Aristophanes Clouds 986

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Clouds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

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

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Νεφέλαι Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 889-1104 focus
Translations (2)
Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 985b 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.) — 985b 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

986. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-73

Line 986

ἐξ ὧν ἄνδρας Μαραθωνομάχας ἡμὴ παίδευσις ἔθρεψεν.
The phrase ἄνδρας Μαραθωνομάχας serves as a specific historical synecdoche, referring not merely to 'men who fought at Marathon' but to the generation of Athenians born before the Persian Wars (c. 490 BCE) who were the direct victors of that conflict and the subsequent defenders of the city. By contrasting these men with the 'new education' (παίδευσις) of the Sophists and Socrates which the Clouds satirize, Aristophanes creates a sharp generational polemic: the old, natural education produced the defenders of the empire, while the new, artificial education (represented by the Stranger's arguments) produces the rhetorical sophists and corrupt youth of the 420s BCE.