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Strepsiades.
Tell me, O Socrates, I beseech you, by Jupiter, who are these that have uttered this grand song? Are they some heroines?
Tell me, O Socrates, I beseech you, by Jupiter, who are these that have uttered this grand song? Are they some heroines?
Socrates.
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.
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.
Strepsiades.
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.
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.
Socrates.
Look, then, hither, toward Mount Parnes; for now I behold them descending gently.
Look, then, hither, toward Mount Parnes; for now I behold them descending gently.
Strepsiades.
Pray where? Show me.
Pray where? Show me.
Socrates.
See! There they come in great numbers through the hollows and thickets; there, obliquely.
See! There they come in great numbers through the hollows and thickets; there, obliquely.
Strepsiades.
What’s the matter? For I can’t see them.
What’s the matter? For I can’t see them.
Socrates.
By the entrance.
Enter Chorus.
By the entrance.
Strepsiades.
Now at length with difficulty I just see them.
Now at length with difficulty I just see them.
Socrates.
Now at length you assuredly see them, unless you have your eyes running pumpkins.
Now at length you assuredly see them, unless you have your eyes running pumpkins.
Strepsiades.
Yes, by Jupiter! O highly honoured Clouds, for now they cover all things.
Yes, by Jupiter! O highly honoured Clouds, for now they cover all things.
Socrates.
Did you not, however, know, nor yet consider, these to be goddesses?
Did you not, however, know, nor yet consider, these to be goddesses?
Strepsiades.
No, by Jupiter! But I thought them to be mist, and dew, and smoke.
330
No, by Jupiter! But I thought them to be mist, and dew, and smoke.
330
Socrates.
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.
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.
Strepsiades.
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.
335
For this reason, then, they introduced into their verses
335
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.
Socrates.
Is it not just, however, that they should have their reward, on account of these?
340
Is it not just, however, that they should have their reward, on account of these?
340
Strepsiades.
Tell me, pray, if they are really clouds, what ails them, that they resemble mortal women? For they are not such.
Tell me, pray, if they are really clouds, what ails them, that they resemble mortal women? For they are not such.
Socrates.
Pray, of what nature are they?
Pray, of what nature are they?
Strepsiades.
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.
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.
Socrates.
Answer, then, whatever I ask you.
345
Answer, then, whatever I ask you.
345
Strepsiades.
Then say quickly what you wish.
Then say quickly what you wish.
Socrates.
Have you ever, when you; looked up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a bull?
Have you ever, when you; looked up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a bull?
Strepsiades.
By Jupiter, have I! But what of that?
By Jupiter, have I! But what of that?
Socrates.
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.
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.
Strepsiades.
Why, what, if they should see Simon, a plunderer of the public property, what do they do?
Why, what, if they should see Simon, a plunderer of the public property, what do they do?
Socrates.
They suddenly become wolves, showing up his disposition.
They suddenly become wolves, showing up his disposition.
Strepsiades.
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.
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.
Socrates.
And now too, because they saw Clisthenes, you observe, on this account they became women.
355
And now too, because they saw Clisthenes, you observe, on this account they became women.
355
Clouds. Aristophanes. William James Hickie (Translator). London. 1853.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.