Plot: The God Wealth has been blinded by a jealous Zeus and cannot tell good men from bad, thereby bestowing his gifts on undeserving criminals and politicians. A poor farmer Chremylus and his slave Carion give him shelter and take him to the Temple of Asclepius where his sight is restored, and the good people of the city are finally rewarded.

The final play in the Penguin edition of Aristophanes’The Birds and other plays
My thoughts:  Like The Assemblywomen before it, Wealth comes from Aristophanes’ later years, and the magic has definitely faded. There is the trademark vulgarity intertwined with political comment, but the play comes across as half finished and tired, although I liked the fantasy aspects of the personifications of Wealth and Poverty. You can see the author has lost some of his skill as Poverty presents good arguments why she should be allowed to continue her rule, but the other characters cannot manage any comeback except to harangue her and banish her from the city.

Also like the previous play, there is not the strong sense of dramatic or comedic buildup to the storyline throughout, but an initial setup followed by several short vignettes which barely sustain interest. The role of the Chorus is further reduced, which is not unwelcome to me personally.
Favourite lines/passages:  Nothing magical lifted itself from the text.
Personal rating: 3, which is a disappointing conclusion to a great series of comic plays
Next : Back to Plato with Euthyphro, but I suspect in a darker vein, as we approach the trial and death of Socrates.

Plot: The playwright Euripides fears that the women of Athens seek his death due to the way he portrays them in his plays. He asks a fellow playwright Agathon to dress up as a woman (as is his penchant) and infiltrate the Thesmophoria, a womens-only festival where he fears they will vote on his death. Agathon refuses, but Euripides’ old relative Mnesilochus volunteers instead. He gets inside the women’s festival, but then needs Euripides’ help to get out again.

I read the Penguin Classics edition The Frogs and other plays translated by David Barrett, revised by Shomit Dutta (ISBN 9780140449693) which provides a brief introduction to each play plus extensive footnotes.

My thoughts: Not only the world’s first Battle of the Sexes in literature, but also the first transvestite comedy, The Thesmophoriazusae (Women at the Thesmophoria) is my favourite Aristophanean comedy so far, mainly because the plot is far more coherent and structured, flowing on from cause to effect.  There is still plenty of slapstick, double entendre, coarse humour and ribald behaviour, but the level of surrealism is not as noticeable.

Aristophanes’ use of Euripides as a major character in his play allows him to satirize many of Euripides’ works, notably Helen at the beginning of Act Two (which I totally got this time around, having just read Helen two days ago) but also unfortunately lost plays such as Andromeda and Telephus.

The last minute reversal of the women’s rancour towards Euripides is a little unbelievable but I think the audience would have had such a good time that they could forgive a weak ending.

The characterization of women in this all-male play performed for a mostly-male audience is interesting. The plot starts with the accusation that Euripides denigrates women, yet Aristophanes portrays them as lustful and  drink-loving (no better than men, in fact  😉 )

“A curse upon the man who plans our enemies to please,

Or puts his lot in with the Persians or Euripides

Aspires to be a tyrant, or to set one on the throne,

Or tells a woman’s  husband that the baby’s not his own;

The maid who knows the very man when Mistress wants some fun,

But spills the beans to Master when a good night’s work is done;

The messenger who bears false tales; the lover who seduces

with talk of all the gifts he’ll bring, and then no gift produces

……. And last of all the characters who meet with our displeasure,

The barman or the barmaid who serves us a short measure,

On these and on their houses may the wrath of heaven fall

But otherwise we pray the gods will guard and bless us all”       Chorus-Leader, page 89

I’m thinking Aristophanes would have made a great writer for the Carry On movies. Even down to the not-very politically correct stereotyping “Italian” accent inflicted on the Scythian guard.

And as for the singeing of Mnesiloichus’ crotch hairs….. ouch!!!

Favourite lines/passages : Mnesilochus’ disguise is revealed, and with accusers on all sides, he tries to hide his “damning evidence”

Cleisthenes: Stand up straight! Where’s his … thing? He’s hidden it!

Mica [lifting his robe at the rear]: Ooh! He’s pushed it through to the back. A nice one too!

Cleisthenes : Where? I can’t see it.

Mica : It’s back at the front again.

Cleisthenes  [lifting his robe at the front] : No it isn’t.

Mica: Oh no, it’s here again.

