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Στρεψιάδης

ἰὼ ἰὼ τέκνον, ἰὼ ἰοῦ ἰοῦ.
1170

ὡς ἥδομαί σου πρῶτα τὴν χρόαν ἰδών.

νῦν μέν γʼ ἰδεῖν εἶ πρῶτον ἐξαρνητικὸς

κἀντιλογικός, καὶ τοῦτο τοὐπιχώριον

ἀτεχνῶς ἐπανθεῖ, τὸ τί λέγεις σύ; καὶ δοκεῖν

ἀδικοῦντʼ ἀδικεῖσθαι καὶ κακουργοῦντʼ οἶδʼ ὅτι·
1175

ἐπὶ τοῦ προσώπου τʼ ἐστὶν Ἀττικὸν βλέπος.

νῦν οὖν ὅπως σώσεις μʼ, ἐπεὶ κἀπώλεσας.

Φειδιππίδης

φοβεῖ δὲ δὴ τί;

Στρεψιάδης

τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης

ἕνη γάρ ἐστι καὶ νέα τις ἡμέρα;

Στρεψιάδης

εἰς ἥν γε θήσειν τὰ πρυτανεῖά φασί μοι.
1180

Φειδιππίδης

ἀπολοῦσʼ ἄρʼ αὔθʼ οἱ θέντες· οὐ γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅπως

μίʼ ἡμέρα γένοιτʼ ἂν ἡμέρα δύο.

Στρεψιάδης

οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο;

Φειδιππίδης

πῶς γάρ; εἰ μή πέρ γʼ ἅμα

αὑτὴ γένοιτʼ ἂν γραῦς τε καὶ νέα γυνή.

Στρεψιάδης

καὶ μὴν νενόμισταί γʼ.
1185

Φειδιππίδης

οὐ γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸν νόμον

ἴσασιν ὀρθῶς ὅ τι νοεῖ.

Στρεψιάδης

νοεῖ δὲ τί;

Φειδιππίδης

ὁ Σόλων ὁ παλαιὸς ἦν φιλόδημος τὴν φύσιν.

Στρεψιάδης

τουτὶ μὲν οὐδέν πω πρὸς ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης

ἐκεῖνος οὖν τὴν κλῆσιν ἐς δύʼ ἡμέρας

ἔθηκεν, ἔς γε τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν,
1190

ἵνʼ αἱ θέσεις γίγνοιντο τῇ νουμηνίᾳ.

Στρεψιάδης

ἵνα δὴ τί τὴν ἕνην προσέθηχʼ;

Φειδιππίδης

ἵνʼ ὦ μέλε

παρόντες οἱ φεύγοντες ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ

πρότερον ἀπαλλάττοινθʼ ἑκόντες, εἰ δὲ μή,

ἕωθεν ὑπανιῷντο τῇ νουμηνία.
1195

Στρεψιάδης

πῶς οὐ δέχονται δῆτα τῇ νουμηνίᾳ

ἁρχαὶ τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ, ἀλλʼ ἕνῃ τε καὶ νέᾳ;

Φειδιππίδης

ὅπερ οἱ προτένθαι γὰρ δοκοῦσί μοι ποιεῖν·

ὅπως τάχιστα τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ ὑφελοίατο,

διὰ τοῦτο προὐτένθευσαν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ.
1200

Στρεψιάδης

εὖ γʼ· ὦ κακοδαίμονες, τί κάθησθʼ ἀβέλτεροι,

ἡμέτερα κέρδη τῶν σοφῶν ὄντες, λίθοι,

ἀριθμός, πρόβατʼ ἄλλως, ἀμφορῆς νενησμένοι;

ὥστʼ εἰς ἐμαυτὸν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τουτονὶ

ἐπʼ εὐτυχίαισιν ᾀστέον μοὐγκώμιον.
1205

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.)

Translations (2)

Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 1170 focus

Strepsiades.

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
1170

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.
1175

Phidippides.

What, pray, do you fear?

Strepsiades.

The Old and New.

