***ISTRATA
(SCENE:-At the base of the Orchestra are two buildings, the house of ***ISTRATA and the entrance to the Acropolis; a winding and narrow path leads up to the latter.Between the two buildings is the opening of the Cave of Pan.***ISTRATA is pacing up and down in front of her house.)***ISTRATA
Ah! if only they had been invited to a Bacchic revelling, or a feast of Pan or Aphrodite or Genetyllis, why! the streets would have been impassable for the thronging tambourines! Now there's never a woman here-ah! except my neighbour Cleonice, whom I see approaching yonder....Good day, Cleonice.
CLEONICE
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.
***ISTRATA
Oh, Cleonice, my heart is on fire; I blush for our ***.Men will have it we are tricky and sly....
CLEONICE
And they are quite right, upon my word!
***ISTRATA
Yet, look you, when the women are summoned to meet for a matter of the greatest importance, they lie in bed instead of coming.
CLEONICE
Oh! they will come, my dear; but it's 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.
***ISTRATA
But I tell you, the business that calls them here is far and away more urgent.
CLEONICE
And why do you summon us, dear Lysistrata? What is it all about?
***ISTRATA
About a big thing.
CLEONICE (taking this in a different sense; with great interest)And is it thick too?
***ISTRATA
Yes, very thick.
CLEONICE
And we are not all on the spot! Imagine!
***ISTRATA (wearily)
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 so many sleepless nights.
CLEONICE (still unable to be serious)
It must be something mighty fine and subtle for you to have turned it about so!
***ISTRATA
So fine, it means just this, Greece saved by the women!
CLEONICE
By the women! Why, its salvation hangs on a poor thread then!
***ISTRATA
Our country's fortunes depend on us-it is with us to undo utterly the Peloponnesians.
CLEONICE
That would be a noble deed truly!
***ISTRATA
To exterminate the Boeotians to a man!
CLEONICE
But surely you would spare the eels.
***ISTRATA
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.
CLEONICE
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?
***ISTRATA
Ah, but those are the very sheet-anchors of our salvation-those yellow tunics, those scents and slippers, those cosmetics and transparent robes.
CLEONICE
How so, pray?
***ISTRATA
There is not a man will wield a lance against another...
CLEONICE
Quick, I will get me a yellow tunic from the dyer's.
***ISTRATA
...or want a shield.
CLEONICE
I'll run and put on a flowing gown.
***ISTRATA
...or draw a sword.
CLEONICE
I'll haste and buy a pair of slippers this instant.
***ISTRATA
Now tell me, would not the women have done best to come?
CLEONICE
Why, they should have flown here!
***ISTRATA
Ah! my dear, you'll see that like true Athenians, they will do everything too late....Why, there's not a woman come from the shore, not one from Salamis.
CLEONICE
But I know for certain they embarked at daybreak.
***ISTRATA
And the dames from Acharnae! why, I thought they would have been the very first to arrive.
CLEONICE
Theagenes' wife 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?
***ISTRATA
They are from Anagyra.
CLEONICE
Yes! upon my word, 'tis a levy en masse of all the female population of Anagyra!
(MYRRHINE enters, followed by other women.)
MYRRHINE
Are we late, Lysistrata? Tell us, pray; what, not a word?
***ISTRATA
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.
CLEONICE
No, let's wait a moment more, till the women of Boeotia arrive and those from the Peloponnese.
***ISTRATA
Yes, that is best....Ah! here comes Lampito.(LAMPITO, a husky Spartan damsel, enters with three others, two from Boeotia and one from Corinth.) 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.It's because I do gymnastics and practise the bottom-kicking dance.
CLEONICE (opening LAMPITO'S robe and baring her bosom)And what superb breasts!
LAMPITO
La! you are feeling me as if I were a beast for sacrifice.
***ISTRATA
And this young woman, where is she from?
LAMPITO
She is a noble lady from Boeotia.
***ISTRATA
Ah! my pretty Boeotian friend, you are as blooming as a garden.
CLEONICE (****** another inspection)
Yes, on my word! and her "garden" is so thoroughly weeded too!
***ISTRATA (pointing to the Corinthian)
And who is this?
LAMPITO
'Tis an honest woman, by my faith! she comes from Corinth.
CLEONICE
Oh! honest, no doubt then-as honesty goes at Corinth.
LAMPITO
But who has called together this council of women, pray?
***ISTRATA
I have.
LAMPITO
Well then, tell us what you want of us.
CLEONICE
Yes, please tell us! What is this very important business you wish to inform us about?
***ISTRATA
I will tell you.But first answer me one question.
CLEONICE
Anything you wish.
***ISTRATA
Don't you feel sad and sorry because the fathers of your children are far away from you with the army? For I'll wager there is not one of you whose husband is not abroad at this moment.
CLEONICE