otherwise) ot poets in . is the freedom (or Athens to wished. What constraints, legal or:social, explicit or ite what they ot tantasy and icit, existed to limit the dramatists play their critiques the Atheniawillingr mess to again. There is no record of arny legal or other interactions with ag- particular or general of offer grieved individuals outside the theater, as there had been for Cleon. its policies? It is hard to ow how leaders, and muchcommunity, to its In Frogs, a brief reference is made to Cleon and Hyperbolus, who of the ancient coimentators on Aristonh. trust the evidence are now apparently the ace lawsuit-bringers in the Underworld other sources that reter to "decrees." a plays (the scholia) and its, and fines (569-70), and plenty of living individuals are named in passing with Aristophanes and other involving Athenian playwrights and brief mockery and abuse: Cleisthenes (48. 57. 422). Callias contents of their plays. But on the whole it appears thas (428), the Cleigenes (709), Clitophon (967). etc. All ot this appears to be stan- restrictions existed. formal dard comic procedure. But not even against the slippery Theramenes were indeed to or the Comic poets expected reter to topical e (540, 967-70) populist anti-Spartan leader Cleophon (678, and issues, and also to mock prOminent individuals events I504, I532) 1s any serious or sustained criticism mounted. Outside the text of the been a tradition within iambos and comic drama. And wheraalways plays themselves, we are told (again, by the that at some a in our Suda) point charge was Aristo- erence is occasionally made sources to actual brought against censOrei. someone , in phanes by (implicithy Cleon) that he was a the form of laws being introduced "foreigner," special forbidding certain t a topics that is, noncitizen, apparently because ot his tamily's connection or types of performance-particularly the by "ridiculing name" with Aegina. This prosecution seems not to have been successful, of individual (onomasti kómôidein) citizens-and whereas the and other too text o "accusations apparently tailed. Altogether, close ex- Aristophanes' plays also contains references to citizens (mainly Cle- amination of all of this evidence, together with a number of other on) reacting vigorously and publicly to being lampooned by him mostly quite unbelievable-remarks in scholia and elsewhere about laws and on stage and thus making a great deal of trouble for the playwright. particular decrees being passed at various points during the fifth the evidence overall is spotty and inconclusive. Indeed, the rules century banning mockery by name completely, leads to the conclusion that Cleon's attacks on may well have changed at different times. Aristophanes were probably not based on any law about or Here is what we can reconstruct with a fair particular comedy festival invective, but (briefy) degreeof were simply an infuriated to In his earliest Aristo- attempts by victim find some recourse certainty. plays, especially Babylonians (426), on the basis of general social norms of had attacked Cleon. He mentions this in Achar- decency. Aristophanes gen phanes virulently had a erally very free hand to criticize whom he wished. nians (425), stating that Cleon had retaliated: "Because of last year's comedy, he dragged me before the Council and slandered me (die the and made a . In balle) up bunch of lies. "(Ach. 378-80). follow Athenian Politics, the War and Frogs ing year his Knights (424) was a full-blast attack on Cleon from start to finish. he Athenian But two years later, in Wasps (422), he states (1284-91) that political system was a direct democracy-the first Cleon had in history, the whole "bitten" him quite severely and "caused him| alotu involving citizen body of 30,00o to 40,000 nmen. Then as trouble" so that he (Aristophanes) had recently made some kmd ot now, not all members of the dêmos ("people") he saw to concession or compromise with him (1290o)-mainly becausc always eye eye with one another about policy, about their 9).No leaders, about the had not found interpretation of what itself should anyone else to stand up on his behalf (1286-89). "democracy" foes not really entail, even about whether or not it after made sense at all as a long this, Cleon was killed in battle, and Aristophanes olitician political system. Athenian were volatile and appear to have politics often violent. engaged so fiercely with any particular po Aristophanes and His Athenian Audience 37 36 ARISTOPHANES' FroGS the Cleisthenic democracy had first been Between 508 (when of over a around the Helles- and the performance rogs just hundred Aegean and especially introduced) years presence throughout the several extremes of sIC since this was the means of had experienced to be as strong as ever, later, the Athenians and pont continued aboutout their city and its constitut and other crucial supplhes and despair, access to nmuch of Athens grain failure, optimism securing and disastrous expedition to Sic1ly eight back with pride to the and men lost in the Athenians looked nostalgia . of The ships and month month. their briet a vivid by and Salamis (480), to period ofco-le ad- previously were still memory; Marathon (490) years that a the Athenian lived with the reality Spartan- world with >parta (1n early 460s), and to every Greek to day by day, Attica. of the on the northern of ership fortress sat in Decelea edge ot increasing domination over the la decades occupied orchards, and their subsequent large to the fields and the "Delian League'"y out raiding parties ravage of (originally , i.e., sending the confederation their "alhes" both agriculture and travel throughout which came severely curtailing islands and cities ot the Aegean under their fields, work- the many Thousands Athenians whose homes -house, which mas region. of the to 440-decades during the demes Attica had been control during 460s mag- in one of the rural of were built shops, shrines lay on the being and visitors in the cen- new Acropolis last years cooped up city nificent temples living most ofthe twenty-tive the and admire the monuments else in the to Athens to watch plays in the Piraeus, or temporary focked ter of Athens itself or port of and self-contidence were thus based both corridor land between the Athenian self-image housing constructed in the narrow of with the ran between Athenians' military successes-along freedom defensive walls (the Walls") that on the past two parallel "Long on their and fear had been endemic and independence that these guaranteed-and continuing them. Overcrowding, deprivation, long Persian Athens had become cultural preeminence. Since the Wars, to Athenian life. torce over 100 artistic hub of the Greek world summer an Athenian of unquestionably the intellectual and Just the previous (406), a built for all of Greece" Thuc. won a critical sea-battle over Spartan navy (largely (as Pericles claimed, the "school (paideusis) ships had islands near Lesbos (Xen. the time however, much had changed-mostly for from Persian funding) off the of Arginusae 2.41).By of Frogs, several collective this victory was in the worse, in terms of material comforts, self-confidence, Hell. 1.6.24-38). Inspirational though the immediate current a defeat would have spelt and military outlook-and opinions differed radically about respects, since probably means which it was achieved, and its political and leadership. Much of the empire (or the end of the war, the by policies, prospects, tor controversial and in some demoral1zing "allies") had been lost, forever. Athens was hated by a high propor- aftermath, were ways clear the text of tion of the other Greek city-states. The Persiansalways likely to be the Athenian population at large, as is made very by a decree a major player in Greek politics given their much greater financial Frogs. Before the battle, the Athenians had passed offering but even freedom and resources and centralized and better organized foreign poicies- not only citizenship to metics and foreigners service. Slaves to slaves who would volunteer for were now paying close attention to the task of helping the Pelopon- citizenship any of the official Athenian war ettort (in con- nesians build an effective navy, a task which, if successful, inevitably were not normally part where the were rou- spelled defeat for Athens. Several of the most talented, or most rea- trast, for instance, to Roman practice, galleys decree was an sonable and of the manned slaves and convicts); so this sensible, Athenian politicians had died, or were in tinely by exile. trom usual and not every Athe- Consensus on anything was hard to achieve. extraordinary departure practice, In of a extension of their jealously guarded early spring 405, the Athenians were in the twenty-sixth nian felt that such sweeping of an had the battle of Arginusae year agonizing and seemingy never-ending war.Their rights of citizenship was justified. Nor was in empire Athenian had tatters, with only the island of itself been an success. Twenty-five ships large Samos still a loyal and unmitigated significant ally in the war effort. Yet the had lost seventy-five), and thousands of need for a powerful naval been lost (the Spartans 38 ARISTOPHANES FROGS Aristophanes and His Athenian Audience 39 the biggoei in seasprobably had drowned stormy loss of crewmen of the Pelo Athenian campaign Peloponnesian ar, in any single a similar to what we tind in F'rogs: the Athe life In the attermath,aftermath, somsome said play) conveys message Sicilian expedition. from the that nian democracy ("the people") needs to be selective, yet inclusive apart the fieet were to blame for commanding failin to generals and well-integrated. In Frogs, rather than wool-working, we find the and all generals were in the water, eight hastily (and the city's coinage being used as Aristophanes' symbol of civic integ- rescue those convicted the A by Assembly (cf. Plato. and we will at prosecuted and pol rity and collective worth (Frogs 717-37), look closely illegally) two survived executed; the other only bera.. that passage in a moment. Six were oey 32b). decided not to return to Athens at all. (Th The familiar of inclusion and exclusion ("us" and had prudently hey political game they "them") within a broad but limited