Peace by Aristophanes ~ Full Audiobook [comedy]

Classic Audiobook Collection

10/26/22

•

106m

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Peace by Aristophanes audiobook.

Genre: comedy

The 'Peace' was brought out four years after 'The Acharnians' (422 B.C.), when the War had already lasted ten years. The leading motive is the same as in the former play—the intense desire of the less excitable and more moderate-minded citizens for relief from the miseries of war.

Trygaeus, a rustic patriot, finding no help in men, resolves to ascend to heaven to expostulate personally with Zeus for allowing this wretched state of things to continue. With this object he has fed and trained a gigantic dung-beetle, which he mounts, and is carried, like Bellerophon on Pegasus, on an aerial journey. Eventually he reaches Olympus, only to find that the gods have gone elsewhere, and that the heavenly abode is occupied solely by the demon of War, who is busy pounding up the Greek States in a huge mortar. However, his benevolent purpose is not in vain; for learning from Hermes that the goddess Peace has been cast into a pit, where she is kept a fast prisoner, he calls upon the different peoples of Hellas to make a united effort and rescue her, and with their help drags her out and brings her back in triumph to earth. The play concludes with the restoration of the goddess to her ancient honours, the festivities of the rustic population and the nuptials of Trygaeus with Opora (Harvest), handmaiden of Peace, represented as a pretty courtesan.

Such references as there are to Cleon in this play are noteworthy. The great Demagogue was now dead, having fallen in the same action as the rival Spartan general, the renowned Brasidas, before Amphipolis, and whatever Aristophanes says here of his old enemy is conceived in the spirit of 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.' In one scene Hermes is descanting on the evils which had nearly ruined Athens and declares that 'The Tanner' was the cause of them all. But Trygaeus interrupts him with the words:

'Hold-say not so, good master Hermes; Let the man rest in peace where now he lies. He is no longer of our world, but yours.'

Here surely we have a trait of magnanimity on the author's part as admirable in its way as the wit and boldness of his former attacks had been in theirs.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:00) Chapter 02

(00:41:11) Chapter 03

(01:03:06) Chapter 04

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Previous Episode

Lysistrata by Aristophanes ~ Full Audiobook [comedy]

October 26, 2022

•

103m

Lysistrata by Aristophanes audiobook.

Genre: comedy

In war-weary Athens, the sharp-witted Lysistrata is done waiting for the men to come to their senses. With the Peloponnesian War grinding on and families strained by endless campaigning, she proposes an audacious plan: unite the women of Greece - even longtime rivals from Sparta - and use the one leverage the men cannot ignore to force peace talks. As reluctant friends like Calonice are drawn into the scheme, and formidable allies like the Spartan Lampito arrive, the women seize control of the city's treasury and set strict terms for ending the conflict. Their uprising sparks chaos in the streets, scandal in the council chamber, and a battle of wills inside the home, where desire, pride, and patriotism collide. Aristophanes' classic comedy mixes bold farce with biting political satire, lampooning leaders and citizens alike while asking serious questions about power, civic duty, and the human cost of war. Funny, provocative, and unexpectedly tender, Lysistrata turns domestic life into a stage for public change - and dares its characters to imagine a different kind of victory.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:20:48) Chapter 02

(00:56:55) Chapter 03

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Next Episode

The Card by Arnold Bennett ~ Full Audiobook [comedy]

October 26, 2022

•

491m

The Card by Arnold Bennett audiobook.

Genre: comedy

The ‘Card’ in question is Edward Henry Machin - His mother called him ‘Denry’. This light-hearted story is of his rise from humble beginnings as the son of a washerwoman and sempstress in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in the pottery towns (which Arnold Bennett christened ‘The Five Towns’) of the English Midlands; how, by his own wits, enterprise and ‘nerve’ he rose to wealth, married bliss and public recognition as the youngest-ever mayor of his home town.

“’And yet,’ demanded Councillor Barlow, ‘what’s he done? What great cause is he identified with?

’‘He’s identified,’ said the speaker, ‘with the great cause of cheering us all up’.”

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:39:11) Chapter 2

(01:20:20) Chapter 3

(02:04:56) Chapter 4

(02:41:21) Chapter 5

(03:24:33) Chapter 6

(04:04:19) Chapter 7

(04:45:15) Chapter 8