The CloudsThis article is about the play by Aristophanes. For otheruses, see Cloud (disambiguation).Thinkery redirects here. For the Austin organization,see The Thinkery.The Clouds (Ancient Greek: Nephelai)is a comedy written by the celebrated playwrightAristophanes lampooning intellectual fashions in classicalAthens. It was originally produced at the City Dionysiain 423 BC and it was not well received, coming last ofthe three plays competing at the festival that year. Itwas revised between 420-417 BC and thereafter it wascirculated in manuscript form.[3] No copy of the origi-nal production survives, and scholarly analysis indicatesthat the revised version is an incomplete form of OldComedy. This incompleteness, however, is not obviousin translations and modern performances.[4] The Cloudscan be considered not only the worlds rst extant 'com-edy of ideas[5]but also a brilliant and successful ex-ample of that genre.[6] The play gained notoriety for itscaricature of Socrates ever since its mention in Plato'sApology as a factor contributing to the philosophers trialand execution.[7][8]1 PlotThe play begins with Strepsiades suddenly sitting up inbed while his son, Pheidippides, remains blissfully asleepin the bed next to him. Strepsiades complains to the au-dience that he is too worried about household debts to getany sleep his wife (the pampered product of an aristo-cratic clan) has encouraged their sons expensive interestin horses. Strepsiades, having thought up a plan to get outof debt, wakes the youth gently and pleads with him to dosomething for him. Pheidippides at rst agrees to do ashes asked then changes his mind when he learns that hisfather wants to enroll him in The Thinkery, a school forwastrels and bums that no self-respecting, athletic youngman dares to be associated with. Strepsiades explains thatstudents of The Thinkery learn how to turn inferior argu-ments into winning arguments and this is the only way hecan beat their aggrieved creditors in court. Pheidippideshowever will not be persuaded and Strepsiades decides toenroll himself in The Thinkery in spite of his advancedage.There he meets a student who tells him about some ofthe recent discoveries made by Socrates, the head of TheThinkery, including a newunit of measurement for ascer-taining the distance jumped by a ea (a eas foot, createdfrom a minuscule imprint in wax), the exact cause of thebuzzing noise made by a gnat (its rear end resembles atrumpet) and a new use for a large pair of compasses (asa kind of shing-hook for stealing cloaks from pegs overthe gymnasium wall). Impressed, Strepsiades begs to beintroduced to the man behind these discoveries. The wishis soon granted: Socrates appears overhead, wafted in abasket at the end of a rope, the better to observe the Sunand other meteorological phenomena. The philosopherdescends and quickly begins the induction ceremony forthe new elderly student, the highlight of which is a paradeof the Clouds, the patron goddesses of thinkers and otherlayabouts.The Clouds arrive singing majestically of theregions whence they arose and of the land they have nowcome to visit, loveliest in all being Greece. Introduced tothem as a new devotee, Strepsiades begs them to makehim the best orator in Greece by a hundred miles. Theyreply with the promise of a brilliant future. Socrates leadshim into the dingy Thinkery for his rst lesson and TheClouds step forward to address the audience.Putting aside their cloud-like costumes, The Chorus de-clares that this is the authors cleverest play and that it costhim the greatest eort. It reproaches the audience for theplays failure at the festival, where it was beaten by theworks of inferior authors, and it praises the author fororiginality and for his courage in lampooning inuentialpoliticians such as Cleon. The Chorus then resumes itsappearance as clouds, promising divine favours if the au-dience punishes Cleon for corruption and rebuking Athe-nians for messing about with the calendar, since this hasput Athens out of step with the moon.Socrates returns to the stage in a hu, protesting againstthe ineptitude of his new elderly student. He summonsStrepsiades outside and attempts further lessons, includ-ing a form of meditative incubation in which the old manlies under a blanket while thoughts are supposed to arisein his mind naturally. The incubation results in Strepsi-ades masturbating under the