franchise as pervasive in dem- convicted in absentia.) Among the instigators f were tried and these Athens as in the modern Westinvolved careful naneuver recrimination against generals were tu o ocratic rage and popular on the part of every politician and popular leader. who had themselves become leading politicians ing ("spin") ship-captains Comic often contributed to that spin, much as talk- Theramenes $40-41, 967-70). Personal op- playwrights Thrasybulus and (Frogs show hosts or cartoonists may do nowadays.And tor both politicians as usual, a big role in the city's portunism and animosity, played and comic poets, the chief goal was to create a sense of solidarity decision-making. the whole com- among a large body of supporters (ideally, among was a moderate One of the convicted generals Erasinides, dem- to the whole munity) in one of two ways: either through appeals mentioned at a decent human being, Frogs 1196 of its collective ocrat and apparently city ("we, the people, "men Athens") reintorcing was as Mara- of somneone whose life unfortu- in achievements and tuture as an exanmple undeservedly sense of pride past ("remember nate as Ocdipus'. Feclings about the victory, the dreadful loss of life, Dunkirk thon and Salamis..."'or "The Star-spangled Banner,""The discrimina- the incompetence or ill-Juck of the generals and/or the irresponsi- Spirit," etc.); or else, less inclusively, through a populist "them." Such bility of the prosecutors and of the Assembly itselfin rushing to tion between a valorized "us" and a demonized ways of thinking of course need not be cynical or consciously manipula- judgment, continued to trouble the Athenians in the months that activist or artist eas1ly followed. These feelings clearly fuel several references in Frogs to tive: any sincere and committed social may and feel him/herself thus with the community to sea-battles, to Erasinides, and above all to the frecing of begin to engaged sailing, that ensues the slaves.Thus not only is Xanthias found carly in the play making with the world at large, and the degree of polarization the and context to another. But, on the rather feeble excuse "No, I didn't fight in the battle-I had an will vary from one individual dramatist an attitude of inclusiveness eye-infection" (190-92), but the Chorus Leader devotes the two whole, for an Athenian comic and nonpolarization seems to have been preterred. major segents of the parabasis (686-87, 718-37) to a discussion of wanted in your audience Thus, on the one hand, you everyone Athenian citizenship, its and entitlements, and the feel- privileges purity and to share some fellow of the citizen to feel included (at least potentially) body. of and with as a group implicit "equals" Some six earlier ing with one another, you, years (411),Aristophanes' heroine had 688: "First and fore- Lysistrata interests and tastes at Frogs an with common (as presented elaborate simile of the as a "fleece" on the other city (Lys. 574-86) citizens But, we must make all the equal!"). an abundant of wool that needs to have most, tangle the dirt washed out individually as being wiser of it needed to establish yourself and the knots teased out before the of hand, you others of weaving any patterned than they and than can and more experienced (i.e., better) garment begin. The allegory in that famous inclined to pasage (designed audience) should feel pay in terms to rivals, so that they (the explicitly appropriate the traditional female your much better-or to be activity of appear too textile in attention and vote for you. If you production, accordance with the social politics of that Audience 41 and His Athenian | 40 ARISTOPHANES' FroGs Aristophanes making such a claim-your audience/voters may resent thisthis and reject you. But if you are merely one of the crowd, just like the of do not to them, you surely deserve be rest as singled out for special "back-and-forth," or and and alternating lyric spoken discourse). We praise trust.Aristophanes shows himselt to be a also find here master at specific reference to past political mistakes and as walk- recomn- ing this thin line, he works to creat mendations for future remedies. The engagingly a sense of lines are chanted and soli- the of sung by darity ("us") among the audience, even while Chorus Initiates, but are to they clearly be understood as acknowledging thar the actual consensus ot and expressing views of the himselt, as is opinions political poet common in a positions may not he the chorus parabasis. achievable or desirable. Here, begins by singing a short entirely Indeed, as we noted, prayer, inviting the Muse scholars cannot modern to join them: generally agree as to whether his plays push tently for consis- Set foot among the sacred choruses . any particular political position or platform, and or not favor whether And come to see the they any particular group, class, or great mass of people here, individuals. And this very fact may be said to reflect Whose many-thousand-fold wisdom skill at Aristophanes appealing si- Sits here waiting. multaneously to disparate and groups subject-positions within his audience, in a that way ultimately enables almost all of (673-78) included-as the them to feel nes whose opinions and favor By crediting the mass audience in the Theater with multiple forms who best matter, the ones represent the of of "wisdom" a word that also taste, city Athens, the ones who in this (sophia, suggests "good artistic Theater as worthiest belong skill") and suggesting that they will be joined by the Muse herself recipients and judges of comic wisdom. Aristophanes' own as fellow spectator of what is to follow, Aristophanes invites the
