Acharnians
(Aristophanes)
The Acharnians is Aristophanes? first surviving play. It was written in the sixth year of the War and happens to be the world's first anti-war comedy. It was inspired by the suffering of the rural population of Attica, the area surrounding Athens, which was exposed to continual invasions. The poet built his plot around a hard headed farmer who, tired of the hostilities, determines to make a private peace with the Spartans. Undeterred by the anger of the Acharnians, who crave vengeance for the destruction of their vineyards, an honest citizen named Dicaeopolis, enraged at the false pretexts for continuing the war with Sparta, sends an embassy to Lacedaemon and concludes a separate peace for himself and his family. He is denounced as a traitor by his fellow citizens and forced to plead for his life, making him turn to the tragic poet Euripides for help. Euripides lends him a whole assortment of tragic stage effects to this end. He overcomes all opposition, and manages to build an enclosure around his house, within which there is peace and free market for the neighboring people, and without which there are the ravages of war. The blessings of peace are exhibited clearly: nothing is thought of but feasting and revelling. Lamachus, the leader of the war party, is summoned by a sudden attack of the enemy to the defense of the frontier, while Dicaeopolis is invited by his neighbors to partake of a feast to which each brings his contribution. The preparation of arms and the preparations in the kitchen parallel each other, and there is an equal flurry of movement and action on both sides; here they fetch the spit, there the lance; here the wine-can, there the armor. At the end, Lamachus returns with broken and crippled , supported by two comrades while on the other side, Dicaeopolis, drunk, is being led by two good-natured damsels. The lamentations of the one are continually mimicked and derided by the celebrations and enjoyment of the other, and the play ends with this contrast.
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