| Folly (Ate) |
| The goddess Ate; one of the daughters of Eris (Discord); Ate is an ancient Greek goddess personifying the crimes caused by human recklessness and the divine punishments that surely follow. |
| In The Iliad, Ate and the Litai (Prayers) are linked together; the Litai are described as old and feeble but Ate is strong and swift; the Litai follow Ate and, if called upon, heal the wounds that she inflicts but if a person denies the Litai, they go to Zeus (their father) and insist that Ate be summoned to continue the punishment of the unbeliever. |
| Ate is sometimes defined as the personification of Ruin, Delusion or Folly but her name literally means Blindness. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), (Ruin) book 9, lines 504, 505 and 512; (Delusion) book 19, lines 91, 126, 129 and 136 |
| Iliad (Loeb), book 9, lines 504, 505 and 512; book 19, lines 91, 126, 129 and 136 |
| Iliad (Fagles), (Ruin) book 9, lines 613 and 622; book 19, lines 106, 148, 151 and 155 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), (Folly) book 9, lines 613 and 621; book 19, lines 100, 145, 147 and (my folly, my delusion) 155 |
| Frogs |
| A comedy by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 405 BCE; the play won first prize at the competition of Lenaea. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Dionysos |
| Xanthias |
| Herakles (Heracles) |
| Korpse (Corpse) |
| Charon |
| Aiakos (Aiacos) |
| Plathane |
| Euripides |
| Aeschylus |
| Hades |
| The play, like many of Aristophanes’ plays, was an undisguised plea for peace with Sparta in hopes of ending the long and cruel Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE); this play came at the end of the conflict and did nothing to prevent the city of Athens from losing the war but it does show that Aristophanes never gave up hope or lost his sense of indignation for the politicians who refused, or simply could not imagine, peace with Sparta. |
| The play tells the story of how the god of Wine, Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus), and his servant descended into the Underworld in order to bring back a tragic poet to inspire the people and politicians of Athens to end the war with either an honorable victory or peace. |
| Dionysos assumed the guise of the hero, Hercules (Heracles), with lion skin and club, and tried to bluff his way into the abode of Hades; the name of the play comes from the chorus of frogs who chanted the rhythm of the oar strokes as Dionysos rowed Charon’s boat to the dark shore of Tartaros (Tartarus). |
| After entering the Underworld, Dionysos was required to judge a competition between the two poets Euripides and Aeschylus; the two dead poets lambasted each other’s poetic skills and offered biting and humorous criticisms of the other’s lyrics; finally, Dionysos chose Aeschylus as his champion and, with Hades’ consent, took Aeschylus to Athens to save the city from defeat by the Spartans. |
| The play is funny and sometimes silly but it is much easier to enjoy than the plays Aristophanes wrote at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, such as the Acharnians or Lysistrata. |
| Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy. |
| There are numerous translations of this play but few of them are as readable as Richmond Lattimore’s version which is out of print but can still be found in the 882 section of your local library. |