That is not to Athenians to think of themselves as both enormously versatile say that there are not of 677-78 muriai = "ten-thousand-told") and unerring in their dis- at which an moments-plenty them Aristophanic character may criticize the for its audience crimination, an opinion that is reinforced by the accompanying sharply stupidity or mistakes. past But every one of Aristo- insults directed against the foreign-sounding and inept "twitter- phanes comedies evolves in such a way that the most of the audience by halfway point ings" of Cleophon (678-82). is on the hero's side and that rooting for the same So far, this is all very democratic and inclusive, apart from the goals s/he is about to achieve, however absurd and exclusion of Cleophon-who actually, with his strident repudia- these may be (a fantastic private peace with a running the Sparta, city in the sky, women tions of Spartan offers of peace, had been the most successfiul Athe- Assembly, etc.). Thus can est they feel that their nian politician of recent months. In what follows, however, the problems are own deep- being confronted and taken Chorus begins to make some crucial distinctions, both about their themselves are seriously, even as they perhaps being and about their problems intermittently ridiculed and their Own identity and relationship to the audience, curiously distorted. At some decisions and level these opinions concerning the Athenians' recent political being ameliorated, or at problems are thus least mixed here with very comic temporarily transcended, their consequences. Disapproval is inextricably even if through this de- performance, no have wrong (for which the advocated or particular encouragement: things gone badly likely to result. policy decision is and the In is to blame, with its recent foolish decisions) yet Frogs, this of mocracy process inclusion to most and creation of still redeem themselves and "set everything rights" strikingly evident in the is people may choral solidarity their true, time-tested iden- of parabasis, it can just manage to recover passages formal "advice" especially in the two (735) they (68687, with their own best and brightest known as and 718-37) that are and align themselves properly epirrhêma antepirrhêma (which technically tity may be loosely translated members. 42 ARISTOPHANES FroGs Athenian Audience | 43 Aristophanes and His The parabasis is framed by reterences to the Chorus of providing "advice and teaching They assert that "it is ienintentions ust be passing judgment on the policies and conduct of the Athenians give useful advice to the city" (686-87: language that recalls .to many an Athenian orator in the Assembly), and they echo t thatt of are presented here as a group distinct trom, and much more select echo repeatedly than, the polis as a whole (the verdict of posterity?). even though the the formulaic language state decrees: "It seemed of
46 ARISTOPHANES' FroGs Athenian Audience | 47 Aristophanes and His = noun basanos "touchstone" . human character: the .e., a hard of silver or gold be rubbed against a piece to stone that can see if under the surface)..The verb bas 783, 1O11, 1035, 1455) or "the fine and good" (kaloi kai agathoi, as at dark (baser) metal shows up for "examine, or even "torture? Frogs 719)-who disapproved of this radically egalitarian and inclu- became standard Greek test as the determine truth as at sive constitution and preferred the idea of either a limited democ- means to extract proof and Frogs 616, 618, racy within which only those possessing some wealth would hold 826; I121, 1123; 1367 for the ,625, 629, 642; and so also 802, Other purity the franchise, or outright oligarchy. Up until the time of the Sicilian and worth poetic language!). terms toobo "weight" of for expedition (415-413 BCE), Such voices of conservatism and disap- and are likewise common in both kind. weighing" "counting of proval of demagogic leadership had certainly been audible in Ath- contexts. A coin that 1s "take, counterteit, adulterated" (as ar . ens, not least in Comedy. But they had not been orchestrated into 721) will be exposed; one that is of pure metal will "ring true"aFrogs any serious counter-democratic action. Aristophanes own fierce "clear as a bell" (as at Frogs 723). and hilarious attacks on Cleon in Babylonians, Knights, and Wasps of it is the In the first segment "advice (686-705), integrity of were merciless (and quite controversial), while in previous decades the citizen body itself (the people, rather than their coinage) that both Cratinus and Eupolis had been equally vociferous (and funny) occupies