INTRODUCTION

The analysis of the Clouds parabasis offered in the previous chapter delineates a politicised comedy, which Aristophanes treats as deeply polarised both on the level of the targets chosen, and of dramatic technique. If it is correct to see the critique of comic motifs as part and parcel of this ideological battle, then it is possible to utilise the so-called self-contradictions between such critiques and Aristophanes' own use of them in his plays to discover more about the scope and parameters of the contest. For this purpose we must primarily use the material which appears to undercut the critiques of the Clouds parabasis (537–543: the circumcised phallus, the kordax, the leading old man beating people with a stick to hide bad jokes, bringing torches on stage, cries of ἰοὺ ἰοὔ ‘ooh ooh’) and motifs from the Peace parabasis (740–7: making fun of rags, waging war on lice, Heracleses kneading dough and going hungry, slaves who run away, practise deceit or get beaten, jokes by fellow-slaves about such beatings; 751: attacking private individuals, male and female). Some other material, however, may be considered prima facie relevant: close textual or thematic parallels with the surviving fragments of the comedies of rival poets; naming of rival poets; parabatic concern with comedy; metatheatrical reference to comedy. With this template in mind, we can proceed to examine each of the wartime comedies to see whether or not it contains metacomic material.