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    Lysistrata
    Lysistrata
    Lysistrata
    Ebook65 pages57 minutes

    Lysistrata

    By Aristophanes

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    Along with Sophocles and Euripides, Aristophanes is considered one of the three great Greek playwrights. Only eleven of his nearly forty plays survive in their entirety to this day. Of his extant works Aristophanes's "Lysistrata" is considered one of his finest and one of the truly great comedies from classical antiquity. Central to the work is the vow by the women of Greece to withhold sex from their husbands until they end the brutal war between Athens and Sparta. A hilarious and decisively anti-war comedic drama, "Lysistrata" stands as one of the most important works from classical antiquity.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateFeb 1, 2013
    ISBN9781420947571
    Author

    Aristophanes

    Often referred to as the father of comedy, Aristophanes was an ancient Greek comedic playwright who was active in ancient Athens during the fourth century BCE, both during and after the Peloponnesian War. His surviving plays collectively represent most of the extant examples of the genre known as Old Comedy and serve as a foundation for future dramatic comedy in Western dramatic literature. Aristophanes’ works are most notable for their political satire, and he often ridiculed public figures, including, most famously, Socrates, in his play The Clouds. Aristophanes is also recognized for his realistic representations of daily life in Athens, and his works provide an important source to understand the social reality of life in Ancient Greece. Aristophanes died sometime after 386 BCE of unknown causes.

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      Book preview

      Lysistrata - Aristophanes

      LYSISTRATA

      BY ARISTOPHANES

      A Digireads.com Book

      Digireads.com Publishing

      Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4756-4

      EBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4757-1

      This edition copyright © 2013

      Please visit www.digireads.com

      CONTENTS

      LYSISTRATA

      INTRODUCTION

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      LYSISTRATA

      LYSISTRATA

      INTRODUCTION

      The 'Lysistrata,' the third and concluding play of the War and Peace series, was not produced till ten years later than its predecessor, the 'Peace,' viz. in 411 B.C. It is now the twenty-first year of the War, and there seems as little prospect of peace as ever. A desperate state of things demands a desperate remedy, and the Poet proceeds to suggest a burlesque solution of the difficulty.

      The women of Athens, led by Lysistrata and supported by female delegates from the other states of Hellas, determine to take matters into their own hands and force the men to stop the War. They meet in solemn conclave, and Lysistrata expounds her scheme, the rigorous application to husbands and lovers of a self-denying ordinance—we must refrain from the male organ altogether. Every wife and mistress is to refuse all sexual favours whatsoever, till the men have come to terms of peace. In cases where the women must yield 'par force majeure,' then it is to be with an ill grace and in such a way as to afford the minimum of gratification to their partner; they are to lie passive and take no more part in the amorous game than they are absolutely obliged to. By these means Lysistrata assures them they will very soon gain their end. If we sit indoors prettily dressed out in our best transparent silks and prettiest gewgaws, and with our 'mottes' all nicely depilated, their tools will stand up so stiff that they will be able to deny us nothing. Such is the burden of her advice.

      After no little demur, this plan of campaign is adopted, and the assembled women take a solemn oath to observe the compact faithfully. Meantime as a precautionary measure they seize the Acropolis, where the State treasure is kept; the old men of the city assault the doors, but are repulsed by the terrible regiment of women. Before long the device of the bold Lysistrata proves entirely effective, Peace is concluded, and the play ends with the hilarious festivities of the Athenian and Spartan plenipotentiaries in celebration of the event.

      This drama has a double Chorus—of women and of old men, and much excellent fooling is got out of the fight for possession of the citadel between the two hostile bands; while the broad jokes and decidedly suggestive situations arising out of the general idea of the plot outlined above may be better imagined than described.

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      LYSISTRATA

      CALONICÉ

      MYRRHINÉ

      LAMPITO

      STRATYLLIS

      A MAGISTRATE

      CINESIAS. A CHILD

      HERALD OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS

      ENVOYS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS

      POLYCHARIDES

      MARKET LOUNGERS

      A SERVANT

      AN ATHENIAN CITIZEN

      CHORUS OF OLD MEN

      CHORUS OF WOMEN

      SCENE: In a public square at Athens; afterwards before the gates of the Acropolis, and finally within the precincts of the citadel.

      LYSISTRATA

      LYSISTRATA. [alone.] Ah! if only they had been invited to a Bacchic revelling, or a feast of Pan or Aphrodité or Genetyllis,{1} why! the streets would have been impassable for the thronging tambourines! Now there's never a woman here-ah! except my neighbour Calonicé, whom I see approaching yonder.... Good day, Calonicé.

      CALONICÉ. Good day, Lysistrata; but pray, why this dark, forbidding face, my dear? Believe me, you don't look a bit pretty with those black lowering brows.

      LYSISTRATA. Oh! Calonicé, my heart is on fire; I blush for our sex. Men will have it we are tricky and sly....

      CALONICÉ. And they are quite right, upon my word!

      LYSISTRATA. Yet, look you, when the women are summoned to meet for a matter of the last importance, they lie abed instead of coming.

      CALONICÉ. Oh! they will come, my dear; but 'tis not easy, you know, for women to leave the house. One is busy pottering about her husband; another is getting the servant up; a third is putting her child asleep, or washing the brat or feeding it.

      LYSISTRATA. But I tell you, the business that calls them here is far and away more urgent.

      CALONICÉ. And why do you summon us, dear Lysistrata? What is it all about?

      LYSISTRATA. About a big affair.{2}

      CALONICÉ. And is it thick too?

      LYSISTRATA. Yes indeed, both big and great.

      CALONICÉ. And we are not all on the spot!

      LYSISTRATA. Oh! if it were what you suppose, there would be never an absentee. No, no, it concerns a thing I have turned about and about this way and that of many sleepless nights.

      CALONICÉ. It must be something mighty fine and subtle for you to have turned it about so!

      LYSISTRATA. So fine, it means just this, Greece saved by the

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