Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol2.djvu/252

628. What a sagacious man!

. (to first woman). Now you praise rightly. [Returning to her subject.] "You, O people, are the cause of this. For you, receiving the public money as pay, watch, each of you, in private, what he shall gain; while the state totters along like Æsimus. If therefore you take my advice, you shall still be saved. I assert that we ought to intrust the state to the women. For in our houses we employ them as stewards and managers."

. Well done! well done! by Jove! well done! say on, say on, O good sir!

. "But that they are superior to us in their habits I will demonstrate. For, in the first place, they wash their wool in warm water, every one of them, after the ancient custom. And you will not see them trying in a different way. But would not the city of the Athenians be saved, if it observed this properly, unless it made itself busy with some other new-fangled scheme? They roast sitting, just as before. They carry burdens on their heads, just as before. They keep the Thesmophoria, just as before. They bake their cheese-cakes, just as before. They torment their husbands, just as before. They have paramours in the house, just as before. They buy dainties for themselves, just as before. They like their wine unmixed, just as before. They delight in being wantonly treated, just as before. Therefore, sirs, let us intrust the city