“And whatsoever in the world is bright, And fair, and graceful, all is done for thee. For every mortal thing subserves to Wealth.”
~ ‘The Plutus’ by Aristophanes (Benjamin B. Rogers translation. GB5 - p. 630)
The play starts with an elderly Athenian named Chremylus following a blind man in rags. His servant Cario asks him why he is following the blind man. Chremylus explains that he went to consult the oracle of Apollo to ask if he should guide his son to be wicked and cunning since he feels that is the only way to become wealthy. The oracle told him to follow the first person he sees when he comes out of the temple, and that happened to be the blind man. Cario asks the blind man who he is, but he tells him to go away. Cario and Chremylus persist and find out that the blind man is actually Plutus, the god of wealth. He is dishelved and dirty because he came from the house of a man who never took a bath. When Chremylus asks him why he is blind, Plutus tells him that Zeus deliberately blinded him so that he would not know who is virtuous and not. That’s how random people end up getting wealthy.
Chremylus says that he will rally people and get all the help that he can get to restore Plutus’s sight. Cario tells Plutus that Wealth is greater than even Zeus, since everything in the world depends on wealth. Cario goes to get people and convinces a group of poor farmers to go with him. Chremylus’ friend Blepsidemus comes after hearing rumors. As they are getting ready to help Plutus regain sight, Poverty appears as a wild woman. She says they are making a grave mistake by making everyone wealthy. She claims that poverty is necessary for society since it creates the need for people to do things. Without the need, no one would work, there would be no crafts or luxury items, no one to build a ship or anything, no one to fix things and so forth. Despite the compelling arguments, Chremylus dismisses Poverty and goes ahead with his plan.