blanket and nally Socratesrefuses to have anything more to do with him. The Cloudsadvise him to nd someone younger to do the learningfor him. His son, Pheidippides, subsequently yields tothreats by Strepsiades and reluctantly returns with him tothe Thinkery, where they encounter the personied argu-ments Superior and Inferior, associates of Socrates. Su-perior Argument and Inferior Argument debate with eachother over which of them can oer the best education.Superior Argument sides with Justice and the gods, of-fering to prepare Pheidippides for an earnest life of dis-12 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDcipline, typical of men who respect the old ways; InferiorArgument, denying the existence of Justice, oers to pre-pare him for a life of ease and pleasure, typical of menwho knowhowto talk their way out of trouble. At the endof the debate, a quick survey of the audience reveals thatbuggers - people schooled by Inferior Arguments - havegot into the most powerful positions in Athens. Supe-rior Argument accepts his inevitable defeat, Inferior Ar-gument leads Pheidippides into the Thinkery for a life-changing education and Strepsiades goes home happy.The Clouds step forward to address the audience a secondtime, demanding to be awarded rst place in the festivalcompetition, in return for which they promise good rains- otherwise they'll destroy crops, smash roofs and spoilweddings.ThestoryresumeswithStrepsiadesreturningtoTheThinkery to fetch his son. A new Pheidippides emerges,startlingly transformed into the pale nerd and intellectualbum that he had once feared to become. Rejoicing inthe prospect of talking their way out of nancial trouble,Strepsiades leads the youth home for celebrations, justmoments before the rst of their aggrieved creditors ar-rives with a witness to summon him to court. Strepsiadescomes back on stage, confronts the creditor and dismisseshim contemptuously. A second creditor arrives and re-ceives the same treatment before Strepsiades returns in-doors to continue the celebrations. The Clouds sing omi-nously of a looming debacle and Strepsiades again comesback on stage, now in distress, complaining of a beatingthat his new son has just given him in a dispute over thecelebrations. Pheidippides emerges coolly and insolentlydebates with his father a fathers right to beat his son anda sons right to beat his father. He ends by threatening tobeat his mother also, whereupon Strepsiades ies into arage against The Thinkery, blaming Socrates for his lat-est troubles. He leads his slaves, armed with torches andmattocks, in a frenzied attack on the disreputable school.The alarmed students are pursued ostage and the Cho-rus, with nothing to celebrate, quietly departs.2 Historical backgroundThe Clouds represents a departure from the main themesof Aristophanes earlyplays - Athenianpolitics, thePeloponnesian War and the need for peace with Sparta.The Spartans had recently stopped their annual invasionsof Attica after the Athenians had taken Spartan hostagesin the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 and this, coupled with adefeat suered by the Athenians at the Battle of Deliumin 424, had provided the right conditions for a truce. Thusthe original production of The Clouds in 423 BC came ata time when Athens was looking forward to a period ofpeace.Cleon, the populist leader of the pro-war factionin Athens, was a target in all Aristophanes early plays andhis attempts to prosecute Aristophanes for slander in 426had merely added fuel to the re. Aristophanes howeverhad singled Cleon out for special treatment in his previ-ous play The Knights in 424 and there are relatively fewreferences to him in The Clouds.Freed from political and war-time issues, Aristophanesfocuses in The Clouds on a broader issue that underliesmany conicts depicted in his plays - the issue of Oldversus New, or the battle of ideas.[9] The scientic specu-lations of Ionian thinkers such as Thales in the sixth cen-tury were becoming commonplace knowledge in Aristo-phanes time and this had led, for instance, to a grow-ing belief that civilized society was not a gift from thegods but rather had developed gradually from primitivemans animal-like existence.