One of the important themes in Aristophanes'
Frogs is the power of literature in society. In this play, the god
Dionysus travels to the underworld to bring back Euripides because Athens' current crop
of tragedians is not acceptable to him. After Dionysus arrives in the underworld, he
learns of a dispute between Aeschylus and Euripides over who is the best tragedian.
Subsequently, Dionysus presides over a contest between the two tragedians, a contest
which Aeschylus wins because he provides the best advice on how to deal with the
Athenian political situation in the waning years of the fifth century BCE. As Dionysus
and Aeschylus leave the underworld, Pluto praises Aeschylus for his ability to give good
advice to the Athenians:
Farewell then Aeschylus, great and wise,
Go, save our state by the maxims rare
Of thy noble thought; and
the fools chastise,
For many a fool dwells there. (Anonymous
translator)
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