Antiche e nuove esegesi di Aristofane, “Pluto” 168

In a section of the prologue of Aristophanes’ Plutus (a comedy performed in 388 BC), Chremylos tries to show that the god of wealth is far more powerful than Zeus; and in a dialogue with his servant Cario he portrays a series of examples illuminating this assumption. However, the exege- sis of the example brought in line 168 proved to be particularly difficult for the ancient commentators of Aristophanes, as shown by the scholia, and also for modern interpreters. The present article offers a review of the various interpretations, ancient and modern, and finally discusses the most recent of them, the one proposed in 2017 by John Porter in the jour- nal Hermes.