[10] Around the time that TheClouds was produced, Democritus at Abdera was devel-oping an atomistic theory of the cosmos and Hippocratesat Cos was establishing an empirical and science-like ap-proach to medicine. Anaxagoras, whose works were stud-ied by Socrates, was living in Athens when Aristophaneswas a youth. Anaxagoras enjoyed the patronage of in-uential gures such as Pericles, but oligarchic elementsalso had political advocates and Anaxagoras was chargedwith impiety and expelled from Athens around 437 BC.Thebattleofideashadledtosomeunlikelyfriend-ships that cut across personal andclass dierences,such as between the socially alert Pericles and the un-worldly Anaxagoras, and between the handsome aristo-crat, Alcibiades, and the ugly plebeian, Socrates. Socratesmoreover had distinguished himself from the crowd byhisheroismintheretreat fromthebattleofDeliumand this might have further singled him out for ridiculeamong his comrades.[11] He was forty-ve years old andin good physical shape when The Clouds was produced[12]yet he had a face that lent itself easily to caricature bymask-makers and possibly that was a contributing rea-son for the frequent characterization of him by comicpoets.[13] In fact one of the plays that defeated The Cloudsin 423 was calledConnus, written by Ameipsias, andit too lampooned Socrates.[14] There is a famous story,as reported for example by Aelian, according to whichSocrates cheerfully rose from his seat during the perfor-mance of The Clouds and stood in silent answer to thewhispers among foreigners in the festival audience: Whois Socrates?"[15]2.1 Places and people in The CloudsAt one point in The Clouds, the Chorus declares that theauthor chose Athens for the rst performance of the play,implying that he could have produced it somewhere else(line 523). In fact, the Chorus is joking. Tragic poetssometimes produced their plays in other cities (Euripides'playAndromache for example was possibly performedin Argos just beforeTheClouds appeared at the CityDionysia)[16] yet comic poets in Aristophanes time wrotespecically for local audiences and their plays were stud-ded with topical jokes that only a local audience couldunderstand. The following places and personalities are2.1 Places and people in The Clouds 3mentioned in The Clouds and they are explained and listedin various editions of the play.[17][18][19]PlacesCicynna (orKikynna): A deme belonging to thetribe Acamantis. It is Strepsiades deme (line 134)and he looks for it incredulously on a map in TheThoughtery (210).Sphettus: Another deme belonging to the Acamantistribe. It is said to be the deme of Chaerephon (line156) and it is mentioned also in Wealth II[20]Pylos: A locale associated with the Battle of Sphac-teria, in which Athenians captured many Spartan ho-plites. The students of The Thoughtery resemble theSpartan captives (line 186). Pylos is frequently men-tioned in other plays.[21]Attica: The country around Athens. It appears on amap in The Thoughtery (line 209) and it is home tothe Attic look - the arch look of a trouble-maker whopretends to be the victim (1176). Attica is rarelymentioned by name in the surviving plays.[22]Euboia: A long island adjacent to Attica. It had re-volted from Athenian control in 446 BC and it hadbeen 'laid out' (attened as in a map) by an Athe-nian army that included Strepsiades (line 211). Theisland is mentioned also in The Wasps.[23]Byzantium: A Greek colony that used ironcoinage. It is mentioned only because of a pun on'nomisma'/'nomos - currency/custom (line 249).Itis mentioned again in The Wasps.[24]Nile, Maiotis, Mimas: A river, marsh and moun-tain respectively. They are mentioned by Socratesas the kind of places from which the Clouds mightset out for Athens (lines 272-3). The Nile is men-tioned again in Thesmophoriazusae.[25]Parnes:A mountain north of Athens. Socrates in-structs Strepsiades to look towards the mountain forthe arriving clouds (line 323) but in fact the moun-tain cannot be seen from the Theatre of Dionysus.Thurioi: AcolonyfoundedbyAthens between446-443 BC. Its foundation had inspired numerousoracle-mongers and these are included among theclients of the Clouds (line 332).Sounion: A promontory associated with the cult ofPoseidon. It is sometimes struck by thunderboltsand this is proof that the cosmos are governed bymaterial causes (line 401). Sounion is mentioned intwo other plays.