the Chorus' attention. Over the previous six years or so. in their criticisms of Pericles. In many Greek cities, on and off several as well as the the fifth and since the 430s, bitter political upheavals, extraordinary measures sur- throughout century especially rounding the recent sea-battle, had brought about major shifts and civil confticts had occurred, including assassinations, massacres, ex- and wholesale coups d' états. In Athens itself, by contrast, uncertainties about who was (or should be) a bona fide participant pulsions, in the Athenian no concerted political opposition to the democratic status quo politeia. During the thirty years or so of Athenian seems to have been organized until the later years of the Pelopon- successes preced1ng the War, the constitution Peloponnesian had nesian War. It was only when things began to go increasingly badly remained fairly stable and the had been leadership entrusted almost in the war, and Athens' economic as well as military prospects uninterruptedly to Pericles a (himself blue-blooded aristocrat of the became desperate, that the idea of abolishing the democracy and Alcmeonid clan, but democratic in staunchly his policies). despite establishing some kind of oligarchic replacement (perhaps involving fierce at times competition from rival aristocratic leaders. from at And, also a peace with Sparta) began seriously to catch on. least the 460s, all male citizens had full voting rights on all issues, In 411, a group of energetic anti-democrats called a special As- and state pay was for provided jurymen and no fications officeholders: quali- sembly meeting in Colonus (a couple of miles away from the Pnyx, of wealth, birth, or education were required. At the same the usual meeting-place) and orchestrated a vote by which the time, Pericles had enacted a law (in 451) that democratic constitution was replaced by a Council of Four Hun- only the children of stipulating henceforth two citizen could which parents be legitimate citizens, dred. The ringleaders of this oligarchic coup were Phrynichus, meant that scrutiny of legitimate parentage became Pisander, Theramenes, and their motives seem to have ticulous and accusations of more me Antiphon; foreign birth not for seems to have been driven above as a tactic to uncommon, varied (Phrynichus, exanmple, discredit rivals or especially political disinherit the of Alcibiades, who was himselt exiled fronm the "Thracian swallow" wealthy all by rivalry and fear slur directed (hence Athens throughout this sequence of events). but all of them appar There against at had been a Cleophon 681) always segment the with and especially the wealthier of Athenian ently favored the opening of peace negotiations Sparta citizens, some of population Athens. As for Alcibi- all, but move to Alcibiades back to came from whom, by no resisting any bring aristoCratic families and means in so could be he his checkered poitical career-which "well-born'" (eugeneis), described as ades, possessed, despite "worthy, included a stint as honest (chréstoi, as at to exile from Athens in 415 prolonged Frogs 735; cf. addition 48 ARISTOPHANES FroGs Aristophanes and His Athenian Audience| 49 fiamhos. despite his the Spartansand flamboyantly aris- adviser to talen indisputable nilitary nt mihitary behavior, and an trumped-up charges), convicted. narcisistic would be prosecuted (on feeble, tocratic and at So he was for people large. seen Alcibiades would be murdered while visiting Anato- irresistible appeal the by and executed; almost osible-successor to his ad.adoptive pOSible-successor his fleet would be annihilated at Aegospotami obviousand only lia: the Athenian as the many war effort. Conseque the into the Piraeus; and a junta leader Athens' the would lead Spartan navy Pericles, as of Lysander father, was led Plato's uncle. attachment Alcibiades almost extreme ("the Thirty Tyrants) by interest in, and to, ob- of oligarchs Athenians' the of a makes him the finat would be installed to rule the city with help Spartan Aristophanes appropriately Critias, sesive, and in Fnogs constitution. The walls would be torn choice between Aeschylus and a new city on which the and garrison and deciding topic those cities that had felt the burden of Athe- to the glee of all (see chapter 7). down, will depend over the previous decades. Euripides Four nian imperialism and military hostility of the establishment ot the Hundred, how. Within a year democrats, banishments, legal and illegal confiscations Theramenes had Massacres of had been assassinated, changed but the of the ever, Phrynichus would ensue on a horrendous scale; reign wanted the property with those who democ- of counter- tune and was collaborating ended a democratic his Thirty would in turn soon be by to the democratic constitu- recriminations and the back regular wave of lawsuits and racy back, swing revolution (403), bringing on a Hundred were was under The Four quickly overthrowm and execution of Socrates (a friend tion way. that included the prosecution of was restored. In the months that followed, despite a To the and relief of many, and democracy Critias and of