Phidippides.

Why, is any day old and new?

Strepsiades.

Yes; on which they say that they will make their deposits against me.
1180

Phidippides.

Then those that have made them will lose them; for it is not possible that two days can be one day.

Strepsiades.

Can not it?

Phidippides.

Certainly not; unless the same woman can be both old and young at the same time.

Strepsiades.

And yet it is the law.
1185

Phidippides.

For they do not, I think, rightly understand what the law means.

Strepsiades.

And what does it mean?

Phidippides.

The ancient Solon was by nature the commons’ friend.

Strepsiades.

This surely is nothing whatever to the Old and New.

Phidippides.

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.

Strepsiades.

Why, pray, did he add the old day?

Phidippides.

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.
1195

Strepsiades.

Why, then, do the magistrates not receive the deposits on the new moon, but on the Old and New?

Phidippides.

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.

Strepsiades.
(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.
1205

English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 1170 focus

Strepsiades: Alas, alas, child, alas, alas.

1170

Strepsiades: How delighted I am, having seen your face first.

Strepsiades: Now, first of all, you must be seen to be denying.

Strepsiades: and argumentative, this is also a country trait.

Strepsiades: Indeed it is flourishing, the thing that you say? And seems to be.

Strepsiades: I know that the unjust suffer injustice and the criminals suffer wrong.

1175

Strepsiades: There is an Attic look upon his face.

Strepsiades: So now, how will you save me, since you have also ruined me.

Pheidippides: What then is he afraid of?

Strepsiades: the pregnant and the young one.

Pheidippides: For it is indeed a fresh and new day.

Strepsiades: into which, they say, they will place the prytaneia.

1180

Pheidippides: Let those who set it up perish then; for there is no way

Pheidippides: If only one day could become two days.

Strepsiades: 'It would not happen, would it?'

Pheidippides: How so? If not at least at the same time

Pheidippides: May she turn out to be both an old woman and a young woman.

Strepsiades: And indeed, I have established a law.

1185

Pheidippides: For I do not think [it is] the law.

Pheidippides: They know correctly what he is thinking.

Strepsiades: But what is he thinking?

Pheidippides: Solon the old was a lover of the people by nature.

Strepsiades: This, however, has nothing to do with an old and a young woman yet.

Pheidippides: So that man, the summons for two days.

Pheidippides: He set it, at least on the new and fresh one,

1190

Pheidippides: so that the positions might be established on the new moon.

Strepsiades: So why did you add the new one?

Pheidippides: so that, O honey

Pheidippides: The fugitives are present for one day.

Pheidippides: Let them depart beforehand willingly, but if not,

Pheidippides: On the first day of the month, they would run out early in the morning.

1195

Strepsiades: why then do they not accept it at the beginning of the month?

Strepsiades: The beginnings of the prytaneion, but in one and a new way?

Pheidippides: That is what the long-winded seem to me to do, for...

Pheidippides: 'that they might take the Prytaneion as soon as possible,'

Pheidippides: For this reason they were a day ahead.

1200

Strepsiades: Well then! Wretched fools, why are you sitting there idle,

Strepsiades: being the profits of the wise, stones,

Strepsiades: Count them, sheep otherwise, amphorae in a state of fasting?

Strepsiades: So, to myself and this son of mine

Strepsiades: I should sing a song of triumph.

1205

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

1180. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-85

Line 1180

εἰς ἥν γε θήσειν τὰ πρυτανεῖά φασί μοι.

The construction ἥν γε θήσειν represents a striking example of the 'future infinitive of the passive' (or more accurately here, a future infinitive in the accusative case functioning as the subject of the infinitive clause) used in a relative clause dependent on an implied verb of motion or direction ('into which they say they will place...'). However, the specific syntactic oddity lies in the use of the future infinitive θήσειν (from τίθημι) with the article ἥν (accusative feminine singular of ὅς) functioning as the object of the preposition εἰς, yet appearing in a position where one might expect a finite verb or a different infinitive construction. This usage is rare in Aristophanes and likely reflects a deliberate comic distortion of high-style oracular or legalistic Greek, where the future infinitive is used to express a future action that is the object of the main verb's assertion (φασί). The particle γε adds a tone of emphasis or concession, typical of the comic exaggeration of the Sophists' pretensions to precision. The phrase essentially means 'into which, they say, they will place the prytaneia,' but the syntactic arrangement mimics the convoluted, often nonsensical legal or philosophical jargon that Aristophanes parodies in the Clouds.

