The Clouds

By Aristophanes

Socrates' "Thinkery" is at the center of Clouds, which spoofs untraditional techniques for educating young men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Nov 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781625580726

Aristophanes

Aristophanes (446–386 BCE) was a Greek comedy writer, who produced about 40 plays throughout his career. His work was the embodiment of “Old Comedy”—an early form of the genre that used exaggerated characters and scenarios. Aristophanes’ first play, The Banqueters, was produced in 427 BCE, quickly followed by The Babylonians. His most famous production, Lysistrata, was initially performed in 411 BCE and centers on one woman’s attempt to end a war by holding a sex strike. Due to his sensationalized plots and vibrant characters, Aristophanes is considered one of the architects of Greek comedy.

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The Clouds

By Aristophanes

Start Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2012 by Start Publishing LLC

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

First Start Publishing eBook edition October 2012

Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-62558-072-6

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Clouds

Introduction

The satire in this, one of the best known of all Aristophanes’ comedies, is directed against the new schools of philosophy, or perhaps we should rather say dialectic, which had lately been introduced, mostly from abroad, at Athens. The doctrines held up to ridicule are those of the ‘Sophists’—such men as Thrasymachus from Chalcedon in Bithynia, Gorgias from Leontini in Sicily, Protagoras from Abdera in Thrace, and other foreign scholars and rhetoricians who had flocked to Athens as the intellectual centre of the Hellenic world. Strange to say, Socrates of all people, the avowed enemy and merciless critic of these men and their methods, is taken as their representative, and personally attacked with pitiless raillery. Presumably this was merely because he was the most prominent and noteworthy teacher and thinker of the day, while his grotesque personal appearance and startling eccentricities of behaviour gave a ready handle to caricature. Neither the author nor his audience took the trouble, or were likely to take the trouble, to discriminate nicely; there was, of course, a general resemblance between the Socratic ‘elenchos’ and the methods of the new practitioners of dialectic; and this was enough for stage purposes. However unjustly, Socrates is taken as typical of the newfangled sophistical teachers, just as in ‘The Acharnians’ Lamachus, with his Gorgon shield, is introduced as representative of the War party, though that general was not specially responsible for the continuance of hostilities more than anybody else.

Aristophanes’ point of view, as a member of the aristocratical party and a fine old Conservative, is that these Sophists, as the professors of the new education had come to be called, and Socrates as their protagonist, were insincere and dangerous innovators, corrupting morals, persuading young men to despise the old-fashioned, home-grown virtues of the State and teaching a system of false and pernicious tricks of verbal fence whereby anything whatever could be proved, and the worse be made to seem the better—provided always sufficient payment were forthcoming. True, Socrates refused to take money from his pupils, and made it his chief reproach against the lecturing Sophists that they received fees; but what of that? The Comedian cannot pay heed to such fine distinctions, but belabours the whole tribe with indiscriminate raillery and scurrility.

The play was produced at the Great Dionysia in 423 B.C., but proved unsuccessful, Cratinus and Amipsias being awarded first and second prize. This is said to have been due to the intrigues and influence of Alcibiades, who resented the caricature of himself presented in the sporting Phidippides. A second edition of the drama was apparently produced some years later, to which the ‘Parabasis’ of the play as we possess it must belong, as it refers to events subsequent to the date named.

The plot is briefly as follows: Strepsiades, a wealthy country gentleman, has been brought to penury and deeply involved in debt by the extravagance and horsy tastes of his son Phidippides. Having heard of the wonderful new art of argument, the royal road to success in litigation, discovered by the Sophists, he hopes that, if only he can enter the ‘Phrontisterion,’ or Thinking-Shop, of Socrates, he will learn how to turn the tables on his creditors and avoid paying the debts which are dragging him down. He joins the school accordingly, but is found too old and stupid to profit by the lessons. So his son Phidippides is substituted as a more promising pupil. The latter takes to the new learning like a duck to water, and soon shows what progress he has made by beating his father and demonstrating that he is justified by all laws, divine and human, in what he is doing. This opens the old man’s eyes, who sets fire to the ‘Phrontisterion,’ and the play ends in a great conflagration of this home of humbug.

The Clouds

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

STREPSIADES.

PHIDIPPIDES.

SERVANT OF STREPSIADES.

SOCRATES.

DISCIPLES OF SOCRATES.

