she took a knife

And flayed me all alive!

(While he speaks the Chorus of Women creep on from behind.

Enter, below, Manes, carrying helmet and shield.)

What shall I do?

How can I bear it? How shall I live through

[Pg 64]

Another hour? Oh, me! What flesh and blood

Can bear the strain? I am borne upon a flood

Of rage and love and longing, and have none

To help or comfort! Go, fool, get you gone!

(Snatches his arms from Manes, throws

them away, and drives him out.)

Oh, me, I am undone!

(Enter Old Men's Chorus.)

1st Leader of Women. Alas, unhappy one, how sorely grieved,

How much afflicted! Is it to be believed?

Are such things done? Dares she refuse a kiss

To her own husband?

Cin.Oh, me!

1st Leader of Men.Is all this

Wrought by one rebel wife?

2nd Leader of Men.Let woe befall

Such women!

Cin.Nay, she is more sweet than all!

More now than ever!

3rd Leader of Men.Ah! talk not of sweet!

Abominable!

4th Leader of Men. Oh, take her, Zeus, like wheat!

Take her and toss her! As a sheaf of corn

Borne by a whirlwind, so let her be borne

Hither and thither: and then

Back to the earth

Fall to be trodden, a thing of little worth,

Under the feet of men.

Cin. Oh, me! Alas! When shall I find release

From all these torments?

1st Leader of Women.When you bring us peace.

Women. Peace.

(Exit Cinesias in despair.)

[Pg 65]

1st Leader of Men. Now hark, and I'll tell you a story,

I used to be told as a boy,

Of Melanion, a youth, who before he

Grew old found the secret of joy.

For this youth, with affections unhampered,

Went forth to a wilderness bare,

And over the hill-tops he scampered,

And blithely he hunted the hare.

He fowled, and he fished, and he netted,

With only a dog at his side;

Yet for comforts of home never fretted,

And never had need of a bride.

3rd Leader of Men. And he never came back, he never came back,

he never came back to them!

1st Leader of Men. Was he not wise?

2nd Leader of Men. And am I not wise too?

Melanion hated women; so I hate you!

(During this scene the4th Leader of Men had made

stealthy approaches to one of the women sitting

on the parapet above him.)

4th Leader of Men. Young woman, I wish to embrace you.

3rd Leader of Women. Go, eater of onions, go!

(She pushes him down the steps.)

4th Leader of Men. I'm a proper man, yet let me tell you, in case you

Don't happen to know.

I'm sightly, and sprightly; and lightly

Can leg it along with the best!

3rd Leader of Women. Out, greybeard, get out!

4th Leader of Men.And am rightly

Inclined when I'm rightly addressed.

[Pg 66]

1st Leader of Women. I also will tell you a story:—

Melanion's brings it to mind—

How Timon of Athens, before he

Grew old had the wisdom to find

That friendship of men is unstable,

A favour reserved for the rich;

They feasted and drank at his table,

They left him to die in a ditch.

2nd Leader of Women. So flattered and fooled for a season

By those who had emptied his purse,

He came to find wisdom and reason,

And left them—his curse.

1st Leader of Women. With the fury and loathing that moved him

Mankind he was fain to destroy;

4th Leader of Women. Yet still there were women who loved him:

In them he found joy.

(The 4th Leader of Men renews his advances.)

3rd Leader of Women (to Old Man). You want the whip!

4th Leader of Men.I don't! I want the cat!

3rd Leader of Women. I'll kick!

4th Leader of Men.You'll show your ankles!

3rd Leader of Women (striking him). Ah, take that!

(Enter the Committee-man, followed by his Secretary.

He is in fresh attire, and newly oiled and curled. As he

struts pompously on, the Women look at him and laugh.)

(Enter Lacdæmonian Herald dressed in bright scarlet and

bearing a long staff and a scroll over which the end of his

robe is flung.)

[Pg 67]

Herald. Tell me, where does the Athenian Senate sit,

I pray you, sir, for I have news for it.

Com. (turning round). Are you a man or an advertisement?

Herald. I am a herald come from Sparta, sent

On embassy of peace.

Com.Is that a spear

Hidden beneath your robe?

Herald (displaying scroll). Sir, have no fear,

We are for peace, not war.

Com.How comes it, then,

That Sparta is inclined for peace again?

Herald. 'Tis the desire of every Spartan man

That lacks his mate.

Com.Came this desire from Pan?

