A short surviving digest of Plutarch's lost essay judging Menander's polished comedy far superior to Aristophanes' coarse, uneven verse.
This piece of Plutarch's Moralia is not a full essay but a compendium (epitome) — an ancient abridgment of a longer comparative study of the two great Athenian comic poets, Aristophanes (Old Comedy) and Menander (New Comedy). What survives is a compressed set of judgments and illustrative quotations rather than a continuous argument, which is why it reads in short, sometimes disjointed bursts.
The verdict is blunt and one-sided: Menander wins on almost every count. Plutarch (or the epitomator preserving his views) argues that Aristophanes' language is vulgar, theatrical, and inconsistent — mixing tragic grandeur, comic banality, bombast, and rambling nonsense without ever fitting the diction to the character speaking, so that a king, a woman, a slave, and a god can sound interchangeable. Aristophanes is also charged with overusing puns, strained wordplay, and cheap antitheses "often, at the wrong moment, and coldly." Menander, by contrast, is praised for a diction so "tightly woven" that it adapts naturally to every age, gender, and social type while still remaining recognizably one style — like a single tailor cutting a cloak that fits a man, woman, youth, and old man alike.
The text closes with a broader claim about audience and legacy: Aristophanes pleases neither the crowd nor the refined, while Menander alone satisfies both, becoming standard reading in theaters, schools, and dinner parties across the whole Greek-speaking world. Plutarch even reaches for a myth-tinged image, comparing Menander's comedies to Aphrodite born from the sea, while calling Aristophanes' famous wit bitter, harsh, and suited only to a licentious and envious audience. The piece matters as a rare piece of ancient literary criticism weighing in decisively on a rivalry that shaped how later antiquity read Greek comedy, and as a reminder that Aristophanes' now-canonical status is a modern reversal of ancient taste.
“The vulgar," he says, "the theatrical, and the coarse in diction belong to Aristophanes, but to Menander not at all.”
— Comparationis Aristophanes Et Menandri Compendium · read this chapter →
“Though there have been many celebrated craftsmen, no shoemaker has ever made the same sandal, no mask-maker the same mask”
— Comparationis Aristophanes Et Menandri Compendium · read this chapter →
“Aristophanes, then, is neither pleasing to the many nor tolerable to the sensible, but is like a courtesan of poetry past her prime who then apes a lawful wife”
— Comparationis Aristophanes Et Menandri Compendium · read this chapter →
“the comedies of Menander partake of abundant wit and sacred grace, as though born of that very sea from which Aphrodite was born”
— Comparationis Aristophanes Et Menandri Compendium · read this chapter →
“the rogue in his hands is not shrewd but malicious, the rustic not artless but stupid, the comic not playful but ridiculous, and the erotic not cheerful but licentious”
— Comparationis Aristophanes Et Menandri Compendium · read this chapter →
It is a surviving digest (epitome) of a Plutarch essay comparing the two leading Greek comic poets, arguing that Menander's polished, character-appropriate style is vastly superior to Aristophanes' coarse and inconsistent diction. It survives only as compressed judgments and quotations rather than a full essay.
Menander, decisively. Plutarch calls Aristophanes' language vulgar and theatrical and says his humor pleases only the uneducated, while praising Menander's diction as consistent, well-fitted to every character, and satisfying to both common and educated audiences.
He criticizes Aristophanes for mixing tragic, comic, pompous, and banal registers without regard to who is speaking, for overusing puns and antitheses at the wrong moments, and for making his rogues malicious rather than shrewd and his rustics stupid rather than simply artless.
He praises Menander's diction as tightly woven and adaptable to any character type while still remaining recognizably unified, comparing this skill to a craftsman who fits one cloak to a man, woman, youth, and old man alike. He also credits Menander's comedy with becoming universal reading and dinner-party entertainment across the Greek world.
No. What survives is a compendium — an ancient abridgment preserving Plutarch's conclusions and sample quotations rather than his full original argument, which explains its short, list-like structure.
Moralia: Ad Principem Ineruditum · Moralia: Adversus Colotem · Moralia: Amatoriae Narrationes · Moralia: Amatorius · Moralia: An Recte Dictum Sit Latenter Esse Vivendum · Moralia: An Seni Respublica Gerenda Sit · Moralia: An Virtus Doceri Possit · Moralia: An Vitiositas Ad Infelicitatem Sufficia · Moralia: Animine An Corporis Affectiones Sint Piores · Moralia: Apophthegmata Laconica · Moralia: Aquane An Ignis Sit Utilior · Moralia: Bruta Animalia Ratione Uti