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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
