The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Clouds

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Title: The Clouds

Author: Aristophanes

Translator: W. J. Hickie

Release date: March 1, 2001 [eBook #2562]

Most recently updated: January 24, 2013

Language: English

Credits: Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLOUDS ***

THE CLOUDS

By Aristophanes

Translated by William James Hickie

* All Greek from the original edition has been transliterated into Roman characters.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Strepsiades

Phidippides

Servant of Strepsiades

Disciples of Socrates

Socrates

Chorus of Clouds

Just Cause

Unjust Cause

Pasias

Amynias

Witness

Chaerephon

Scene: The interior of a sleeping-apartment:

Strepsiades, Phidippides, and two servants are in their

beds; a small house is seen at a distance. Time:

midnight.

Strepsiades (sitting up in his bed). Ah me! Ah me! O

King Jupiter, of what a terrible length the nights are!

Will it never be day? And yet long since I heard the

cock. My domestics are snoring; but they would not have

done so heretofore! May you perish then, O war! For many

reasons; because I may not even punish my domestics.

Neither does this excellent youth awake through the

night; but takes his ease, wrapped up in five blankets.

Well, if it is the fashion, let us snore wrapped up.

[Lies down, and then almost immediately starts up

again.]

But I am not able, miserable man, to sleep, being

tormented by my expenses, and my stud of horses, and my

debts, through this son of mine. He with his long hair,

is riding horses and driving curricles, and dreaming of

horses; while I am driven to distraction, as I see the

moon bringing on the twentieths;  for the interest is

running on. Boy! Light a lamp, and bring forth my

tablets, that I may take them and read to how many I am

indebted, and calculate the interest.

[Enter boy with a light and tablets.]

Come, let me see; what do I owe? Twelve minae  to

Pasias. Why twelve minae to Pasias? Why did I borrow

them? When I bought the blood-horse. Ah me, unhappy!

Would that it had had its eye knocked out with a stone

first!

Phidippides (talking in his sleep). You are acting

unfairly, Philo! Drive on your own course.

Strep. This is the bane that has destroyed me; for even

in his sleep he dreams about horsemanship.

Phid. How many courses will the war-chariots run?

Strep. Many courses do you drive me, your father. But

what debt came upon me after Pasias? Three minae to

Amynias for a little chariot and pair of wheels.

Phid. Lead the horse home, after having given him a good

rolling.

Strep. O foolish youth, you have rolled me out of my

possessions; since I have been cast in suits, and others

say that they will have surety given them for the

interest.

Phid. (awakening) Pray, father, why are you peevish, and

toss about the whole night?

Strep. A bailiff out of the bedclothes is biting

me.

Phid. Suffer me, good sir, to sleep a little.

Strep. Then, do you sleep on; but know that all these

debts will turn on your head.

[Phidippides falls asleep again.]

Alas! Would that the match-maker had perished miserably,

who induced me to marry your mother. For a country life

used to be most agreeable to me, dirty, untrimmed,

reclining at random, abounding in bees, and sheep, and

oil-cake. Then I, a rustic, married a niece of Megacles,

the son of Megacles, from the city, haughty, luxurious,

and Coesyrafied. When I married her, I lay with her

redolent of new wine, of the cheese-crate, and abundance

of wool; but she, on the contrary, of ointment, saffron,

wanton-kisses, extravagance, gluttony, and of Colias and

Genetyllis.  I will not indeed say that she was idle;

but she wove. And I used to show her this cloak by way

of a pretext and say "Wife, you weave at a great

rate."

Servant re-enters.

Servant. We have no oil in the lamp.

Strep. Ah me! Why did you light the thirsty lamp? Come

hither that you may weep!

Ser. For what, pray, shall I weep?

Strep. Because you put in one of the thick wicks.

[Servant runs out]

After this, when this son was born to us, to me,

forsooth, and to my excellent wife, we squabbled then

about the name: for she was for adding hippos  to the

name, Xanthippus, or Charippus, or Callipides; but I was

for giving him the name of his grandfather, Phidonides.

For a time therefore we disputed; and then at length we

agreed, and called him Phidippides. She used to take

this son and fondle him, saying, "When you, being grown

up, shall drive your chariot to the city, like Megacles,

with a xystis." But I used to say, "Nay, rather, when

dressed in a leathern jerkin, you shall drive goats from

Phelleus, like your father." He paid no attention to my

words, but poured a horse-fever over my property. Now,

therefore, by meditating the whole night, I have

discovered one path for my course extraordinarily

excellent; to which if I persuade this youth I shall be

saved. But first I wish to awake him. How then can I

awake him in the most agreeable manner? How?

Phidippides, my little Phidippides?

Phid. What, father?

Strep. Kiss me, and give me your right hand!

Phid. There. What's the matter?

Strep. Tell me, do you love me?

Phid. Yes, by this Equestrian Neptune.

Strep. Nay, do not by any means mention this Equestrian

to me, for this god is the author of my misfortunes.

But, if you really love me from your heart, my son, obey

me.

Phid. In what then, pray, shall I obey you?

Strep. Reform your habits as quickly as possible, and go

and learn what I advise.

Phid. Tell me now, what do you prescribe?

Strep. And will you obey me at all?

Phid. By Bacchus,  I will obey you.

Strep. Look this way then! Do you see this little door

and little house?

Phid. I see it. What then, pray, is this, father?

Strep. This is a thinking-shop of wise spirits. There

dwell men who in speaking of the heavens persuade people

that it is an oven, and that it encompasses us, and that

we are the embers. These men teach, if one give them

money, to conquer in speaking, right or wrong.

Phid. Who are they?

Strep. I do not know the name accurately. They are

minute philosophers, noble and excellent.

Phid. Bah! They are rogues; I know them. You mean the

quacks, the pale-faced wretches, the bare-footed

fellows, of whose numbers are the miserable Socrates and

Chaerephon.

Strep. Hold! Hold! Be silent! Do not say anything

foolish. But, if you have any concern for your father's

patrimony, become one of them, having given up your

horsemanship.

Phid. I would not, by Bacchus, even if you were to give

me the pheasants which Leogoras  rears!

Strep. Go, I entreat you, dearest of men, go and be

taught.

Phid. Why, what shall I learn?

Strep. They say that among them are both the two

causes—the better cause, whichever that is, and the

worse: they say that the one of these two causes, the

worse, prevails, though it speaks on the unjust side.

If, therefore you learn for me this unjust cause, I

would not pay any one, not even an obolus of these

debts, which I owe at present on your account.

Phid. I can not comply; for I should not dare to look

upon the knights, having lost all my colour.

Strep. Then, by Ceres,  you shall not eat any of my

good! Neither you, nor your blood-horse; but I will

drive you out of my house to the crows.

Phid. My uncle Megacles will not permit me to be without

a horse. But I'll go in, and pay no heed to you.

[Exit Phidippides.]

Strep. Though fallen, still I will not lie prostrate:

but having prayed to the gods, I will go myself to the

thinking-shop and get taught. How, then, being an old

man, shall I learn the subtleties of refined

disquisitions? I must go. Why thus do I loiter and not

knock at the door?

[Knocks at the door.]

Boy! Little boy!

Disciple (from within). Go to the devil! Who it is that

knocked at the door?

Strep. Strepsiades, the son of Phidon, of Cicynna.

Dis. You are a stupid fellow, by Jove! who have kicked

against the door so very carelessly, and have caused the

miscarriage of an idea which I had conceived.

Strep. Pardon me; for I dwell afar in the country. But

tell me the thing which has been made to miscarry.

Dis. It is not lawful to mention it, except to

disciples.

Strep. Tell it, then, to me without fear; for I here am

come as a disciple to the thinking-shop.

Dis. I will tell you; but you must regard these as

mysteries. Socrates lately asked Chaerephon  about a

flea, how many of its own feet it jumped; for after

having bit the eyebrow of Chaerephon, it leaped away

onto the head of Socrates.

Strep. How then did he measure this?

Dis. Most cleverly. He melted some wax; and then took

the flea and dipped its feet in the wax; and then a pair

of Persian slippers stuck to it when cooled. Having

gently loosened these, he measured back the distance.

Strep. O King Jupiter! What subtlety of thought!

Dis. What then would you say if you heard another

contrivance of Socrates?

Strep. Of what kind? Tell me, I beseech you!

Dis. Chaerephon the Sphettian asked him whether he

thought gnats buzzed through the mouth or the breech.

Strep. What, then, did he say about the gnat?

Dis. He said the intestine of the gnat was narrow and

that the wind went forcibly through it, being slender,

straight to the breech; and then that the rump, being

hollow where it is adjacent to the narrow part,

resounded through the violence of the wind.

Strep. The rump of the gnats then is a trumpet! Oh,

thrice happy he for his sharp-sightedness! Surely a

defendant might easily get acquitted who understands the

intestine of the gnat.

Dis. But he was lately deprived of a great idea by a

lizard.

Strep. In what way? Tell me.

Dis. As he was investigating the courses of the moon and

her revolutions, then as he was gaping upward a lizard

in the darkness dropped upon him from the roof.

Strep. I am amused at a lizard's having dropped on

Socrates.

Dis. Yesterday evening there was no supper for us.

Strep. Well. What then did he contrive for provisions?

Dis. He sprinkled fine ashes on the table, and bent a

little spit, and then took it as a pair of compasses and

filched a cloak from the Palaestra.

Strep. Why then do we admire Thales?  Open open quickly

the thinking-shop, and show to me Socrates as quickly as

possible. For I desire to be a disciple. Come, open the

door.

[The door of the thinking-shop opens and the pupils of

Socrates are seen all with their heads fixed on the

ground, while Socrates himself is seen suspended in the

air in a basket.]

