How we cite our quotes: Line
Quote #4
Men's Leader: "No free man should be asleep now! Let's strip for action, men, and meet this emergency!" (They remove their jackets.)
Men's Chorus: "I think I smell much bigger trouble in this,
a definite whiff of Hippias' tyranny!
I'm terrified that certain men from Sparta
have gathered at the house of Cleisthenes
and scheme to stir up our godforsaken women
to seize the Treasury and my jury pay,
my very livelihood." (614-625)
The Hippias the old men are talking about was the tyrant of Athens in the 6th century BCE. In 510 BCE—in other words, about a century before Lysistrata takes place—Hippias got kicked out of power, paving the way for the new Athenian democracy. The men of Athens here think that the women's sex-strike must be a Spartan plot to bring back the days of tyranny, and put an end to democracy. The men decide to take patriotic action to defend their freedom. And what do they see as the most important part of that freedom? Getting paid to sit on juries—a popular source of income among poor old men. Hmm. Maybe these guys aren't so patriotic after all.
Quote #5
Women's Leader: "I owe it to the polis to offer some good advice. And even if I was born a woman, don't hold it against me if I manage to suggest something better than what we've got now. I have a stake in our community: my contribution is men. You miserable geezers have no stake, since you've squandered your paternal inheritance, won in the Persian Wars, and now pay no taxes in return. On the contrary, we're all headed for bankruptcy on account of you! Have you anything to grunt in rebuttal? Any more trouble from you and I'll clobber you with this rawhide boot right in the jaw!"
With these words, the Women's Leader shows that she has every right to play a role in politics. The Men's Leader was saying that women have no stake in the community: that the men's decisions don't affect them, and they don't contribute anything anyway, so they should just butt out. And boy, does the Women's Leader let him have it. At the very least, that rawhide boot should get his attention.
Quote #6
Herald: "All Sparta rises, and our allies all have hard-ons. We need Pellana."
Cinesias: "Who caused this calamity to befall you? Was it Pan?"
Herald: "No, the one who started it, I reckon, was Lampito, and then the other women in Sparta all together, as from a starting place, excluded the men from their pork pies."
Cinesias: "So how are you faring?"
Herald: "We're hard up! We walk around town hunched over, like men carrying lamps. The women won't let us even touch their cherries till all of us unanimously agree to make peace with the rest of Greece."
Cinesias: "So this business is a global conspiracy by all the women! Now I get it! Very well, you go back to Sparta as quick as you can and tell them to send delegates here with full powers to negotiate a treaty. And I'll arrange for our Council to choose their own ambassadors; this cock of mine will be Exhibit A." (995-1006)
What would have happened if only Athens had been inflicted with endless sexual excitement, but not Sparta? We think it's likely the Spartans would have showed up and cut the Athenians into pieces. Once everyone's in the same boat, however, it gives everyone an incentive to come to the bargaining table. This shows the importance of political organization and collective action. If the women from all the different cities hadn't been acting together in their sex-strike, they never would have been this successful. Lysistrata's leadership and the other women's stick-to-itiveness provided the key ingredients for political change. Wow. That's so stirring we can almost forget that "pork pies" was just used as a euphemism.