980.
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Line 980
πᾷ τᾶν Ἀσανᾶν ἐστιν ἁ γερωχία
The form Ἀσανᾶν is the distinctive Doric dialectal genitive plural of Ἀσάνα (Aegina), replacing the Attic Ἀγινῶν. Aristophanes frequently employs Doric forms in the speech of characters representing non-Attic or rustic populations to signal their geographical origin and social identity; here, the speaker's use of Doric morphology immediately identifies the subject as an Aeginetan woman, a detail crucial for understanding the specific local rivalries and the 'chorus of women' dynamic in the play.
987.
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Line 987
τί δὴ προβάλλει τὴν χλαμύδʼ; ἢ βουβωνιᾷς
The verb προβάλλει is used here in a specific theatrical sense, meaning 'to hold out' or 'to display' (the cloak), rather than the more common 'to project' or 'to advance.' This action is the physical setup for the comic punchline, where the character Lysistrata (or the Chorus) interprets the gesture of holding out the cloak as a sign of a bubonic plague infection (βουβωνιᾷς). The term βουβωνιᾷς is a medical reference to buboes (swollen lymph nodes), the hallmark symptom of the Plague of Athens; its use here is a grotesque hyperbole, suggesting the character's cloak is so tattered or held in such a specific way that it mimics the appearance of a bubo, or that the gesture itself is an absurd attempt to hide a swelling.
990.
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Line 990
οὐ τὸν Δίʼ οὐκ ἐγών γα· μηδʼ αὖ πλαδδίη.
The phrase 'μηδʼ αὖ πλαδδίη' presents a rare and difficult textual crux. While 'πλαδδίη' is not attested in other contexts, the context of the oath suggests a reference to a specific, perhaps dialectal, term for a 'platter' or 'dish' used in the ritual of the oath, or it may be a corruption of a more standard form. The variation in the manuscripts regarding this word, and its lack of clear parallels, makes it a significant point of scholarly debate.
996.
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Line 996
ἅπαντες ἐστύκαντι· Πελλάνας δὲ δεῖ.
The verb ἐστύκαντι is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and rare in Attic comedy generally, appearing here as a perfect active indicative (or perhaps a contracted perfect from a stem *τυκ-*) meaning 'they are in a state of having been struck' or, more likely in this context of sexual frustration, 'they are in a state of having been satisfied' (i.e., 'they are sated'). The form is highly irregular; most editors conjecture a corruption of *ἐστυγάντι* (from *ἐστυγάζω*, 'to be angry') or *ἐστυγάντι* (from *ἐστυγνύω*, 'to be struck'), but the context of the Lysistrata's argument regarding the cessation of the strike suggests a sexual connotation. The phrase 'they are sated' (or 'they have had their fill') creates a pun with the previous lines about the physical exhaustion of the men, linking their physiological state to the political stalemate. The syntax relies on the perfect tense to denote a present state resulting from a past action, a usage common in comedy but the specific lexical choice is unique to this passage.
1004.
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Line 1004
ταὶ γὰρ γυναῖκες οὐδὲ τῶ μύρτω σιγεῖν
The phrase 'οὐδὲ τῶ μύρτω σιγεῖν' (not even silent as to the myrtle) relies on a specific Attic idiom where 'σιγεῖν' (to be silent) is construed with the dative of the thing about which one is silent. Here, the comparison to 'myrtle' (μύρτω) is not merely botanical; it alludes to the myrtle's traditional association with Aphrodite and the *sacra* of the women, particularly in the context of the Thesmophoria or general female religious observance. The construction implies a proverbial or hyperbolic state of silence: even the goddess's sacred plant, or perhaps the women's own ritual silence regarding it, is exceeded by their current silence (or lack thereof, depending on the ironic context of the play's climax). The use of the dative 'τῶ μύρτω' with 'σιγεῖν' is a rare syntactic feature in Aristophanes, where the dative often marks the sphere of the silence rather than the object of the verb, creating a compressed metaphor that requires knowledge of the ritual significance of myrtle in Athenian female cults to fully grasp the irony of the women's current inability to remain silent.
1012.
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Line 1012
πρέσβεις ἑλέσθαι τὸ πέος ἐπιδείξας τοδί.
The verb ἐπιδείξας (aorist active participle, masculine nominative singular of ἐπιδείκνυμι) here functions as a deictic gesture accompanying the noun phrase τὸ πέος. In the context of the play's parody of diplomatic protocol, the participle is not merely descriptive but performs a metatheatrical action: the character (the Athenian herald) is physically displaying the phallus as the 'treaty' or 'proof' of his authority, subverting the solemnity of the embassy's purpose. This usage of the participle to denote a simultaneous, performative act of 'showing' rather than a prior completed action is characteristic of Aristophanic farce, where physical comedy overrides syntactic expectation.
1032.
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Line 1032
οὐχ ὁρᾷς; οὐκ ἐμπίς ἐστιν ἥδε Τρικορυσία;
The term Τρικορυσία (Tricorythus) is a specific deme of Attica located in the northern region, near the border with Euboea. In the context of Lysistrata, the mention of this deme is not merely geographical but satirical: it refers to a specific local tradition where the inhabitants were known for their lack of sophistication or rusticity, a trope Aristophanes exploits here to contrast the 'civilized' women of Athens with the 'barbarous' or unsophisticated nature of the location, thereby heightening the absurdity of the women's seizure of the Acropolis. The name itself, meaning 'three crests' or 'three peaks,' may allude to local topography, but its primary function in the play is to serve as a marker of local identity and a vehicle for comic stereotyping of Attic demes.