O Hercules, from what country are these wild beasts?

Dis. What do you wonder at? To what do they seem to you

to be like?

Strep. To the Spartans who were taken at Pylos.  But why

in the world do these look upon the ground?

Dis. They are in search of the things below the earth.

Strep. Then they are searching for roots. Do not, then,

trouble yourselves about this; for I know where there

are large and fine ones. Why, what are these doing, who

are bent down so much?

Dis. These are groping about in darkness under Tartarus.

Strep. Why then does their rump look toward heaven?

Dis. It is getting taught astronomy alone by itself.

[Turning to the pupils.]

But go in, lest he meet with us.

Strep. Not yet, not yet; but let them remain, that I may

communicate to them a little matter of my own.

Dis. It is not permitted to them to remain without in

the open air for a very long time.

[The pupils retire.]

Strep. (discovering a variety of mathematical

instruments) Why, what is this, in the name of heaven?

Tell me.

Dis. This is Astronomy.

Strep. But what is this?

Dis. Geometry.

Strep. What then is the use of this?

Dis. To measure out the land.

Strep. What belongs to an allotment?

Dis. No, but the whole earth.

Strep. You tell me a clever notion; for the contrivance

is democratic and useful.

Dis. (pointing to a map) See, here's a map of the whole

earth. Do you see? This is Athens.

Strep. What say you? I don't believe you; for I do not

see the Dicasts  sitting.

Dis. Be assured that this is truly the Attic territory.

Strep. Why, where are my fellow-tribesmen of Cicynna?

Dis. Here they are. And Euboea here, as you see, is

stretched out a long way by the side of it to a great

distance.

Strep. I know that; for it was stretched by us and

Pericles.  But where is Lacedaemon?

Dis. Where is it? Here it is.

Strep. How near it is to us! Pay great attention to

this, to remove it very far from us.

Dis. By Jupiter, it is not possible.

Strep. Then you will weep for it.

[Looking up and discovering Socrates.]

Come, who is this man who is in the basket?

Dis. Himself.

Strep. Who's "Himself"?

Dis. Socrates.

Strep. O Socrates! Come, you sir, call upon him loudly

for me.

Dis. Nay, rather, call him yourself; for I have no

leisure.

[Exit Disciple.]

Strep. Socrates! My little Socrates!

Socrates. Why callest thou me, thou creature of a day?

Strep. First tell me, I beseech you, what are you doing.

Soc. I am walking in the air, and speculating about the

sun.

Strep. And so you look down upon the gods from your

basket, and not from the earth?

Soc. For I should not have rightly discovered things

celestial if I had not suspended the intellect, and

mixed the thought in a subtle form with its kindred air.

But if, being on the ground, I speculated from below on

things above, I should never have discovered them. For

the earth forcibly attracts to itself the meditative

moisture. Water-cresses also suffer the very same thing.

Strep. What do you say? Does meditation attract the

moisture to the water-cresses? Come then, my little

Socrates, descend to me, that you may teach me those

things, for the sake of which I have come.

[Socrates lowers himself and gets out of the basket.]

Soc. And for what did you come?

Strep. Wishing to learn to speak; for by reason of

usury, and most ill-natured creditors, I am pillaged and

plundered, and have my goods seized for debt.

Soc. How did you get in debt without observing it?

Strep. A horse-disease consumed me—terrible at eating.

But teach me the other one of your two causes, that

which pays nothing; and I will swear by the gods, I will

pay down to you whatever reward you exact of me.

Soc. By what gods will you swear? For, in the first

place, gods are not a current coin with us.

Strep. By what do you swear? By iron money, as in

Byzantium?

Soc. Do you wish to know clearly celestial matters, what

they rightly are?

Strep. Yes, by Jupiter, if it be possible!

Soc. And to hold converse with the Clouds, our

divinities?

Strep. By all means.

Soc. (with great solemnity). Seat yourself, then, upon

the sacred couch.

Strep. Well, I am seated!

Soc. Take, then, this chaplet.

Strep. For what purpose a chaplet? Ah me! Socrates, see

that you do not sacrifice me like Athamas!

Strep. No; we do all these to those who get initiated.

Strep. Then what shall I gain, pray?

Soc. You shall become in oratory a tricky knave, a

thorough rattle, a subtle speaker. But keep quiet.

Strep. By Jupiter! You will not deceive me; for if I am

besprinkled, I shall become fine flour.

Soc. It becomes the old man to speak words of good omen,

and to hearken to my prayer. O sovereign King,

immeasurable Air, who keepest the earth suspended, and

through bright Aether, and ye august goddesses, the

Clouds, sending thunder and lightning, arise, appear in

the air, O mistresses, to your deep thinker!

Strep. Not yet, not yet, till I wrap this around me lest

I be wet through. To think of my having come from home

without even a cap, unlucky man!

Soc. Come then, ye highly honoured Clouds, for a display

to this man. Whether ye are sitting upon the sacred

snow-covered summits of Olympus, or in the gardens of

Father Ocean form a sacred dance with the Nymphs, or

draw in golden pitchers the streams of the waters of the

Nile, or inhabit the Maeotic lake, or the snowy rock of

Mimas, hearken to our prayer, and receive the sacrifice,

and be propitious to the sacred rites.

[The following song is heard at a distance, accompanied

by loud claps of thunder.]

Chorus. Eternal Clouds! Let us arise to view with our

dewy, clear-bright nature, from loud-sounding Father

Ocean to the wood-crowned summits of the lofty

mountains, in order that we may behold clearly the

far-seen watch-towers, and the fruits, and the

fostering, sacred earth, and the rushing sounds of the

divine rivers, and the roaring, loud-sounding sea; for

the unwearied eye of Aether sparkles with glittering

rays. Come, let us shake off the watery cloud from our

immortal forms and survey the earth with far-seeing eye.

Soc. O ye greatly venerable Clouds, ye have clearly

heard me when I called.

[Turning to Strepsiades.]

Did you hear the voice, and the thunder which bellowed

at the same time, feared as a god?

Strep. I too worship you, O ye highly honoured, and am

inclined to reply to the thundering, so much do I

tremble at them and am alarmed. And whether it be

lawful, or be not lawful, I have a desire just now to

ease myself.

Soc. Don't scoff, nor do what these poor-devil-poets do,

but use words of good omen, for a great swarm of

goddesses is in motion with their songs.

Cho. Ye rain-bringing virgins, let us come to the

fruitful land of Pallas,  to view the much-loved country

of Cecrops,  abounding in brave men; where is reverence

for sacred rites not to be divulged;  where the house

that receives the initiated is thrown open in holy

mystic rites; and gifts to the celestial gods; and

high-roofed temples, and statues; and most sacred

processions in honour of the blessed gods; and

well-crowned sacrifices to the gods, and feasts, at all

seasons; and with the approach of spring the Bacchic

festivity, and the rousings of melodious choruses, and

the loud-sounding music of flutes.

Strep. Tell me, O Socrates, I beseech you, by Jupiter,

who are these that have uttered this grand song? Are

they some heroines?

Soc. By no means; but heavenly Clouds, great divinities

to idle men; who supply us with thought and argument,

and intelligence and humbug, and circumlocution, and

ability to hoax, and comprehension.

Strep. On this account therefore my soul, having heard

their voice, flutters, and already seeks to discourse

subtilely, and to quibble about smoke, and having

pricked a maxim with a little notion, to refute the

opposite argument. So that now I eagerly desire, if by

any means it be possible, to see them palpably.

Soc. Look, then, hither, toward Mount Parnes;  for now I

behold them descending gently.

Strep. Pray where? Show me.

Soc. See! There they come in great numbers through the

hollows and thickets; there, obliquely.

Strep. What's the matter? For I can't see them.

Soc. By the entrance.

[Enter Chorus]

Strep. Now at length with difficulty I just see them.

Soc. Now at length you assuredly see them, unless you

have your eyes running pumpkins.

Strep. Yes, by Jupiter! O highly honoured Clouds, for

now they cover all things.

Soc. Did you not, however, know, nor yet consider, these

to be goddesses?

Strep. No, by Jupiter! But I thought them to be mist,

and dew, and smoke.

Soc. For you do not know, by Jupiter! that these feed

very many sophists, Thurian soothsayers, practisers of

medicine, lazy-long-haired-onyx-ring-wearers,

song-twisters for the cyclic dances, and meteorological

quacks. They feed idle people who do nothing, because

such men celebrate them in verse.

Strep. For this reason, then, they introduced into their

verses "the dreadful impetuosity of the moist,

whirling-bright clouds"; and the "curls of

hundred-headed Typho"; and the "hard-blowing tempests";

and then "aerial, moist"; "crooked-clawed birds,

floating in air"; and "the showers of rain from dewy

Clouds". And then, in return for these, they swallow

"slices of great, fine mullets, and bird's-flesh of

thrushes."

Soc. Is it not just, however, that they should have

their reward, on account of these?

Strep. Tell me, pray, if they are really clouds, what

ails them, that they resemble mortal women? For they are

not such.

Soc. Pray, of what nature are they?

Strep. I do not clearly know: at  any rate they resemble

spread-out fleeces, and not women, by Jupiter! Not a

bit; for these have noses.

Soc. Answer, then, whatever I ask you.

Strep. Then say quickly what you wish.

Soc. Have you ever, when you; looked up, seen a cloud

like to a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a bull?

Strep. By Jupiter, have I! But what of that?

Soc. They become all things, whatever they please. And

then if they see a person with long hair, a wild one of

these hairy fellows, like the son of Xenophantes, in

derision of his folly, they liken themselves to

centaurs.

Strep. Why, what, if they should see Simon,  a plunderer

of the public property, what do they do?

