Plutus (play)

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Plutus (Wealth) is an Ancient Greek comedy by the playwright Aristophanes, first produced c. 380 BC. A political satire on contemporary Athens, it features the personified god of wealth Plutus. Like most plays by Aristophanes it uses such familiar character types as the stupid master and the insubordinate slave to attack the morals of the time.

[edit] Plot

The play features an elderly Athenian citizen, Chremylos, and his slave Cario. Chremylos sees himself and his family as being virtuous but poor, and so he seeks advice from an oracle. The play starts just after he has received the advice to follow the first man he meets and persuade him to come home with him. That man turns out to be the god Plutus.

The first part of the play examines the idea that wealth is not distributed to the virtuous, or necessarily to the non-virtuous, but instead it is distributed randomly. Chremylos is convinced that if Plutus' eyesight can be restored, these wrongs can be righted, making the world a better place.

The second part introduces the goddess Poverty. She counters Chremylos' arguments that it is better to be rich by arguing that without poverty there would be no slaves (as every slave would buy his freedom) and no fine goods or luxury foods (as nobody would work if everyone were rich).

Plutus, after having his eyesight restored at the Temple of Asclepius, undertakes to distribute riches to some while reducing the fortune of others, based on their perceived virtue or lack of it. This gives rise to rancorous comments and claims of unfairness from those that have had their riches removed.

In the end, the messenger god Hermes arrives to inform them of the gods' anger. As in Aristophanes The Birds, the gods have been starved of sacrifices. Everyone has turned their attention to Plutus, and they no longer pay homage to the other gods. Hermes, worried about his own predicament, offers to work for the mortals.

The play would have been performed in front of the leading Athenians of the time, most of them rich, and not all of them virtuous. Aristophanes deliberately saves his most barbed attacks for them.