Herald. Nay, Lampito began it; then the rest

Throughout all Sparta. Each one from her breast

Has shut out love.

Com.And how, then, do ye fare?

Herald. Restless we turn, like flies that breed in air.

One may not touch them, till throughout all Greece

With one accord we mingle, and make peace.

Com. (triumphantly). So ye, being suitors to the Athenian State,

Own yourselves vanquished?

Herald.Nay, has not one fate

O'erwhelmed us both? Does not the selfsame fire

Burn in each breast burdened with man's desire?

Have not your women driven you to despair?

[Pg 68]

Com. Not so? In Athens men are bred to bear

Without complaint the petty bites and stings

Of all such volatile and venomous things

As women. We yield not to such as these,

Nor at their bidding!

1st Leader of Men.For we make decrees!—

2nd Leader of Men. And laws—which they obey.

3rd Leader of Men.We should be named

Slaves rightly if by woman's wiles so tamed!

4th Leader of Men. We seek not peace!

Herald.Enough! Let me get hence!

And if in Athens ye have men of sense,

Show where they be!

1st Leader of Men.Of sense?

Herald.Oh, greybeard, cease!

Fight your own battles!—but we men need peace!

(Exit Herald, followed by Committee-man, who, as he goes,

turns contemptuously upon the Women. They laugh.)

Com. Pah!

(Exit Committee-man.)

(The Chorus of Old Men stand much depressed,

eyeing the Women malevolently.)

1st Leader of Men. Oh, are not women, set to their desire,

Shameless as cats, unconquerable as fire!

Who, then, may hope to match or beat them down?

1st Leader of Women. If ye knew this, then wherefore did ye frown,

And wage vile war against us, when of late

We sought to be your friends?

2nd Leader of Men.Now will I hate

Women for ever!

[Pg 69]

1st Leader of Women. So be it, as you please.

2nd Leader of Women. But wherefore stand ye thus with naked knees,

All bare of limb as for a wrestling bout?

What means this folly that ye go without

Your cloaks?

4th Leader of Women. Come, put them on!

(The Women descend bearing the Old Men's cloaks

in their hands. The Old Men submit to be dressed.)

1st Leader of Men.By Zeus, now, this,

Which you have done for me is not amiss!

2nd Leader of Men. Ah, when I stripped the fire was in the pan!

2nd Leader of Women. Why! now, indeed, you look a proper man,

A noble, and a handsome, and a brave!

4th Leader of Women. Why did you vex us? Why did you behave

So frowardly?

3rd Leader of Women. Wait, now! Here in your eye,

Blurring the vision, is some kind of fly.

Does it not pain you?

4th Leader of Men.Oh! so that's the thing

Was troubling me?

3rd Leader of Women. No doubt.

4th Leader of Men (irritably). Well, take this ring.

Fetch it out for me! Aye, for many a day

This has been stinging me. Get it away!

3rd Leader of Women. Well, don't be cross, then!

Oh, just look at that!

(They all collect and look.)

There, don't you see it? Why, a monstrous gnat,

Big as a hornet.

[Pg 70]

4th Leader of Men.Aye, in truth, a pest!

A plague! By Zeus, now you have given me rest.

(All the other Old Men go to the other Women

and have flies taken out of their eyes.)

3rd Leader of Women. Wait till I wipe it clean lest it should swell.

(She wipes it.)

There! Now I'll kiss the place and make it well.

4th Leader of Men. No, no! Don't kiss me!

3rd Leader of Women.I don't ask your leave.

That's how you pay.

4th Leader of Men. Oh, woman, 'tis your nature thus to thieve

And wheedle! Ah! it was well said, no doubt,

"'Tis best not to be with—nor yet without—

Female seduction."

(During this scene the Women have collected

and carried away Myrrhina's leavings.)

1st Leader of Men. Why, who be these?

2nd Leader of Men.Spartans: and by their wands

Ambassadors.

3rd Leader of Men. Come they to us in bonds?

(Enter two Spartan Ambassadors.)

1st Leader of Men. O Spartans, welcome first, and tell us next

For what cause are ye come?

1st Spartan. Nay, read the text

Of your own hearts! Is not our plight the same?

All Greece endures a need without a name.

2nd Leader of Men. Have you, too, got a fly

Or hornet in your eye?

(Enter two Athenians.)

[Pg 71]

1st Athen. Where is Lysistrata? Nay, be not dumb!

Tell her that we be here:—Athenians, come

Of high degree, with powers upon us laid,

Sent by the Senate, to entreat her aid.

