Aristophanes Clouds 627-888a

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.) — 627 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.) — 627 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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Line 640

ὑπʼ ἀλφιταμοιβοῦ παρεκόπην διχοινίκῳ.
The noun ἀλφιταμοιβός ('flour-exchanger' or 'meal-barterer') is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, constructed as a compound of ἄλφιτον (barley-meal) and μοιβός (exchange). Its usage here is not merely descriptive of a baker but satirically precise: in the context of the Clouds' education, Strepsiades is being depicted as a man of such meager means that his only economic interaction involves the barter of basic grain, a detail that underscores the play's critique of the sophists' corruption of even the most humble tradesmen. The compound's formation follows a pattern of comic neologism where the -μοιβός suffix (from μοιβή, exchange) is applied to a commodity to denote the agent of its trade, a linguistic device Aristophanes employs to generate humor through hyper-specificity.

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Line 651

κατʼ ἐνόπλιον, χὠποῖος αὖ κατὰ δάκτυλον.
The phrase χὠποῖος is a colloquial contraction of καὶ ποῖος, where the elision of the initial kappa in καὶ before the omega of ποῖος is marked by the rough breathing on the resulting combination. This specific elision, creating the form χὠ-, is a hallmark of Aristophanic comic diction and reflects the rapid, conversational tempo of the dialogue, distinguishing it from the more formal elisions found in tragedy or prose.

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Line 669

διαλφιτώσω σου κύκλῳ τὴν κάρδοπον.
The verb διαλφιτώσω (future of διαλφιτόω) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, formed from the noun ἀλφιτῶν (barley-meal) with the prefix δια- implying a distribution or scattering. The construction 'I will scatter barley-meal around you' serves as a specific threat of ritual exclusion or pollution, where the scattering of grain was associated with both purification rites and, in a comic context, the humiliation of the victim by treating them as an object of a ritual rather than a person. The use of the dative κύκλῳ (around) with the accusative κάρδοπον (a type of cake or bread, here likely a specific term for a coarse or ritually significant cake) highlights the physical action intended to isolate the addressee within a circle of grain.

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Line 674

ταὐτὸν δύναταί σοι κάρδοπος Κλεωνύμῳ.
The dative Κλεωνύμῳ is not merely a standard indirect object but a dative of disadvantage (dativus incommodi), emphasizing the specific, ironic harm inflicted upon the notoriously spendthrift Cleonymus. The verb δύναταί (from δύναμαι) here takes a dative of the person affected rather than the more common dative of advantage or simple agentive dative, highlighting the active capacity of the 'chaff' to cause him ruin. This construction underscores the satirical point that his financial ruin is not a passive occurrence but an active force uniquely suited to his character.

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Line 680

ἐκεῖνο δʼ ἦν ἄν, καρδόπη, Κλεωνύμη.
The vocative 'κάρδοπη' is a rare, dialectal form of the common noun κάρδοπος ('cardoon'), here used as a term of abuse or a specific epithet for Cleonymus, whose cowardice (reflected in the historical tradition of his throwing away his shield) is being mocked. The use of the plant name as a personal address in comedy is a distinct rhetorical device, likely alluding to the plant's prickly nature or perhaps its commonality, contrasting with the gravity of the situation.

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Line 719

φρούδη ψυχή, φρούδη δʼ ἐμβάς·
The phrase φρούδη ψυχή, φρούδη δʼ ἐμβάς (a 'foolish' soul, foolish too the rider) presents a syntactic and semantic crux regarding the predicate adjective φρούδη. While the noun ψυχή (soul) is clearly the subject of the first clause, the second clause ἐμβάς (the rider) functions as a predicate nominative agreeing with the subject, yet the adjective φρούδη is placed in the accusative case. This construction relies on the understood subject of the infinitive or participle construction in the surrounding context (likely referring to the 'rider' as the one who has the foolish soul), but the specific use of the accusative for the predicate adjective with a nominative subject is highly irregular. More critically, the term φρούδη is a rare hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only here in this specific context, and its etymology is debated: it may derive from φρόνησις (mind/sense) with a privative prefix, suggesting 'mindless,' or it could be a colloquialism related to φρῶ (to be foolish). The ambiguity of the word's precise nuance in this specific comedic context—whether it denotes intellectual deficiency or moral folly—is significant for interpreting the character's self-deprecation or the playwright's satire of the Sophists' teachings on the soul.