1198. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-86

Line 1198

ὅπερ οἱ προτένθαι γὰρ δοκοῦσί μοι ποιεῖν·

The term προτένθαι (protenthai) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only here in extant comedy. While the verb προτείνω (to stretch out or offer) is common, the specific aorist infinitive form here is morphologically irregular or potentially a scribal corruption for προτεῖναι. The context of the Clouds' rhetorical argument involves them claiming to 'stretch out' or 'offer' a new way of life; the unusual form may reflect Aristophanes' deliberate coinage to mimic the 'stretching' of logic or language by the Sophists, or it may represent a textual crux where the manuscript tradition (e.g., codex Venetus) preserves a form that later editors have struggled to reconcile with standard Attic morphology.

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

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Φειδιππίδης φοβεῖ δὲ δὴ τί;

Στρεψιάδης τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης ἕνη γάρ ἐστι καὶ νέα τις ἡμέρα;

Στρεψιάδης εἰς ἥν γε θήσειν τὰ πρυτανεῖά φασί μοι. 1180

Φειδιππίδης ἀπολοῦσʼ ἄρʼ αὔθʼ οἱ θέντες· οὐ γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅπως μίʼ ἡμέρα γένοιτʼ ἂν ἡμέρα δύο.

Στρεψιάδης οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο;

Φειδιππίδης πῶς γάρ; εἰ μή πέρ γʼ ἅμα αὑτὴ γένοιτʼ ἂν γραῦς τε καὶ νέα γυνή.

Στρεψιάδης καὶ μὴν νενόμισταί γʼ. 1185

Φειδιππίδης οὐ γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸν νόμον ἴσασιν ὀρθῶς ὅ τι νοεῖ.

Στρεψιάδης νοεῖ δὲ τί;

Φειδιππίδης ὁ Σόλων ὁ παλαιὸς ἦν φιλόδημος τὴν φύσιν.

Στρεψιάδης τουτὶ μὲν οὐδέν πω πρὸς ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης ἐκεῖνος οὖν τὴν κλῆσιν ἐς δύʼ ἡμέρας ἔθηκεν, ἔς γε τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν, 1190 ἵνʼ αἱ θέσεις γίγνοιντο τῇ νουμηνίᾳ.

Στρεψιάδης ἵνα δὴ τί τὴν ἕνην προσέθηχʼ;

Φειδιππίδης ἵνʼ ὦ μέλε παρόντες οἱ φεύγοντες ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ πρότερον ἀπαλλάττοινθʼ ἑκόντες, εἰ δὲ μή, ἕωθεν ὑπανιῷντο τῇ νουμηνία. 1195

Στρεψιάδης πῶς οὐ δέχονται δῆτα τῇ νουμηνίᾳ ἁρχαὶ τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ, ἀλλʼ ἕνῃ τε καὶ νέᾳ;

Φειδιππίδης ὅπερ οἱ προτένθαι γὰρ δοκοῦσί μοι ποιεῖν· ὅπως τάχιστα τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ ὑφελοίατο, διὰ τοῦτο προὐτένθευσαν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ. 1200

Current edition Perseus

Phidippides. What, pray, do you fear?

Strepsiades. The Old and New.

Phidippides. Why, is any day old and new?

Strepsiades. Yes; on which they say that they will make their deposits against me. 1180

Phidippides. Then those that have made them will lose them; for it is not possible that two days can be one day.

Strepsiades. Can not it?

Phidippides. Certainly not; unless the same woman can be both old and young at the same time.

