In Aristophanes "The
Birds" we start out with two companions who want to live among the birds
and build a city in the sky.[3] We
find that PISTHETAERUS and EUELPIDES are unsatisfied with the state of things
and long for a new city, one where there are wedding feasts to be enjoyed and
the common practice is to greet people in the streets as friends.[4] In
many neighborhoods in America people live next to each other for years and
never get to know one another. Walking by without even a passing glance and yet
people long for connectedness and community. One of the main reasons young
children get drawn into joining gangs is to have that sense of community and
family.[5]
We find out that one major benefit
of living with the birds is that there is no money which eliminates all kinds
of problems. EUELPIDES asks EPOPS what it's like to live with the birds and he
replies "Why, 'tis not a disagreeable life. In the first place, one has no
purse."[6]
Not only that but every day they eat as if it was a wedding feast. So the two
companions decided that the best thing to do is to found a new city, a city
where there is no need of money and a place where they eat an eternal wedding
banquet.[7] It's
clear that Aristophanes as well as Plato[8]
and the rest of mankind to this day are longing for the city of Christ.
The city that we all long for is the
one that Christ builds. The city where we share in the marriage feast[9]
and where all are not only friends but brothers and sisters. The city where
money isn't needed because the streets are made of gold.[10]
Aristophanes in his play "The Birds" draws on that longing in all of
us, that longing for the city that Christ builds.[11]
[1]
Gage, Warren. CC604 Dante and Milton, Lesson 3.
[2]
Gage, Warren. CC502 Plato and Augustine, Lesson 1.
[3]
Gage, Warren. CC604 Dante and Milton, Lesson 3.
[4]
Aristophanes (2012-05-11). The Birds (Kindle Locations 120-125). Kindle
Edition.
[5]Children
and Ganges. August 2011. the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Last accessed on November 3, 2014.
http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Children_and_Gangs_98.aspx
[6]
Aristophanes (2012-05-11). The Birds (Kindle Locations 133-134). Kindle
Edition.
[7]
Gage, Warren. CC604 Dante and Milton, Lesson 3.
[8] In
the Republic Plato describes the good city that is desired. Gage, Warren. CC502
Plato and Augustine, Lesson 32.
[9]
Matthew 22:1-14
[10]
Revelation 21:21
[11]
Gage, Warren. CC502 Plato and Augustine, Lesson 21.
