Four Plays: Lysistrata/The Frogs/A Parliament of Women/Plutus

by Aristophanes, Paul Roche (Translator)

Whether his target is the war between the sexes or his fellow playwright Euripides, Aristophanes is the most important Greek comic dramatist—and one of the greatest comic playwrights of all time. His writing—at once bawdy and delicate—brilliantly fuses serious political satire with pyrotechnical bombast, establishing the tradition of comedy as high art. His messages are as timely and relevant today as they were in ancient Greece, and his plays still provoke laughter—and thought.
 
This volume features four celebrated Lysistrata, The Frogs, A Parliament of Women and Plutus ( Wealth) , all translated by the distinguished poet and translator Paul Roche.

Genres: Classics, Plays, Drama, Literature

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Aristophanes (Greek: Αριστοφάνης; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."

Reviews

[zakariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

only read one of them BUT IDC IM ADDING JT TO MY READINF THING anyways he kind of nibbled w pluto's he nibbled fr

[Rebecca Russavage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally found the compilation I’m reading—Paul Roche is a bad translator, but these are entertaining and interesting ideas explored effectively through comedy

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't speak to the accuracy or precision of the translation, but I definitely appreciated Paul Roche's efforts to render Greek language, theatre, culture, and history as transparent and relevant as possible. Because of his introduction and notes, I was able to enjoy not only the plays, themselves, but what they reflected of Aristophanes' world. I will say, though, that I found the verse more engaging in the earlier plays---particularly in The Frogs, where the banter between Aeschylus, Dionysus, and Euripides crackles and hums in the English---but whether that's due to Aristophanes or Roche or a combination of the two, I can't say.

[TC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lysistrata is pretty hilarious, havent read the others. Its amazing how themes from centuries ago still resonate so strongly now.

[Corprew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plutus is usually given as 'Wealth.'

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, what bawdiness!

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although one may rack up cultural credit for reading Greek Old Comedy, I was not entirely won over by Aristophanes. I can say nothing about the language itself, since one never knows quite where the translator has lodged his knife -- Roche claims fidelity, and I must trust him. The plays were, for the most part, forgettable. Still, the real treat in this collection was "The Frogs," in which Dionysus and his servant travel to the underworld to find either Euripides or Aeschylus, both recently deceased. The play ends with Dionysus judging a contest between the two poets for which the prize is to return to Earth with the god himself. I won't spoil the end, but the discussion of *what makes a good poet* seems "ever ancient, ever new," while the contest itself could be transplanted anywhere from the halls of Hades to the playgrounds of Harlem, as both poets spit lines from their plays and heckle the other for his missteps -- this I enjoyed!