Rhema ghennàion. Responsabilità ‘genetica’ del poeta tragico nelle Rane di Aristofane

This paper investigates the relationship between culture and politics in Aristophanes’ Frogs, focusing on the notions of responsibility and merit as far as the tragic poet is concerned. Since the poet belongs to the Muses, inasmuch as he takes part in their Rites, his responsibility is also a ‘genetic’ one; namely, the poet that is useful to the polis is fertile (γόνιμος), for he can ‘inseminate’ the thea-tre, and then the polis, with the ancient values which the traditional education is based on. Both the notion of the dramatic poet’s authoritativeness, and the belief in the necessity of pacification within the polis after the battle of Arginusae – and the bestowing of citizenship on the slaves recruited as soldiers –, develop around the ideas of ‘nobility’ (γενναιότης), and fertility (both related to the root *γεν-). Aeschylus’ message is a guarantee of victory for Athens, in the ongoing strife between downfall and rescue. His words highlight the importance of poetry for the recovery of the values which the traditional paideia is based on (1053-1055), and set the pre-eminence of the polis interest as their aim.