User:Paul August/Plutus (play)

Plutus (play)

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Paraody of Philoxenus’ Cyclops
Although, most of text of Plutus has survived, almost all of its choral odes missing,  what remains for the chorus shows Aristophanes (as he does to some extent in all his plays) parodying a contemporary literary work — in this case Philoxenus of Cythera’s dithyramb Cyclops. With this parody Aristophanes, while poking fun at literary aspects of Philoxenus' poem, is at the same time commenting on musical developments occurring in the fourth century BC, developing themes that run through the whole play. It also contains lines and phrases taken directly from Cyclops.

The slave Cario, tells the chorus that his master has brought home with him the god Wealth, and because of this they will all now be rich. The chorus wants to dance for joy. So Cario begins a different kind of performance, parodying Philoxenus' dithyramb. As a solo performer leading a chorus that sings and dances, Cario recreates the form of a dithyramb being performed. He first casts himself in the role of Polyphemus, and the chorus as his flock of sheep and goats:

"And now I wish—threttanello!—to imitate the Cyclops and, swinging my feet to and fro like this, to lead you in the dance. But come on, children, shout and shout again the songs of bleating sheep and smelly goats and follow with your cocks skinned—for you’re going to eat the goat’s breakfast!"

Cario vocally imitates the sound of a lyre ("threttanello") which is thought to be a reference to Philoxenus having Polyphemus play the lyre, and "to eat the goat’s breakfast" is an obscene joke referencing self-administered fellatio.

The chorus, however, doesn’t want to play sheep and goats, they'd rather be Odysseus and his men, and threaten to blind Cario (as the drunken Cyclops) with a wooden stake:

"But we in turn will try—threttanello!—while we bleat to catch you as the Cyclops, still hungry, holding a sack of damp wild greens, and hung over to boot! Then while you happen to take a nap while leading your sheep, we’ll pick up a great half-burnt stake and blind you!"

Philoxenus continues to be quoted in this scene from Aristophanes, and the chorus responds to Cario’s obscene joke with their own comic dscription of a drunken Cyclops passing out while leading his sheep.

With the patronizing and bossy tone of Cario, and the rebellion of the chorus, Aristophanes establishes a conflict between the chorus and an individual performer, which suggests that, for some at least, perhaps including Aristophanes, in contemporary theater, the soloist was threatening to become overly dominant.

Some ancient sources claimed that Philoxenus wrote his dithyramb as an allegory regarding the tyrant Dionysius and a woman named Galatea — in whom both the tyrant and the poet had a romantic interest. And it is thought that Aristophanes makes use of this love triangle in his parody, in order to score satiric points against a contemporary Athenian.

Aristophanes' parody of Cyclops makes a point of having the characters repeatedly use the word 'imitate' to describe the performers task, which raises questions regarding the mimetic aspect of performance, and the relationship between art and reality. The parody seems to draw attention to the artificiality of performance, even while, ironically, Aristophanes has the characters claim spontaneity for their performance. This suggest that such philosophical ideas about art were being discussed in Athens in 388 BC when the play was performed.

Aristophanes delivers a satiric rebuttal to a dithyramb that has wandered into territory more properly the domain of drama.