Dogs were offered in sacrifice to
them--presumably because of the lubricity of that animal.
them--presumably because of the lubricity of that animal.
Aristophanes
Evoe!
And you, our Laconian guests, sing
us a new and inspiring strain!
CHORUS OF LACONIANS. Leave once more, oh! leave once more the noble
height of Taygetus, oh! Muse of Lacedaemon, and join us in singing the
praises of Apollo of Amyclae, and Athena of the Brazen House, and the
gallant twin sons of Tyndarus, who practise arms on the banks of Eurotas
river. [469] Haste, haste hither with nimble-footed pace, let us sing
Sparta, the city that delights in choruses divinely sweet and graceful
dances, when our maidens bound lightly by the river side, like frolicsome
fillies, beating the ground with rapid steps and shaking their long locks
in the wind, as Bacchantes wave their wands in the wild revels of the
Wine-god. At their head, oh! chaste and beauteous goddess, daughter of
Latona, Artemis, do thou lead the song and dance. A fillet binding thy
waving tresses, appear in thy loveliness; leap like a fawn; strike thy
divine hands together to animate the dance, and aid us to renown the
valiant goddess of battles, great Athene of the Brazen House!
* * * * *
FINIS OF "LYSISTRATA"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[390] At Athens more than anywhere the festivals of Bacchus (Dionysus)
were celebrated with the utmost pomp--and also with the utmost licence,
not to say licentiousness.
Pan---the rustic god and king of the Satyrs; his feast was similarly an
occasion of much coarse self-indulgence.
Aphrodite Colias--under this name the goddess was invoked by courtesans
as patroness of sensual, physical love. She had a temple on the
promontory of Colias, on the Attic coast--whence the surname.
The Genetyllides were minor deities, presiding over the act of
generation, as the name indicates.
Dogs were offered in sacrifice to
them--presumably because of the lubricity of that animal.
At the festivals of Dionysus, Pan and Aphrodite women used to perform
lascivious dances to the accompaniment of the beating of tambourines.
Lysistrata implies that the women she had summoned to council cared
really for nothing but wanton pleasures.
[391] An obscene _double entendre_; Calonice understands, or pretends to
understand, Lysistrata as meaning a long and thick "membrum virile"!
[392] The eels from Lake Copa? s in Boeotia were esteemed highly by
epicures.
[393] This is the reproach Demosthenes constantly levelled against his
Athenian fellow-countrymen--their failure to seize opportunity.
[394] An island of the Saronic Gulf, lying between Magara and Attica. It
was separated by a narrow strait--scene of the naval battle of Salamis,
in which the Athenians defeated Xerxes--only from the Attic coast, and
was subject to Athens.
[395] A deme, or township, of Attica, lying five or six miles north of
Athens. The Acharnians were throughout the most extreme partisans of the
warlike party during the Peloponnesian struggle. See 'The Acharnians. '
[396] The precise reference is uncertain, and where the joke exactly
comes in. The Scholiast says Theagenes was a rich, miserly and
superstitious citizen, who never undertook any enterprise without first
consulting an image of Hecate, the distributor of honour and wealth
according to popular belief; and his wife would naturally follow her
husband's example.
[397] A deme of Attica, a small and insignificant community--a 'Little
Pedlington' in fact.
[398] In allusion to the gymnastic training which was _de rigueur_ at
Sparta for the women no less than the men, and in particular to the dance
of the Lacedaemonian girls, in which the performer was expected to kick
the fundament with the heels--always a standing joke among the Athenians
against their rivals and enemies the Spartans.
us a new and inspiring strain!
CHORUS OF LACONIANS. Leave once more, oh! leave once more the noble
height of Taygetus, oh! Muse of Lacedaemon, and join us in singing the
praises of Apollo of Amyclae, and Athena of the Brazen House, and the
gallant twin sons of Tyndarus, who practise arms on the banks of Eurotas
river. [469] Haste, haste hither with nimble-footed pace, let us sing
Sparta, the city that delights in choruses divinely sweet and graceful
dances, when our maidens bound lightly by the river side, like frolicsome
fillies, beating the ground with rapid steps and shaking their long locks
in the wind, as Bacchantes wave their wands in the wild revels of the
Wine-god. At their head, oh! chaste and beauteous goddess, daughter of
Latona, Artemis, do thou lead the song and dance. A fillet binding thy
waving tresses, appear in thy loveliness; leap like a fawn; strike thy
divine hands together to animate the dance, and aid us to renown the
valiant goddess of battles, great Athene of the Brazen House!
* * * * *
FINIS OF "LYSISTRATA"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[390] At Athens more than anywhere the festivals of Bacchus (Dionysus)
were celebrated with the utmost pomp--and also with the utmost licence,
not to say licentiousness.
Pan---the rustic god and king of the Satyrs; his feast was similarly an
occasion of much coarse self-indulgence.
Aphrodite Colias--under this name the goddess was invoked by courtesans
as patroness of sensual, physical love. She had a temple on the
promontory of Colias, on the Attic coast--whence the surname.
The Genetyllides were minor deities, presiding over the act of
generation, as the name indicates.
Dogs were offered in sacrifice to
them--presumably because of the lubricity of that animal.
At the festivals of Dionysus, Pan and Aphrodite women used to perform
lascivious dances to the accompaniment of the beating of tambourines.
Lysistrata implies that the women she had summoned to council cared
really for nothing but wanton pleasures.
[391] An obscene _double entendre_; Calonice understands, or pretends to
understand, Lysistrata as meaning a long and thick "membrum virile"!
[392] The eels from Lake Copa? s in Boeotia were esteemed highly by
epicures.
[393] This is the reproach Demosthenes constantly levelled against his
Athenian fellow-countrymen--their failure to seize opportunity.
[394] An island of the Saronic Gulf, lying between Magara and Attica. It
was separated by a narrow strait--scene of the naval battle of Salamis,
in which the Athenians defeated Xerxes--only from the Attic coast, and
was subject to Athens.
[395] A deme, or township, of Attica, lying five or six miles north of
Athens. The Acharnians were throughout the most extreme partisans of the
warlike party during the Peloponnesian struggle. See 'The Acharnians. '
[396] The precise reference is uncertain, and where the joke exactly
comes in. The Scholiast says Theagenes was a rich, miserly and
superstitious citizen, who never undertook any enterprise without first
consulting an image of Hecate, the distributor of honour and wealth
according to popular belief; and his wife would naturally follow her
husband's example.
[397] A deme of Attica, a small and insignificant community--a 'Little
Pedlington' in fact.
[398] In allusion to the gymnastic training which was _de rigueur_ at
Sparta for the women no less than the men, and in particular to the dance
of the Lacedaemonian girls, in which the performer was expected to kick
the fundament with the heels--always a standing joke among the Athenians
against their rivals and enemies the Spartans.
