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Γυνὴ Α

οὔ τοι μὰ τὴν Ἄγλαυρον ὦ γυναῖκες εὖ φρονεῖτε,

ἀλλʼ ἢ πεφάρμαχθʼ ἢ κακόν τι μέγα πεπόνθατʼ ἄλλο,

ταύτην ἐῶσαι τὴν φθόρον τοιαῦτα περιυβρίζειν
535

ἡμᾶς ἁπάσας. εἰ μὲν οἶν τις ἔστιν· εἰ δὲ μή, ἡμεῖς

αὐταί τε καὶ τὰ δουλάρια τέφραν ποθὲν λαβοῦσαι

ταύτης ἀποψιλώσομεν τὸν χοῖρον, ἵνα διδαχθῇ

γυνὴ γυναῖκας οὖσα μὴ κακῶς λέγειν τὸ λοιπόν.

Μνησίλοχος

μὴ δῆτα τόν γε χοῖρον ὦ γυναῖκες. εἰ γὰρ οὔσης
540

παρρησίας κἀξὸν λέγειν ὅσαι πάρεσμεν ἀσταί,

εἶτʼ εἶπον ἁγίγνωσκον ὑπὲρ Εὐριπίδου δίκαια,

διὰ τοῦτο τιλλομένην με δεῖ δοῦναι δίκην ὑφʼ ὑμῶν;

Γυνὴ Α

οὐ γάρ σε δεῖ δοῦναι δίκην; ἥτις μόνη τέτληκας

ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς ἀντειπεῖν, ὃς ἡμᾶς πολλὰ κακὰ δέδρακεν
545

ἐπίτηδες εὑρίσκων λόγους, ὅπου γυνὴ πονηρὰ

ἐγένετο, Μελανίππας ποιῶν Φαίδρας τε· Πηνελόπην δὲ

οὐπώποτʼ ἐποίησʼ, ὅτι γυνὴ σώφρων ἔδοξεν εἶναι.

Μνησίλοχος

ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα ταἴτιον. Μίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴποις

τῶν νῦν γυναικῶν Πηνελόπην, Παίδρας δʼ ἁπαξαπάσας.
550

Γυνὴ Α

ἀκούετʼ ὦ γυναῖκες οἷʼ εἴρηκεν ἡ πανοῦργος

ἡμᾶς ἁπάσας αὖθις αὖ.

Μνησίλοχος

καὶ νὴ Δίʼ οὐδέπω γε

εἴρηχʼ ὅσα ξύνοιδʼ· ἐπεὶ βούλεσθε πλείονʼ εἴπω;

Γυνὴ Α

ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔτʼ ἔχοις· ὅσα γὰρ ᾔδησθʼ ἐξέχεας ἅπαντα.

Μνησίλοχος

μὰ Δίʼ οὐδέπω τὴν μυριοστὴν μοῖραν ὧν ποιοῦμεν.
555

ἐπεὶ τάδʼ οὐκ εἴρηχʼ, ὁρᾷς, ὡς στλεγγίδας λαβοῦσαι

ἔπειτα σιφωνίζομεν τὸν οἶνον.

Γυνὴ Α

ἐπιτριβείης.

Μνησίλοχος

ὥς τʼ αὖ τὰ κρέʼ ἐξ Ἀπατουρίων ταῖς μαστροποῖς διδοῦσαι

ἔπειτα τὴν γαλῆν φαμεν—

Γυνὴ Α

τάλαινʼ ἐγώ· φλυαρεῖς.

Μνησίλοχος

οὐδʼ ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει γυνὴ κατεσπόδησεν,
560

οὐκ εἶπον· οὐδʼ ὡς φαρμάκοις ἑτέρα τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἔμηνεν,

οὐδʼ ὡς ὑπὸ τῇ πυέλῳ κατώρυξέν ποτʼ—

Γυνὴ Α

ἐξόλοιο.

Μνησίλοχος

ἁχαρνικὴ τὸν πατέρα.