Alcibiades) in 399. surprise the off Euboea, returned more or would in fact resist the call by the naval defeat by Spartans things Lysander and the Spartans in 404 execution Athenian men less to normal; yet anxieties-and divisions-persisted. Pisander Thebans and Corinthians for wholesale of and other ringleaders of the 411 coup had fled to Decelea and women and children-a and enslavement and deportation of policy others on remained in exile; several additional supporters of the Four Hun- that the Athenians themselves had carried out against the War. But Athens' ascendancy dred were also subsequently prosecuted and exiled. Those responsi- more than one occasion during in "salvation of the so invoked ble for the assassination of Phrynichus were recognized with an was shattered, and the city," earnestly terms honorific decree (1G I 102), and at least one non-Athenian from to achievedat least, not in the Frogs, was not in fact be among them (Thrasybulus of Calydon) was awarded Athenian citi- and the others. meant by Dionysus, Plouton, Aeschylus, not zenship as a mark of gratitude. Aristophanes himself and his family, as far as we know, were All of this had occurred these radical shifts of and political for- during the five years leading up to the directly affected by military of Now comedies throughout the production Frogs. (winter-spring 406-405), in the immedi- tune. He continued to write and produce survive ate aftermath of is noticeable that the two that Arginusae, the Athenians had even 3905 and early 38os, though it their expanded contain less ad ("debased"?) citizen body through the addition of hundreds of from that period (Women at the Assembly, Wealth) new citizens. humor than his Democracy indeed! Confidence in the of the hominem invective and less contemporary political war was now progress in the moral- somewhat elevated the was because of a change by victory, and the democratic previous plays. Whether this leader had was the result Cleophon won votes in of fourth Athens, or simply majority the on sev- political climate century eral occasions to Assembly reject what some tastes of audiences and playwrightsor moderates were an evolution in the attractive thought quite of ot them that proposals from the for modern scholars. But most agree of Spartans peace the both-is debated by pect total defeat was still terms. Yet pros- audience were not very real. if Aristophanes and his Of course, Frogs represents (even nobody could know his last full-blooded engagement exactly what was in aware of this at the time) within months of store: that fully eighteen the of of Old Comedy-including personal performance Frogs, Cleophon with the traditional forms 50 ARISTOPHANES' FroGs Athenian Audience | sI Aristophanes and His ' and now the audience in a parabasis, what is city the Persians: address to and direct na extensive the Spartans 6.) abuse, think of this to both further chapter Thus we might adviser himn? (See dance. as being and with nembers-and and ideal dealing choral song future,e andand ideal formform of policy in list of potential about best disparate audience, to be much the past, comedy this is a very theater almost as We will return to this top in all, and We All community is new tragedy. c in old and Athenian and oppositionalty is about leaders-of"our" disparateness as it radical of a rejection sense of Charon'a and this in chapter 7. audience is asked acain sure; and again, seen, the again role-reversals of we have already and Aristophanes and as the arguments In Frogs, are the tre. exploited by in of and Who (we) (Xanthias), and costuming Dio explicitly: Athe- confrontations both implicitly passenger slave in the Euripides again, then (us), in the Aseo Dionysus, between who should best represent m- and the contest now, and Xanthias all in is nians and above of the city and "the Athenian people Heracles, well-being Theater? "the and health and in the By city nysus the from bly and Concern for the issues in exaggeratedly clas. Aristophanes plays we mean-to put Aeschylus. and most do and Comedy, of what (or "us") of Old the questions, terms, as the play's agonistic framework characteristic squarely and contront quite do in conscious polarized another need to ex-slaves, with or what do we along those one Athenian and us to do--the Arg1nusae angle in n0 encourages be a (good) But perhaps it take to and strength. low-life democrats led by Cleophon, Nicomachus does integrity Euripides-loving near-desperation, restore the city's war on to urgency, on the and victim- order sense of of and the rest, hel-bent continuing does the and it 1s (1506), than Frogs deadly peril, for the Four more is in izing all those who had shown the slightest sympathy play the city of Athens so forcefully: emerge "teach" Hundred ("anyone who made a mistake after being tripped up by itself. to divided against integrity, terribly to restore we value instead pronises to rec- Phrynichus' slippery moves.." [689})? Or should comedy former values, Aristophanes recover its and ot as our "best citizens" the "useful/worthy" ones (733 chréstoi), equiv- think sensibly of purity, how to a sense the city