Aristophanes Clouds 999

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.) — 1105-1112 focus
Translations (2)
Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 1000 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.) — 1000 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

999. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-75

Line 999

μνησικακῆσαι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἐξ ἧς ἐνεοττοτροφήθης.
The compound verb μνησικακῆσαι (to bear a grudge) is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Attic comedy, formed with the prefix μνησ- (from μνάομαι, to remember) and κακ- (from κακός, evil/bad). Its formation mirrors the Homeric μνησικακία (grudge-holding), but the verbal form here represents a specific Aristophanic coinage that emphasizes the active, volitional nature of holding a grudge against one's 'age' or 'generation' (τὴν ἡλικίαν). The accusative τὴν ἡλικίαν is personified, functioning as the object of the grudge, while the relative clause ἐξ ἧς ἐνεοττοτροφήθης (from which you were recently nurtured) employs the rare and archaic verb ἐνεοττοτρέφω (to be newly nurtured), a compound of ἐν- and τρέφω with the intensifying prefix ἐ- and the root νεο-, suggesting a fresh or recent upbringing. This construction highlights the irony of the character resenting the very generation that raised him, a thematic device common in Aristophanes' satire of the Sophistic generation.