Γυνὴ Α

ταυτὶ δῆτʼ ἀνέκτʼ ἀκούειν;

Μνησίλοχος

οὐδʼ ὡς σὺ τῆς δούλης τεκούσης ἄρρεν εἶτα σαυτῇ

τοῦθʼ ὑπεβάλου, τὸ σὸν δὲ θυγάτριον παρῆκας αὐτῇ.
565

Γυνὴ Α

οὔ τοι μὰ τὼ θεὼ σὺ καταπροίξει λέγουσα ταυτί,

ἀλλʼ ἐκποκιῶ σου τὰς ποκάδας.

Μνησίλοχος

οὐ δὴ μὰ Δία σύ γʼ ἅψει.

Γυνὴ Α

καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Μνησίλοχος

καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Γυνὴ Α

λαβὲ θοἰμάτιον Φιλίστη.

Μνησίλοχος

πρόσθες μόνον, κἀγώ σε νὴ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν—

Γυνὴ Α

τί δράσεις;

Μνησίλοχος

τὸν σησαμοῦνθʼ ὃν κατέφαγες, τοῦτον χεσεῖν ποιήσω.
570

Χορός

παύσασθε λοιδορούμεναι· καὶ γὰρ γυνή τις ἡμῖν

ἐσπουδακυῖα προστρέχει. πρὶν οὖν ὁμοῦ γενέσθαι,

σιγᾶθʼ, ἵνʼ αὐτῆς κοσμίως πυθώμεθʼ ἅττα λέξει.

Thesmophoriazusae. 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

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

Translations (2)

Thesmophoriazusae (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 533 focus

First Woman

By Aglaurus! you have lost your wits, friends! You must be bewitched 535 to suffer this plague to belch forth insults against us all. Is there no one has any spirit at all? If not, we and our maid-servants will punish her. Run and fetch coals and let's depilate her in proper style, to teach her not to speak ill of her sex.

Mnesilochus

540 Oh! no! not that part of me, my friends. Have we not the right to speak frankly at this gathering? And because I have uttered what I thought right in favour of Euripides, do you want to depilate me for my trouble?

First Woman

What! we ought not to punish you, who alone have dared 545 to defend the man who has done so much harm, whom it pleases to put all the vile women that ever were upon the stage, who only shows us Melanippes and Phaedras? But of Penelope he has never said a word, because she was reputed chaste and good.

Mnesilochus

I know the reason. It's because not a single 550 Penelope exists among the women of to-day, but all without exception are Phaedras.

First Woman

Women, you hear how this creature still dares to speak of us all.

Mnesilochus

And, Heaven knows, I have not said all that I know. Do you want any more?

First Woman

You cannot tell us any more; you have crapped out all you know.

Mnesilochus

555 Why, I have not told the thousandth part of what we women do. Have I said how we use the hollow handles of our brooms to draw up wine unbeknown to our husbands?

First Woman

The cursed jade!

Mnesilochus

And how we give meats to our pimps at the feast of the Apaturia and then accuse the cat ...

First Woman

You're crazy!

Mnesilochus

560 ... Have I mentioned the woman who killed her husband with a hatchet? Of another, who caused hers to lose his reason with her potions? And of the Acharnian woman ...

First Woman

Die, you bitch!

Mnesilochus

... who buried her father beneath the bath?

First Woman

And yet we listen to such things!

Mnesilochus

Have I told how you 565 attributed to yourself the male child your slave had just borne and gave her your little daughter?

First Woman

This insult calls for vengeance. Look out for your hair!

Mnesilochus

By Zeus! don't touch me.

First Woman
slapping him

There!

Mnesilochus
hitting back

There! tit for tat!

First Woman

Hold my cloak, Philista!

Mnesilochus

Come on then, and by Demeter ...

First Woman

Well! what?

Mnesilochus

570 ... I'll make you crap forth the sesame-cake you have eaten.

Leader of the Chorus

Stop wrangling! I see a woman running here in hot haste. Keep silent, so that we may hear the better what she has to say.

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.) — 533 focus

Woman A: By Aglauros, women, you are thinking well,

Woman A: But either she has been poisoned or she has suffered some other great evil,

Woman A: Let her stop this envy from insulting in such a way.

