Playing the Philosopher: Plato in Fourth-Century Comedy

This article assembles all the references to Plato the philosopher and his works in the comic fragments of the fourth century. It demonstrates that the comic poets engage with Plato in a variety of ways: some assimilate him to earlier portraits of sophists and philosophers; others make superficial references to Platonic doctrines; several depict Plato as a character, or allude directly to Plato's dialogues. These last form the central focus of this article: the comic poets, recognizing affinities between drama and dialogue, parody Plato's texts using the same techniques of imitation and distortion they use to parody tragedy.