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Plutarch · c. AD 46-after 119

Comparison of Aristophanes and Menander

Συγκρίσεως Ἀριστοφάνους καὶ Μενάνδρου ἐπιτομή
Ancient Sources / Plutarch / Comparison of Aristophanes and Menander

The Comparison of Aristophanes and Menander survives only as a short abridgement of a longer work by Plutarch, which set the poets of Old and New Comedy side by side. The abstract, which reports Plutarch's judgment in the third person, prefers Menander to Aristophanes for his style, his fitness of speech to character and his appeal to educated audiences. It is one of the few ancient critical comparisons of the two comic poets.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 1 passage, about 1100 words in English.
Translator
William Baxter (1874)
Edition
William W. Goodwin (ed.), Plutarch's Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, vol. 3, Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874 (Greek text: Gregorius N. Bernardakis, Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, vol. 5, Leipzig: Teubner, 1893, as digitised by Perseus)
Cite as
Plutarch, Comparison of Aristophanes and Menander 1 (by chapter)

Contents

  1. 1–4Menander preferred to Aristophanes: style, character and audience1050 words

More by Plutarch

English translation by William Baxter (1874). Original text: William W. Goodwin (ed.), Plutarch's Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, vol. 3, Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874 (Greek text: Gregorius N. Bernardakis, Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, vol. 5, Leipzig: Teubner, 1893, as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.