Lysistrata   

nets, and caught hares. He never, never came back, he had such a


horror of women. As chaste as Melanion, we loathe the jades just as


much as he did.


AN OLD MAN (beginning a brief duet with one of the women)


You dear old woman, I would fain kiss you.


WOMAN


I will set you crying without onions.


OLD MAN


And give you a sound kicking.


WOMAN (pointing)


Ah, ha! what a dense forest you have there!


OLD MAN


So was Myronides one of the bushiest of men of this side; his


backside was all black, and he terrified his enemies as much as


Phormio.


CHORUS OF WOMEN (singing)


I want to tell you a fable too, to match yours about Melanion.


Once there was a certain man called Timon, a tough customer, and a


whimsical, a true son of the Furies, with a face that seemed to


glare out of a thorn-bush. He withdrew from the world because he


couldn't abide bad men, after vomiting a thousand curses at them. He


had a holy horror of ill-conditioned fellows, but he was mighty tender