The Political Theory of Aristophanes The Political Theory of Aristophanes Explorations in Poetic Wisdom Edited by Jeremy J. Mhire and Bryan-Paul Frost Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2014 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Eileen Nizer Marketing by Anne Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The political theory of Aristophanes : explorations in poetic wisdom / edited by Jeremy J. Mhire and Bryan-Paul Frost. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-5003-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Aristophanes—Criticism and interpretation. I. Mhire, Jeremy J., 1977– II. Frost, Bryan-Paul, 1961– PA3879.P58 2014 882'.01—dc23 2013012778 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Introduction 1 Bryan-Paul Frost PART I Chapter 1 Seeing Democracy in the Clouds 13 John Lombardini Chapter 2 The Meaning of Socrates’ Asceticism in Aristophanes’ Clouds 29 Khalil M. Habib Chapter 3 Rethinking the Quarrel Anew: Politics and Boasting in Aristophanes’ Clouds 47 Jeremy J. Mhire PART II Chapter 4 Persuasion in Comedy and Comic Persuasion: Aristophanes and the Mysteries of Rhetoric 69 John Zumbrunnen Chapter 5 Boundaries: The Comic Poet Confronts the “Who” of Political Action 89 Arlene W. Saxonhouse vi Contents Chapter 6 Aristophanes and the Polis 109 Stephanie Nelson Chapter 7 On the Anabasis of Trygaeus: An Introduction to Aristophanes’ Peace 137 Wayne Ambler Chapter 8 Aristophanes’ Herodotean Inquiry: The Meaning of Athenian Imperialism in the Birds 161 Kenneth DeLuca Chapter 9 Learning the Lesson of Dionysus: Aristophanes’ Tragicomic Wisdom and Poetic Politics in the Frogs 183 Christopher Baldwin Chapter 10 Wealth and the Theology of Charity 201 Paul W. Ludwig PART III Chapter 11 Anger in Thucydides and Aristophanes: The Case of Cleon 229 Timothy W. Burns Chapter 12 The Comedy of the Just City: Aristophanes’ Assemblywomen and Plato’s Republic 259 Peter Nichols Chapter 13 Peisetairos of Aristophanes’ Birds and the Erotic Tyrant of Republic IX 275 Matthew Meyer Contents vii Chapter 14 Aristophanes’ Feminine Comedies and Socratic Political Science 303 Amy L. Bonnette PART IV Chapter 15 Leo Strauss’s UnSocratic Aristophanes? 331 Devin Stauffer About the Authors 353 Index 357 Introduction Bryan-Paul Frost The purpose of this edited volume is to make available to students, the learned public, and academics alike a series of chapters that documents and describes the political wisdom of Aristophanes. For those individuals who are unfamiliar with Aristophanes—or who are uneasy with regarding this Athe- nian comic poet as a political thinker of the highest caliber—these chapters will hopefully make manifest his capacious range of vision, his trenchant insights, and his unique role as a civic educator; and for those who are more familiar with Aristophanes—or who are quite comfortable with regarding him as a towering thinker both in his own right and with respect to his appreciation and criticism of other such political thinkers and figures—then we hope that these chapters will reinforce and even deepen one’s under- standing of his philosophical thought, open up new avenues for scholarly investigation, and perhaps challenge in fruitful ways prevailing opinions and assumptions. All the chapters contained herein are original, and they were all written explicitly for this volume. The contributors include a wide assortment of individuals—from junior- to senior-level scholars, political scientists to classicists, and those from inside and outside the academy— and this diversity of background is often reflected in the various interpre- tive strategies and conclusions employed throughout. Although the editors themselves have assiduously avoided imposing any mandatory or uniform orthodoxy on the authors, all of the contributors are united in their belief that intertwined within Aristophanes’ madcap comedies lies a genuinely philosophical engagement with issues of the utmost seriousness, complexity, and fundamental importance: indeed, it is hard to name a single political 1