Aristophanes Clouds 356

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Clouds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

English (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.) — 356-477 focus
Translations (1)
Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 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.