JUST DISCOURSE.

UNJUST DISCOURSE. PASIAS, a Money-lender.

PASIAS’ WITNESS. AMYNIAS, another Money-lender.

CHAEREPHON.

CHORUS OF CLOUDS.

SCENE: A sleeping-room in Strepsiades’ house; then in front of Socrates’ house.

STREPSIADES. Great gods! will these nights never end? will daylight never come? I heard the cock crow long ago and

Reviews for The Clouds

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a pleasant surprise this drama was! I picked this ancient Greek play up in anticipation of an intellectual muscle stretcher and ended up laughing out loud. Who knew Aristophanes could be so wonderfully entertaining! That silly old Socrates! This drama was entered into a competition in roughly 423 B.C. as an attempt to regain the playwright's standing as the champion. Excellent choice! He poked fun at the Sophists quite well! Very readable too!

[danielstj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was really decent. It was a play full of high, and low, comedy as well as interesting (historically and fictionally) characters as well as situations that you could appreciate the humour of. I didn't think I would like this very much, but I was proven wrong from almost the beginning. For those who like drama, classics, or Greek literature- you should read this and give it a try.3.75 stars.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While this edition suffers from a too modern translation The Clouds resonates, all too self aware, castigating the audience, slurring them actually. This great farce takes aim at the secular university and the godless wiseasses it produces.

As Goodreads friend Sologdin noted, it is intriguing to see Socrates cast as a pre-Socratic. Much like Derrida’s post card.

A middle class father is deep in debt as a result of his son's lavish lifestyle. Father hopes education will allow the son to use logic and rhetoric to defeat these legal challenges. Son learns well and eventually canes his father.

The pale effeminate world of the sophists is ridiculed at every turn, though I wasn’t expecting the apocalyptic conclusion.

I recommend this satire at those who can still giggle with Deconstruction.

[bruce_deming_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

satire on philosophy and Socrates. tad crude at times and funny at times

[gbsallery · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure I get this, but it's an interesting glimpse into Athenian life a very long time ago. The moral appears to be that you should not trust philosophers; there's not much else to it.

[kaionvin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Probably only interesting to your hardcore classical Greek/Athens inter/intra-philosophy-school-fighting crowd (who also like bawdy 'jokes'). And the people who study them. Kind of goofy for my tastes.

[jpsnow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Aristophanes won some of the drama competitions under a pseudonym before he was old enough to enter. He references both Aeschylus (as a conservatives choice) and Euripides (as liked by the new "wrong logic" generation of youth). In addition, he continues his debate/feud with Cleon. More than anything, this work represents the same criticisms put against Socrates during his trial -- that he was leading the youth of the time away from discipline and tradition. The victory of Wrong Logic in his debate with Right logic demonstrates the twisted argument that men found so hard to refute. The sexual innuendo is also thick throughout the interaction with Socrates and his students. I often wonder how much the content has been altered from the original when the rhyme is this good. It was fun to read, aloud even, and would make a great speech excerpt. The thought process by Strepsiades is hilarious in places, and the words of the Clouds (chorus) are quite powerful.

[clytemnestra215_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Strepsiades was a terrible character, and I adored him. The way that he stomped on everything insightful or serious with a fart joke should have pissed me off, but instead it had me laughing out loud. My favorite part is near the beginning, where the chorus comes on for the first time. This must have been hilarious seen on the stage. Socrates is revering the chorus and going, "O great Clouds!" and so forth, and Strepsiades says, with the same religious fervor, that he's so amazed and enraptured by him that if it's allowed, and even if it's not, he's so awed that he must take a crap. I am not at all a fan of crude humor like that on a general basis, but for whatever reason, I find myself unfailingly amused.The whole thing was a mixture of the terribly wonderful. It was interesting to see Socrates being approached as a regular guy with a bit of an ego problem. In my encounters of learning about Socrates, he'd always held some heavy connotations of serious thought, though he did have his light-hearted moments. It's both ridiculous and hilarious to see Socrates, such a revered scholar, being made fun of. Whenever I read Plato, I now have this impression in the back of my mind of some guy swinging down on a wire and talking in a haughty voice about ducks. I'd say the play did its job.

[harleth_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This translation retains much of the raunchy Greek comedy. As such, this is not a book for the prudish or faint of heart. For any classics scholar, dramatist or theater fan this is a must read classic.