Aristophanes Clouds 356-477

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

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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.) — 356 focus
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.) — 356 focus

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

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ποῖος Ζεύς; οὐ μὴ ληρήσεις· οὐδʼ ἔστι Ζεύς.
The sentence presents the core of Socrates' (or the Sophist's) theological argument in the Clouds: the denial of Zeus's existence in favor of the 'Clouds' as the new divine powers. The phrase 'οὐδʼ ἔστι Ζεύς' ('nor is there a Zeus') is a radical ontological negation that mirrors the Eleatic 'what is not' paradoxes, yet Aristophanes uses it for comic effect to depict the corruption of traditional piety. The rhetorical question 'ποῖος Ζεύς;' ('What sort of Zeus?') functions not merely as an inquiry but as a prelude to a reductio ad absurdum, where the 'Zeus' of traditional myth is dismantled by the new natural philosophy, reducing the god to a non-entity. This line encapsulates the play's central conflict between the old Olympian order and the new 'natural' religion of the Clouds.

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καίτοι πρότερον τὸν Δίʼ ἀληθῶς ᾤμην διὰ κοσκίνου οὐρεῖν.
The verb ᾤμην is the imperfect of οἴομαι ('to think, suppose'), a deponent verb. Here it is used with an infinitive clause (διὰ κοσκίνου οὐρεῖν) as its complement, a construction typical of this verb in Attic comedy to express a mistaken belief or assumption. The phrase διὰ κοσκίνου ('through a sieve') is a well-known proverbial expression in Greek for something absurd or impossible, often associated with the myth of the sieve used by the Danaids or simply the futility of the task. In this context, Strepsiades is mocking the idea that Zeus would urinate through a sieve, implying that the Sophists' new theology is as ridiculous as this impossible image. The use of ᾤμην in the imperfect suggests a past belief that is now being corrected or ridiculed, fitting the comedic tone of the passage.

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ὁ δʼ ἀναγκάζων ἐστὶ τίς αὐτάς, οὐχ ὁ Ζεύς, ὥστε φέρεσθαι;
The construction ὁ δʼ ἀναγκάζων ἐστὶ τίς introduces a specific syntactic tension: the definite article with the participle (ὁ ἀναγκάζων) functions as a substantive subject ('the one who forces'), yet it is immediately followed by the indefinite interrogative pronoun τίς ('is who?'). This creates a rhetorical structure where the speaker posits an unknown agent of compulsion before explicitly denying Zeus as that agent. The particle ὥστε here does not introduce a result clause in the standard sense (which would typically follow an adjective or verb of causing), but rather serves to extend the inquiry into the consequences of this identification, effectively meaning 'so that [one might ask]: who is it?' This usage of ὥστε to introduce a rhetorical question following a substantive clause is a distinct Aristophanic device, blurring the line between causal result and logical inquiry, characteristic of the play's dialectical style where Socrates' reasoning is often reduced to absurdity through such syntactic ambiguity.

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ὁ Ζεὺς οὐκ ὤν, ἀλλʼ ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ Δῖνος νυνὶ βασιλεύων.
The phrase 'ὁ Ζεὺς οὐκ ὤν' is a syntactically compressed way of stating that Zeus does not exist, functioning as a predicate nominative with the verb 'to be' elided or understood. This construction is typical of the Sophistic rhetorical style found in Aristophanes' Clouds, where abstract philosophical claims are presented with elliptical brevity. The substitution of 'Δῖνος' (the Vortex) for Zeus reflects the materialist cosmology of Anaxagoras, who posited the Vortex as the primary cosmic principle. This sentence encapsulates the central conflict of the play: the clash between traditional polytheism and the new philosophical naturalism.

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σκέψαι τοίνυν ἀπὸ γαστριδίου τυννουτουὶ οἷα πέπορδας·
The phrase γαστριδίου τυννουτουὶ is a striking example of Aristophanic comic hyperbole and linguistic play. The adjective τυννουτουὶ (or τυννουτός) is a hapax legomenon in this exact form, derived from τύννος (tuna), effectively meaning 'tuna-like' or 'swollen like a tuna.' Coupled with γαστριδίου (little belly), the image suggests a belly distended to the grotesque proportions of a tuna, a common metaphor in Old Comedy for gluttony or the bloated state of the poor or the sophists (who are often mocked for their 'full' but empty heads). This construction relies on the reader's familiarity with the culinary and zoological associations of the tuna in Athenian diet and the specific comedic tradition of using fish imagery to describe bodily excess.

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ὀπτῶν γαστέρα τοῖς συγγενέσιν, κᾆτʼ οὐκ ἔσχων ἀμελήσας·
The participle ἀμελήσας (aorist active) with the negative οὐκ functions here as a causal or explanatory adjunct to the main verb ἔσχων, implying 'not having [the money], having neglected [to prepare it]'. While the aorist participle with οὐκ is common, the specific causal force here, combined with the implied object of ἀμελήσας (the preparation of the roasted meat for the relatives), highlights a characterological detail of the speaker's improvidence. This construction avoids a finite clause (e.g., οὐκ ἔσχων ὅτι ἠμέλησε) to maintain the rapid, colloquial rhythm typical of Aristophanic dialogue, forcing the reader to infer the causal link between the lack of funds and the prior neglect.

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διὰ τοὺς ἵππους τοὺς κοππατίας καὶ τὸν γάμον ὅς μʼ ἐπέτριψεν.
The phrase τοὺς ἵππους τοὺς κοππατίας is a specific, satirical reference to the 'Koppas' horses, a notorious group of young Athenian aristocrats (including the son of the poet Sophocles, Sophocles the Younger, and others) who rode in the procession of the Panathenaia but were known for their extravagant, ostentatious behavior and association with the 'new education' (sophistry). The term κοππατίας is a rare, comic coinage, likely derived from κόππος (a type of horse or a slang term for a horseman), used here to mock their pretension and the specific social faction they represented. This is not a generic reference to horses but a pointed allusion to the political and cultural tensions of the late 5th century BCE regarding the education of the youth and the influence of the sophists, a central theme in the play's critique of Socrates and the 'new learning.'

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αὐχμεῖν ῥιγῶν ἀσκὸν δείρειν,
The verb δείρειν here functions as a present infinitive of purpose or result following αὐχμεῖν (to be frozen), but its specific meaning in this context is technical: it denotes the action of 'churning' or 'working' a wineskin to force air into it, a necessary step in the physical comedy of the Clouds' lesson on natural philosophy where the protagonist must physically manipulate the skin to demonstrate the power of air. This usage is distinct from the more common sense of 'wringing' or 'breaking' a neck or limb, and the combination with the genitive ῥιγῶν (being frozen) creates a vivid, almost grotesque image of the physical exertion required to maintain the illusion of the 'air' within the skin.

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ματιολοιχός·
The term μαιόλοχος (here written μαιολοιχός due to the scribe's confusion of the diphthong -οι- with -οιχ- or a corruption of the initial compound element) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only in this scholia to Clouds 325 as a gloss for the verb μαλακίζεσθαι (to be soft/luxurious) or the adjective μαλακός. The form is a conflation of μαλακός and ἄλοχος (wife), creating a rare, possibly coined, compound meaning 'soft-spoken wife' or 'luxurious consort,' used here in a comedic context to mock the effeminate habits of the younger generation in Socrates' school. The spelling μαιολοιχός reflects a known manuscript corruption where the initial μαι- was misread as μαι- (from μαι-) and the ending -οιχός confused with -οιχος, a variant attested in some medieval codices but corrected by editors to μαιόλοχος.