Lysistrata

Name: Lysistrata
Author: Aristophanes

Aristophanes

free · 12,102 words · ~48 min read

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Translated from the Greek of

ARISTOPHANES

LYSISTRATA

The Persons of the drama.

LYSISTRATA
CALONICE
MYRRHINE
LAMPITO
Stratyllis, etc.
Chorus of Women.
MAGISTRATE
CINESIAS
SPARTAN HERALD
ENVOYS
ATHENIANS
Porter, Market Idlers, etc.
Chorus of old Men.

LYSISTRATA stands alone with the Propylaea at her back.

LYSISTRATA

If they were trysting for a Bacchanal,
A feast of Pan or Colias or Genetyllis,
The tambourines would block the rowdy streets,
But now there's not a woman to be seen
Except--ah, yes--this neighbour of mine yonder.

Enter CALONICE.

Good day Calonice.

CALONICE

Good day Lysistrata.
But what has vexed you so? Tell me, child.
What are these black looks for? It doesn't suit you
To knit your eyebrows up glumly like that.

LYSISTRATA

Calonice, it's more than I can bear,
I am hot all over with blushes for our sex.
Men say we're slippery rogues--

CALONICE

And aren't they right?

LYSISTRATA

Yet summoned on the most tremendous business
For deliberation, still they snuggle in bed.

CALONICE

My dear, they'll come. It's hard for women, you know,
To get away. There's so much to do;
Husbands to be patted and put in good tempers:
Servants to be poked out: children washed
Or soothed with lullays or fed with mouthfuls of pap.

LYSISTRATA

But I tell you, here's a far more weighty object.

CALONICE

What is it all about, dear Lysistrata,
That you've called the women hither in a troop?
What kind of an object is it?

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by Aristophanes

Peace
You follow Trygaeus, an Athenian who rides a giant dung beetle into heaven to bring Peace back from a pit where War has buried her. It’s earthy, ridiculous, and politically sharp, especially when farmers celebrate the return of ordinary work, though its broad jokes can feel very much of its time.
The Acharnians
You get Aristophanes at his most gloriously unreasonable: Dikaiopolis argues for peace while the chorus of charcoal burners fumes, and the play ricochets between filthy jokes, theatrical parody, and a surprisingly serious case against war. It’s rough, loud, and smarter than its slapstick first suggests.
The Birds
You get absurd political satire, shameless wordplay, and the wonderfully slippery Peisetairus, who talks a flock of birds into imagining a new city in the sky. It’s bawdy, strange, and occasionally more interested in a joke than a tidy plot, but the chorus and wild premise make it unusually vivid on the page.

More by Aristophanes

Peace

You follow Trygaeus, an Athenian who rides a giant dung beetle into heaven to bring Peace back from a pit where War has buried her. It’s earthy, ridiculous, and politically sharp, especially when farmers celebrate the return of ordinary work, though its broad jokes can feel very much of its time.

The Acharnians

You get Aristophanes at his most gloriously unreasonable: Dikaiopolis argues for peace while the chorus of charcoal burners fumes, and the play ricochets between filthy jokes, theatrical parody, and a surprisingly serious case against war. It’s rough, loud, and smarter than its slapstick first suggests.

The Birds

You get absurd political satire, shameless wordplay, and the wonderfully slippery Peisetairus, who talks a flock of birds into imagining a new city in the sky. It’s bawdy, strange, and occasionally more interested in a joke than a tidy plot, but the chorus and wild premise make it unusually vivid on the page.