How we cite our quotes: Line
Quote #1
Magistrate: "We're at war on account of the money, is that it?"
Lysistrata: "Yes, and that's why everything else got messed up too. It was for opportunities to steal that Pisander and the others who aimed to hold office were always fomenting some kind of commotion. So let them keep fomenting to their hearts' content: they'll be withdrawing no more money from this place." (489-492)
Unless you've been living in a cave, you'll know that a lot of people think that politicians are untrustworthy, and just interested in money. Newsflash: this isn't just a problem in modern democracy; such problems also were found in Ancient Athens, the birthplace of the whole democratic system. You can hear that frustration ringing out loud and clear in these lines by Lysistrata, where she accuses prominent Athenian politicians (like Pisander) of waging war so that they can make themselves rich.
Quote #2
Lysistrata: "Before now, and for quite some time, we maintained our decorum and suffered in silence whatever you men did, because you wouldn't let us make a sound. But you weren't exactly all we could ask for. No, we knew only too well what you were up to, and many a time we'd hear in our homes about the bad decision you'd made on some great issue of state. Then, masking the pain in our hearts, we'd put on a smile and ask you, 'How did the Assembly go today? Any decision about a rider to the peace treaty?' And my husband would say, 'What's that to you? Shut up!' And I'd shut up."
First Old Woman: "I wouldn't have shut up!"
Magistrate: "If you hadn't shut up, you'd have got a beating!" (507-516)
Isn't the whole point of democratic politics supposed to be—as Abraham Lincoln put it—that it's government "of the people, by the people, and for the people"? But how can that be the case when at least half the people (women) don't get to make their voices heard? In these lines, Lysistrata and the First Old Woman express their anger at being shut out of the political decision-making process. The Magistrate, however, seems to think that's just as it should be. Women making their voices heard threatens his own long-standing power.
Quote #3
Lysistrata: "Imagine the polis as a fleece just shorn. First, put it in a bath and wash out all the sheep dung; spread it on a bed and beat out the riff-raff with a stick, and pluck out the thorns; as for those who clump and knot themselves together to snag government positions, card them out and pluck off their heads. Next, card the wool into a sewing basket of unity and goodwill, mixing in everyone. The resident aliens and any other foreigner who's your friend, and anyone who owes money to the people's treasury, mix them in there too. And oh yes, the cities that are colonies of this land: imagine them as flocks of your fleece, each one lying apart from the others. So take all these flocks and bring them together here, joining them all and making one big bobbin. And from this weave a fine new cloak for the people." (574-586)
In this extended metaphor, Lysistrata critiques Athenian politics as it currently stands. And she does not mince words. First of all, there are those references to the "riff-raff" and other people mooching off the political system. These people have to be kicked out. Then, she talks about the "thorns" of corrupt politicians, and takes a very Queen Of Hearts stance by essentially shouting "Off with their heads!"