« Quelle ressource resterait-il contre les Cléon modernes ? ». Athènes comme paradigme du rire conservateur sous le Directoire

In 1796, Cailhava de l’Estandoux published a comedy in three acts and prose entitled Athènes Pacifiée, imitated by Aristophanes, in which the author put forward the idea of a profound analogy between Athens and Paris. In this comedy, Cailhava sets out his position on Aristophanes, and in particular his rejection of “political comedy”. He uses a very subtle critical dismantling operation, proposing a parodic reading of the theatre-tribune in which we can also perceive an echo of the revolutionary tribune, and advocating, on the other hand, a return to order which implies the reconstitution of the model of comedy in the strict continuity of the so-called classical doctrine. In this kind of work of appropriation or adaptation of Antiquity, what place does reflection on the forms and functions of comic language occupy? In short, can we speak of a “neo-antique” comedy?