ologue of the play, the old farmer laments his changed life while he waits for the general assembly to meet. While he is waiting, Dicaeopolis1 weighs the pleasures and pains of life as a refugee. He peers out towards his fields, longing for peace, but complains that most citizens do not care enough about peace to attend the assembly. "And I sit alone, alone in the wide Assembly...but I always gaze out over the fields, craving for peace, hating this city, aching for my village" (The Acharnians 4). Here Dicaeopolis is showing his strong desire for the war to end and his utter disappointment that there are no others to help him. Aristophanes is using Dicaeoplois to show his own frustration in the fact that there are many citizens that want this utterly useless war to end but are "too busy, too thoughtless, too weak, or maybe too timid to actually do something about it " (Whitman 113). He i!
             s upset not only with the citizens of Athens, but also with the government's lackadaisical attitude at the time. He knows that he alone cannot do anything to stop the war, but can only bring awareness to the people that war is not always the way. Dicaeopolis vows that when the assembly does get there, he will make a great effort to establish peace.
             However, when the magistrates finally do arrive, the complete opposite of what Diacaopolis wanted actually occurred. His plea for peace was anticipated by the sudden outburst of Amphitheus, who stated that the gods sent him to negotiate peace with Sparta. The assembly kicks Amphitheus out of the assembly room for his claim of being immortal and talking with the gods directly. Dicaeopolis's reaction to this expulsion clearly defines Aristophanes beliefs. "It is entirely out of order in this assembly to have that man suppressed-he only wanted to make peace for us." (Acharnians 5) Aristophanes is showing here that most of the people of Athens wanted peace,...