Soc. They suddenly become wolves, showing up his

disposition.

Strep. For this reason, then, for this reason, when they

yesterday saw Cleonymus the recreant, on this account

they became stags, because they saw this most cowardly

fellow.

Soc. And now too, because they saw Clisthenes, you

observe, on this account they became women.

Strep. Hail therefore, O mistresses! And now, if ever ye

did to any other, to me also utter a voice reaching to

heaven, O all-powerful queens.

Cho. Hail, O ancient veteran, hunter after learned

speeches! And thou, O priest of most subtle trifles!

Tell us what you require? For we would not hearken to

any other of the recent meteorological sophists, except

to Prodicus;  to him, on account of his wisdom and

intelligence; and to you, because you walk proudly in

the streets, and cast your eyes askance, and endure many

hardships with bare feet, and in reliance upon us

lookest supercilious.

Strep. O Earth, what a voice! How holy and dignified and

wondrous!

Soc. For, in fact, these alone are goddesses; and all

the rest is nonsense.

Strep. But come, by the Earth, is not Jupiter, the

Olympian, a god?

Soc. What Jupiter? Do not trifle. There is no Jupiter.

Strep. What do you say? Who rains then? For first of all

explain this to me.

Soc. These to be sure. I will teach you it by powerful

evidence. Come, where have you ever seen him raining at

any time without Clouds? And yet he ought to rain in

fine weather, and these be absent.

Strep. By Apollo, of a truth you have rightly confirmed

this by your present argument. And yet, before this, I

really thought that Jupiter caused the rain. But tell me

who is it that thunders. This makes me tremble.

Soc. These, as they roll, thunder.

Strep. In what way? you all-daring man!

Soc. When they are full of much water, and are compelled

to be borne along, being necessarily precipitated when

full of rain, then they fall heavily upon each other and

burst and clap.

Strep. Who is it that compels them to borne along? Is it

not Jupiter?

Soc. By no means, but aethereal Vortex.

Strep. Vortex? It had escaped my notice that Jupiter did

not exist, and that Vortex now reigned in his stead. But

you have taught me nothing as yet concerning the clap

and the thunder.

Soc. Have you not heard me, that I said that the Clouds,

when full of moisture, dash against each other and clap

by reason of their density?

Strep. Come, how am I to believe this?

Soc. I'll teach you from your own case. Were you ever,

after being stuffed with broth at the Panathenaic

festival,  then disturbed in your belly, and did a

tumult suddenly rumble through it?

Strep. Yes, by Apollo! And immediately the little broth

plays the mischief with me, and is disturbed and rumbles

like thunder, and grumbles dreadfully: at first gently

pappax, pappax; and then it adds papa-pappax; and

finally, it thunders downright papapappax, as they do.

Soc. Consider, therefore, how you have trumpeted from a

little belly so small; and how is it not probable that

this air, being boundless, should thunder so loudly?

Strep. For this reason, therefore, the two names also

Trump and Thunder, are similar to each other. But teach

me this, whence comes the thunderbolt blazing with fire,

and burns us to ashes when it smites us, and singes

those who survive. For indeed Jupiter evidently hurls

this at the perjured.

Soc. Why, how then, you foolish person, and savouring of

the dark ages and antediluvian, if his manner is to

smite the perjured, does he not blast Simon, and

Cleonymus, and Theorus? And yet they are very perjured.

But he smites his own temple, and Sunium the promontory

of Athens, and the tall oaks. Wherefore, for indeed an

oak does not commit perjury.

Strep. I do not know; but you seem to speak well. For

what, pray, is the thunderbolt?

Soc. When a dry wind, having been raised aloft, is

inclosed in these Clouds, it inflates them within, like

a bladder; and then, of necessity, having burst them, it

rushes out with vehemence by reason of its density,

setting fire to itself through its rushing and

impetuosity.

Strep. By Jupiter, of a truth I once experienced this

exactly at the Diasian  festival! I was roasting a

haggis for my kinsfolk, and through neglect I did not

cut it open; but it became inflated and then suddenly

bursting, befouled my eyes and burned my face.

Cho. O mortal, who hast desired great wisdom from us!

How happy will you become among the Athenians and among

the Greeks, if you be possessed of a good memory, and be

a deep thinker, and endurance of labour be implanted in

your soul, and you be not wearied either by standing or

walking, nor be exceedingly vexed at shivering with

cold, nor long to break your fast, and you refrain from

wine, and gymnastics, and the other follies, and

consider this the highest excellence, as is proper a

clever man should, to conquer by action and counsel, and

by battling with your tongue.

Strep. As far as regards a sturdy spirit, and care that

makes one's bed uneasy, and a frugal spirit and

hard-living and savory-eating belly, be of good courage

and don't trouble yourself; I would offer myself to

hammer on, for that matter.

Soc. Will you not, pray, now believe in no god, except

what we believe in—this Chaos, and the Clouds, and the

Tongue—these three?

Strep. Absolutely I would not even converse with the

others, not even if I met them; nor would I sacrifice to

them, nor make libations,  nor offer frankincense.

Cho. Tell us then boldly, what we must do for you? For

you shall not fail in getting it, if you honour and

admire us, and seek to become clever.

Strep. O mistresses, I request of you then this very

small favour, that I be the best of the Greeks in

speaking by a hundred stadia.

Cho. Well, you shall have this from us, so that

hence-forward from this time no one shall get more

opinions passed in the public assemblies than you.

Strep. Grant me not to deliver important opinions; for I

do not desire these, but only to pervert the right for

my own advantage, and to evade my creditors.

Cho. Then you shall obtain what you desire; for you do

not covet great things. But commit yourself without fear

to our ministers.

Strep. I will do so in reliance upon you, for necessity

oppresses me, on account of the blood-horses, and the

marriage that ruined me. Now, therefore, let them use me

as they please. I give up this body to them to be

beaten, to be hungered, to be troubled with thirst, to

be squalid, to shiver with cold, to flay into a leathern

bottle, if I shall escape clear from my debts, and

appear to men to be bold, glib of tongue, audacious,

impudent, shameless, a fabricator of falsehoods,

inventive of words, a practiced knave in lawsuits, a

law-tablet, a thorough rattle, a fox, a sharper, a

slippery knave, a dissembler, a slippery fellow, an

impostor, a gallows-bird, a blackguard, a twister, a

troublesome fellow, a licker-up of hashes. If they call

me this, when they meet me, let them do to me absolutely

what they please. And if they like, by Ceres, let them

serve up a sausage out of me to the deep thinkers.

Cho. This man has a spirit not void of courage, but

prompt. Know, that if you learn these matters from me,

you will possess among mortals a glory as high as

heaven.

Strep. What shall I experience?

Cho. You shall pass with me the most enviable of mortal

lives the whole time.

Strep. Shall I then ever see this?

Cho. Yea, so that many be always seated at your gates,

wishing to communicate with you and come to a conference

with you, to consult with you as to actions and

affidavits of many talents, as is worthy of your

abilities.

[To Socrates.]

But attempt to teach the old man by degrees whatever you

purpose, and scrutinize his intellect, and make trial of

his mind.

Soc. Come now, tell me your own turn of mind; in order

that, when I know of what sort it is, I may now, after

this, apply to you new engines.

Strep. What? By the gods, do you purpose to besiege me?

Soc. No; I wish to briefly learn from you if you are

possessed of a good memory.

Strep. In two ways, by Jove! If anything be owing to me,

I have a very good memory; but if I owe unhappy man, I

am very forgetful.

Soc. Is the power of speaking, pray, implanted in your

nature?

Strep. Speaking is not in me, but cheating is.

Soc. How, then, will you be able to learn?

Strep. Excellently, of course.

Soc. Come, then, take care that, whenever I propound any

clever dogma about abstruse matters, you catch it up

immediately.

Strep. What then? Am I to feed upon wisdom like a dog?

Soc. This man is ignorant and brutish—I fear, old man,

lest you will need blows. Come, let me see; what do you

do if any one beat you?

Strep. I take the beating; and then, when I have waited

a little while, I call witnesses to prove it; then

again, after a short interval, I go to law.

Soc. Come, then, lay down your cloak.

Strep. Have I done any wrong?

Soc. No; but it is the rule to enter naked.

Strep. But I do not enter to search for stolen goods.

Soc. Lay it down. Why do you talk nonsense?

Strep. Now tell me this, pray. If I be diligent and

learn zealously, to which of your disciples shall I

become like?

Soc. You will no way differ from Chaerephon in

intellect.

Strep. Ah me, unhappy! I shall become half-dead.

Soc. Don't chatter; but quickly follow me hither with

smartness.

Strep. Then give me first into my hands a honeyed cake;

for I am afraid of descending within, as if into the

cave of Trophonius.

Soc. Proceed; why do you keep poking about the door?

[Exeunt Socrates and Strepsiades]

Cho. Well, go in peace, for the sake of this your

valour. May prosperity attend the man, because, being

advanced into the vale of years, he imbues his intellect

with modern subjects, and cultivates wisdom!

[Turning to the audience.]

