CALONICE

I know for certain they awoke at dawn, And got their husbands up if not their boat sails.

LYSISTRATA

And I'd have staked my life the Acharnian dames Would be here first, yet they haven't come either!

CALONICE

Well anyhow there is Theagenes' wife We can expect--she consulted Hecate.

But look, here are some at last, and more behind them.

See ... where are they from?

CALONICE

From Anagyra they come.

LYSISTRATA

Yes, they generally manage to come first.

_Enter_ MYRRHINE.

MYRRHINE

Are we late, Lysistrata? ... What is that?

Nothing to say?

LYSISTRATA

I've not much to say for you, Myrrhine, dawdling on so vast an affair.

MYRRHINE

I couldn't find my girdle in the dark.

But if the affair's so wonderful, tell us, what is it?

LYSISTRATA

No, let us stay a little longer till The Peloponnesian girls and the girls of Bocotia Are here to listen.

MYRRHINE

That's the best advice.

Ah, there comes Lampito.

_Enter_ LAMPITO.

LYSISTRATA

Welcome Lampito!

Dear Spartan girl with a delightful face, Washed with the rosy spring, how fresh you look In the easy stride of your sleek slenderness, Why you could strangle a bull!

LAMPITO

I think I could.

It's frae exercise and kicking high behint.

[Footnote: The translator has put the speech of the Spartan characters in Scotch dialect which is related to English about as was the Spartan dialect to the speech of Athens. The Spartans, in their character, antic.i.p.ated the shrewd, canny, uncouth Scotch highlander of modern times.]

LYSISTRATA

What lovely b.r.e.a.s.t.s to own!

LAMPITO

Oo ... your fingers a.s.sess them, ye tickler, wi' such tender chucks I feel as if I were an altar-victim.

LYSISTRATA

Who is this youngster?

LAMPITO

A Boeotian lady.

LYSISTRATA

There never was much undergrowth in Boeotia, Such a smooth place, and this girl takes after it.

CALONICE

Yes, I never saw a skin so primly kept.

LYSISTRATA

This girl?

LAMPITO

A sonsie open-looking jinker!

She's a Corinthian.

LYSISTRATA

Yes, isn't she Very open, in some ways particularly.

LAMPITO