Wealth by Aristophanes

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Greek & Roman, Fiction & Literature

• Author: Aristophanes
• ISBN: 1230000129235
• Publisher: Halcyon Press Ltd.
• Publication: May 2, 2013
• Language: English

Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his body-servant Cario—the redeeming feature, by the by, of an otherwise dull play, the original type of the comic valet of the stage of all subsequent periods—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. However, succoured by Chremylus and conducted by him to the Temple of Aesculapius, Plutus regains the use of his eyes. Whereupon all just men, including the god's benefactor, are made rich and prosperous, and the unjust reduced to indigence.

Aristophanes (c.446 BC - c.386 BC) was a comic playwright of ancient Athens.  Eleven of his approximately forty plays survive, providing modern understanding of the Old Comedy genre.  Little is known of his personal life.