‘The Thesmophoriazusæ’: 412 B.C. Another literary satire; Euripides, summoned as a notorious defamer of women to defend himself before the dames of Athens assembled in solemn conclave at the Thesmophoria, or festival of Demeter and Persephoné, induces his father-in-law, Mnesilochus, to dress up in women’s clothes, penetrate thus disguised into the assemblage, and plead the poet’s cause, but with scant success.
‘The Ecclesiazusæ’: 392 B.C. Pokes fun at the ideal Utopias, such as Plato’s ‘Republic,’ based on sweeping social and economic changes, greatly in vogue with the Sophists of the day. The women of the city disguise themselves as men, slip into the Public Assembly and secure a majority of votes. They then pass a series of decrees providing for community of goods and community of women, which produce, particularly the latter, a number of embarrassing and diverting consequences.
‘Plutus’: 408 and 388 B.C. A whimsical allegory more than a regular comedy. Plutus, the god of wealth, has been blinded by Zeus; discovered in the guise of a ragged beggarman and succoured by Chremylus, an old man who has ruined himself by generosity to his friends, he is restored to sight by Æsculapius. He duly rewards Chremylus, and henceforth apportions this world’s goods among mankind on juster principles—enriching the just, but condemning the unjust to poverty.
AUTHORITIES
LIST OF EDITIONS, COMMENTARIES, ETC., USED OR CONSULTED
Text: edit. Dindorf, Oxford
Text: edit. Blaydes. 1886.
Text, with Notes, etc.: edit. Immanuel Bekker. 5 vols. 1829.