[26]ThecaveofTrophonius: The site of a terrifyingBoeotian cult to the hero Trophonius. Strepsiadesdreads entering The Thoughtery just as if it were thiscave (line 508)Cynthia or Mount Cynthus: A rocky height on Delosassociated with the cult of Apollo. It is mentionedby the Clouds in an invocation to Apollo (line 596).Ephesus: The site of a cult of Artemis (Diana of theEphesians) whose devotees included Lydians. Eph-esus and the Lydians are mentioned by the Cloudsin an invocation to Artemis (line 598).Parnassus: A mountain associated with the cult ofDionysus (as practised by the Maenads) overlook-ing Delphi, one of the most sacred sites in ancientGreece. It is mentioned by the Clouds in an invoca-tion to Dionysus (line 603). The mountain is men-tioned also in The Frogs[27] and there are referencesto the town and people of Delphi in The Wasps andThe Birds.[28]Thessaly: A region whose women were popularlyassociated with witchcraft. Strepsiades thinks ofbuying a Thessalian slave who could postpone themonthly settlement of accounts by bewitching themoon for him (line 749).Thessaly is mentioned inthree other plays.[29]Marathon: The site of Athens historic victoryagainst the Persians. The generation of Atheniansresponsible for that victory were men educated inthe Superior way (line 986). There are patrioticmentions of Marathon in several plays.[30]Academy: The site of a public park and gymna-sium just outside Athens (later famous as the site ofPlatos school). A student trained in the Superiorway would exercise there among the sacred olives(line 1005).Baths of Heracles: Natural springs of warm waterwere named after Heracles, who had received themas a gift from Hephaestus. They are mentioned byInferior as proof that men who indulge in such lux-uries are manly (line 1051).Egypt: Alandnotoriouslysubject tounseason-able annual ooding by the Nile. According to theClouds, any judge who fails to award victory to thisplay might wish to have been born in Egypt afterthey've nished with him (line 1130). Egypt is a cu-riosity referred to in several plays.[31]Foreigners and foreign inuencesPersians: A dominant force in Asia, they were pop-ularly associated with despotism and with luxuri-ous indolence. Thus womens shoes in Athens wereknown as 'Persian', contrary to mens shoes, whichwere known as Laconian. Socrates makes some Per-sian shoes for a ea in an eort to measure the lengthof a eas foot (line 151). There are references toPersians and their inuence in other plays.[32]4 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDThales: A6th-centuryIonianphilosopher fromMiletus. He is a mere nobody compared to Socrates(line 180). His name appears also in The Birds.[33]Prodicus: Acontemporary sophist and naturalphilosopher from Ceos but resident in Athens. TheClouds respect him for his wisdom (line 361). He ismentioned also in The Birds.[34]Herodotus: A contemporary historian fromHalicarnassusfamousfor hisexoticaccountsofvarious nations andtheir customs, whichmanyAthenians found hilarious. A word used to denotea very old-fashioned individual (bekkeselene!, line398) might have been an allusion by AristophanestoHerodotus account of anexperiment bytheEgyptian Pharaoh to determine humanitys originallanguage, which Pharaoh concluded to be Phrygianon the grounds that the Phrygian word for bread(bekkos) was the rst word spoken by some infantswhohadnever beentaught tospeak.[35]Thereare also comic allusions to Herodotus in TheAcharnians.Corinthians: Allies of the Spartans and ancient ri-vals of the Athenians in trade. A half pun identi-es them with bugs (coreis) when Strepsiades com-plains that he has been bitten by Corinthians (line710). There are many references in the other playsto Corinth and its citizens.[36]Diagoras: An free-thinker from Melos and a resi-dent of Athens, popularly believed to be an atheist.The Melian is used as an epithet for Socrates (line830) apparently on the grounds that he is an atheistlike Diagoras. Diagoras is mentioned in two otherplays.[37]Religious, historic and mythical identitiesCoisura: A mostly legendary gure and a bywordfor luxury. Strepsiades regards her as a symbol ofhis own wife (lines 48, 800). Coisura is mentionedearlier in The Acharnians.[38]Colias: An epithet of Aphrodite, who had a sanctu-ary of that name at Anaphlystus, on the coast nearSounion. Strepsiades compares his wife to Coliasand to theGenetullidae, womens goddesses whoshared the Anaphlystus sanctuary (line 52). Coliasand the Genetullidae are mentioned also inLysis-trata[39] and the latter once more in Thesmophori-azusae.