CALONICÉ. And so will I, though I must be split in two like a flat-fish, and have half myself removed. LAMPITO. And I too; why, to secure Peace, I would climb to the top of Mount Taygetus.[404] LYSISTRATA. Then I will out with it at last, my mighty secret! Oh! sister women, if we would compel our husbands to make peace, we must refrain.... MYRRHINÉ. Refrain from what? tell us, tell us! LYSISTRATA. But will you do it? MYRRHINÉ. We will, we will, though we should die of it. LYSISTRATA. We must refrain from the male organ altogether.... Nay, why do you turn your backs on me? Where are you going? So, you bite your lips, and shake your heads, eh? Why these pale, sad looks? why these tears? Come, will you do it--yes or no? Do you hesitate? MYRRHINÉ. No, I will not do it; let the War go on. LYSISTRATA. And you, my pretty flat-fish, who declared just now they might split you in two? CALONICÉ. Anything, anything but that! Bid me go through the fire, if you will; but to rob us of the sweetest thing in all the world, my dear, dear Lysistrata! LYSISTRATA. And you? MYRRHINÉ. Yes, I agree with the others; I too would sooner go through the fire. LYSISTRATA. Oh, wanton, vicious sex! the poets have done well to make tragedies upon us; we are good for nothing then but love and lewdness![405] But you, my dear, you from hardy Sparta, if _you_ join me, all may yet be well; help me, second me, I conjure you. LAMPITO. 'Tis a hard thing, by the two goddesses[406] it is! for a woman to sleep alone without ever a standing weapon in her bed. But there, Peace must come first. LYSISTRATA. Oh, my dear, my dearest, best friend, you are the only one deserving the name of woman! CALONICÉ. But if--which the gods forbid--we do refrain altogether from what you say, should we get peace any sooner? LYSISTRATA. Of course we should, by the goddesses twain! We need only sit indoors with painted cheeks, and meet our mates lightly clad in transparent gowns of Amorgos[407] silk, and with our "mottes" nicely plucked smooth; then their tools will stand like mad and they will be wild to lie with us. That will be the time to refuse, and they will hasten to make peace, I am convinced of that! LAMPITO. Yes, just as Menelaus, when he saw Helen's naked bosom, threw away his sword, they say. CALONICÉ. But, poor devils, suppose our husbands go away and leave us. LYSISTRATA. Then, as Pherecrates says, we must "flay a skinned dog,"[408] that's all. CALONICÉ. Bah! these proverbs are all idle talk.... But if our husbands drag us by main force into the bedchamber? LYSISTRATA. Hold on to the door posts. CALONICÉ. But if they beat us? LYSISTRATA. Then yield to their wishes, but with a bad grace; there is no pleasure for them, when they do it by force. Besides, there are a thousand ways of tormenting them. Never fear, they'll soon tire of the game; there's no satisfaction for a man, unless the woman shares it. CALONICÉ. Very well, if you _will_ have it so, we agree.