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Χορὸς γερόντων

εἰ γὰρ ἐνδώσει τις ἡμῶν ταῖσδε κἂν σμικρὰν λαβήν,

οὐδὲν ἐλλείψουσιν αὗται λιπαροῦς χειρουργίας,

ἀλλὰ καὶ ναῦς τεκτανοῦνται, κἀπιχειρήσουσʼ ἔτι

ναυμαχεῖν καὶ πλεῖν ἐφʼ ἡμἁς ὥσπε, Ἀρτεμισία.
675

ἢν δʼ ἐφʼ ἱππικὴν τράπωνται, διαγράφω τοὺς ἱππέας.

ἱππικώτατον γάρ ἐστι χρῆμα κἄποχον γυνή,

κοὐκ ἂν ἀπολίσθοι τρέχοντος· τὰς δʼ Ἀμαζόνας σκόπει,

ἃς Μίκων ἔγραψʼ ἐφʼ ἵππων μαχομένας τοῖς ἀνδράσιν.

ἀλλὰ τούτων χρῆν ἁπασῶν ἐς τετρημένον ξύλον
680

ἐγκαθαρμόσαι λαβόντας τουτονὶ τὸν αὐχένα.

Lysistrata. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Λυσιστράτη (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.)

Translations (2)

Lysistrata (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Jack Lindsay). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 672 focus

MEN.

We must take a stand and keep to it,
840

For if we yield the smallest bit

To their importunity.

Then nowhere from their inroads will be left to us immunity.

But they'll be building ships and soon their navies will attack us,

As Artemisia did, and seek to fight us and to sack us.
845

And if they mount, the Knights they'll rob

Of a job,

For everyone knows how talented they all are in the saddle,

Having long practised how to straddle;

No matter how they're jogged there up and down, they're never thrown.
850

Then think of Myron's painting, and each horse-backed Amazon

In combat hand-to-hand with men.... Come, on these women fall,

And in pierced wood-collars let's stick

quick

The necks of one and all.
855

English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 672 focus

Chorus of old men: for if one of us yields even a small foothold to these things,

Chorus of old men: These women will not lack a smooth operation,

Chorus of old men: But they are even building ships, and will even undertake them yet.

Chorus of old men: to fight at sea and to sail upon us, just like Artemisia.

675

Chorus of old men: If they turn to cavalry, I strike the horsemen from the list.

Chorus of old men: for a woman is the most horse-like and dangerous thing,

Chorus of old men: And he would not slip even while running; but look at the Amazons,

Chorus of old men: Those whom Micon wrote fighting on horses against the men.

Chorus of old men: But all of these should have been placed into a perforated piece of wood.

680

Chorus of old men: 'Let us tighten this neck by taking hold of it.'

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

673. mvp-tlg0019-tlg007-sanjaya-com-eng1-25

Line 673

οὐδὲν ἐλλείψουσιν αὗται λιπαροῦς χειρουργίας,

The construction ἐλλείψουσιν with the genitive λιπαροῦς χειρουργίας (literally 'will not lack of greasy surgery') represents a rare and distinctive usage of the verb ἐλλείπω. While typically governing a genitive of the thing lacking (e.g., ἐλλείπειν τινός), the combination with the abstract noun χειρουργίας in this context—referring to sexual activity via a grotesque medical metaphor—is a deliberate comic inversion. Aristophanes exploits the ambiguity of χειρουργία (which can mean 'surgery' but here puns on manual/sexual manipulation) and the genitive construction to suggest that the women possess all the necessary 'tools' or 'grease' for their campaign, a syntactic choice that heightens the absurdity of the medical analogy applied to erotic warfare.

678. mvp-tlg0019-tlg007-sanjaya-com-eng1-26

Line 678

κοὐκ ἂν ἀπολίσθοι τρέχοντος· τὰς δʼ Ἀμαζόνας σκόπει,

The construction ἀπολίσθοι τρέχοντος employs the present participle with the aorist optative in a periphrastic sense, where the participle τρέχοντος (genitive absolute or genitive of the object of the verb of fearing/avoiding) indicates the simultaneous action. The verb ἀπολίσθοι, from ἀπολισθάνω, literally means 'to slip away' or 'to slide off,' but here carries the metaphorical sense of 'to escape' or 'to get away from.' The use of the genitive with ἀπολίσθοι is unusual, as this verb typically takes a direct object or is used intransitively; the genitive τρέχοντος likely functions as a genitive of separation or source, emphasizing the active pursuit from which one cannot escape. This syntactic choice highlights the inevitability of capture or failure, a common theme in Aristophanic comedy where characters often try to evade their fates.

Aristophanes Lysistrata 672

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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