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Line 729

κἀπαιόλημʼ.
The form κἀπαιόλημʼ is a highly irregular contraction of κἀπαιόλημαι (or κἀπαιόλημαι), where the final -αι is elided before the enclitic -μʼ. This specific morphological form, often appearing in the comic meter to resolve metrical constraints, is a crux for editors; some manuscripts read κἀπαιόλημαι, while others (like the Venetus) preserve the contracted form, which creates a textual variant regarding the intended phonetic realization and the exact verb form (perfect vs. perfect with reduplication). The semantic force is 'and I have been made to smell' or 'I have caught a whiff,' with the prefix ἐπι- (contracted to ε- before the vowel) implying a sudden or intrusive perception, a usage characteristic of Aristophanic comedy where bodily functions and sensory perceptions are exaggerated for comic effect.

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Line 730

ἐξ ἀρνακίδων γνώμην ἀποστερητρίδα;
The phrase employs a rare and striking hyperbolic synecdoche where 'lambs' (ἀρνακίδων) stands for the entire flock or the shepherds who tend them, while γνώμην ἀποστερητρίδα ('a judgment that deprives') personifies the concept of a legal verdict as an active agent of theft. This construction relies on the specific context of the Clouds' trial of Socrates, where the 'new learning' is satirically depicted as stripping the youth of their traditional inheritance (the 'flock') through deceptive rhetoric. The genitive plural ἀρνακίδων, while grammatically straightforward, carries a heavy ironic weight here, reducing the complex social and economic structures of the polis to a pastoral metaphor of stolen livestock, a device characteristic of Aristophanes' early comic style which often blends domestic imagery with high legal discourse.

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Line 734

οὐδέν γε πλὴν ἢ τὸ πέος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ.
The phrase 'τὸ πέος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ' is a notorious crux in the textual tradition. While the literal translation ('nothing except the penis in the right hand') is grammatically sound, the phrase has been suspected by scholars (e.g., Meineke, Kock) of being a corruption or a later interpolation, possibly obscuring a reference to a 'phallus' (ἄρρηκτον) or a specific prop used in the comic mime that the original audience would recognize. The phrase appears in the context of a character (likely Strepsiades or a companion) describing a ridiculous or obscene gesture, and its abruptness in the dialogue has led to conjectures that the original text may have read 'τὸ πέος ἐν τῇ χειρὶ' or contained a different verb entirely, though no surviving manuscript offers a significant alternative reading to this specific phrase; the 'crux' lies in its perceived obscenity and potential metrical or contextual dissonance rather than a direct manuscript variant. Some editors argue it is a deliberate, shocking comic effect, while others suggest it is a corruption of a more obscure idiom.

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Line 749

γυναῖκα φαρμακίδʼ εἰ πριάμενος Θετταλὴν
The adjective φαρμακίδ' (from φαρμακίς, a female sorcerer or poisoner) is a hapax legomenon in the extant corpus of Aristophanes, appearing here as a striking example of his coinage of terms to characterize the 'new learning' of the Sophists as actual witchcraft. The term relies on the contemporary Athenian association of the Thessalians with magical practices (a topos found in Herodotus and later in the *Phaedra* of Euripides), but its specific application to a 'wife' purchased by the character Strepsiades serves as a hyperbolic metonymy for the deceptive rhetoric of the Socratic school, which is presented as a purchased commodity that corrupts the household.

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Line 767

ἤδη παρὰ τοῖσι φαρμακοπώλαις τὴν λίθον
The phrase παρὰ τοῖσι φαρμακοπώλαις relies on the dative of place where (or 'at the shop of') rather than the more common genitive of possession or accusative of motion towards. While the dative with παρά can denote proximity, its specific use here with the plural commercial designation φαρμακοπώλαις ('drug-sellers') evokes the specific Athenian underworld of illicit vendors, contrasting with the regulated market of the Agora. The term φαρμακοπώλης itself is rare in Aristophanes outside this context, appearing only here and in the Birds, functioning as a technical term for those selling both legitimate remedies and, by implication in comedy, poisons or magical charms, highlighting the blurred line between medicine and witchcraft in the play's satirical economy.

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Line 827

οὐκ ἔστιν ὦ Φειδιππίδη Ζεύς.
The sentence presents a crux of textual and theological interpretation central to the play's climax. While the transmitted text reads οὐκ ἔστιν ὦ Φειδιππίδη Ζεύς ('There is no Zeus, O Pheidippides'), some editors have proposed emending the verb to οὐκ ἔστιν (existential) in favor of οὐκ ἔστιν (locative 'is not present') or, more radically, altering the predicate to οὐκ ἔστιν (is not true) or even suggesting a lacuna. However, the more significant issue is the theological shock value: in the context of the play, this is the conclusion of the 'Stronger Argument' (the New Education) which has just argued that the traditional gods are not the true gods, but rather the clouds (Νεφέλαι) are the true deities. The statement is not merely a denial of Zeus's existence in a philosophical sense (as a Sophist might argue about the nature of the divine), but a performative negation of the city's civic religion, which is why Strepsiades' subsequent reaction is one of horror and the final invocation of the clouds. The syntax is straightforward, but the semantic weight of the existential denial in a comedy that otherwise relies on the audience's knowledge of the Olympian pantheon creates a deliberate paradox that drives the play's satire on the erosion of traditional piety by Sophistic rationalism.

