INTERLUDE.
Reading edition
(The Women are discovered seated upon the steps leading to the Acropolis. Some have pitchers beside them, others plait and spin, one plays upon the lyre.)
Chorus (singing). Pallas Athene, hear! Bend from thy throne, And make with lifted spear our cause thine own. (Enter Leader of Chorus.) 1st Leader of Women. O women, turn back from your labours, And leave in their niche by the wall Your pitchers, and hark to the call Of friends in their need, and of neighbours Who beg for a boon.
(Here, and at intervals throughout the speech, shouting of men is heard at a distance; occasionally the words "Down with the women, down!" "Down with Lysistrata!" are heard.)
For surely ye tire not with dances, Nor faint as ye foot to the tune Of minstrels: so now in the chances Of war let your speed be as then, And as daring your deed as the glances Ye cast upon men!
(The Women are laying by their pitchers, filleting their hair and girding their robes. From the Acropolis come other women bearing shields, spears, and helmets, which they distribute as the Chorus continues.)
For here is a Cause to your hand More holy than any before: And in it lies beauty, and wisdom, And courage, and love of your land. Nay, surely the mothers who bore you, The silent mothers of yore, They also were made of this metal, And out of the bed of the nettle, Wherein they bred you of old, They, too, who spake not a word, They, too, brave hearts, could have told Their tale of the wrongs unheard. So forward I bid you, nor fail, Nor yield what ye hold in your hand: For this wind which now blows in your sail Shall bear you to land!