citizens," to regain alent in their nobility to pure "gold" (or to the trusty "old standard" "best the best the virtues ofits together involve bringing of the silver ognize will ot owls), those elites who, after long salvation. This the worst familiar pure-bred of eliminating of service to integrity, perhaps trusry the city, found themselves so doubtful present-while (perhaps years and the that long-lost past recover about the the as to war-policies and habits of such a way the demagogic of Athens' leadership too-in existed in good that the present have they joined the Four as it might Hundred for a few and community back our confusing months, sense are now in illusory) of Underworld to bring consequently exile, to the and disenfranchised, their It takes a heroic trip of initiation fiscated and their names property con old days. process besmirched? loved-one, a Dionysian musical departed generation's Aristophanes' inclusive is dearly former appeal the the recovery ofa are to award of powerful. Concerning for our souls, if we citizenship to those rebirth are required battle-veteran these processes most authorial slaves, his Chorus, in its All of the audience mode, insists and poetic spirit. I501-02).As we, the same explicitly,"I 1450, 1458, time it approve" and at (1419, 1436, oligarchs, (tormer) suggests that this (695-96); "save the city" (would-be) grant for might also be the democrats and in amnesty those other time to wisdom" (677) right of rich and poor, thousand-told "mistakes" so as to elements the in atten- among old rally all "sit together chorus" and in citizens, and together slaves and masters, "sacred Athens' hour of new, noble look to the crisis and former we the moter of (687-70s).As for slave, the precinct of Dionysus, reinvigorating democratic allies in the project of causes, brilliant Alcibiades, one-time 686) as two-the many to his pro- dant Muse (674-76, for an hour or respects adoptive general, back-if only father, heir-apparent in so and bringing to be sure: Suspected role in the also art poetry fantastic notion, and sacrilegious Pericles--yet exiled for of of victory. A since then an mutilation of his Marathon, of unity, intermittent but the days of Herms in extreme. all-too-eftective 415 Aristophanic in the $2 collaborator 53 ARISTOPHANES' FRoGs His Athenian Audience| Aristophanes and tor Further Reading Suggestions
life and ca. Aristophanes' er is clearly evidenceconcerning he MacDowell well discussed in (1995). For the laid out and .3 the com. I rules concerning dramatic pro- locations, and cedures, Wilsor o and Slater (1995), ilson (200o): alalso etitions Athens, see Csapo (2000); Rusten at in Frogs? (The Plot) (2011), Wilson (2007). What Happens On the composition and character of theater audiences in Ath and (1962), Roselli (2011); for the range of ens, see Ehrenberg the McGlew (2002). On their ( political positions and opinions, and habits and degree of literary sophisticatio Aristophanes) reading n, see Woodbury (1976), Lowe (1993), Silk (2000); and on audience Moliere's-situation Menander's or plays are not like and dramatic ristophanes' character, in judging choral performances, Reva whole is driven by conci expertise A comedies in which the plot mann (2006) and chapter 4 below. In general, on the classical Greek with the audience's and (usually) love atfairs, dence, misunderstandings, know educational system, still useful is Marrou (1956). on the tact that they scene-by-scene, depending greatly delight, comtortable On issues of censorship and comic license, I find persuasive the don't and on their that the characters (as yet) things Good Fortune is discussion of Halliwell See too Rosen and Sluiter Aphrodite/Eros and of (1991). (2004). awareness that the spirit of Even Aristo- On biases, see De Ste. Croix toward their desired outcome. though Aristophanes' political (1972) guiding events Appendix 29. See too Henderson (1990) and Cartledge (199o). the Suda (above, chapter 2) with anticipating phanes was credited by Comic of romance, rapes, preg- late in his career the New techniques etc., his mistaken identities and recognitions, nancies, character-types, and wilder scenarios, often involving surviving plays all present bigger Cloudcuckooland) and contronting large the whole city of Athens (or and the gods. This is certainly issues of politics, morality, sexual identity, true of Frogs. that of the tradition The of New Comedy (and European plots Sher- Terence, Molière, derives from it, via Plautus and Shakespeare, constructed and intricate: every idan, Wilde, etc.) are more tightly overheard conversation and long-misplaced detail counts, every of the and that contributes to the resolution plot, recognition-token tend contrast, plots these In Old Comedy, by is part of plays' appeal. In- a little incoherent. connected, even at times to be loosely quite own that on a life of their may or can take dividual scenes, tropes, comic provide enormous a chunk of stage time and Occupy large the main audience-without advancing entertainment to the really including Frogs, have some of Aristophanes' plays, plot at all; and 54 | ARISTOPHANES' FroGs 55