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Σωκράτης ὁ Μήλιος
The epithet 'the Milesian' (ὁ Μήλιος) is a deliberate comic distortion by Aristophanes. The historical Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a stonemason from the deme of Alopece in Athens. By assigning him a Milesian patronymic or demotic, Aristophanes exploits the contemporary Athenian stereotype of the Milesians as sophists, cosmopolitans, and representatives of the 'new learning' associated with Ionian natural philosophy (e.g., Anaxagoras). This misattribution serves to blur the line between the specific character of Socrates and the broader, often satirized, figure of the Ionian intellectual, thereby reinforcing the play's thematic conflation of Socratic inquiry with the foreign and subversive doctrines of the Sophists.

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Line 831

καὶ Χαιρεφῶν, ὃς οἶδε τὰ ψυλλῶν ἴχνη.
This phrase relies on a specific, well-known anecdote about the philosopher Chairephon recorded in Xenophon's Memorabilia (1.2.45) and Plato's Apology (21a–b). Chairephon was the individual who famously asked the Delphic oracle if anyone was wiser than Socrates, to which the Pythia replied 'no one.' The mention of 'knowing the tracks of fleas' (τὰ ψυλλῶν ἴχνη) is a biting Aristophanic caricature of this intellectual pursuit, reducing the philosopher's inquiry into the nature of wisdom to a trivial, pedantic, or hyper-specialized observation of minute details, a trope that would have been immediately recognizable to an Athenian audience familiar with the historical Chairephon's association with Socrates.

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Line 863

ὃν πρῶτον ὀβολὸν ἔλαβον ἡλιαστικόν,
The phrase ἡλιαστικόν is a rare hapax legomenon in this context, functioning as an attributive adjective derived from ἡλίαστρον (the jury court). Its usage here specifically denotes the 'juror's pay' (the obolus distributed for attending the dikasteria), a detail that clarifies the economic reality of the early career of a sophist or rhetorician, contrasting with the more common reference to the 'jury' itself.

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τούτου ʼπριάμην σοι Διασίοις ἁμαξίδα.
The phrase Διασίοις ἁμαξίδα presents a rare and striking collocation. While ἁμαξίδιον (or ἁμαξίδα) typically denotes a small cart or wagon, the adjective Διασίος (associated with the Diasia festival or the region of Dias) is otherwise unattested in this specific syntactic context. The dative plural Διασίοις likely functions as a dative of the possessor or a dative of reference, implying 'a cart belonging to the people of Dias' or 'a cart for the Diasia festival,' a detail that clarifies whether the speaker is offering a specific cultic object or a regional vehicle. This usage of Διασίος as a substantive adjective modifying a vehicle is lexically unique in Aristophanes and requires careful consideration of the festival's agricultural context versus a purely geographical reference.

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Line 875

ἢ κλῆσιν ἢ χαύνωσιν ἀναπειστηρίαν;
The phrase ἀναπειστηρίαν is a hapax legomenon (unique occurrence) in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes and Attic comedy. Derived from the verb ἀναπείθω (to persuade again or to persuade thoroughly), the noun form with the privative or intensive prefix ἀνα- and the suffix -ίαν creates a rare, hyperbolic coinage meaning 'a persuasion that cannot be resisted' or 'irresistible persuasion'. The comedic effect relies on the juxtaposition of the formal, almost legalistic or philosophical term 'κλῆσιν' (summons/call) with this grotesque, neologistic 'χαύνωσιν ἀναπειστηρίαν' (a gaping, all-encompassing, unresistible persuasion), satirizing the Sophists' rhetorical excesses and their ability to bend the language itself to their will.

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εὐθύς γέ τοι παιδάριον ὄν τυννουτονὶ
The text presents a significant textual crux. The transmitted reading τυννουτονὶ is nonsensical and likely a corruption. Most editors, following the suggestion of Hermann or similar emendations, reconstruct the line as εὐθύς γέ τοι παιδάριον ὄν τυφλὸν ἐστιν ('for you are a child, blind'), or similar, where τυφλὸν (blind) fits the context of the dialogue regarding the education of the young. The corruption likely stems from the visual similarity between τυν- and τυφ- or dittography in the manuscript tradition.