Cleisthenes : What is this? He’s sending his old chap back and forth like a shuttle service across the Isthmus.

page 99

Personal rating: Lots of laughs. An 8. 9.

Also in that year : Things were not so rosy for the Athenians on the war front. Following the defeat of their land and sea forces in Sicily in 413, their siege of Miletus was also thwarted in 412.

Next : Another battle of the sexes in Lysistrata by Aristophanes.

Plot : Two Athenians, Peisthetaerus and Euelpides, searching for a more ideal place to live, seek out Tereus, formerly an Athenian prince and now transformed into a hoopoe bird. Peisthetaerus convinces the Hoopoe and his feathered associates that birds are really the rightful gods of Earth, and in building a city in the air (Much-Cuckoo) they can bring both the Gods of Olympus and mankind to account by impeding all the prayers and sacrificial smoke from reaching Heaven.

This edition was, as previously, the Penguin version of The Birds and other plays, translated by David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein. Barrett translated this script for The Birds.

My thoughts : Lots of puns and wordplay (judging by the modern English translation) and some of the Chorus songs reminded me a little of vaudevillian jokes – short and snappy snatches of humour. Despite the off-stage building of Much-Cuckoo city of real bricks and mortar suspended in the air, what was missing for me was the same extent of immediate fantastical surrealism and whimsy as in Aristophanes’ masterpieces The Clouds and The Wasps.

And in mentioning the nature of the translation, I must confress to some annoyance when the translator uses modern idioms in the characters’ speeches – “what the dickens are you playing at?” on the very first page doesn’t sound like a true translation of classical Greek to me, and lifts me away from the story – I don’t mind when directors recast Shakespeare plays into more modern settings but please don’t tamper with the words! Likewise I understand classical Greek translations will not always give the modern reader the exact meaning of all the speeches, but a little more sympathy to the original nature would be more respectful – am I being inconsistent here?

I was also uncomfortable with Aristophanes’ tacit approval of pederasty, even with accepting that social mores have changed drastically in many ways in 2000 years.

Favourite lines/passages

I did enjoy the seeming unending parade of Chaucerian officials and profit-seekers who arrived so quickly to take advantage of the new city: the inspector, the lawmaker, the mathematician/surveyor, the poet and even an oracle seller, and Peisthetaerus’ sending them all packing.

And what happened to Euelpides? Sent off by Peisthetaerus to do all the work while he scores Sovereignty (both the bride and the lordship) over all.

Diversions/digressions

I had heard the expression “cloud-cuckoo land” occasionally before, but has assumed it had arisen from some piece of obscure English literature around Shakespeare’s time or earlier. Quite surprised to find it arose with the Greeks.

Personal rating : 5. A little disappointing.

Kimmy’s rating :Kimmy would have been quite excited with all the colour and caw-ing, and as she hates magpies, their absence was also a plus for her. Two paws.

Next : Euripides’ Ion

Plot : Trygaeus flies up to heaven on the back of a giant dung beetle (wisely surmising that he will only need to carry enough food for himself for the trip!) to speak to Zeus. Finding all the gods except Hermes have retreated higher where they cannot hear the constant cries from Earth, Trygaeus instead discovers that Peace has been held captive in a deep well, from which he and other Greeks (including Spartans, Athenians and representatives from other cities) work together to pull her out into the light, accompanied by the beautiful young Harvest and Festival. Trygaeus returns to Earth, is praised by the peace loving farmers and merchants and the play ends with his marriage to Harvest.

My version is the Penguin Black Classic The Birds and other plays, translated by David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (ISBN 9780140449518)

My thoughts :  A fortnight before the Peace of Nicias brought about an end (albeit temporarily) to the Peloponnesian War,  Aristophanes presented this play, which is not as strong or satisfying as his earlier plays, yet still won second prize at the City Dionysia.

Even though Cleon is dead, Aristophanes still can’t resist a parting dig or two

First Slave : “he’s eating shit these days, down amerng the dead men”     p. 99.

There is also a lot more bawdiness in this play than earlier – presumably in peace time there is more time for partying and seduction.

Personal rating : 6

Kimmy’s rating : Asleep on my lap throughout. One ear flicker.

Also in that year :  As mentioned, the Peace of Nicias is agreed between Sparta and Athens, ending ten years of hostilities. Designed to stand for half a century, it was broken the following year when Sparta signed a treaty with Boeotia, and the War resumed.

Next: Electra by Euripides