Indeed such opposition attracts negative attention from the elders who influence Greek politics. They march towards the citadel with torches to flush out the women, but encounter ruthless opposition from Lysistrata and her women. The comparison leads to a small victory for women, this creates a huge irony of the situation since the role of women in ancient Greek society was to "dwell in the solitude of the family, dressed in diaphanous garments of yellow silk and long and flowing, decorated outside with flowers and shod with pretty slippers" (Aristophanes, 11). The elders who make the laws and who send the young people to fight their wars are unable to stop the movement of some "housewives". Embarrassingly and ironically the roles have switched where women are the head of state and the elders are left speechless and forced to go back to where they came from. Wisely, the author hints at part of the moral alternative by stating that the old should not necessarily go so far as to declare war since it is not the old who are fighting in them. Aristophanes gradually begins to present a moral alternative