1st Leader of Men. However high ye be, all of one grief

Suffer both day and night without relief!

1st Athen. O welcome, Spartans! These be shameful things

We suffer!

1st Spartan.Of a truth compassion wrings

My heart. A common grief hath made us kind.

2nd Athen. Wherefore, then, have ye come?

1st Spartan.We are resigned

To plead for peace.

1st. Athen.Now, truly, ye say well.

We also are agreed; and thus we fell

To meeting.

2nd Spartan.Good!

2nd Athen.Call, then, for Heaven's sake,

Lysistrata; for she alone can make

Peace for us.

1st Spartan.Nay! call—if a hope remains—

All the Lysistratas the world contains!

(Enter Lysistrata.)

1st Leader of Men. Nay, call not, for she comes!

2nd Leader of Men.O wisest, best,

Bravest of women—hail! To thee addressed

We come!

3rd Leader of Men. Be good, and grave, and gracious,

mild and shrewd!

For at thy feet, the Grecian chiefs subdued

Now seek for aid.

4th Leader of Men.Surrendering to thy charms

With one consent all here lay down their arms.

1st Spartan. Nay, nay! We treat: we do not yield our claim (pugnaciously).

[Pg 72]

Lys. Surely it is not hard, when people aim

With open mind for peace, to find a road.

But if to strife ye goad each other still,—

Forthwith ye lack the will.

Quickly I'll test you. Here comes Peace.

(Enter a young girl, olive-bearing, emblematic of Peace.

Lysistrata turns to the Women.)

Now take

Each by the hand these Spartan lords, and make

Them come with you.

(The Women descend and lead the Spartans

by the hand toward the centre.)

—not by self-will or force,

As is the way of men, but from the source

Of sweet affection to all women dear.

Let the Athenians also be brought here.

(Women descend and lead forward the Athenians.)

And now let both sides hearken to the word

Which I shall speak; and hold when ye have heard.

I am a woman: yet of brain and sense

Equal to yours; and often long years hence

Back in the past, I heard my father speak

Of the blood-bond which once bound Greek to Greek

'Gainst all the world. May I not blame you, then,

That ye forget the words of older men

Who made Greece strong? Do ye not sprinkle still

The same gods' altars, and with worship fill

Delphi, and Pylae, and Olympia's shrine,

And others of a fame ye hold divine?

Yet vain your worship when throughout the land

Deserted homes and ruined cities stand,

[Pg 73]

And graves piled with the dead of slaughtered kin,

While all around Barbarians press in,

And waste your borders.... So one part is told.

1st Athen. O form desirable! O heart of gold!

Lys. Next upon you, O Spartans, I cry shame.

Have ye forgot how once a Spartan came

Suppliant to Athens, praying by all the gods

For help of arms against o'erwhelming odds?

Since, then, we sent swift succour, why do ye

Now waste the land which brought you liberty?

2nd Athen. By Zeus, well said! Sparta has done us wrong!

1st Spartan. But might is right! And force good for the strong.

Lys. And do you think I have no word to say

To you Athenians? Ah, there was a day

When Sparta, in her turn, came forth and slew

Many Thessalians, and succoured you

From Hippias and his horde. 'Twas she alone

Came to your aid when ye lay overthrown.

1st Spartan. Never saw I a woman to compare

With this!

2nd Spartan.Nor I a bosom half so fair!

(Lysistrata takes a spray of olive from Peace

and divides it in two.)

Lys. Why will ye not make peace? What is the root

Of your contention?

1st Spartan. We have no dispute

Save upon this—restore what once was ours.

1st Athen. What, namely?

1st Spartan.Pylos: for were not her towers

Of Sparta's building?

2nd Athen.By Poseidon, no!

Did we not save those towers from overthrow

When ye stood worsted?

[Pg 74]

2nd Spartan.Aye! Because ye made

A compact which ye broke!

1st Athen.Because ye laid

False hands on Cöos!

1st Spartan.'Twas ours; ye know it well!

2nd Athen. Yours, as the herdman's flocks upon the fell

Are to the wolf his own!

1st Spartan.Aye, even so

Seized ye on Pylos!

(They are about to fall to blows.)

Lys. Nay, let them have it!

1st Athen.And where shall we go

To obtain recompense?

Lys.Demand instead

Some other place.

1st Athen.So be it: wisely said!

