They should have turned birds, they should have grown
wings and flown.
My friend, you’ll see that they are true Athenians:
Always too late. Why, there’s not a woman
From the shoreward demes arrived, not one from Salamis.
I know for certain they awoke at dawn,
And got their husbands up if not their boat sails.
And I’d have staked my life the Acharnian dames
Would be here first, yet they haven’t come either!
Well anyhow there is Theagenes’ wife
We can expect—she consulted Hecate.
But look, here are some at last, and more behind them.
See ... where are they from?
From Anagyra they come.
Yes, they generally manage to come first.
Enter MYRRHINE.
Are we late, Lysistrata? ... What is that?
Nothing to say?
I’ve not much to say for you,
Myrrhine, dawdling on so vast an affair.
I couldn’t find my girdle in the dark.
But if the affair’s so wonderfull, tell us,
what is it?
No, let us stay a little longer till
The Peloponnesian girls and the girls of Bocotia
Are here to listen.
That’s the best advice.
Ah, there comes Lampito.
Enter LAMPITO.
Welcome Lampito!
Dear Spartan girl with a delightful face,
Washed with the rosy spring, how fresh you look
In the easy stride of your sleek slenderness,
Why you could strangle a bull!
I think I could.
It’s frae exercise and kicking high behint.
[Footnote: The translator has put the speech
of the Spartan characters in Scotch dialect which
is related to English about as was the Spartan dialect
to the speech of Athens. The Spartans, in their
character, anticipated the shrewd, canny, uncouth
Scotch highlander of modern times.]
What lovely breasts to own!
