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    Plutus
    Plutus
    Plutus
    Ebook76 pages51 minutes

    Plutus

    By Aristophanes

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    About this ebook

    Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his servant Cario consults the Delphic Oracle concerning his son, whether he ought not to be instructed in injustice and knavery and the other arts whereby worldly men acquire riches. By way of answer the god only tells him that he is to follow whomsoever he first meets upon leaving the temple, who proves to be a blind and ragged old man. But this turns out to be no other than Plutus himself, the god of riches, whom Zeus has robbed of his eyesight, so that he may be unable henceforth to distinguish between the just and the unjust.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInteractive Media
    Release dateNov 16, 2016
    ISBN9781911535904
    Plutus
    Author

    Aristophanes

    Often referred to as the father of comedy, Aristophanes was an ancient Greek comedic playwright who was active in ancient Athens during the fourth century BCE, both during and after the Peloponnesian War. His surviving plays collectively represent most of the extant examples of the genre known as Old Comedy and serve as a foundation for future dramatic comedy in Western dramatic literature. Aristophanes’ works are most notable for their political satire, and he often ridiculed public figures, including, most famously, Socrates, in his play The Clouds. Aristophanes is also recognized for his realistic representations of daily life in Athens, and his works provide an important source to understand the social reality of life in Ancient Greece. Aristophanes died sometime after 386 BCE of unknown causes.

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    • 3/5
      I have a single-volume collection of Aristophanes' best known plays, and this was the only one I hadn't read yet.A man named Chremylus, disheartened at all the evil he has found in the world, goes to the temple to ask the god Apollo if it wouldn't be better to just throw his hands up and raise his son as a criminal. The god tells him to walk out of the temple and follow the very first person he sees. That person happens to be Plutus, the god of wealth. However, Chremylus finds the deity as anything but wealthy. The god has been reduced to a beggarly, blind old man. Zeus took away his sight so that he could not tell between good people (who are deserving of riches) and bad people (who aren't). Chremylus, along with his servant Cario, vows to heal Plutus of his blindness, and sets out on a journey to a divine temple of healing. Along the way, the hag-goddess Poverty interrupts and warns them against returning the god's vision.I liked this play, and it was typical Aristophanes - fun and quickly paced, with interesting, thought provoking themes underneath. I liked Poverty's speech against wealth, which touches into economics. She reasons that if there is too much money, rather than make everyone wealthy, it will reduce the value of their riches instead, leaving them just the same. Or, worse, it will deliver an even harder life upon them than they live now. If everyone is rich, who would want to be Chremylus' servant, bringing him wine and running his home? Who would want to learn a difficult, time consuming trade? And without tradesman, where would he ever be able to purchase clothing, tools, ornaments...She has quite a point. Of course, her logic doesn't go through to Chremylus, who only sees a walking dollar sign with Plutus in his company.After Plutus' sight is returned to him, there is an immediate influx of money being showered upon everyone in sight. Most are rejoicing of course, but none everyone is so thrilled at the new change of the tides. There was a comical scene with a rich old woman complaining. Her handsome young boyfriend, who had been living off her generosity as long as he continued to call her beautiful, has now left her since he has his own money.Zeus himself also comes thundering up to the door, shouting that now, no one is giving him any sacrifices at the temple (it is stated beforehand that the only reason anyone really sacrifices to Zeus anyways is to request money).I liked that the gods seem so integrated with the lives of ordinary people. I love that about Greek literature.Even though Zeus never actually makes an appearance (just his shouting at the door), no one seems surprised in the least that a powerful divinity is on their doorstep. When Chremylus mentions that it was Apollo who told him to follow Plutus, the money-god exclaims "What, he's involved in this too?"It just gives you the sense that all the gods know each other, and all the people know all the gods. For some reason, it's appealing to me, as a way of knitting a relatively diverse culture and kingdom together.I liked this play and will have to seek out some of the last works by Aristophanes that I still haven't read. It always makes me sad to read references to his 'lost plays' in footnotes, that we will never get the chance to read.

    Book preview

    Plutus - Aristophanes

    Aristophanes

    Plutus

    LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

    PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

    TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

    New Edition

    Published by Sovereign Classic

    www.sovereignclassic.net

    This Edition

    First published in 2016

    Copyright © 2016 Sovereign Classic

    ISBN: 9781911535904

    Contents

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    PLUTUS

    NOTES

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    CHREMYLUS.

    CARIO, Servant of Chremylus.

    PLUTUS, God of Riches.

    BLEPSIDEMUS, friend of Chremylus.

    WIFE OF CHREMYLUS.

    POVERTY.

    A JUST MAN.

    AN INFORMER, or Sycophant.

    AN OLD WOMAN.

    A YOUTH.

    HERMES.

    A PRIEST OF ZEUS.

    CHORUS OF RUSTICS.

    SCENE: In front of a farmhouse—a road leading up to it.

    PLUTUS

    CARIO. What an unhappy fate, great gods, to be the slave of a fool! A servant may give the best of advice, but if his master does not follow it, the poor slave must inevitably have his share in the disaster; for fortune does not allow him to dispose of his own body, it belongs to his master who has bought it. Alas! ‘tis the way of the world. But the god, Apollo, whose oracles the Pythian priestess on her golden tripod makes known to us, deserves my censure, for ‘tis assured he is a physician and a cunning diviner; and yet my master is leaving his temple infected with mere madness and insists on following a blind man. Is this not opposed to all good sense? ‘Tis for us, who see clearly, to guide those who don’t; whereas he clings to the trail of a blind fellow and compels me to do the same without answering my questions with ever a word. (To Chremylus.) Aye, master, unless you tell me why we are following this unknown fellow, I will not be silent, but I will worry and torment you, for you cannot beat me because of my sacred chaplet of laurel.

    CHREMYLUS. No, but if you worry me I will take off your chaplet, and then you will only get a sounder thrashing.

    CARIO. That’s an old song! I am going to leave you no peace till you have told me who this man is; and if I ask it, ‘tis entirely because of my interest in you.

    CHREMYLUS. Well, be it so. I will reveal it to you as being the most faithful and the most rascally of all my servants.[736] I honoured the gods and did what was right, and yet I was none the less poor and unfortunate.

    CARIO. I know it but too well.

    CHREMYLUS. Other amassed wealth—the sacrilegious, the demagogues, the informers,[737] indeed every sort of rascal.

    CARIO. I believe you.

    CHREMYLUS. Therefore I came to consult the oracle of the god, not on my own account, for my unfortunate life is nearing its end, but for my only son; I wanted to ask Apollo, if it was necessary for him to become a thorough knave and renounce his virtuous principles, since that seemed to me to be the only way to succeed in life.

    CARIO. And with what responding tones did the sacred tripod resound?[738]

    CHREMYLUS. You shall know. The god ordered me in plain terms to follow the first man I should meet upon leaving the temple and to persuade him to accompany me home.

    CARIO. And who was the first one you met?

    CHREMYLUS. This blind man.

    CARIO. And you are stupid enough not to understand the meaning of such an answer? Why, the god was advising you thereby, and that in the clearest possible way, to bring up your son according to the fashion of your country.

    CHREMYLUS. What makes you think that?

    CARIO. Is it not evident to the blind, that nowadays to do nothing that is right is the best way to get on?

    CHREMYLUS. No, that is not the meaning of the oracle; there must be another, that is nobler. If this blind man would tell us who he is and why and with what object he has led us here, we should no doubt understand what our oracle really does mean.

    CARIO (to Plutus). Come, tell us at

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