Dyskolos

Dyskolos
Menander with masks depicting New Comedy characters: youth, false maiden, and the old man, Princeton University Art Museum
Written by	Menander
Chorus	Worshippers of Pan
Characters	Pan Sostratos Kallippides, Sostratos' father Sostratos' Mother Khaireas, "the gofer" Pyrrhias, a slave Getas, a slave Knemon, "the grouch" Myrrhine, Knemon's daughter Gorgias, her brother Daos, a slave Simikhe, a slave Sikon, a cook
Mute	Gorgias' mother Donax, a slave Other slaves, female relatives, friends of Sostratos' mother
Date premiered	c. 317–16 BC
Place premiered	Lenaia Festival, Athens
Original language	Ancient Greek
Genre	New Comedy
Setting	A country road in Phyle outside Athens near several farmsteads and a shrine of Pan.

Dyskolos (Greek: Δύσκολος, pronounced [dýskolos], translated as The Grouch, The Misanthrope, The Curmudgeon, The Bad-tempered Man or Old Cantankerous) is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, the only one of his plays, and of the whole New Comedy, that has survived in almost complete form. It was first presented at the Lenaian festival in 317–16 BC, where it won Menander the first-place prize. It was long known only through fragmentary quotations; but a papyrus manuscript of the nearly complete Dyskolos, dating to the 3rd century, was recovered in Egypt in 1952 and forms part of the Bodmer Papyri.

The play is set in motion by the mischievous Pan, who speaks the prologue and whose personality dominates the play. Pan makes young Sostratos fall in love with a peasant girl he has glimpsed. Sostratos sends his servant to see the girl's father. This ends in violence, as the father is Knemon, a misanthropic farmer who becomes enraged at anyone who ventures onto his land or tries to converse with him. His wife and stepson have left him; only his daughter, Myrrhine, and an old servant woman live with him.

Sostratos meets Knemon’s stepson, Gorgias, and enlists his assistance in getting Knemon to allow Sostratos to wed his daughter. According to Gorgias, Knemon has vowed that he will permit only a man like himself to marry his daughter. Therefore, Sostratos dons a rough sheepskin coat so as not to appear a gentleman of leisure, and sets to work nearby as a laborer.

A cry goes up that Knemon has accidentally fallen down his own well. Gorgias jumps in to rescue him. Sostratos, although entirely preoccupied with admiring the beautiful daughter, pulls the rope to haul the misanthrope out, nearly killing the old man by his inattention. Having nearly drowned and believing himself about to die, Knemon sees the error of his ways and grants all his property to Gorgias, telling him also to take his daughter and find a husband for her. Gorgias introduces Sostratos to Knemon, who gives his indifferent approval.