In Dubious Battle Wealth vs. Poverty in Greek Poetry

Wealth was a significant topic in Greek comedy, as the readers of Aristophanes’ Plutus have always acknowledged – not only the Athenian audiences who attended the two performances of the comedy, in 408 and 388, but also the Byzantine scholars and the Italian humanists, who paid an extremely close attention to that play, by commentating, translating and paraphrasing it. The chapter deals with the topic of riches in comic poetry, from the iambic (Hipponax) to the epigrammatic (Lucilius) poets. Comedy plays a major role (not only Aristophanes, but also Menander, whose stingy characters, such as the protagonist of the Dyskolos, have inspired similar figures in Latin comedy), but an equal attention is also dedicated to the positive side of richness (best witnessed in the beginning of Pindar’s fifth Pythic ode).