Spectators, I will freely declare to you the truth, by

Bacchus, who nurtured me! So may I conquer, and be

accounted skillful, as that, deeming you to be clever

spectators, and this to be the cleverest of my comedies,

I thought proper to let you first taste that comedy,

which gave me the greatest labour. And then I retired

from the contest defeated by vulgar fellows, though I

did not deserve it. These things, therefore, I object to

you, a learned audience, for whose sake I was expending

this labour. But not even thus will I ever willingly

desert the discerning portion of you. For since what

time my Modest Man and my Rake  were very highly praised

here by an audience, with whom it is a pleasure even to

hold converse, and I (for I was still a virgin, and it

was not lawful for me as yet to have children) exposed

my offspring, and another girl took it up, and owned it,

and you generously reared and educated it, from this

time I have had sure pledges of your good will toward

me. Now, therefore, like that well-known Electra, has

this comedy come seeking, if haply it meet with an

audience so clever, for it will recognize, if it should

see, the lock of its brother.  But see how modest she is

by nature, who, in the first place, has come, having

stitched to her no leathern phallus hanging down, red at

the top, and thick, to set the boys a laughing;  nor yet

jeered the bald-headed, nor danced the cordax;  nor does

the old man who speaks the verses beat the person near

him with his staff, keeping out of sight wretched

ribaldry; nor has she rushed in with torches, nor does

she shout iou, iou;  but has come relying on herself and

her verses. And I, although so excellent a poet, do not

give myself airs, nor do I seek to deceive you by twice

and thrice bringing forward the same pieces; but I am

always clever at introducing new fashions, not at all

resembling each other, and all of them clever; who

struck Cleon  in the belly when at the height of his

power, and could not bear to attack him afterward when

he was down. But these scribblers, when once Hyperbolus

has given them a handle, keep ever trampling on this

wretched man and his mother. Eupolis,  indeed, first of

all craftily introduced his Maricas, having basely, base

fellow, spoiled by altering my play of the Knights,

having added to it, for the sake of the cordax, a

drunken old woman, whom Phrynichus long ago poetized,

whom the whale was for devouring. Then again Hermippus

made verses on Hyperbolus; and now all others press hard

upon Hyperbolus, imitating my simile of the eels.

Whoever, therefore, laughs at these, let him not take

pleasure in my attempts; but if you are delighted with

me and my inventions, in times to come you will seem to

be wise.

I first invoke, to join our choral band, the mighty

Jupiter, ruling on high, the monarch of gods; and the

potent master of the trident, the fierce upheaver of

earth and briny sea; and our father of great renown,

most august Aether, life-supporter of all; and the

horse-guider, who fills the plain of the earth with

exceeding bright beams, a mighty deity among gods and

mortals.

Most clever spectators, come, give us your attention;

for having been injured, we blame you to your faces. For

though we benefit the state most of all the gods, to us

alone of the deities you do not offer sacrifice nor yet

pour libations, who watch over you. For if there should

be any expedition without prudence, then we either

thunder or drizzle small rain.  And then, when you were

for choosing as your general the Paphlagonian tanner,

hateful to the gods, we contracted our brows and were

enraged; and thunder burst through the lightning; and

the Moon forsook her usual paths; and the Sun

immediately drew in his wick to himself, and declared he

would not give you light, if Cleon should be your

general. Nevertheless you chose him. For they say that

ill counsel is in this city; that the gods, however,

turn all these your mismanagements to a prosperous

issue. And how this also shall be advantageous, we will

easily teach you. If you should convict the cormorant

Cleon of bribery and embezzlement, and then make fast

his neck in the stocks, the affair will turn out for the

state to the ancient form again, if you have mismanaged

in any way, and to a prosperous issue.

Hear me again, King Phoebus, Delian Apollo, who

inhabitest the high-peaked Cynthian rock!  And thou,

blessed goddess, who inhabitest the all-golden house of

Ephesus,  in which Lydian damsels greatly reverence

thee;  and thou, our national goddess, swayer of the

aegis, Minerva,  guardian of the city! And thou, reveler

Bacchus, who, inhabiting the Parnassian rock, sparklest

with torches, conspicuous among the Delphic Bacchanals!

When we had got ready to set out hither, the Moon met

us, and commanded us first to greet the Athenians and

their allies;  and then declared that she was angry, for

that she had suffered dreadful things, though she

benefits you all, not in words, but openly. In the first

place, not less than a drachma every month for torches;

so that also all, when they went out of an evening, were

wont to say, "Boy, don't buy a torch, for the moonlight

is beautiful." And she says she confers other benefits

on you, but that you do not observe the days at all

correctly, but confuse them up and down; so that she

says the gods are constantly threatening her, when they

are defrauded of their dinner, and depart home, not

having met with the regular feast according to the

number of the days. And then, when you ought to be

sacrificing, you are inflicting tortures and litigating.

And often, while we gods are observing a fast, when we

mourn for Memnon or Sarpedon,  you are pouring libations

and laughing. For which reason Hyperbolus, having

obtained the lot this year to be Hieromnemon,  was

afterward deprived by us gods of his crown; for thus he

will know better that he ought to spend the days of his

life according to the Moon.

[Enter Socrates]

Soc. By Respiration, and Chaos, and Air, I have not seen

any man so boorish, nor so impracticable, nor so stupid,

nor so forgetful; who, while learning some little petty

quibbles, forgets them before he has learned them.

Nevertheless I will certainly call him out here to the

light. Where is Strepsiades? Come forth with your couch.

Strep. (from within). The bugs do not permit me to bring

it forth.

Soc. Make haste and lay it down; and give me your

attention.

[Enter Strepsiades]

Strep. Very well.

Soc. Come now; what do you now wish to learn first of

those things in none of which you have ever been

instructed? Tell me. About measures, or rhythms, or

verses?

Strep. I should prefer to learn about measures; for it

is but lately I was cheated out of two choenices  by a

meal-huckster.

Soc. I do not ask you this, but which you account the

most beautiful measure; the trimetre or the tetrameter?

Strep. Make a wager then with me, if the semisextarius

be not a tetrameter.

Soc. Go to the devil! How boorish you are and dull of

learning. Perhaps you may be able to learn about

rhythms.

Strep. But what good will rhythms do me for a living?

Soc. In the first place, to be clever at an

entertainment, understanding what rhythm is for the

war-dance, and what, again, according to the dactyle.

Strep. According to the dactyle? By Jove, but I know it!

Soc. Tell me, pray.

Strep. What else but this finger? Formerly, indeed, when

I was yet a boy, this here!

Soc. You are boorish and stupid.

Strep. For I do not desire, you wretch, to learn any of

these things.

Soc. What then?

Strep. That, that, the most unjust cause.

Soc. But you must learn other things before these;

namely, what quadrupeds are properly masculine.

Strep. I know the males, if I am not mad-krios, tragos,

tauros, kuon, alektryon.

Soc. Do you see what you are doing? You are calling both

the female and the male alektryon in the same way.

Strep. How, pray? Come, tell me.

Soc. How? The one with you is alektryon, and the other

is alektryon also.

Strep. Yea, by Neptune! How now ought I to call them?

Soc. The one alektryaina and the other alektor.

Strep. Alektryaina? Capital, by the Air! So that, in

return for this lesson alone, I will fill your kardopos

full of barley-meal on all sides.

Soc. See! See! There again is another blunder! You make

kardopos, which is feminine, to be masculine.

Strep. In what way do I make kardopos masculine?

Soc. Most assuredly; just as if you were to say

Cleonymos.

Strep. Good sir, Cleonymus had no kneading-trough, but

kneaded his bread in a round mortar. How ought I to call

it henceforth?

Soc. How? Call it kardope, as you call Sostrate.

Strep. Kardope in the feminine?

Soc. For so you speak it rightly.

Strep. But that would make it kardope, Kleonyme.

Soc. You must learn one thing more about names, what are

masculine and what of them are feminine.

Strep. I know what are female.

Soc. Tell me, pray.

Strep. Lysilla, Philinna, Clitagora, Demetria.

Soc. What names are masculine?

Strep. Thousands; Philoxenus, Melesias, Amynias.

Soc. But, you wretch! These are not masculine.

Strep. Are they not males with you?

Soc. By no means; for how would you call Amynias, if you

met him?

Strep. How would I call? Thus: "Come hither, come hither

Amynia!"

Soc. Do you see? You call Amynias a woman.

Strep. Is it not then with justice, who does not serve

in the army? But why should I learn these things, that

we all know?

Soc. It is no use, by Jupiter! Having reclined yourself

down here—

Strep. What must I do?

Soc. Think out some of your own affairs.

Strep. Not here, pray, I beseech you; but, if I must,

suffer me to excogitate these very things on the ground.

Soc. There is no other way.

[Exit Socrates.]

Strep. Unfortunate man that I am! What a penalty shall I

this day pay to the bugs!

Cho. Now meditate and examine closely; and roll yourself

about in every way, having wrapped yourself up; and

quickly, when you fall into a difficulty, spring to

another mental contrivance. But let delightful sleep be

absent from your eyes.

Strep. Attatai! Attatai!

Cho. What ails you? Why are you distressed?

Strep. Wretched man, I am perishing! The Corinthians,

coming out from the bed, are biting me, and devouring my

sides, and drinking up my life-blood, and tearing away

my flesh, and digging through my vitals, and will

annihilate me.

Cho. Do not now be very grievously distressed.

Strep. Why, how, when my money is gone, my complexion

gone, my life gone, and my slipper gone? And furthermore

in addition to these evils, with singing the

night-watches, I am almost gone myself.

[Re-enter Socrates]

Soc. Ho you! What are you about? Are you not meditating?

Strep. I? Yea, by Neptune!

Soc. And what, pray, have you thought?

Strep. Whether any bit of me will be left by the bugs.

Soc. You will perish most wretchedly.

Strep. But, my good friend, I have already perished.

Soc. You must not give in, but must wrap yourself up;

for you have to discover a device for abstracting, and a

means of cheating.

[Walks up and down while Strepsiades wraps himself up in

the blankets.]

Strep. Ah me! Would, pray, some one would throw over me

a swindling contrivance from the sheep-skins.

Soc. Come now; I will first see this fellow, what he is

about. Ho you! Are you asleep?

