Lysistrata   

attempt to re-establish tyranny. But I will never submit; I will be on


my guard for the future; I will always carry a blade hidden under


myrtle boughs; I will post myself in the public square under arms,


shoulder to shoulder with Aristogiton; and now, to make a start, I


must just break a few of that cursed old jade's teeth yonder.


LEADER OF CHORUS OF WOMEN


Nay, never play the brave man, else when you go back home, your


own mother won't know you. But, dear friends and allies, first let


us lay our burdens down.


CHORUS OF WOMEN (singing)


Then, citizens all, hear what I have to say. I have useful counsel


to give our city, which deserves it well at my hands for the brilliant


distinctions it has lavished on my girlhood. At seven years of age,


I carried the sacred vessels; at ten, I pounded barley for the altar


of Athene; next, clad in a robe of yellow silk, I played the bear to



Artemis at the Brauronia; presently, when I was grown up, a tall,


handsome maiden, they put a necklace of dried figs about my neck,


and I was one of the Canephori.


LEADER OF CHORUS OF WOMEN


So surely I am bound to give my best advice to Athens. What


matters that I was born a woman, if I can cure your misfortunes? I pay