The Plays of Aristophanes:
THE ECCLESIAZUSAE
QUOTES FOR DISCUSSION
PRAXAGORA: Now do make haste and fasten on your beards, and all
you others who have practiced talking.
1st Women:
Practiced indeed! Can't every woman talk?
PRAXAGORA: Come,
fasten on your beard, and be a man.
Aristophanes, The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great
Books Vol. 5,pg 616
PRAXAGORA (to her)
... ye are to blame for this, Athenian people, Ye draw your wages from the public purse, Yet each man seeks his private gain alone. So, the State reels, like any Aesimus. Still, if ye trust me, ye shall yet be saved. I move now that womankind be asked to rule the State. In your own homes, ye know they are the managers and rule the house.
Aristophanes, The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great Books Vol. 5, pg 617
... ye are to blame for this, Athenian people, Ye draw your wages from the public purse, Yet each man seeks his private gain alone. So, the State reels, like any Aesimus. Still, if ye trust me, ye shall yet be saved. I move now that womankind be asked to rule the State. In your own homes, ye know they are the managers and rule the house.
Aristophanes, The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great Books Vol. 5, pg 617
PRAXAGORA (ignoring this interruption)
That they are better in their ways than we I’ll soon convince you. First, they dye their wools in boiling tinctures, in the ancient style. You won’t find them, I warrant, in a hurry tying new plans. And would it not have saved the Athenian city had she let alone things that worked well, nor idly sought things new? They roast their barley, sitting, as of old;
They on their heads bear burden, as of old;
They keep their Thesmophoria, as of old;
They bake their honied cheesecakes, as of old;
They victimize their husbands, as of old;
The still secrete their lovers, as of old;
They buy themselves sly dainties, as of old;
They love their wine unwatered, as of old;
They like a woman’s pleasures, as of old;
Then let us, gentlemen, give up to them the helm of State, and not concern ourselves, nor pry, nor question what they mean to do; But let them really govern, knowing this, The statesmane-mothers never will neglect their soldier-sons. And then a soldier’s rations, who will supply as well as she who bare him? For ways and means none can excel a woman. And there’s no fear at all that they’ll be cheated.
That they are better in their ways than we I’ll soon convince you. First, they dye their wools in boiling tinctures, in the ancient style. You won’t find them, I warrant, in a hurry tying new plans. And would it not have saved the Athenian city had she let alone things that worked well, nor idly sought things new? They roast their barley, sitting, as of old;
They on their heads bear burden, as of old;
They keep their Thesmophoria, as of old;
They bake their honied cheesecakes, as of old;
They victimize their husbands, as of old;
The still secrete their lovers, as of old;
They buy themselves sly dainties, as of old;
They love their wine unwatered, as of old;
They like a woman’s pleasures, as of old;
Then let us, gentlemen, give up to them the helm of State, and not concern ourselves, nor pry, nor question what they mean to do; But let them really govern, knowing this, The statesmane-mothers never will neglect their soldier-sons. And then a soldier’s rations, who will supply as well as she who bare him? For ways and means none can excel a woman. And there’s no fear at all that they’ll be cheated.
Aristophanes, The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great Books
Vol. 5, pg 617
PRAXAGORA: That he's more fit to tinker the constitution than his
pots and pans.
Aristophanes, The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great
Books Vol. 5,pg 617
Vocabulary
- Aristophanes,
The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great Books Vol. 5
The Plays of Aristophanes: The Ecclesiazusae, Great Books Vol. 5
a·pos·tro·phe (not in text)
n.
The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a
personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech
or composition.
a·pos·tro·phize, pg 615
tr. & intr.v.
a·pos·tro·phized, a·pos·tro·phiz·ing, a·pos·tro·phiz·es
To address by or speak or write in apostrophe.
Laconian shoes
Kovorodes or xovorodes (? - not sure of spelling - original Greek
)
- thin light sandals worn by old men, so called because the foot got covered with dust
- thin light sandals worn by old men, so called because the foot got covered with dust
aukwvukai or aukwvika (original Greek)
a kind of men’s shoes
tells us that the Laconian shoes were the best. ... These Laconian
shoes appear to have been actually made in and imported from Laconia (Aristoph.
A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities, Volume 1 By Sir
William Smith
sweltered, pg 616
Etymology: Middle English sweltren, frequentative of swelten to
die, be overcome by heat, from Old English sweltan to die; akin to Gothic
swiltan to die
The complete plays of Aristophanes
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