Strepsiades. And yet it is the law. 1185

Phidippides. For they do not, I think, rightly understand what the law means.

Strepsiades. And what does it mean?

Phidippides. The ancient Solon was by nature the commons’ friend.

Strepsiades. This surely is nothing whatever to the Old and New.

Phidippides. 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.

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

Phidippides. 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. 1195

Strepsiades. Why, then, do the magistrates not receive the deposits on the new moon, but on the Old and New?

Phidippides. 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.

Strepsiades. (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. 1205

Commentary

Line 1180

Line 1198

Stable identifiers

Φειδιππίδης

φοβεῖ δὲ δὴ τί;

Στρεψιάδης

τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης

ἕνη γάρ ἐστι καὶ νέα τις ἡμέρα;

Στρεψιάδης

εἰς ἥν γε θήσειν τὰ πρυτανεῖά φασί μοι.
1180

Φειδιππίδης

ἀπολοῦσʼ ἄρʼ αὔθʼ οἱ θέντες· οὐ γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅπως

μίʼ ἡμέρα γένοιτʼ ἂν ἡμέρα δύο.

Στρεψιάδης

οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο;

Φειδιππίδης

πῶς γάρ; εἰ μή πέρ γʼ ἅμα

αὑτὴ γένοιτʼ ἂν γραῦς τε καὶ νέα γυνή.

Στρεψιάδης

καὶ μὴν νενόμισταί γʼ.
1185

Φειδιππίδης

οὐ γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸν νόμον

ἴσασιν ὀρθῶς ὅ τι νοεῖ.

Στρεψιάδης

νοεῖ δὲ τί;

Φειδιππίδης

ὁ Σόλων ὁ παλαιὸς ἦν φιλόδημος τὴν φύσιν.

Στρεψιάδης

τουτὶ μὲν οὐδέν πω πρὸς ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν.

Φειδιππίδης

ἐκεῖνος οὖν τὴν κλῆσιν ἐς δύʼ ἡμέρας

ἔθηκεν, ἔς γε τὴν ἕνην τε καὶ νέαν,
1190

ἵνʼ αἱ θέσεις γίγνοιντο τῇ νουμηνίᾳ.

Στρεψιάδης

ἵνα δὴ τί τὴν ἕνην προσέθηχʼ;

Φειδιππίδης

ἵνʼ ὦ μέλε

παρόντες οἱ φεύγοντες ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ

πρότερον ἀπαλλάττοινθʼ ἑκόντες, εἰ δὲ μή,

ἕωθεν ὑπανιῷντο τῇ νουμηνία.
1195

Στρεψιάδης

πῶς οὐ δέχονται δῆτα τῇ νουμηνίᾳ

ἁρχαὶ τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ, ἀλλʼ ἕνῃ τε καὶ νέᾳ;

Φειδιππίδης

ὅπερ οἱ προτένθαι γὰρ δοκοῦσί μοι ποιεῖν·

ὅπως τάχιστα τὰ πρυτανεῖʼ ὑφελοίατο,

διὰ τοῦτο προὐτένθευσαν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ.
1200

Phidippides.

What, pray, do you fear?

Strepsiades.

The Old and New.

Phidippides.

Why, is any day old and new?

Strepsiades.

Yes; on which they say that they will make their deposits against me.
1180

Phidippides.

Then those that have made them will lose them; for it is not possible that two days can be one day.

Strepsiades.

Can not it?

Phidippides.

Certainly not; unless the same woman can be both old and young at the same time.

Strepsiades.

And yet it is the law.
1185

Phidippides.

For they do not, I think, rightly understand what the law means.

Strepsiades.

And what does it mean?

Phidippides.

The ancient Solon was by nature the commons’ friend.

Strepsiades.

This surely is nothing whatever to the Old and New.

Phidippides.

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.

Strepsiades.

Why, pray, did he add the old day?

Phidippides.

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.
1195

Strepsiades.

Why, then, do the magistrates not receive the deposits on the new moon, but on the Old and New?

Phidippides.

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.

Strepsiades.
(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.
1205