535

Women A: all of us. If there is any wine; but if not, we

Women A: And they, taking ash from somewhere, and the little slaves

WOMAN A: We will strip the pig of its hair, so that it may be taught.

Woman A: Since you are a woman, do not speak badly from now on.

Mnesilochus: Do not, then, the pig, O women. For if there were...

540

Mnesilochus: I have the boldness and the right to say whatever we citizens have not said,

Mnesilochus: Then I said that I spoke justly on behalf of Euripides,

Mnesilochus: Is it because of this that I must suffer punishment at your hands for being plucked?

Woman A: For do you not have to pay the penalty? You who alone have dared.

Woman A: to speak in opposition to a man who has done us many evils.

545

Woman A: deliberately finding arguments, where a wicked woman

Woman A: it happened, Melanippus composing Phaedra's; and Penelope

WOMAN A: She has never done it, since she seemed to be a sensible woman.

Mnesilochus: For I know the cause. For you could not say 'one'.

Mnesilochus: the Penelopes of the women of today, and the one-time deceivers of Pheidias.

550

Woman A: Listen, women, what the cunning woman has said.

Woman A: us all again, again.

Mnesilochus: And by Zeus, not yet, indeed.

Mnesilochus: I have said all that I know; since you wish, shall I speak more?

Woman A: But you would not be able to any longer; for you have poured out everything that you knew.

Mnesilochus: By Zeus, we have not yet done the ten-thousandth part of what we are doing.

555

Mnesilochus: since you have not said this, you see, when you have taken the strigils

Mnesilochus: Then we filter the wine through a siphon.

Woman A: Let it be rubbed!

Mnesilochus: as if she were giving the meat from the Apaturia to the pimps again.

Mnesilochus: Then we say the weasel—

Woman A: Woe is me! You are prattling.

Mnesilochus: Not even as the woman trampled the man with the axe,

560

Mnesilochus: I did not say it, nor that another woman bewitched the man with drugs,

Woman A: Get out!

Mnesilochus: He's a character from the Thracian city of Acarnania.

Woman A: These things are surely unbearable to hear?

Mnesilochus: Not even as when you gave birth to a male child by the slave woman, then yourself

Mnesilochus: throw this one out, but you have brought her own little daughter to her.

565

Woman A: No, by the two goddesses, you will not speak thus contemptuously,

Woman A: But I will twist your legs out of shape.

Mnesilochus: No, by Zeus, you will not touch it.

Woman A: And look!

Mnesilochus: And look, here he is.

Woman A: Take Philestera's shawl.

Mnesilochus: Just add it, and by Artemis, I will—

Woman A: What will you do?

Mnesilochus: I will make you urinate on that sesame-cake you ate.

570

Chorus: stop abusing us; for indeed a certain woman [is] among us

Chorus: [She], having hurried, runs up. Therefore before [they] come together,

Chorus: Be silent, so that we may learn in an orderly fashion what she will say.

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

560. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-11

Line 560

οὐδʼ ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει γυνὴ κατεσπόδησεν,

The verb κατεσπόδησεν (perfect active indicative of κατασπόδαζω) is a rare hapax legomenon in the extant corpus of Aristophanes, constructed here with the accusative of the person and the dative of the instrument. While the root σπόδαζω (to trample or stamp) is known from comedy, the prefixation with κατά- in this specific transitive sense of 'trampling a man into submission' or 'crushing him with a shoe' is unique to this passage. The construction relies on the audience's recognition of the hyperbolic violence of the image—a woman subduing a man with a simple shoe (πέδη) using a war-hatchet (πέλεκυς) as a metaphor for the instrument of punishment—rather than a literal description of an event. The perfect tense implies a resulting state of being 'shoe-bound' or 'trampled down' rather than the action itself, emphasizing the completed humiliation of the husband.

562. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-12

Line 562

οὐδʼ ὡς ὑπὸ τῇ πυέλῳ κατώρυξέν ποτʼ—

The verb κατώρυξεν (aorist of κατωρύσσω) is used here with a prepositional phrase ὑπὸ τῇ πυέλῳ ('under the door') to describe the act of digging a tunnel. While κατωρύσσω typically implies 'digging down' or 'undermining' in a military or structural sense (e.g., undermining walls), its application to a domestic setting where a character (here, the husband Mnesilochus) is literally or metaphorically 'tunneling' out from beneath a door (or potentially a reference to the specific mechanism of the door itself) is a comic distortion of the word's usual high-register or military context. The phrase likely alludes to the absurdity of the situation: a grown man resorting to the labor of a thief or siege-engineer to escape the women's festival, highlighting the inversion of social roles central to the play.

563. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-13

Line 563

ἁχαρνικὴ τὸν πατέρα.

The adjective ἁχαρνικὴ is a rare, coined formation meaning 'belonging to the Akharnians' or 'like an Akharnian.' It is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, constructed from the deme name Ἀχαρναί (Acharnae) plus the adjectival suffix -ικ- (as in Ἀττικὴ 'Attic'), with the initial alpha treated as long or the preceding article ἁ (the) elided/contracted in a specific way characteristic of comic diction. In this context, the character (likely a woman pretending to be an Akharnian or mocking one) uses it to characterize the father as rough, rustic, or aggressive, evoking the specific reputation of the Acharnian deme, known for its martial spirit and the famous character of Dicaeopolis in the *Acharnians*. The construction relies on the audience's knowledge of the specific social stereotypes associated with the deme rather than a generic meaning of 'rural'.

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Μνησίλοχος ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα ταἴτιον. Μίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴποις τῶν νῦν γυναικῶν Πηνελόπην, Παίδρας δʼ ἁπαξαπάσας. 550

Γυνὴ Α ἀκούετʼ ὦ γυναῖκες οἷʼ εἴρηκεν ἡ πανοῦργος ἡμᾶς ἁπάσας αὖθις αὖ.

Μνησίλοχος καὶ νὴ Δίʼ οὐδέπω γε εἴρηχʼ ὅσα ξύνοιδʼ· ἐπεὶ βούλεσθε πλείονʼ εἴπω;

Γυνὴ Α ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔτʼ ἔχοις· ὅσα γὰρ ᾔδησθʼ ἐξέχεας ἅπαντα.

Μνησίλοχος μὰ Δίʼ οὐδέπω τὴν μυριοστὴν μοῖραν ὧν ποιοῦμεν. 555 ἐπεὶ τάδʼ οὐκ εἴρηχʼ, ὁρᾷς, ὡς στλεγγίδας λαβοῦσαι ἔπειτα σιφωνίζομεν τὸν οἶνον.

Γυνὴ Α ἐπιτριβείης.

Μνησίλοχος ὥς τʼ αὖ τὰ κρέʼ ἐξ Ἀπατουρίων ταῖς μαστροποῖς διδοῦσαι ἔπειτα τὴν γαλῆν φαμεν—

Γυνὴ Α τάλαινʼ ἐγώ· φλυαρεῖς.

Μνησίλοχος οὐδʼ ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει γυνὴ κατεσπόδησεν, 560 οὐκ εἶπον· οὐδʼ ὡς φαρμάκοις ἑτέρα τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἔμηνεν, οὐδʼ ὡς ὑπὸ τῇ πυέλῳ κατώρυξέν ποτʼ—

Γυνὴ Α ἐξόλοιο.

Μνησίλοχος ἁχαρνικὴ τὸν πατέρα.

Γυνὴ Α ταυτὶ δῆτʼ ἀνέκτʼ ἀκούειν;

Μνησίλοχος οὐδʼ ὡς σὺ τῆς δούλης τεκούσης ἄρρεν εἶτα σαυτῇ τοῦθʼ ὑπεβάλου, τὸ σὸν δὲ θυγάτριον παρῆκας αὐτῇ. 565

Γυνὴ Α οὔ τοι μὰ τὼ θεὼ σὺ καταπροίξει λέγουσα ταυτί, ἀλλʼ ἐκποκιῶ σου τὰς ποκάδας.