Strep. No, by Apollo, I am not!

Soc. Have you got anything?

Strep. No; by Jupiter, certainly not!

Soc. Nothing at all?

Strep. Nothing, except what I have in my right hand.

Soc. Will you not quickly cover yourself up and think of

something?

Strep. About what? For do you tell me this, O Socrates!

Soc. Do you, yourself, first find out and state what you

wish.

Strep. You have heard a thousand times what I wish.

About the interest; so that I may pay no one.

Soc. Come then, wrap yourself up, and having given your

mind play with subtilty, revolve your affairs by little

and little, rightly distinguishing and examining.

Strep. Ah me, unhappy man!

Soc. Keep quiet; and if you be puzzled in any one of

your conceptions, leave it and go; and then set your

mind in motion again, and lock it up.

Strep. (in great glee). O dearest little Socrates!

Soc. What, old man?

Strep. I have got a device for cheating them of the

interest.

Soc. Exhibit it.

Strep. Now tell me this, pray; if I were to purchase a

Thessalian witch, and draw down the moon by night,  and

then shut it up, as if it were a mirror, in a round

crest-case, and then carefully keep it—

Soc. What good, pray, would this do you?

Strep. What? If the moon were to rise no longer

anywhere, I should not pay the interest.

Soc. Why so, pray?

Strep. Because the money is lent out by the month.

Soc. Capital! But I will again propose to you another

clever question. If a suit of five talents should be

entered against you, tell me how you would obliterate

it.

Strep. How? How? I do not know but I must seek.

Soc. Do not then always revolve your thoughts about

yourself; but slack away your mind into the air, like a

cock-chafer  tied with a thread by the foot.

Strep. I have found a very clever method of getting rid

of my suit, so that you yourself would acknowledge it.

Soc. Of what description?

Strep. Have you ever seen this stone in the chemist's

shops, the beautiful and transparent one, from which

they kindle fire?

Soc. Do you mean the burning-glass?

Strep. I do. Come what would you say, pray, if I were to

take this, when the clerk was entering the suit, and

were to stand at a distance, in the direction of the

sun, thus, and melt out the letters of my suit?

Soc. Cleverly done, by the Graces!

Strep. Oh! How I am delighted, that a suit of five

talents has been cancelled!

Soc. Come now, quickly seize upon this.

Strep. What?

Soc. How, when engaged in a lawsuit, you could overturn

the suit, when you were about to be cast, because you

had no witnesses.

Strep. Most readily and easily.

Soc. Tell me, pray.

Strep. Well now, I'll tell you. If, while one suit was

still pending, before mine was called on, I were to run

away and hang myself.

Soc. You talk nonsense.

Strep. By the gods, would I! For no one will bring

action against me when I am dead.

Soc. You talk nonsense. Begone; I can't teach you any

longer.

Strep. Why so? Yea, by the gods, O Socrates!

Soc. You straightaway forget whatever you learn. For

what now was the first thing you were taught? Tell me.

Strep. Come, let me see: nay, what was the first? What

was the fist? Nay, what was the thing in which we knead

our flour? Ah me! What was it?

Soc. Will you not pack off to the devil, you most

forgetful and most stupid old man?

Strep. Ah me, what then, pray will become of me,

wretched man? For I shall be utterly undone, if I do not

learn to ply the tongue. Come, O ye Clouds, give me some

good advice.

Cho. We, old man, advise you, if you have a son grown

up, to send him to learn in your stead.

Strep. Well, I have a fine, handsome son, but he is not

willing to learn. What must I do?

Cho. But do you permit him?

Strep. Yes, for he is robust in body, and in good

health, and is come of the high-plumed dames of Coesyra.

I will go for him, and if he be not willing, I will

certainly drive him from my house.

[To Socrates.]

Go in and wait for me a short time.

[Exit]

Cho. Do you perceive that you are soon to obtain the

greatest benefits through us alone of the gods? For this

man is ready to do everything that you bid him. But you,

while the man is astounded and evidently elated, having

perceived it, will quickly fleece him to the best of

your power.

[Exit Socrates]

For matters of this sort are somehow accustomed to turn

the other way.

[Enter Strepsiades and Phidippides]

Strep. By Mist, you certainly shall not stay here any

longer! But go and gnaw the columns of Megacles.

Phid. My good sir, what is the matter with you, O

father? You are not in your senses, by Olympian Jupiter!

Strep. See, see, "Olympian Jupiter!" What folly! To

think of your believing in Jupiter, as old as you are!

Phid. Why, pray, did you laugh at this?

Strep. Reflecting that you are a child, and have

antiquated notions. Yet, however, approach, that you may

know more; and I will tell you a thing, by learning

which you will be a man. But see that you do not teach

this to any one.

Phid. Well, what is it?

Strep. You swore now by Jupiter.

Phid. I did.

Strep. Seest thou, then, how good a thing is learning?

There is no Jupiter, O Phidippides!

Phid. Who then?

Strep. Vortex reigns, having expelled Jupiter.

Phid. Bah! Why do you talk foolishly?

Strep. Be assured that it is so.

Phid. Who says this?

Strep. Socrates the Melian, and Chaerephon, who knows

the footmarks of fleas.

Phid. Have you arrived at such a pitch of frenzy that

you believe madmen?

Strep. Speak words of good omen, and say nothing bad of

clever men and wise; of whom, through frugality, none

ever shaved or anointed himself, or went to a bath to

wash himself; while you squander my property in bathing,

as if I were already dead. But go as quickly as possible

and learn instead of me.

Phid. What good could any one learn from them?

Strep. What, really? Whatever wisdom there is among men.

And you will know yourself, how ignorant and stupid you

are. But wait for me here a short time.

[Runs off]

Phid. Ah me! What shall I do, my father being crazed?

Shall I bring him into court and convict him of lunacy,

or shall I give information of his madness to the

coffin-makers?

[Re-enter Strepsiades with a cock under one arm and a

hen under the other]

Strep. Come, let me see; what do you consider this to

be? Tell me.

Phid. Alectryon.

Strep. Right. And what this?

Phid. Alectryon.

Strep. Both the same? You are very ridiculous. Do not do

so, then, for the future; but call this alektryaina, and

this one alektor.

Phid. Alektryaina! Did you learn these clever things by

going in just now to the Titans?

Strep. And many others too; but whatever I learned on

each occasion I used to forget immediately, through

length of years.

Phid. Is it for this reason, pray, that you have also

lost your cloak?

Strep. I have not lost it; but have studied it away.

Phid. What have you made of your slippers, you foolish

man?

Strep. I have expended them, like Pericles, for needful

purposes.  Come, move, let us go. And then if you obey

your father, go wrong if you like. I also know that I

formerly obeyed you, a lisping child of six years old,

and bought you a go-cart at the Diasia, with the first

obolus I received from the Heliaea.

Phid. You will assuredly some time at length be grieved

at this.

Strep. It is well done of you that you obeyed. Come

hither, come hither O Socrates! Come forth, for I bring

to you this son of mine, having persuaded him against

his will.

[Enter Socrates]

Soc. For he is still childish, and not used to the

baskets here.

Phid. You would yourself be used to them if you were

hanged.

Strep. A mischief take you! Do you abuse your teacher?

Soc. "Were hanged" quoth 'a! How sillily he pronounced

it, and with lips wide apart! How can this youth ever

learn an acquittal from a trial or a legal summons, or

persuasive refutation? And yet Hyperbolus learned this

at the cost of a talent.

Strep. Never mind; teach him. He is clever by nature.

Indeed, from his earliest years, when he was a little

fellow only so big, he was wont to form houses and carve

ships within-doors, and make little wagons of leather,

and make frogs out of pomegranate-rinds, you can't think

how cleverly. But see that he learns those two causes;

the better, whatever it may be; and the worse, which, by

maintaining what is unjust, overturns the better. If not

both, at any rate the unjust one by all means.

Soc. He shall learn it himself from the two causes in

person.

[Exit Socrates]

Strep. I will take my departure. Remember this now, that

he is to be able to reply to all just arguments.

[Exit Strepsiades and enter Just Cause and Unjust Cause]

Just Cause. Come hither! Show yourself to the

spectators, although being audacious.

Unjust Cause. Go whither you please; for I shall far

rather do for you, if I speak before a crowd.

Just. You destroy me? Who are you?

Unj. A cause.

Just. Ay, the worse.

Unj. But I conquer you, who say that you are better than

I.

Just. By doing what clever trick?

Unj. By discovering new contrivances.

Just. For these innovations flourish by the favour of

these silly persons.

Unj. No; but wise persons.

Just I will destroy you miserably.

Unj. Tell me, by doing what?

Just By speaking what is just.

Unj. But I will overturn them by contradicting them; for

I deny that justice even exists at all.

Just Do you deny that it exists?

Unj. For come, where is it?

Just With the gods.

Unj. How, then, if justice exists, has Jupiter not

perished, who bound his own father?

Just Bah! This profanity now is spreading! Give me a

basin.

Unj. You are a dotard and absurd.

Just You are debauched and shameless.

Unj. You have spoken roses of me.

Just And a dirty lickspittle.

Unj. You crown me with lilies.

Just And a parricide.

Unj. You don't know that you are sprinkling me with

gold.

Just Certainly not so formerly, but with lead.

Unj. But now this is an ornament to me.

Just You are very impudent.

Unj. And you are antiquated.

Just And through you, no one of our youths is willing to

go to school; and you will be found out some time or

other by the Athenians, what sort of doctrines you teach

the simple-minded.

Unj. You are shamefully squalid.

Just And you are prosperous. And yet formerly you were a

beggar saying that you were the Mysian Telephus,  and

gnawing the maxims of Pandeletus out of your little

wallet.

