Aristophanes Lysistrata 1

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

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Λυσιστράτη

ἀλλʼ εἴ τις ἐς Βακχεῖον αὐτὰς ἐκάλεσεν,
1

ἢ ʼς Πανὸς ἢ ʼπὶ Κωλιάδʼ ἢ ʼς Γενετυλλίδος,

οὐδʼ ἂν διελθεῖν ἦν ἂν ὑπὸ τῶν τυμπάνων.

νῦν δʼ οὐδεμία πάρεστιν ἐνταυθοῖ γυνή·

πλὴν ἥ γʼ ἐμὴ κωμῆτις ἥδʼ ἐξέρχεται.
5

χαῖρʼ ὦ Καλονίκη.

Καλονίκη

καὶ σύ γʼ ὦ Λυσιστράτη.

τί συντετάραξαι; μὴ σκυθρώπαζʼ ὦ τέκνον.

οὐ γὰρ πρέπει σοι τοξοποιεῖν τὰς ὀφρῦς.

Λυσιστράτη

ἀλλʼ ὦ Καλονίκη κάομαι τὴν καρδίαν,

καὶ πόλλʼ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῶν γυναικῶν ἄχθομαι,
10

ὁτιὴ παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἀνδράσιν νενομίσμεθα

εἶναι πανοῦργοι—

Καλονίκη

καὶ γάρ ἐσμεν νὴ Δία.

Λυσιστράτη

εἰρημένον δʼ αὐταῖς ἀπαντᾶν ἐνθάδε

βουλευσομέναισιν οὐ περὶ φαύλου πράγματος,

εὕδουσι κοὐχ ἥκουσιν.
15

Καλονίκη

ἀλλʼ ὦ φιλτάτη

ἥξουσι· χαλεπή τοι γυναικῶν ἔξοδος.

ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἡμῶν περὶ τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἐκύπτασεν,

ἡ δʼ οἰκέτην ἤγειρεν, ἡ δὲ παιδίον

κατέκλινεν, ἡ δʼ ἔλουσεν, ἡ δʼ ἐψώμισεν.

Λυσιστράτη

ἀλλʼ ἕτερά τἄρʼ ἦν τῶνδε προὐργιαίτερα
20

αὐταῖς.

Καλονίκη

τί δʼ ἐστὶν ὦ φίλη Λυσιστράτη,

ἐφʼ ὅ τι ποθʼ ἡμᾶς τὰς γυναῖκας συγκαλεῖς;

τί τὸ πρᾶγμα; πηλίκον τι;

Λυσιστράτη

μέγα.

Καλονίκη

μῶν καὶ παχύ;

Λυσιστράτη

καὶ νὴ Δία παχύ.

Καλονίκη

κᾆτα πῶς οὐχ ἥκομεν;

Λυσιστράτη

οὐχ οὗτος ὁ τρόπος· ταχὺ γὰρ ἂν ξυνήλθομεν.
25

ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ πρᾶγμʼ ἀνεζητημένον

πολλαῖσί τʼ ἀγρυπνίαισιν ἐρριπτασμένον.

Καλονίκη

ἦ πού τι λεπτόν ἐστι τοὐρριπτασμένον.

Λυσιστράτη

οὕτω γε λεπτὸν ὥσθʼ ὅλης τῆς Ἑλλάδος

ἐν ταῖς γυναιξίν ἐστιν ἡ σωτηρία.
30

Καλονίκη

ἐν ταῖς γυναιξίν; ἐπʼ ὀλίγου γʼ ὠχεῖτʼ ἄρα.

Λυσιστράτη

ὡς ἔστʼ ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς πόλεως τὰ πράγματα,

ἢ μηκέτʼ εἶναι μήτε Πελοποννησίους—

Καλονίκη

βέλτιστα τοίνυν μηκέτʼ εἶναι νὴ Δία.

Λυσιστράτη

Βοιωτίους τε πάντας ἐξολωλέναι.
35

Καλονίκη

μὴ δῆτα πάντας γʼ, ἀλλʼ ἄφελε τὰς ἐγχέλεις.

Λυσιστράτη

περὶ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν δʼ οὐκ ἐπιγλωττήσομαι

τοιοῦτον οὐδέν· ἀλλʼ ὑπονόησον σύ μοι.

ἢν δὲ ξυνέλθωσʼ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐνθάδε

αἵ τʼ ἐκ Βοιωτῶν αἵ τε Πελοποννησίων
40

ἡμεῖς τε, κοινῇ σώσομεν τὴν Ἑλλάδα.

Καλονίκη

τί δʼ ἂν γυναῖκες φρόνιμον ἐργασαίατο

ἢ λαμπρόν, αἳ καθήμεθʼ ἐξηνθισμέναι,

κροκωτοφοροῦσαι καὶ κεκαλλωπισμέναι

καὶ Κιμμερίκʼ ὀρθοστάδια καὶ περιβαρίδας;
45

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 (1)

Lysistrata (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Jack Lindsay). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1 focus

LYSISTRATA stands alone with the Propylaea at her back.

LYSISTRATA

If they were trysting for a Bacchanal,
1

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.
5
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.
10

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
15

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
20

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?
25

LYSISTRATA

A tremendous thing!

CALONICE

And long?

LYSISTRATA

Indeed, it may be very lengthy.

CALONICE

Then why aren't they here?

LYSISTRATA

No man's connected with it;
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If that was the case, they'd soon come fluttering along.

No, no. It concerns an object I've felt over

And turned this way and that for sleepless nights.

CALONICE

It must be fine to stand such long attention.

LYSISTRATA

So fine it comes to this— Greece saved by Woman!
35

CALONICE

By Woman? Wretched thing, I'm sorry for it.

LYSISTRATA

Our country's fate is henceforth in our hands:

To destroy the Peloponnesians root and branch—

CALONICE

What could be nobler!

LYSISTRATA

Wipe out the Boeotians—
40

CALONICE

Not utterly. Have mercy on the eels!¹

LYSISTRATA

But with regard to Athens , note I'm careful

Not to say any of these nasty things;

Still, thought is free.... But if the women join us

From Peloponnesus and Boeotia , then
45

Hand in hand we'll rescue Greece .

CALONICE

How could we do

Such a big wise deed? We women who dwell

Quietly adorning ourselves in a back-room

With gowns of lucid gold and gawdy toilets
50

Of stately silk and dainty little slippers....