Μνησίλοχος οὐ δὴ μὰ Δία σύ γʼ ἅψει.

Γυνὴ Α καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Μνησίλοχος καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Γυνὴ Α λαβὲ θοἰμάτιον Φιλίστη.

Μνησίλοχος πρόσθες μόνον, κἀγώ σε νὴ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν—

Γυνὴ Α τί δράσεις;

Μνησίλοχος τὸν σησαμοῦνθʼ ὃν κατέφαγες, τοῦτον χεσεῖν ποιήσω. 570

Χορός παύσασθε λοιδορούμεναι· καὶ γὰρ γυνή τις ἡμῖν ἐσπουδακυῖα προστρέχει. πρὶν οὖν ὁμοῦ γενέσθαι, σιγᾶθʼ, ἵνʼ αὐτῆς κοσμίως πυθώμεθʼ ἅττα λέξει.

Current edition Perseus

Mnesilochus 540 Oh! no! not that part of me, my friends. Have we not the right to speak frankly at this gathering? And because I have uttered what I thought right in favour of Euripides, do you want to depilate me for my trouble?

Mnesilochus I know the reason. It's because not a single 550 Penelope exists among the women of to-day, but all without exception are Phaedras.

First Woman Women, you hear how this creature still dares to speak of us all.

Mnesilochus And, Heaven knows, I have not said all that I know. Do you want any more?

First Woman You cannot tell us any more; you have crapped out all you know.

Mnesilochus 555 Why, I have not told the thousandth part of what we women do. Have I said how we use the hollow handles of our brooms to draw up wine unbeknown to our husbands?

First Woman The cursed jade!

Mnesilochus And how we give meats to our pimps at the feast of the Apaturia and then accuse the cat ...

First Woman You're crazy!

Mnesilochus 560 ... Have I mentioned the woman who killed her husband with a hatchet? Of another, who caused hers to lose his reason with her potions? And of the Acharnian woman ...

First Woman Die, you bitch!

Mnesilochus ... who buried her father beneath the bath?

First Woman And yet we listen to such things!

Mnesilochus Have I told how you 565 attributed to yourself the male child your slave had just borne and gave her your little daughter?

First Woman This insult calls for vengeance. Look out for your hair!

Mnesilochus By Zeus! don't touch me.

First Woman slapping him There!

Mnesilochus hitting back There! tit for tat!

First Woman Hold my cloak, Philista!

Mnesilochus Come on then, and by Demeter ...

First Woman Well! what?

Mnesilochus 570 ... I'll make you crap forth the sesame-cake you have eaten.

Leader of the Chorus Stop wrangling! I see a woman running here in hot haste. Keep silent, so that we may hear the better what she has to say.

Commentary

Line 560

Line 562

Line 563

Stable identifiers

Μνησίλοχος

ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα ταἴτιον. Μίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴποις

τῶν νῦν γυναικῶν Πηνελόπην, Παίδρας δʼ ἁπαξαπάσας.
550

Γυνὴ Α

ἀκούετʼ ὦ γυναῖκες οἷʼ εἴρηκεν ἡ πανοῦργος

ἡμᾶς ἁπάσας αὖθις αὖ.

Μνησίλοχος

καὶ νὴ Δίʼ οὐδέπω γε

εἴρηχʼ ὅσα ξύνοιδʼ· ἐπεὶ βούλεσθε πλείονʼ εἴπω;

Γυνὴ Α

ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔτʼ ἔχοις· ὅσα γὰρ ᾔδησθʼ ἐξέχεας ἅπαντα.

Μνησίλοχος

μὰ Δίʼ οὐδέπω τὴν μυριοστὴν μοῖραν ὧν ποιοῦμεν.
555

ἐπεὶ τάδʼ οὐκ εἴρηχʼ, ὁρᾷς, ὡς στλεγγίδας λαβοῦσαι

ἔπειτα σιφωνίζομεν τὸν οἶνον.

Γυνὴ Α

ἐπιτριβείης.

