Plutus Summary

Plutus is the last surviving play of Aristophanes and its style is considerably different from those that have come before. The theme is more abstractly moral and political rather than directly satirizing an actual political figure. Still, the play is one of Aristophanes' most tightly plotted and also most interesting, to modern readers at least.

The play begins with Chremylus and his servant Cario returning form the oracle. Chremylus, a good but poor man, has asked the oracle how he can improve his situation. The oracle told him to follow the next man he finds on the street and to take him home. Cario interprets this message symbolically but Chremylus is convinced that the message is literal and he goes up to the blind man in front of him on the road to introduce himself. The blind man happens to be Plutus, god...