Do you give up to us all the waste land

Beyond Echinus, and on either hand

Of Megara, skirting the Melian bay!

1st Spartan. Nay, by the gods! What? Give all that away?

Not I!

Lys. Why grudge it them? 'Tis barren ground.

2nd Athen. But we would cultivate and fence it round,

Making it fertile.

2nd Spartan.Ah! we have a scheme

For doing that ourselves.

Lys.An idle dream!

Since without peace ye cannot.

1st Spartan.But if the prize

Goes thus divided, what of our allies?

They will need payment, having borne the cost.

1st Athen. Tell them the truth, and own that ye have lost!

1st Spartan. Nay, what I have I hold! Cöos stays mine.

[Pg 75]

2nd Athen. Starved and stuck fast, dry-footed in the brine,

Fearing the fleets of Athens!

2nd Spartan. —Who on land

Now fears to show her face or lift a hand

'Gainst Spartan spears!

1st Athen.Guarding a barren shore

Which we have spoiled for you!

Lys.So with vile war.

Ye waste each other's wealth! Go, then, and seek

Consent of your allies: then come and speak

More on the matter.

(She turns back to the Acropolis. The Women follow her.)

1st Athen.Nay, by Heaven I vow

I cannot wait. Have the point settled now!

And—oh, get the thing done! Pylos is yours!

1st Spartan. Echinus, and the waste land by the shores

Of Megara, we give you!

(All the Women utter a cry of joy and wonder.)

Lys. (presenting the olive branches). Ye do well!

Go, then, prepare; for in yon citadel

We hold our feast: there will we make new vows

Of friendship; then shall each man with his spouse

Return to his own home.

1st Athen. Oh, word of peace!

Come ye soft fires of night, and let war cease!

(From the gates of the citadel come Women carrying raiment of festival,

golden fillets, wreaths, and wine-cups. Night has fallen. Torch-bearers

enter and stand at the entrances on both sides of the stage.)

[Pg 76]

1st Leader of Women. Now will I offer my best

For the good of each guest,

Raiment, and linen, and jewel,

2nd Leader of Women. And shoes for the feet,

3rd Leader of Women. And fuel and meat.

4th Leader of Women. Let them enter and bear it away!

(Enter Dancers, strewing flowers.)

1st Leader of Women. If any lack food in this city,

Let him come, I will offer him bread.

2nd Leader of Women. If any lack comfort or pity,

Lo, here is a roof and a bed.

3rd Leader of Women. For Peace hath her portion in plenty,

1st Leader of Women. And Discord is dead.

1st Athen. Now let the dance begin! Give thanks and praise

To Artemis, and Him who bears the bays,

Sun-beamed Apollo—

2nd Athen.Bacchus, with bright eyes

Among his Bacchanals, and in the skies

Fire-bearing Zeus!

1st Leader of Women.And Hera, that bright dame

Who shares his throne, and Pallas of virgin fame!

2nd Leader of Women. Call we on these as witnesses in Heaven

To that fair peace by Aphrodite given.

Shout for the triumph of gentler powers!

All the Women. Evoe! Evoe! The victory is ours.

Chorus (leading procession of Peace).

Take up your pipes of music sweet,

And make a measure for my feet

To dance to. Take your lute, and raise

Your song in Aphrodite's praise.

And while the praise of Heaven ye tell,

Give praise to Mother Earth as well!

[Pg 77]

(Led by dancers, and with women strewing flowers before her,

Peace descends.

She offers her hand to the Spartan Ambassador.)

Lys. Why do ye wait? Ye that have led hard lives

In foreign service, are not these your wives?

Since ye have made peace, do ye not deserve

The fruits of peace? We conquer but to serve.

(The chorus is repeated as Peace, leading the Ambassador,

preceded by the Dancers, and followed by her Attendants,

passes out.)

(Enter Cinesias. Myrrhina comes down to meet him with

extended hands. He rushes up to her, catches her up in his

arms, and carries her away. Immediately the other Athenians

seize their women and carry them off. Dancers and Torch-bearers

follow. The stage is left empty of all but Lysistrata.)

(Lysistrata comes down slowly to the centre of the upper stage.

She stands and looks after the revellers. The light of the

torches fades away; only moonlight remains. A sound of

the cooing of doves is heard from the roof. Lysistrata

turns and descends, going out in the opposite direction,

away from the sounds of revelry.)

Curtain.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lysistrata

LYSISTRATA

SCENE I.

INTERLUDE.

SCENE II.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE