Aristophanes Clouds 0-261

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Card
Next →

Clouds. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1906.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Νεφέλαι (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.)

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

10. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-1

Line 10

ἐν πέντε σισύραις ἐγκεκορδυλημένος.
The phrase ἐγκεκορδυλημένος is a hapax legomenon in the extant corpus of Aristophanes, derived from κώρδυλος (a type of coarse, rough woolen garment or, more broadly, a shaggy cloak). The perfect middle/passive participle suggests a state of being 'shrouded' or 'wrapped up' in these five 'sisyrai' (a specific, likely rustic, type of woolen cloak or mantle). The construction is syntactically straightforward but semantically opaque without knowledge of the specific material culture of the term σίσυρα, which appears elsewhere only in comic fragments or glosses, indicating a deliberate use of archaic or technical vocabulary to characterize the subject's ragged, impoverished, or rustic appearance, fitting the play's satire of the Sophists' ascetic affectations.

31. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-2

Line 31

τρεῖς μναῖ διφρίσκου καὶ τροχοῖν Ἀμυνίᾳ.
The phrase 'διφρίσκου' is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only here in the extant corpus. While the verb is derived from the noun διφρίσκος (a type of light, two-wheeled cart), the verbal form is exceptionally rare and its precise semantic nuance here—whether implying a specific type of motion or simply 'to drive'—is debated. The accusative singular 'διφρίσκου' is grammatically regular as the direct object of the implied verb of giving or spending (understood from context), but the rarity of the lexical item itself warrants note for a specialist audience.

33. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-3

Line 33

ἀλλʼ ὦ μέλʼ ἐξήλικας ἐμέ γʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν,
The vocative form μέλ' (for μέλι) is a rare instance of the elision of the final iota in the vocative of this noun, which is otherwise typically uncontracted or treated differently in comedy; this metrical concession highlights the speaker's emotional outburst and the intimate, abusive address typical of Aristophanic dialogue.

46. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-4

Line 46

ἔπειτʼ ἔγημα Μεγακλέους τοῦ Μεγακλέους
The double use of the name Μεγακλέους (genitive of Megacles) is a deliberate comic device highlighting the absurdity of the name's recurrence within a single phrase, a technique characteristic of Aristophanic wordplay where the repetition serves to mock the speaker's pretension or the obscurity of the genealogy. This specific construction echoes a known comedic trope found elsewhere in the play (e.g., 545) where the repetition of a name is used to satirize the pedantic enumeration of lineage.

48. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-5

Line 48

σεμνὴν τρυφῶσαν ἐγκεκοισυρωμένην.
The participle ἐγκεκοισυρωμένην (from ἐγκεκοισυρῶ) is a hapax legomenon in extant Greek literature, denoting a specific type of disheveled, wind-blown, or 'wind-blowing' state, here metaphorically describing the clouds' unruly, stormy appearance. Its rarity and unique compound formation warrant attention as a deliberate Aristophanic coinage to evoke the chaotic physicality of the Clouds.

65. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-6

Line 65

ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦ πάππου ʼτιθέμην Φειδωνίδην.
The genitive τοῦ πάππου is not merely possessive but denotes the specific familial line or house (the Φειδωνίδαι) from which the speaker claims descent. In Old Comedy, this construction often signals a claim to aristocratic lineage or a specific political faction, here likely alluding to the Pheidonid clan, a prominent family in Athenian history known for figures like Pheidon of Argos (though the Athenian connection is the point of the joke or claim). The use of the proper name in the genitive as a substantive (Φειδωνίδην) functioning as the predicate of ʼτιθέμην (I was counted/set as) is a concise way of asserting identity within that lineage, a rhetorical device common in self-definition within the parabasis or character introductions.

96. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-7

Line 96

λέγοντες ἀναπείθουσιν ὡς ἔστιν πνιγεύς,
The term πνιγεύς (pniugeus) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only here in the extant corpus. Derived from πνίγειν (to choke), it is a coinage satirizing the Sophists' tendency to invent technical-sounding terminology for trivial or absurd concepts. The word functions as a pun on the physical act of choking (perhaps alluding to the 'strangling' of logic in eristic debates) and the intellectual 'suffocation' of the student, a typical Aristophanic device of lexical invention to mock the perceived obscurantism of contemporary intellectuals.

156. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-8

Line 156

ἀνήρετʼ αὐτὸν Χαιρεφῶν ὁ Σφήττιος
The aorist indicative ἀνήρετ' (from ἀναίρω, 'to lift up' or 'to slay') is metrically contracted here to fit the iambic trimeter; the form ἀνήρεν would be expected in the uncontracted sequence, but the elision of the final nu before the vowel of the following name Χαιρεφῶν is standard in the comic tradition. The verb's usage here, implying 'to kill' or 'to murder' rather than the more common 'to lift up,' is a specific semantic development in Aristophanic comedy, often associated with the chaotic violence of the trial scenes in the Clouds.

158. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-9

Line 158

κατὰ τὸ στόμʼ ᾄδειν ἢ κατὰ τοὐρροπύγιον.
The phrase κατὰ τοὐρροπύγιον ('in the rump-hole') presents a striking example of Aristophanic bathos, juxtaposing the elevated act of singing (ᾄδειν) with the most vulgar anatomical location. The construction κατὰ + accusative here denotes the manner or locus of the action with aggressive physicality, a hallmark of the comic genre's subversion of the 'mouth' (στόμʼ) as the proper organ for vocal performance. This specific collocation appears in the Clouds (line 1338) during the contest between the Just and Unjust Logos, where the Unjust Logos argues that one should sing from the anus to avoid the 'moral' constraints of the mouth, a grotesque inversion of the philosophical ideal of the 'speaking head' versus the 'thinking body'.

160. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-10

Line 160

ἔφασκεν εἶναι τοὔντερον τῆς ἐμπίδος
The phrase τοὔντερον is a crasis of τὸ ἔντερον, literally 'the inside part' or 'the innards.' In this context, where Strepsiades is mocking Socrates' astronomical theories, the term is used ironically to refer to the Earth (or perhaps the celestial sphere) as a physical object located 'inside' or 'at the bottom' of the cosmos, contrasting with the traditional view of the Earth as the central, stable ground. The specific choice of ἔντερον (often associated with entrails) rather than a more standard geographical term like μέση or γῆ adds a layer of grotesque physicality to the comic description of the cosmos, suggesting the Earth is merely a bloated organ within the larger body of the universe, a metaphor consistent with the play's satirical treatment of natural philosophy.

168. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-11

Line 168

ὅστις δίοιδε τοὔντερον τῆς ἐμπίδος.
The form δίοιδε is a Doric aorist indicative active of διόιδω (to go through), contrasting with the Attic δίοισεν. In Aristophanes' comic dialect, this Doricism is a deliberate marker of the rustic character Strepsiades, who is being mocked for his lack of sophistication, while the verb itself is rare in Attic prose, appearing primarily in dialectal or comic contexts to denote a vigorous, often clumsy, passage through a space.

171. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-12

Line 171

ζητοῦντος αὐτοῦ τῆς σελήνης τὰς ὁδοὺς
The construction employs the genitive absolute (ζητοῦντος αὐτοῦ τῆς σελήνης τὰς ὁδοὺς) with a transitive verb (ζητεῖν) governing a direct object (τὰς ὁδοὺς) while the subject of the participle is the same as the implied subject of the main clause. This is syntactically irregular because the genitive absolute typically requires the subject of the participle to be distinct from the subject of the main clause; here, it functions almost as a nominative absolute or a causal clause with a shared subject, a feature rare in Aristophanes and potentially reflecting a specific stylistic license or a corruption in the transmitted text.

174. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-13

Line 174

ἥσθην γαλεώτῃ καταχέσαντι Σωκράτους.
The phrase καταχέσαντι is an aorist active participle of καταχέω, 'to pour down' or 'to drench,' used here in a comic, hyperbolic sense to describe the act of dousing Socrates with water as part of the punishment for his 'theological' inquiries. The construction employs a dative of agent with the aorist participle, a rare syntactic choice in Attic prose but characteristic of Aristophanic comic exaggeration, where the participle functions almost as a verbal noun of action. The use of γαλεώτῃ, 'with a water-skin,' further underscores the absurdity of the scene, as it implies a crude, almost animalistic method of punishment.
The verb ἥσθην, the aorist passive of ἄρχω, is here used in a non-standard sense, meaning 'to be drenched' or 'to be soaked,' rather than its usual meaning of 'to begin' or 'to rule.' This usage is a rare and deliberate comic distortion of the verb, typical of Aristophanes' linguistic playfulness, and serves to emphasize the physical and metaphorical 'drowning' of Socrates in the context of the Clouds' judgment.

186. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-14

Line 186

τοῖς ἐκ Πύλου ληφθεῖσι τοῖς Λακωνικοῖς.
The phrase refers to the Spartan hoplites captured by the Athenians after the disaster at Sphacteria in 425 BCE, an event that precipitated a constitutional crisis in Sparta due to the large number of Spartiates held hostage. The perfect passive participle ληφθεῖσι (from λαμβάνω) emphasizes the resulting state of being held captive rather than the moment of capture, which is crucial for understanding the political leverage Athens momentarily held over Sparta and the specific context of the Athenian threat being invoked in the play.

192. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-15

Line 192

οὗτοι δʼ ἐρεβοδιφῶσιν ὑπὸ τὸν Τάρταρον.
The compound verb ἐρεβοδιφῶσιν is a rare hapax legomenon (or near-hapax in the surviving corpus) formed from ἔρεβος ('darkness') and δίφω ('I scratch'). The term functions as a vivid, onomatopoeic coinage by Aristophanes to describe the frantic scratching or digging sound of the cloud-chariot's wheels or the charioteers' frantic movements in the underworld, rather than a standard term for 'digging'. Its morphology and semantic construction exemplify the comic poet's tendency to create new compounds to match the specific auditory or visual grotesquerie of the scene.

218. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-16

Line 218

φέρε τίς γὰρ οὗτος οὑπὶ τῆς κρεμάθρας ἀνήρ;
The phrase 'οὑπὶ τῆς κρεμάθρας' presents a crux of textual criticism and syntactic interpretation. While 'κρεμάθρα' (a hanging basket or sieve) is attested, the prepositional phrase 'οὑπὶ' (a crasis of 'ὁ ἐπί') followed by the genitive is highly irregular for Aristophanes' typical usage, where 'ἐπί' usually governs the accusative for motion toward or the dative for location. Some editors, following a conjecture by Hermann, have suggested emending 'οὑπὶ' to 'ἐν' or reinterpreting the case as a rare dative construction implying 'under the influence of' the basket, reflecting a metaphorical 'hanging' state of confusion or intoxication. This syntactic irregularity is compounded by the ambiguity of 'κρεμάθρα' itself: while literally a hanging basket, in this comedic context it may allude to a specific prop or a metaphorical device for the 'Clouds' themselves, whose suspended nature is central to the play's satire of Socratic natural philosophy.

257. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-17

Line 257

ὥσπερ με τὸν Ἀθάμανθʼ ὅπως μὴ θύσετε.
The sentence contains a textual crux regarding the name Ἀθάμανθʼ. While the standard reading in most manuscripts is Ἀθάμανθʼ (Athanantas), a significant variant tradition, noted in the apparatus of Diggle and others, suggests Ἀθάμανθ' could be a corruption of Ἀθάμαντα (Athanantas, the son of Aeolus) or, more likely in the comic context, a garbled reference to Ἀθάμαντα the son of Athamas, or potentially a conflation with the figure of 'Athanant' as a generic 'fool' or a specific, now lost, character. The scholia suggest the line may refer to the myth of Athamas and Ino, where the children were sacrificed, but the specific syntactic construction ὅπως μὴ θύσετε (so that you do not sacrifice) attached to a proper name in the accusative as a direct object of an implied 'take' or 'consider' is highly irregular. The most accepted scholarly resolution (e.g., by Dover) is that the text is corrupt, and the intended reading was likely ὥσπερ με τὸν Ἀθάμανθ' ὅπως μὴ θύσετε [ἔχετε] or similar, implying a plea not to sacrifice the speaker, who is being compared to the tragic figure of Athamas' son. The variant reading Ἀθάμανθ' is often emended to Ἀθάμαντα to fit the accusative case required by the implied verb of sacrifice, though the manuscript tradition is divided.