1052.
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Line 1052
The sentence contains a textual crux marked by the editorial dagger (†) around πόλλʼ ἔσω. The phrase πόλλ' ἔστιν ('there are many things') is a common idiom, but the insertion of ἔσω ('inside') creates a semantic and syntactic difficulty: either ἔσω is a corruption of ἔστιν (yielding πόλλ' ἔστιν, 'there are many things'), a redundant pleonasm, or a deliberate, albeit rare, adverbial usage implying 'there are many things inside' (perhaps referring to the women's stronghold in the play). Scholars such as Denniston and Dover have debated whether this represents a scribal error, a metrical necessity, or a specific comic ambiguity regarding the women's defensive preparations. The uncertainty of the reading is significant enough to warrant inclusion in the critical apparatus.
1080.
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Line 1080
ἄφατα. τί κα λέγοι τις; ἀλλʼ ὅπᾳ σέλει
The verb σέλει is an aorist optative of μέλω, used here with a dative subject (implied ἡμῖν or ἡμῖν) in the sense of 'to be pleasing' or 'to be agreeable,' a usage distinct from its more common meaning 'to care for' or 'to be a burden.' The construction ὅπᾳ σέλει (wherever it is pleasing) functions as a concessive or permissive clause, effectively meaning 'but whatever happens to be agreeable' or 'but let it be as it pleases,' reflecting the speaker's resignation to the unpredictable nature of the situation. This optative usage with a dative of person is relatively rare in Aristophanes and requires careful parsing to avoid confusion with the more standard accusative constructions.
1081.
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Line 1081
παντᾷ τις ἐλσὼν ἁμὶν εἰράναν σέτω.
The verb σέτω is an imperative of σήω (to sow), but the spelling σέτω with an epsilon reflects a common Attic comic variant for the Attic future indicative σέσει or the imperative σέσαι, where the digamma of the root *s-eh- is lost and the vowel contracts. More critically, the form εἰράναν is the accusative singular of εἰρήνη (peace), but here it functions as a direct object with the transitive verb 'to sow' in a highly metaphorical sense ('to sow peace'), a usage that requires understanding the agricultural metaphor of sowing peace as a political act of reconciliation, distinct from the abstract noun usage elsewhere in the play.
1085.
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Line 1085
ἀσκητικὸν τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ νοσήματος.
The adjective ἀσκητικὸν is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and is here used in a specific comedic sense, deriving from the verb ἀσκέω (to exercise, train, or practice). In the context of the 'disease' (the sexual frustration of the women), it does not mean 'ascetic' in the later religious sense, nor merely 'habitual,' but rather 'something that requires practice' or 'a matter of training.' This creates a deliberate pun: the 'training' (ἀσκησις) of the body for athletics is contrasted with the 'training' required to endure or manage the sexual abstinence imposed by the peace treaty, while also hinting at the 'exercise' (physical exertion) the women must now undergo to suppress their desires. The term is rare in comedy and represents a sophisticated lexical play on the dual meanings of physical exertion and disciplined restraint.
1141.
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Line 1141
στρατιὰν προσαιτῶν; ἡ δὲ Μεσσήνη τότε
The phrase στρατιὰν προσαιτῶν ('begging for an army') is a striking example of Aristophanic hyperbole and irony. Lysistrata is not literally petitioning for troops; rather, she is satirizing the Athenian desperation for military support during the Peloponnesian War, specifically alluding to the failed Sicilian Expedition or the general reliance on mercenaries. The verb προσαιτέω, typically used for begging bread or alms, is repurposed here to degrade the state's military posture to that of a destitute supplicant, highlighting the absurdity of their situation.
1174.
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Line 1174
ἐγὼ δὲ κοπραγωγεῖν γα †πρῶτα† ναὶ τὼ σιώ.
The text exhibits a well-known crux at the word πρῶτα, which is marked with obeloi (†) in critical editions. The manuscript tradition is divided: some read πρῶτα (first), others πρῶτον, while the sense of the line ('I, by Zeus, would rather be a butcher's assistant than a citizen') suggests a comparative or superlative construction that is syntactically awkward with the infinitive κοπραγωγεῖν. The most likely original reading, supported by the sense of 'rather' (ναὶ τὼ σιώ) and the context of Lysistrata's hyperbolic refusal to engage in politics, is πρῶτα as an adverbial accusative of degree ('first and foremost' or 'above all'), though some editors have conjectured πρῶτον or even emended to πρῶτον with a different sense. The presence of the crux indicates a significant textual problem affecting the interpretation of Lysistrata's priorities.
1180b.
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Line 1180b
The sentence is a colloquial oath and vocative address in the Laconian (Spartan) dialect, distinct from the standard Attic Greek of the rest of the play. Key features include the Doric dative plural article τοῖσι (Attic τοῖς), the Doric vocative form ναὶ (often Attic ναί), and the specific Laconian forms γῶν (for γῶν or γῶν = γυνή/γυναικῶν contextually, here likely a dialectal contraction or form for 'women' or 'ladies' as a vocative plural) and σιὼ (the Laconian vocative plural of σύ, meaning 'you', contrasting with Attic σῶς or σῦν). This represents a deliberate stylistic choice by Aristophanes to characterize the Spartan women's distinct linguistic identity and to parody their perceived roughness or archaic speech patterns.
