_The same scene, toward evening, a day later._
(CHORUS OF OLD MEN _seated asleep below the steps.
Enter_ LEADER OF MEN’S CHORUS.)
1ST LEADER OF MEN. Now, let him sleep no more who would be free!
2ND LEADER OF MEN (_waking up_).
Come, sirs, bestir yourselves! for to my mind
There’s more behind
This matter than at first appeared.
3RD LEADER OF MEN (_nodding mysteriously_).
Beneath this woman’s business lurks a beard!
(_Perturbation among the_ OLD MEN.)
4TH LEADER OF MEN. Hot, Hot, I scent the plot
Of Hippias. (_Panic among the_ OLD MEN.)
Aye, me! Greatly I fear!
1ST LEADER OF MEN. I think our women have been led away
By foes; and that the Spartans now are here,
Hiding within the house of Clisthenes,
Ready to seize
Our money and our pay! (_Increasing panic._)
2ND LEADER OF MEN. Oh, is’t not peril to let women mix
In State affairs, and talk on politics,
And prate of peace and war?
3RD LEADER OF MEN. No more, no more, will I endure it!
’Tis not to be allowed.
4TH LEADER OF MEN (_shaking his fist_).
Lysistrata! Heaven be my aid,
Ere yet my race is run,
To smite the chattering jaw of that old jade!
(_Meanwhile the_ WOMEN’S CHORUS _have
come on, and stand behind listening_).
1ST LEADER OF WOMEN. Surely when that is done
Your Mother will be proud of such a son!
(_The_ OLD MEN _start back in fear_.)
2ND LEADER OF WOMEN. She will be glad to recognise that face!
1ST LEADER OF WOMEN. But come, ye happier mothers of the race,
(_To the_ WOMEN.)
And set your burdens down while I relate
Why we, weak women, seek to serve the State
As well as men--paying the debt we owe.
(_The_ WOMEN _lay down their shields, and
sit beside them in groups_.)
Was not this land my nurse? Aye, long ago,
Even on the child her tender yoke was laid,
When first to Artemis, a budding maid,
I vowed my virgin body. Did ye so--
Ye men--take up such vows? Did ye forego
Till ye were ripe the sweets of love in youth?
(_The_ MEN _exchange conscious looks_.)
Gladly I bound myself, although in sooth
The fruit, I saw, was goodly to the taste;
And since before these altars I dwelt chaste,
Do I not owe a debt? Is it amiss
If I give counsel? Do ye grudge me this?
I, too, pay taxes: from my flesh there runs
Rich tribute; ye bear arms, but I bear sons
And daughters; ye bring death, but I raise life;
I build the fruitful home, while ye breed strife,
Envy, and fear! O miserable men!
Old in your sins, take up that task again,
Which once your father bore, who freed this land
From Persia’s yoke! If not, then we will stand
Instead of you:
(_The_ WOMEN _rise to their feet_.)
Aye, fearing not your frown,
Light-sandalled though we be, will tread you down!
(_She turns away and moves up steps.
The other women also retire._)
1ST LEADER OF MEN (_scratching his head puzzled_).
Now it appears to me
This is all wrong!
2ND LEADER OF MEN. And it must be
Put down.
3RD LEADER OF MEN. If left alone
Ere long it will have grown
Beyond a joke!
4TH LEADER OF MEN. Time, then, that we began!
Therefore with speed
Let every manly man
Strip off his cloak,
And for the word now substitute the deed!
(_They throw off their long mantles, and reveal themselves
very scantily clad and girt as for wrestling. Their arms
and legs are very thin and scraggy._)
1ST LEADER OF MEN. Physical force,
Basis of government,
True source of the consent
Men yield to law;
Come, come now to mine aid!
2ND LEADER OF MEN. And with thy shaggy paw
Push me to victory o’er this barricade,
Raised by that wicked jade,
Lysistrata,
Against the rod of man’s authority!