Unj. Oh, the wisdom—

Just Oh, the madness—

Unj. Which you have mentioned.

Just And of your city, which supports you who ruin her

youths.

Unj. You shan't teach this youth, you old dotard.

Just Yes, if he is to be saved, and not merely to

practise loquacity.

Unj. (to Phidippides) Come hither, and leave him to

rave.

Just You shall howl, if you lay your hand on him.

Cho. Cease from contention and railing. But show to us,

you, what you used to teach the men of former times, and

you, the new system of education; in order that, having

heard you disputing, he may decide and go to the school

of one or the other.

Just. I am willing to do so.

Unj. I also am willing.

Cho. Come now, which of the two shall speak first?

Unj. I will give him the precedence; and then, from

these things which he adduces, I will shoot him dead

with new words and thoughts. And at last, if he mutter,

he shall be destroyed, being stung in his whole face and

his two eyes by my maxims, as if by bees.

Cho. Now the two, relying on very dexterous arguments

and thoughts, and sententious maxims, will show which of

them shall appear superior in argument. For now the

whole crisis of wisdom is here laid before them; about

which my friends have a very great contest. But do you,

who adorned our elders with many virtuous manners, utter

the voice in which you rejoice, and declare your nature.

Just. I will, therefore, describe the ancient system of

education, how it was ordered, when I flourished in the

advocacy of justice, and temperance was the fashion. In

the first place it was incumbent that no one should hear

the voice of a boy uttering a syllable; and next, that

those from the same quarter of the town should march in

good order through the streets to the school of the

harp-master, naked, and in a body, even if it were to

snow as thick as meal. Then again, their master would

teach them, not sitting cross-legged, to learn by rote a

song, either "pallada persepolin deinan"  or "teleporon

ti boama"  raising to a higher pitch the harmony which

our fathers transmitted to us. But if any of them were

to play the buffoon, or to turn any quavers, like these

difficult turns the present artists make after the

manner of Phrynis, he used to be thrashed, being beaten

with many blows, as banishing the Muses. And it behooved

the boys, while sitting in the school of the

Gymnastic-master, to cover the thigh, so that they might

exhibit nothing indecent to those outside; then again,

after rising from the ground, to sweep the sand

together, and to take care not to leave an impression of

the person for their lovers. And no boy used in those

days to anoint himself below the navel; so that their

bodies wore the appearance of blooming health. Nor used

he to go to his lover, having made up his voice in an

effeminate tone, prostituting himself with his eyes. Nor

used it to be allowed when one was dining to take the

head of the radish, or to snatch from their seniors dill

or parsley, or to eat fish, or to giggle, or to keep the

legs crossed.

Unj. Aye, antiquated and dipolia-like  and full of

grasshoppers, and of Cecydes, and of the Buphonian

festival!

Just Yet certainly these are those principles by which

my system of education nurtured the men who fought at

Marathon. But you teach the men of the present day, so

that I am choked, when at the Panathenaia a fellow,

holding his shield before his person, neglects

Tritogenia,  when they ought to dance. Wherefore, O

youth, choose with confidence, me, the better cause, and

you will learn to hate the Agora, and to refrain from

baths, and to be ashamed of what is disgraceful, and to

be enraged if any one jeer you, and to rise up from

seats before your seniors when they approach, and not to

behave ill toward your parents, and to do nothing else

that is base, because you are to form in your mind an

image of Modesty: and not to dart into the house of a

dancing-woman, lest, while gaping after these things,

being struck with an apple by a wanton, you should be

damaged in your reputation: and not to contradict your

father in anything; nor by calling him Iapetus, to

reproach him with the ills of age, by which you were

reared in your infancy.

Unj. If you shall believe him in this, O youth, by

Bacchus, you will be like the sons of Hippocrates, and

they will call you a booby.

Just. Yet certainly shall you spend your time in the

gymnastic schools, sleek and blooming; not chattering in

the market-place rude jests, like the youths of the

present day; nor dragged into court for a petty suit,

greedy, pettifogging, knavish; but you shall descend to

the Academy  and run races beneath the sacred olives

along with some modest compeer, crowned with white

reeds, redolent of yew, and careless ease, of

leaf-shedding white poplar, rejoicing in the season of

spring, when the plane-tree whispers to the elm. If you

do these things which I say, and apply your mind to

these, you will ever have a stout chest, a clear

complexion, broad shoulders, a little tongue, large

hips, little lewdness. But if you practise what the

youths of the present day do, you will have in the first

place, a pallid complexion, small shoulders, a narrow

chest, a large tongue, little hips, great lewdness, a

long psephism;  and this deceiver will persuade you to

consider everything that is base to be honourable, and

what is honourable to be base; and in addition to this,

he will fill you with the lewdness of Antimachus.

Cho. O thou that practisest most renowned high-towering

wisdom! How sweetly does a modest grace attend your

words! Happy, therefore, were they who lived in those

days, in the times of former men! In reply, then, to

these, O thou that hast a dainty-seeming Muse, it

behooveth thee to say something new; since the man has

gained renown. And it appears you have need of powerful

arguments against him, if you are to conquer the man and

not incur laughter.

Unj. And yet I was choking in my heart, and was longing

to confound all these with contrary maxims. For I have

been called among the deep thinkers the "worse cause" on

this very account, that I first contrived how to speak

against both law and justice; and this art is worth more

than ten thousand staters, that one should choose the

worse cause, and nevertheless be victorious. But mark

how I will confute the system of education on which he

relies, who says, in the first place, that he will not

permit you to be washed with warm water. And yet, on

what principle do you blame the warm baths?

Just. Because it is most vile, and makes a man cowardly.

Unj. Stop! For immediately I seize and hold you by the

waist without escape. Come, tell me, which of the sons

of Jupiter do you deem to have been the bravest in soul,

and to have undergone most labours?

Just. I consider no man superior to Hercules.

Unj. Where, pray, did you ever see cold Herculean baths?

And yet, who was more valiant than he?

Just. These are the very things which make the bath full

of youths always chattering all day long, but the

palaestras empty.

Unj. You next find fault with their living in the

market-place; but I commend it. For if it had been bad,

Homer would never have been for representing Nestor  as

an orator; nor all the other wise men. I will return,

then, from thence to the tongue, which this fellow says

our youths ought not to exercise, while I maintain they

should. And again, he says they ought to be modest: two

very great evils. For tell me to whom you have ever seen

any good accrue through modesty and confute me by your

words.

Just. To many. Peleus,  at any rate, received his sword

on account of it.

Unj. A sword? Marry, he got a pretty piece of luck, the

poor wretch! While Hyperbolus, he of the lamps, got more

than many talents by his villainy, but by Jupiter, no

sword!

Just. And Peleus married Thetis, too, through his

modesty.

Unj. And then she went off and left him; for he was not

lustful, nor an agreeable bedfellow to spend the night

with. Now a woman delights in being wantonly treated.

But you are an old dotard. For (to Phidippides)

consider, O youth, all that attaches to modesty, and of

how many pleasures you are about to be deprived—of

women, of games at cottabus, of dainties, of

drinking-bouts, of giggling. And yet, what is life worth

to you if you be deprived of these enjoyments? Well, I

will pass from thence to the necessities of our nature.

You have gone astray, you have fallen in love, you have

been guilty of some adultery, and then have been caught.

You are undone, for you are unable to speak. But if you

associate with me, indulge your inclination, dance,

laugh, and think nothing disgraceful. For if you should

happen to be detected as an adulterer, you will make

this reply to him, "that you have done him no injury":

and then refer him to Jupiter, how even he is overcome

by love and women. And yet, how could you, who are a

mortal, have greater power than a god?

Just. But what if he should suffer the radish through

obeying you, and be depillated with hot ashes?  What

argument will he be able to state, to prove that he is

not a blackguard?

Unj. And if he be a blackguard, what harm will he

suffer?

Just. Nay, what could he ever suffer still greater than

this?

Unj. What then will you say if you be conquered by me in

this?

Just. I will be silent: what else can I do?

Unj. Come, now, tell me; from what class do the

advocates come?

Just. From the blackguards.

Unj. I believe you. What then? From what class do

tragedians come?

Just. From the blackguards.

Unj. You say well. But from what class do the public

orators come?

Just. From the blackguards.

Unj. Then have you perceived that you say nothing to the

purpose? And look which class among the audience is the

more numerous.

Just. Well now, I'm looking.

Unj. What, then, do you see?

Just. By the gods, the blackguards to be far more

numerous. This fellow, at any rate, I know; and him

yonder; and this fellow with the long hair.

Unj. What, then, will you say?

Just. We are conquered. Ye blackguards, by the gods,

receive my cloak, for I desert to you.

[Exeunt the Two Causes, and re-enter Socrates and

Strepsiades.]

Soc. What then? whether do you wish to take and lead

away this your son, or shall I teach him to speak?

Strep. Teach him, and chastise him: and remember that

you train him properly; on the one side able for petty

suits; but train his other jaw able for the more

important causes.

Soc. Make yourself easy; you shall receive him back a

clever sophist.

Strep. Nay, rather, pale and wretched.

[Exeunt Socrates, Strepsiades, and Phidippides.]

Cho. Go ye, then: but I think that you will repent of

these proceedings. We wish to speak about the judges,

what they will gain, if at all they justly assist this

Chorus. For in the first place, if you wish to plough up

your fields in spring, we will rain for you first; but

for the others afterward. And then we will protect the

fruits, and the vines, so that neither drought afflict

them, nor excessive wet weather. But if any mortal

dishonour us who are goddesses, let him consider what

evils he will suffer at our hands, obtaining neither

wine nor anything else from his farm. For when his

olives and vines sprout, they shall be cut down; with

such slings will we smite them. And if we see him making

brick, we will rain; and we will smash the tiles of his

roof with round hailstones. And if he himself, or any

one of his kindred or friends, at any time marry, we

will rain the whole night; so he will probably wish

rather to have been even in Egypt than to have judged

badly.

[Enter Strepsiades with a meal-sack on his shoulder.]

Strep. The fifth, the fourth, the third, after this the

second; and then, of all the days I most fear, and

dread, and abominate, immediately after this there is

the Old and New. For every one to whom I happen to be

indebted, swears, and says he will ruin and destroy me,

having made his deposits against me; though I only ask

what is moderate and just-"My good sir, one part don't

take just now; the other part put off I pray; and the

other part remit"; they say that thus they will never

get back their money, but abuse me, as I am unjust, and

say they will go to law with me. Now therefore let them

go to law, for it little concerns me, if Phidippides has

learned to speak well. I shall soon know by knocking at

the thinking-shop.

[Knocks at the door.]

Boy, I say! Boy, boy!

[Enter Socrates]

Soc. Good morning, Strepsiades.

Strep. The same to you. But first accept this present;

for one ought to compliment the teacher with a fee. And

tell me about my son, if he has learned that cause,

which you just now brought forward.

Soc. He has learned it.

Strep. Well done, O Fraud, all-powerful queen!

Soc. So that you can get clear off from whatever suit

you please.

Strep. Even if witnesses were present when I borrowed

the money?

Soc. Yea, much more! Even if a thousand be present.

Strep. Then I will shout with a very loud shout: Ho!

Weep, you petty-usurers, both you and your principals,

and your compound interests! For you can no longer do me

any harm, because such a son is being reared for me in

this house, shining with a double-edged tongue, for my

guardian, the preserver of my house, a mischief to my

enemies, ending the sadness of the great woes of his

father. Him do thou run and summon from within to me.

[Socrates goes into the house.]

O child! O son! Come forth from the house! Hear your

father!

[Re-enter Socrates leading in Phidippides]

Soc. Lo, here is the man!

Strep. O my dear, my dear!

Soc. Take your son and depart.

[Exit Socrates.]

Strep. Oh, oh, my child! Huzza! Huzza! How I am

delighted at the first sight of your complexion! Now,

indeed, you are, in the first place, negative and

disputatious to look at, and this fashion native to the

place plainly appears, the "what do you say?" and the

seeming to be injured when, I well know, you are

injuring and inflicting a wrong; and in your countenance

there is the Attic look. Now, therefore, see that you

save me, since you have also ruined me.

Phid. What, pray, do you fear?

Strep. The Old and New.

Phid. Why, is any day old and new?

Strep. Yes; on which they say that they will make their

deposits against me.

Phid. Then those that have made them will lose them; for

it is not possible that two days can be one day.

Strep. Can not it?

Phid. Certainly not; unless the same woman can be both

old and young at the same time.

Strep. And yet it is the law.

Phid. For they do not, I think, rightly understand what

the law means.

Strep. And what does it mean?

Phid. The ancient Solon  was by nature the commons'

friend.

Strep. This surely is nothing whatever to the Old and

New.

Phid. He therefore made the summons for two days, for

the Old and New, that the deposits might be made on the

first of the month.

Strep. Why, pray, did he add the old day?

Phid. In order, my good sir, that the defendants, being

present a day before, might compromise the matter of

their own accord; but if not, that they might be worried

on the morning of the new moon.

Strep. Why, then, do the magistrates not receive the

deposits on the new moon, but on the Old and New?

Phid. They seem to me to do what the forestallers do: in

order that they may appreciate the deposits as soon as

possible, on this account they have the first pick by

one day.

Strep. (turning to the audience) Bravo! Ye wretches, why

do you sit senseless, the gain of us wise men, being

blocks, ciphers, mere sheep, jars heaped together,

wherefore I must sing an encomium upon myself and this

my son, on account of our good fortune. "O happy

Strepsiades! How wise you are yourself, and how

excellent is the son whom you are rearing!" My friends

and fellow-tribesmen will say of me, envying me, when

you prove victorious in arguing causes. But first I wish

to lead you in and entertain you.

[Exeunt Strepsiades and Phidippides.]

Pasias (entering with his summons-witness) Then, ought a

man to throw away any part of his own property? Never!

But it were better then at once to put away blushes,

rather than now to have trouble; since I am now dragging

you to be a witness, for the sake of my own money; and

further, in addition to this, I shall become an enemy to

my fellow-tribesman. But never, while I live, will I

disgrace my country, but will summon Strepsiades.

Strep. (from within) Who's there?

Pas. For the Old and New.

Strep. I call you to witness, that he has named it for

two days. For what matter do you summon me?

Pas. For the twelve minae, which you received when you

were buying the dapple-gray horse.

Strep. A horse? Do you not hear? I, whom you all know to

hate horsemanship!

Pas. And, by Jupiter! You swore by the gods too, that

you would repay it.

Strep. Ay, by Jove! For then my Phidippides did not yet

know the irrefragable argument.

Pas. And do you now intend, on this account, to deny the

debt?

Strep. Why, what good should I get else from his

instruction?

Pas. And will you be willing to deny these upon oath of

the gods?

Strep. What gods?

Pas. Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune.

Strep. Yes, by Jupiter! And would pay down, too, a

three-obol piece besides to swear.

Pas. Then may you perish some day for your impudence!

Strep. This man would be the better for it if he were

cleansed by rubbing with salt.

Pas. Ah me, how you deride me!

Strep. He will contain six choae.

Pas. By great Jupiter and the gods, you certainly shall

not do this to me with impunity!

Strep. I like your gods amazingly; and Jupiter, sworn

by, is ridiculous to the knowing ones.

Pas. You will assuredly suffer punishment, some time or

other, for this. But answer and dismiss me, whether you

are going to repay me my money or not.

Strep. Keep quiet now, for I will presently answer you

distinctly.

[Runs into the house.]

Pas. (to his summons-witness). What do you think he will

do?

Witness. I think he will pay you.

[Re-enter Strepsiades with a kneading-trough]

Strep. Where is this man who asks me for his money? Tell

me what is this?

Pas. What is this? A kardopos.

Strep. And do you then ask me for your money, being such

an ignorant person? I would not pay, not even an obolus,

to any one who called the kardope kardopos.

Pas. Then won't you pay me?

Strep. Not, as far as I know. Will you not then pack off

as fast as possible from my door?

Pas. I will depart; and be assured of this, that I will

make deposit against you, or may I live no longer!

Strep. Then you will lose it besides, in addition to

your twelve minae. And yet I do not wish you to suffer

this, because you named the kardopos foolishly.

[Exeunt Pasias and Witness, and enter Amynias]

Amynias. Ah me! Ah me!

Strep. Ha! Whoever is this, who is lamenting? Surely it

was not one of Carcinus' deities  that spoke.

Amyn. But why do you wish to know this, who I am?-A

miserable man.

Strep. Then follow your own path.

Amyn. O harsh fortune! O Fates, breaking the wheels of

my horses! O Pallas, how you have destroyed me!

Strep. What evil, pray, has Tlepolemus  ever done you?

Amyn. Do not jeer me, my friend; but order your son to

pay me the money which he received; especially as I have

been unfortunate.

Strep. What money is this?

Amyn. That which he borrowed.

Strep. Then you were really unlucky, as I think.

Amyn. By the gods, I fell while driving my horses.

Strep. Why, pray, do you talk nonsense, as if you had

fallen from an ass?

Amyn. Do I talk nonsense if I wish to recover my money?

Strep. You can't be in your senses yourself.

Amyn. Why, pray?

Strep. You appear to me to have had your brains shaken

as it were.

Amyn. And you appear to me, by Hermes, to be going to be

summoned, if you will not pay me the money?

Strep. Tell me now, whether you think that Jupiter

always rains fresh rain on each occasion, or that the

sun draws from below the same water back again?

Amyn. I know not which; nor do I care.

Strep. How then is it just that you should recover your

money, if you know nothing of meteorological matters?

Amyn. Well, if you are in want, pay me the interest of

my money.

Strep. What sort of animal is this interest?

Amyn. Most assuredly the money is always becoming more

and more every month and every day as the time slips

away.

Strep. You say well. What then? Is it possible that you

consider the sea to be greater now than formerly?

Amyn. No, by Jupiter, but equal; for it is not fitting

that it should be greater.

Strep. And how then, you wretch does this become no way

greater, though the rivers flow into it, while you seek

to increase your money? Will you not take yourself off

from my house? Bring me the goad.

[Enter Servant with a goad.]

Amyn. I call you to witness these things.

Strep. (beating him). Go! Why do you delay? Won't you

march, Mr. Blood-horse?

Amyn. Is not this an insult, pray?

Strep. Will you move quickly?

[Pricks him behind with the goad.]

I'll lay on you, goading you behind, you outrigger? Do

you fly?

[Amynias runs off.]

I thought I should stir you, together with your wheels

and your two-horse chariots.

[Exit Strepsiades.]

Cho. What a thing it is to love evil courses! For this

old man, having loved them, wishes to withhold the money

that he borrowed. And he will certainly meet with

something today, which will perhaps cause this sophist

to suddenly receive some misfortune, in return for the

knaveries he has begun. For I think that he will

presently find what has been long boiling up, that his

son is skilful to speak opinions opposed to justice, so

as to overcome all with whomsoever he holds converse,

even if he advance most villainous doctrines; and

perhaps, perhaps his father will wish that he were even

speechless.

