Lysistrata

A Councilor enters with a group of soldiers. He is shocked: “These flaming women, spoiled with kettledrums, / And ritual howls … This is what / Happens because of women on the loose” (386-98). When the old men complain of being drenched, the Councilor responds that this outrageous behavior is the natural result of men being too accommodating with their wives (403-6). He had come here to withdraw money for the war effort and is now determined to open the gates (421-29).

Lysistrata emerges and tells the Councilor he does not need siege equipment, “just brains” (432). She encourages him to talk it out rather than use force. When the Councilor asks his guards to arrest the women in a mock battle, they fight back with household items and defeat them (435-61). Lysistrata chastises the Councilor for bullying his fellow citizens. “Given the choice,” she says, “I’d play a prim, demure / Young girl, disturbing no one by so much / As blinking. I’m a hornet when I’m roused” (773-5).

With the men immobile, she reveals that the women will both withhold sex and the Athenian war funds, which are stored in the Acropolis treasury.