The Clouds

By Aristophanes

Strepsiades complains to the audience that he is too worried about household debts to get any sleep – his aristocratic wife has encouraged their son's expensive interest in horses. Strepsiades, having thought up a plan to get out of debt, wakes the youth gently and pleads with him to do something for him. Pheidippides at first agrees to do as he's asked then changes his mind when he learns that his father wants to enroll him in The Thinkery, a school for wastrels and bums that no self-respecting, athletic young man dares to be associated with.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sovereign
• Release date: Oct 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781911535812

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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Aristophanes

The Clouds

LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

New Edition

Published by Sovereign Classic

www.sovereignclassic.net

This Edition

First published in 2016

Copyright © 2016 Sovereign Classic

ISBN: 9781911535812

Contents

THE CLOUDS

THE CLOUDS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

STREPSIADES

PHIDIPPIDES

SERVANT OF STREPSIADES

DISCIPLES OF SOCRATES

SOCRATES

JUST DISCOURSE

UNJUST DISCOURSE

PASIAS, a Money-lender

AMYNIAS, another Money-lender

CHORUS OF CLOUDS

SCENE

In the background are two houses, that of Strepsiades and that of Socrates, the Thoughtery. The latter is small and dingy; the in, terior of the former is shown and two beds are seen, each occupied.

STREPSIADES sitting up

Great gods! will these nights never end? will daylight never come? I heard the cock crow long ago and my slaves are snoring still! Ah! Ah! It wasn’t like this formerly. Curses on the war! has it not done me ills enough? Now I may not even chastise my own slaves. Again there’s this brave lad, who never wakes the whole long night, but, wrapped in his five coverlets, farts away to his heart’s content.

He lies down

Come! let me nestle in well and snore too, if it be possible....oh! misery, it’s vain to think of sleep with all these expenses, this stable, these debts, which are devouring me, thanks to this fine cavalier, who only knows how to look after his long locks, to show himself off in his chariot and to dream of horses! And I, I am nearly dead, when I see the moon bringing the third decade in her train and my liability falling due....Slave! light the lamp and bring me my tablets.

The slave obeys.

Who are all my creditors? Let me see and reckon up the interest. What is it I owe?....Twelve minae to Pasias....What! twelve minae to Pasias?....Why did I borrow these? Ah! I know! It was to buy that thoroughbred, which cost me so much. How I should have prized the stone that had blinded him!

PHIDIPPIDES in his sleep

That’s not fair, Philo! Drive your chariot straight, I say.

STREPSIADES

This is what is destroying me. He raves about horses, even in his sleep.

PHIDIPPIDES still sleeping

How many times round the track is the race for the chariots of war?

STREPSIADES

It’s your own father you are driving to death....to ruin. Come! what debt comes next, after that of Pasias?....Three minae to Amynias for a chariot and its two wheels.

PHIDIPPIDES still asleep

Give the horse a good roll in the dust and lead him home.

STREPSIADES

Ah! wretched boy! it’s my money that you are making roll. My creditors have distrained on my goods, and here are others again, who demand security for their interest.

PHIDIPPIDES awaking

What is the matter with you, father, that you groan and turn about the whole night through?

STREPSIADES

I have a bum-bailiff in the bedclothes biting me.

PHIDIPPIDES

For pity’s sake, let me have a little sleep.

He turns over.

STREPSIADES

Very well, sleep on! but remember that all these debts will fall back on your shoulders. Oh! curses on the go-between who made me marry your mother! I lived so happily in the country, a commonplace, everyday life, but a good and easy one-had not a trouble, not a care, was rich in bees, in sheep and in olives. Then indeed I had to marry the niece of Megacles, the son of Megacles; I belonged to the country, she was from the town; she was a haughty, extravagant woman, a true Coesyra. On the nuptial day, when I lay beside her, I was reeking of the dregs of the wine-cup, of cheese and of wool; she was redolent with essences, saffron, voluptuous kisses, the love of spending, of good cheer and of wanton delights. I will not say she did nothing; no, she worked hard...to ruin me, and pretending all the while merely to be showing her the cloak she had woven for me, I said, Wife you go too fast about your work, your threads are too closely woven and you use far too much wool.

A slave enters witk a lamp.

SLAVE

There is no more oil in the lamp.

STREPSIADES

Why then did you light such a thirsty lamp? Come here, I am going to beat you.

SLAVE

What for?

STREPSIADES

Because you have put in too

Reviews for The Clouds

[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.

[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.

[bruce_deming_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

[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.