Strep. (running out of the house pursued by his son)

Hollo! Hollo! O neighbours, and kinsfolk, and

fellow-tribesmen, defend me, by all means, who am being

beaten! Ah me, unhappy man, for my head and jaw! Wretch!

Do you beat your father?

Phid. Yes, father.

Strep. You see him owning that he beats me.

Phid. Certainly.

Strep. O wretch, and parricide, and house-breaker!

Phid. Say the same things of me again, and more. Do you

know that I take pleasure in being much abused?

Strep. You blackguard!

Phid. Sprinkle me with roses in abundance.

Strep. Do you beat your father?

Phid. And will prove too, by Jupiter! that I beat you

with justice.

Strep. O thou most rascally! Why, how can it be just to

beat a father?

Phid. I will demonstrate it, and will overcome you in

argument.

Strep. Will you overcome me in this?

Phid. Yea, by much and easily. But choose which of the

two Causes you wish to speak.

Strep. Of what two Causes?

Phid. The better, or the worse?

Strep. Marry, I did get you taught to speak against

justice, by Jupiter, my friend, if you are going to

persuade me of this, that it is just and honourable for

a father to be beaten by his sons!

Phid. I think I shall certainly persuade you; so that,

when you have heard, not even you yourself will say

anything against it.

Strep. Well, now, I am willing to hear what you have to

say.

Cho. It is your business, old man, to consider in what

way you shall conquer the man; for if he were not

relying upon something, he would not be so licentious.

But he is emboldened by something; the boldness of the

man is evident. Now you ought to tell to the Chorus from

what the contention first arose. And this you must do by

all means.

Strep. Well, now, I will tell you from what we first

began to rail at one another. After we had feasted, as

you know, I first bade him take a lyre, and sing a song

of Simonides, "The Shearing of the Ram."  But he

immediately said it was old-fashioned to play on the

lyre and sing while drinking, like a woman grinding

parched barley.

Phid. For ought you not then immediately to be beaten

and trampled on, bidding me sing, just as if you were

entertaining cicadae?

Strep. He expressed, however, such opinions then too

within, as he does now; and he asserted that Simonides

was a bad poet. I bore it at first, with difficulty

indeed, yet nevertheless I bore it. And then I bade him

at least take a myrtle-wreath and recite to me some

portion of Aeschylus; and then he immediately said,

"Shall I consider Aeschylus the first among the poets,

full of empty sound, unpolished, bombastic, using rugged

words?" And hereupon you can't think how my heart

panted. But, nevertheless, I restrained my passion, and

said, "At least recite some passage of the more modern

poets, of whatever kind these clever things be." And he

immediately sang a passage of Euripides, how a brother,

O averter of ill! Debauched his uterine sister. And I

bore it no longer, but immediately assailed him with

many abusive reproaches. And then, after that, as was

natural, we hurled word upon word. Then he springs upon

me; and then he was wounding me, and beating me, and

throttling me.

Phid. Were you not therefore justly beaten, who do not

praise Euripides, the wisest of poets?

Strep. He the wisest! Oh, what shall I call you? But I

shall be beaten again.

Phid. Yes, by Jupiter, with justice?

Strep. Why, how with justice? Who, O shameless fellow,

reared you, understanding all your wishes, when you

lisped what you meant? If you said bryn, I,

understanding it, used to give you to drink. And when

you asked for mamman, I used to come to you with bread.

And you used no sooner to say caccan, than I used to

take and carry you out of doors, and hold you before me.

But you now, throttling me who was bawling and crying

out because I wanted to ease myself, had not the heart

to carry me forth out of doors, you wretch; but I did it

there while I was being throttled.

Cho. I fancy the hearts of the youths are panting to

hear what he will say. For if, after having done such

things, he shall persuade him by speaking, I would not

take the hide of the old folks, even at the price of a

chick-pea. It is thy business, thou author and upheaver

of new words, to seek some means of persuasion, so that

you shall seem to speak justly.

Phid. How pleasant it is to be acquainted with new and

clever things, and to be able to despise the established

laws! For I, when I applied my mind to horsemanship

alone, used not to be able to utter three words before I

made a mistake; but now, since he himself has made me

cease from these pursuits, and I am acquainted with

subtle thoughts, and arguments, and speculations, I

think I shall demonstrate that it is just to chastise

one's father.

Strep. Ride, then, by Jupiter! Since it is better for me

to keep a team of four horses than to be killed with a

beating.

Phid. I will pass over to that part of my discourse

where you interrupted me; and first I will ask you this:

Did you beat me when I was a boy?

Strep. I did, through good-will and concern for you.

Phid. Pray tell me, is it not just that I also should be

well inclined toward you in the same way, and beat you,

since this is to be well inclined-to give a beating? For

why ought your body to be exempt from blows and mine

not? And yet I too was born free. The boys weep, and do

you not think it is right that a father should weep? You

will say that it is ordained by law that this should be

the lot of boys. But I would reply, that old men are

boys twice over, and that it is the more reasonable that

the old should weep than the young, inasmuch as it is

less just that they should err.

Strep. It is nowhere ordained by law that a father

should suffer this.

Phid. Was it not then a man like you and me, who first

proposed this law, and by speaking persuaded the

ancients? Why then is it less lawful for me also in turn

to propose henceforth a new law for the sons, that they

should beat their fathers in turn? But as many blows as

we received before the law was made, we remit: and we

concede to them our having been thrashed without return.

Observe the cocks and these other animals, how they

punish their fathers; and yet, in what do they differ

from us, except that they do not write decrees?

Strep. Why then, since you imitate the cocks in all

things, do you not both eat dung and sleep on a perch?

Phid. It is not the same thing, my friend; nor would it

appear so to Socrates.

Strep. Therefore do not beat me; otherwise you will one

day blame yourself.

Phid. Why, how?

Strep. Since I am justly entitled to chastise you; and

you to chastise your son, if you should have one.

Phid. But if I should not have one, I shall have wept

for nothing, and you will die laughing at me.

Strep. To me, indeed, O comrades, he seems to speak

justly; and I think we ought to concede to them what is

fitting. For it is proper that we should weep, if we do

not act justly.

Phid. Consider still another maxim.

Strep. No; for I shall perish if I do.

Phid. And yet perhaps you will not be vexed at suffering

what you now suffer.

Strep. How, pray? For inform me what good you will do me

by this.

Phid. I will beat my mother, just as I have you.

Strep. What do you say? What do you say? This other,

again, is a greater wickedness.

Phid. But what if, having the worst Cause, I shall

conquer you in arguing, proving that it is right to beat

one's mother?

Strep. Most assuredly, if you do this, nothing will

hinder you from casting yourself and your Worse Cause

into the pit along with Socrates. These evils have I

suffered through you, O Clouds! Having intrusted all my

affairs to you.

Cho. Nay, rather, you are yourself  the cause of these

things, having turned yourself to wicked courses.

Strep. Why, pray, did you not tell me this, then, but

excited with hopes a rustic and aged man?

Cho. We always do this to him whom we perceive to be a

lover of wicked courses, until we precipitate him into

misfortune, so that he may learn to fear the gods.

Strep. Ah me! it is severe, O Clouds! But it is just;

for I ought not to have withheld the money which I

borrowed. Now, therefore, come with me, my dearest son,

that you may destroy the blackguard Chaerephon and

Socrates, who deceived you and me.

Phid. I will not injure my teachers.

Strep. Yes, yes, reverence Paternal Jove.

Phid. "Paternal Jove" quoth'a! How antiquated you are!

Why, is there any Jove?

Strep. There is.

Phid. There is not, no; for Vortex reigns having

expelled Jupiter.

Strep. He has not expelled him; but I fancied this, on

account of this Vortex here. Ah me, unhappy man! When I

even took you who are of earthenware for a god.

Phid. Here rave and babble to yourself.

[Exit Phidippides]

Strep. Ah me, what madness! How mad, then, I was when I

ejected the gods on account of Socrates! But O dear

Hermes, by no means be wroth with me, nor destroy me;

but pardon me, since I have gone crazy through prating.

And become my adviser, whether I shall bring an action

and prosecute them, or whatever you think. You advise me

rightly, not permitting me to get up a lawsuit, but as

soon as possible to set fire to the house of the prating

fellows. Come hither, come hither, Xanthias! Come forth

with a ladder and with a mattock and then mount upon the

thinking-shop and dig down the roof, if you love your

master, until you tumble the house upon them.

[Xanthias mounts upon the roof]

But let some one bring me a lighted torch and I'll make

some of them this day suffer punishment, even if they be

ever so much impostors.

1st Dis. (from within) Hollo! Hollo!

Strep. It is your business, O torch, to send forth

abundant flame.

[Mounts upon the roof]

1st Dis. What are you doing, fellow?

Strep. What am I doing? Why, what else, than chopping

logic with the beams of your house?

[Sets the house on fire]

2nd Dis. (from within) You will destroy us! You will

destroy us!

Strep. For I also wish this very thing; unless my

mattock deceive my hopes, or I should somehow fall first

and break my neck.

Soc. (from within). Hollo you! What are you doing, pray,

you fellow on the roof?

Strep. I am walking on air, and speculating about the

sun.

Soc. Ah me, unhappy! I shall be suffocated, wretched

man!

Chaer. And I, miserable man, shall be burnt to death!

Strep. For what has come into your heads that you acted

insolently toward the gods, and pried into the seat of

the moon? Chase, pelt, smite them, for many reasons, but

especially because you know that they offended against

the gods!

[The thinking shop is burned down]

Cho. Lead the way out; for we have sufficiently acted as

chorus for today.

[Exeunt omnes]

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Table of Contents

THE CLOUDS

Translated by William James Hickie

* All Greek from the original edition has been transliterated into Roman characters.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE