And you, our
Laconian
guests, sing
us a new and inspiring strain!
us a new and inspiring strain!
Aristophanes
No
more wiles and stratagems! Aid us, oh! aid us, maiden huntress!
LYSISTRATA. All is for the best; and now, Laconians, take your wives away
home with you, and you, Athenians, yours. May husband live happily with
wife, and wife with husband. Dance, dance, to celebrate our bliss, and
let us be heedful to avoid like mistakes for the future.
CHORUS OF ATHENIANS Appear, appear, dancers, and the Graces with you! Let
us invoke, one and all, Artemis, and her heavenly brother, gracious
Apollo, patron of the dance, and Dionysus, whose eye darts flame, as he
steps forward surrounded by the Maenad maids, and Zeus, who wields the
flashing lightning, and his august, thrice-blessed spouse, the Queen of
Heaven! These let us invoke, and all the other gods, calling all the
inhabitants of the skies to witness the noble Peace now concluded under
the fond auspices of Aphrodite. Io Paean! Io Paean! dance, leap, as in
honour of a victory won. Evoe! 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.
more wiles and stratagems! Aid us, oh! aid us, maiden huntress!
LYSISTRATA. All is for the best; and now, Laconians, take your wives away
home with you, and you, Athenians, yours. May husband live happily with
wife, and wife with husband. Dance, dance, to celebrate our bliss, and
let us be heedful to avoid like mistakes for the future.
CHORUS OF ATHENIANS Appear, appear, dancers, and the Graces with you! Let
us invoke, one and all, Artemis, and her heavenly brother, gracious
Apollo, patron of the dance, and Dionysus, whose eye darts flame, as he
steps forward surrounded by the Maenad maids, and Zeus, who wields the
flashing lightning, and his august, thrice-blessed spouse, the Queen of
Heaven! These let us invoke, and all the other gods, calling all the
inhabitants of the skies to witness the noble Peace now concluded under
the fond auspices of Aphrodite. Io Paean! Io Paean! dance, leap, as in
honour of a victory won. Evoe! 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.
