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nothing undone to save me。

  EURIPIDES

    Very well! I swear it by the Aether; the dwelling…place of the

king of the gods。

  MNESILOCHUS

    Why not rather swear it by the sons of Hippocrates?

  EURIPIDES

    Come; I swear it by all the gods; both great and small。

  MNESILOCHUS

    Remember; it's the heart; and not the tongue; that has sworn;

for the oaths of the tongue concern me but little。

  EURIPIDES

    Hurry up! The signal for the meeting has just been raised on the

Temple of Demeter。 Farewell。

    (They both depart。 The scene changes to the interior of the

      Thesmophorion; where the women who form the chorus are

      assembled。 Mnesilochus enters; in his feminine attire; striving

      to act as womanly as possible; and giving his voice as female a

      pitch and lilt as he can; he pretends to be addressing his

      slave…girl。)

  MNESILOCHUS

    Here; Thratta; follow me。 Look; Thratta; at the cloud of smoke

that arises from all these lighted torches。 Ah! beautiful

Thesmophorae! grant me your favours; protect me; both within the

temple and on my way back! Come; Thratta; put down the basket and take

out the cake; which I wish to offer to the two goddesses。 Mighty

divinity; oh; Demeter; and thou; Persephone; grant that I may be

able to offer you many sacrifices; above all things; grant that I

may not be recognized。 Would that my well…holed daughter might marry a

man as rich as he is foolish and silly; so that she may have nothing

to do but amuse herself。 But where can a place be found for hearing

well? Be off; Thratta; be off; slaves have no right to be present at

this gathering。

                                    (He sits down amongst the women。)

  WOMAN HERALD

    Silence! Silence! Pray to the Thesmophorae; Demeter and Cora; pray

to Plutus; Calligenia; Curotrophus; the Earth; Hermes and the

Graces; that all may happen for the best at this gathering; both for

the greatest advantage of Athens and for our own personal happiness!

May the award be given her who; by both deeds and words; has most

deserved it from the Athenian people and from the women! Address these

prayers to heaven and demand happiness for yourselves。 Io Paean! Io

Paean! Let us rejoice!

  CHORUS (singing)

    May the gods deign to accept our vows and our prayers! Oh!

almighty Zeus; and thou; god with the golden lyre; who reignest on

sacred Delos; and thou; oh; invincible virgin; Pallas; with the eyes

of azure and the spear of gold; who protectest our illustrious city;

and thou; the daughter of the beautiful Leto; queen of the forests;

who art adored under many names; hasten hither at my call。 Come;

thou mighty Posidon; king of the Ocean; leave thy stormy whirlpools of

Nereus; come; goddesses of the seas; come; ye nymphs; who wander on

the mountains。 Let us unite our voices to the sounds of the golden

lyre; and may wisdom preside at the gathering of the noble matrons

of Athens。

  WOMAN HERALD

    Address your prayers to the gods and goddesses of Olympus; of

Delphi; Delos and all other places; if there be a man who is

plotting against the womenfolk or who; to injure them; is proposing

peace to Euripides and the Medes; or who aspires to usurping the

tyranny; plots the return of a tyrant; or unmasks a supposititious

child; or if there be a slave who; a confidential party to a wife's

intrigues; reveals them secretly to her husband; or who; entrusted

with a message; does not deliver the same faithfully; if there be a

lover who fulfils naught of what he has promised a woman; whom he

has abused on the strength of his lies; if there be an old woman who

seduces the lover of a maiden by dint of her presents and

treacherously receives him in her house; if there be a host or hostess

who sells false measure; pray the gods that they will overwhelm them

with their wrath; both them and their families; and that they may

reserve all their favours for you。

  CHORUS (singing)

    Let us ask the fulfilment of these wishes both for the city and

for the people; and may the wisest of us cause her opinion to be

accepted。 But woe to those women who break their oaths; who

speculate on the public misfortune; who seek to alter the laws and the

decrees; who reveal our secrets to the foe and admit the Medes into

our territory so that they may devastate it! I declare them both

impious and criminal。 Oh! almighty Zeus! see to it that the gods

protect us; albeit we are but women!

