Dung-Beetle

Peace, being essentially celebratory, is in some ways a simple play, but not without its distinctive features. It looks forward to the Peace of Nicias that was soon to be instituted, and, as was not the case with Dicaeopolis' peace, constantly emphasises the fact that all the Greeks are to benefit from Trygaeus' actions: Trygaeus may be an autokrator (359), but he is a benevolent one. The basic plot is closely similar to those of Acharnians and Ecclesiazusae: an initial representation of a world in poor case gives way to an idealised world which is at many points a symmetrical opposite of the former, and the remarkable actions of the hero effect the inauguration of a new era. Peace also shares with these plays themes and images through which this amelioration is demonstrated. The distinctive nature of Peace lies in the scope it gives to the Chorus and other characters such as Hermes as executors of the action, thus reducing the concentration on the protagonist, and in the way it draws the audience into the action more than do the other extant plays.

It begins with the jolly idea of journeying on a dung-beetle to complain to Zeus about the war, ladders having failed to provide a means of reaching the gods (69–71).