Aristophanes: 144 books

The story of ‘Plutus’ concerns Chremylus, a poor but just man, who accompanied by his body-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...

A rollicking attack on war-makers, the farmer-hero makes his famous trip to heaven on a dung beetle to discuss the issues with Zeus.

A group of women, led by the wise and redoubtable Praxagora, has decided that the women of Athens must convince the men to give them control of the city, as they are convinced they can do a better job. Disguised as men, the women sneak into the assembly and command the majority of votes needed to carry...

The second in a series of three comedies, ‘Peace’, along with ‘The Acharnians’ and ‘Lysistrata’, called for an end to the Peloponnesian war. The 'Peace' was brought out four years after 'The Acharnians' (422 B.C.), when the war had already lasted ten years. The leading motive is the same...

It is difficult to compare the Aristophanic Comedy to any one form of modern literature, dramatic or other. It perhaps most resembles what we now call burlesque; but it had also very much in it of broad farce and comic opera, and something also (in the hits at the fashions and follies of the day with...

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...

A group of women, led by the wise and redoubtable Praxagora, has decided that the women of Athens must convince the men to give them control of the city, as they are convinced they can do a better job. Disguised as men, the women sneak into the assembly and command the majority of votes needed to carry...

The play begins with a strange scene—a large net has been spread over a house, the entry is barricaded and two slaves are sleeping in the street outside. A third man is positioned at the top of an exterior wall with a view into the inner courtyard but he too is asleep. The two slaves wake and we learn...

Today the women at the festival are going to kill me for insulting them!' This bold statement by Euripides is the absurd premise upon which the whole play depends. The women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, and they are using the festival...

Clouds

One of the few plays that survived intact from the heyday of ancient Grecian drama, Lysistrata is an enormously influential work of satirical comedy. In order to bring an end to a destructive and never-ending war, the women of Greece take a temporary vow of chastity, pledging to remain abstinent until the conflict ends. As can be expected, mayhem -- and hilarity -- ensues.

If the American Editor of this little volume (which is sent forth as a test of the character of American learning) deemed it either expedient or necessary to expatiate upon the merits of an author so celebrated and gifted as A ristophanes, he might extend his eulogia beyond the patient perusal of...

The protagonist, Dikaiopolis, miraculously obtains a private peace treaty with The Spartans and he enjoys the benefits of peace in spite of opposition from some of his fellow Athenians.

The Frogs tells the story of the god Dionysus, who, despairing of the state of Athens' tragedians, travels to the underworld to bring the playwright Euripides back from the dead. He brings along his slave Xanthias, who is smarter and braver than Dionysus. As the play opens, Xanthias and Dionysus argue over what kind of jokes Xanthias can use to open the play.