Aristophanes' PLUTUS Complete

A Literal Translation, with Notes.

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CHREMYLUS. No, not so, once they've grown rich. But you, Cario, run quick ...

CARIO. Where?

CHREMYLUS. ... to call my comrades, the other husbandmen, that each of them may come here to take his share of the gifts of Plutus.

CARIO. I'm off. But let someone come from the house to take this morsel of meat.[757]

CHREMYLUS. I'll see to that; you run your hardest. As for you, Plutus, the most excellent of all the gods, come in here with me; this is the house you must fill with riches today, by fair means or foul.[758]

PLUTUS. I don't like at all going into other folks' houses in this manner; I have never got any good from it. If I got inside a miser's house, straightway he would bury me deep underground; if some honest fellow among his friends came to ask him for the smallest coin, he would deny ever having seen me. Then if I went to a fool's house, he would sacrifice me as a prey to gaming and to girls, and very soon I should be completely stripped and pitched out of doors.

CHREMYLUS. That's because you have never met a man who knew how to avoid the two extremes; moderation is the strong point in my character. I love saving as much as anybody, and I know how to spend, when 'tis needed. But let us go in; I want to make you known to my wife and to my only son, whom I love most of all after yourself.

[757] A part of the victim which Cario was bringing back from the Temple; it was customary to present the remains of a sacrifice to friends and relations.

[758] As soon as Chremylus sees himself assured of wealth he adopts less honest principles.

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