Μνησίλοχος

ὥς τʼ αὖ τὰ κρέʼ ἐξ Ἀπατουρίων ταῖς μαστροποῖς διδοῦσαι

ἔπειτα τὴν γαλῆν φαμεν—

Γυνὴ Α

τάλαινʼ ἐγώ· φλυαρεῖς.

Μνησίλοχος

οὐδʼ ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει γυνὴ κατεσπόδησεν,
560

οὐκ εἶπον· οὐδʼ ὡς φαρμάκοις ἑτέρα τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἔμηνεν,

οὐδʼ ὡς ὑπὸ τῇ πυέλῳ κατώρυξέν ποτʼ—

Γυνὴ Α

ἐξόλοιο.

Μνησίλοχος

ἁχαρνικὴ τὸν πατέρα.

Γυνὴ Α

ταυτὶ δῆτʼ ἀνέκτʼ ἀκούειν;

Μνησίλοχος

οὐδʼ ὡς σὺ τῆς δούλης τεκούσης ἄρρεν εἶτα σαυτῇ

τοῦθʼ ὑπεβάλου, τὸ σὸν δὲ θυγάτριον παρῆκας αὐτῇ.
565

Γυνὴ Α

οὔ τοι μὰ τὼ θεὼ σὺ καταπροίξει λέγουσα ταυτί,

ἀλλʼ ἐκποκιῶ σου τὰς ποκάδας.

Μνησίλοχος

οὐ δὴ μὰ Δία σύ γʼ ἅψει.

Γυνὴ Α

καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Μνησίλοχος

καὶ μὴν ἰδού.

Γυνὴ Α

λαβὲ θοἰμάτιον Φιλίστη.

Μνησίλοχος

πρόσθες μόνον, κἀγώ σε νὴ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν—

Γυνὴ Α

τί δράσεις;

Μνησίλοχος

τὸν σησαμοῦνθʼ ὃν κατέφαγες, τοῦτον χεσεῖν ποιήσω.
570

Χορός

παύσασθε λοιδορούμεναι· καὶ γὰρ γυνή τις ἡμῖν

ἐσπουδακυῖα προστρέχει. πρὶν οὖν ὁμοῦ γενέσθαι,

σιγᾶθʼ, ἵνʼ αὐτῆς κοσμίως πυθώμεθʼ ἅττα λέξει.

Mnesilochus

540 Oh! no! not that part of me, my friends. Have we not the right to speak frankly at this gathering? And because I have uttered what I thought right in favour of Euripides, do you want to depilate me for my trouble?

Mnesilochus

I know the reason. It's because not a single 550 Penelope exists among the women of to-day, but all without exception are Phaedras.

First Woman

Women, you hear how this creature still dares to speak of us all.

Mnesilochus

And, Heaven knows, I have not said all that I know. Do you want any more?

First Woman

You cannot tell us any more; you have crapped out all you know.

Mnesilochus

555 Why, I have not told the thousandth part of what we women do. Have I said how we use the hollow handles of our brooms to draw up wine unbeknown to our husbands?

First Woman

The cursed jade!

Mnesilochus

And how we give meats to our pimps at the feast of the Apaturia and then accuse the cat ...

First Woman

You're crazy!

Mnesilochus

560 ... Have I mentioned the woman who killed her husband with a hatchet? Of another, who caused hers to lose his reason with her potions? And of the Acharnian woman ...

First Woman

Die, you bitch!

Mnesilochus

... who buried her father beneath the bath?

First Woman

And yet we listen to such things!

Mnesilochus

Have I told how you 565 attributed to yourself the male child your slave had just borne and gave her your little daughter?

First Woman

This insult calls for vengeance. Look out for your hair!

Mnesilochus

By Zeus! don't touch me.

First Woman
slapping him

There!

Mnesilochus
hitting back

There! tit for tat!

First Woman

Hold my cloak, Philista!

Mnesilochus

Come on then, and by Demeter ...

First Woman

Well! what?

Mnesilochus

570 ... I'll make you crap forth the sesame-cake you have eaten.

Leader of the Chorus

Stop wrangling! I see a woman running here in hot haste. Keep silent, so that we may hear the better what she has to say.