  WOMAN HERALD

    Hearken; all of you! this is the decree passed by the Senate of

the Women under the presidency of Timoclea and at the suggestion of

Sostrate; it is signed by Lysilla; the secretary: 〃There will be a

gathering of the people on the morning of the third day of the

Thesmophoria; which is a day of rest for us; the principal business

there shall be the punishment that it is meet to inflict upon

Euripides for the insults with which he has loaded us。〃 Now who asks

to speak?

  FIRST WOMAN

    I do。

  WOMAN HERALD

    First put on this garland; and then speak。

  LEADER OF THE CHORUS

    Silence! let all be quiet! Pay attention! for here she is spitting

as orators generally do before they begin; no doubt she has much to

say。

  FIRST WOMAN

    If I have asked to speak; may the goddesses bear me witness; it

was not for sake of ostentation。 But I have long been pained to see us

women insulted by this Euripides; this son of the green…stuff woman;

who loads us with every kind of indignity。 Has he not hit us enough;

calumniated us sufficiently; wherever there are spectators;

tragedians; and a chorus? Does; he not style us adulterous; lecherous;

bibulous; treacherous; and garrulous? Does he not repeat that we are

all vice; that we are the curse of our husbands? So that; directly

they come back from the theatre; they look at us doubtfully and go

searching every nook; fearing there may be some hidden lover。 We can

do nothing as we used to; so many are the false ideas which he has

instilled into our husbands。 Is a woman weaving a garland for herself?

It's because she is in love。 Does she let some vase drop while going

or returning to the house? her husband asks her in whose honour she

has broken it: 〃It can only be for that Corinthian stranger。〃 Is a

maiden unwell? Straightway her brother says; 〃That is a colour that

does not please me。〃 And if a childless woman wishes to substitute

one; the deceit can no longer be a secret; for the neighbours will

insist on being present at her delivery。 Formerly the old men

married young girls; but they have been so calumniated that none think

of them now; thanks to that line of his: 〃A woman is the tyrant of the

old man who marries her。〃 Again; it is because of Euripides that we

are incessantly watched; that we are shut up behind bolts and bars;

and that dogs are kept to frighten off the adulterers。 Let that

pass; but formerly it was we who had the care of the food; who fetched

the flour from the storeroom; the oil and the wine; we can do it no

more。 Our husbands now carry little Spartan keys on their persons;

made with three notches and full of malice and spite。 Formerly it

sufficed to purchase a ring marked with the same sign for three obols;

to open the most securely sealed…up door! but now this pestilent

Euripides has taught men to hang seals of worm…eaten wood about

their necks。 My opinion; therefore; is that we should rid ourselves of

our enemy by poison or by any other means; provided he dies。 That is

what I announce publicly; as to certain points; which I wish to keep

secret; I propose to record them on the secretary's minutes。

  CHORUS (singing)

    Never have I listened to a cleverer or more eloquent woman。

Everything she says is true; she has examined the matter from all

sides and has weighed up every detail。 Her arguments are close;

varied; and happily chosen。 I believe that Xenocles himself; the son

of Carcinus; would seem to talk mere nonsense; if placed beside her。

  SECOND WOMAN

    I have only a very few words to add; for the last speaker has

covered the various points of the indictment; allow me only to tell

you what happened to me。 My husband died at Cyprus; leaving me five

children; whom I had great trouble to bring up by weaving chaplets

on the myrtle market。 Anyhow; I lived as well as I could until this

wretch had persuaded the spectators by his tragedies that there were

no gods; since then I have not sold as many chaplets by half。 I charge

you therefore and exhort you all to punish him; for does he not

deserve it in a thousand respects; he who loads you with troubles; who

is as coarse toward you as the vegetables upon which his mother reared

him? But I must back to the market to weave my chaplets; I have twenty

to deliver yet。

  CHORUS (singing)

    This is even more animated and more trenchant than the first

speech; all she has just said is full of good sense and to the

point; it is clever; clear and wel

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