stay at home as coy as a young maid, without hurting anybody or moving any more than a milestone; but 'ware the wasps, if you go stirring up the wasps' nest! CHORUS OF OLD MEN (singing) Ah! great gods! how get the better of these ferocious creatures? 'tis past all bearing! But come, let us try to find out the reason of the dreadful scourge. With what end in view have they seized the citadel of Cranaus, the sacred shrine that is raised upon the inaccessible rock of the Acropolis? LEADER OF CHORUS OF OLD MEN (to the MAGISTRATE) Question them; be cautious and not too credulous. It would be culpable negligence not to pierce the mystery, if we may. MAGISTRATE (addressing the women) I would ask you first why you have barred our gates. LYSISTRATA To seize the treasury; no more money, no more war. MAGISTRATE Then money is the cause of the war? LYSISTRATA And of all our troubles. It was to find occasion to steal that Pisander and all the other agitators were forever raising revolutions.
