title: The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides
author:  Aeschylus 
description: "Conveys more vividly and powerfully than any of the ten competitors I have consulted the eternal power of this masterpiece ... a triumph." Bernard Levin<br /><br />"How satisfying to read at last a modern translation which is rooted in Greek feeling and Greek thought ... both the stature and the profound instinctive genius of Aeschylus are recognised." Mary Renault, author of <i>The King Must Die</i>
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
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  THE ACHARNIANS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # THE ACHARNIANS
  
  
  ### by Aristophanes
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  
  DICAEOPOLIS
  
  
  HERALD
  
  
  AMPHITHEUS
  
  
  AMBASSADORS
  
  
  PSEUDARTABAS
  
  
  THEORUS
  
  
  DAUGHTER OF DICAEOPOLIS
  
  
  SLAVE OF EURIPIDES
  
  
  EURIPIDES
  
  
  LAMACHUS
  
  
  A MEGARIAN
  
  
  TWO YOUNG GIRLS, daughters of the Megarian
  
  
  AN INFORMER
  
  
  A BOEOTIAN
  
  
  NICARCHUS
  
  
  SLAVE OF LAMACHUS
  
  
  A HUSBANDMAN
  
  
  A WEDDING GUEST
  
  
  CHORUS OF ACHARNIAN CHARCOAL BURNERS
  
  
  ACHARIANS
  
  
  (SCENE:-The Orchestra represents the Pnyx at Athens; in the back-
  
  
  ground are the usual houses, this time three in number, belonging
  
  
  to Dicaeopolis, Euripides, and Lamachus respectively.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DICAEOPOLIS (alone)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What cares have not gnawed at my heart and how few have been the
  
  
  pleasures in my life! Four, to be exact, while my troubles have been
  
  
  as countless as the grains of sand on the shore! Let me see! of what
  
  
  va