[40]Athamas: A legendary king of Boeotia and the sub-ject of two plays by Sophocles, in one of whichhe is depicted as a sacricial victim at the altar ofZeus. Strepsiades fears that his induction into TheThoughtery will turn himinto another Athamas (line257).Cecrops: A legendary king of Athens. He is men-tioned by the Clouds as they arrive in Athens (line301) and there are references to him in the otherplays.[41]Typhoeus: A hundred-headed giant. Strepsiadesmentions him when describing clouds in exagger-ated terms loosely borrowed from dithyrambic po-ets (line 336). There is another mention inTheKnights.[42]Eleusinian Mysteries: An Athenian cult of Demeterwith secret rites promising eternal life to initiates.The Clouds refer to the mysteries without namingthem (lines 302-4).Panathenaia:A yearly festival celebrating Athenasbirth. Strepsiades compares the noise of thunder tothe sound made in his stomach by festival soup (line386) and Superior objects to feeble performances ofthe Pyrrhic dance that he has witnessed at the festivallately (988). The Panathenaia is mentioned by namein two other plays.[43]Kronia: A humble festival leading up to the Pana-thenaia. Socrates accuses Strepsiades of smelling ofthis festival i.e. being old-fashioned (line 398).Diasia: A winter festival. Strepsiades was barbecu-ing meat for relatives at this festival when a blad-der exploded like lightning (line 408) and he oncebought a toy cart for Pheidippides during the festiv-ities (864).Electra: Amythical gurespurnedbyher ownmother. This play resembles her i.e. it was spurnedby the original audience (line 534).Memnon and Sarpedon: Mythical heroes. Theirdeaths are mourned by the gods on days that aremarked for festivals by the revised Athenian calen-dar (line 622). Memnon is mentioned again in TheFrogs.[44]Telephus: A legendary Mysian king and the subjectof a controversial play by Euripides in which he ap-peared as a beggar. Superior compares Inferior to abeggar-like Telephus (line 922). Aristophanes lam-poons the Euripidean play in The Acharnians andThesmophoriazusae. Telephus is mentioned also inThe Frogs.[45]Dipolieia: Asober festival in honour of Zeus Polieusfeaturing a sacricial rite called Bouphonia. Infe-rior accuses Superior of resembling this festival andof being full of Bouphonia i.e. he is old fashioned(lines 984-5). The Dipolieia is mentioned also inPeace.[46]Tritogeneia: An epithet for Athena. Superior con-siders a poor performance of the pyrrhic dance tobe an insult to Tritogeneia (line 989). The epithet isused also in Knights and Lysistrata.[47]2.1 Places and people in The Clouds 5Iapetus: ATitan and brother of Cronos. Young mensometimes use his name as an epithet for their fa-thers i.e. their fathers are old-fashioned (line 998).Peleus: A mythical hero who was banished to thewilderness after being falsely accused of adulteryand who was given a knife by Hephaestus as pro-tection from wild beasts. Superior cites the gift ofthe knife as an example of the rewards that comewith virtue (lines 1063). Superior also mentionshis subsequent marriage to Thetis as another rewardfor virtue (1067). Peleus is mentioned again in TheFrogs.[48]Solon: A lawgiver often credited with establishingAthenian democracy. The educated Pheidippidesdemonstrates how Solons intentions can be inter-preted so as to subvert his laws (line 1187). Solon isalso named in The Birds.[49]Protenthai: Ocials responsible for preparing foodfor the Apaturia festivals. They are suspected ofsampling the food (line 1198).AtheniansMegacles: Anillustriousnamedenotingvariousaristocrats in Athenian history. Strepsiades aristo-cratic wife can number more than one Megacles inher family tree (lines 46, 70, 124, 815).Chaerephon: Aloyal friend and disciple of Socrates,well known for his pallor. He is mentioned by nameseveral times within the play (lines 144, 156, 503,831, 1465) and some editors include him as a char-acter at the end of the play - a speaking role oth-erwise denoted in the dramatis personae as 'stu-dent'. He is referred to also in The Wasps and TheBirds.[50]Leogoras: A wealthy aristocrat,father of the or-ator Andocides and related by marriage to Peri-cles. He bred pheasants (or horses) that Pheidip-pides wouldn't trade his self-respect for (line 109).He is named also in The Wasps.[51]Pericles: The dominant politician in pre-war Athenswho once famously bribed a Spartan general to avoidbattle and subsequently accounted for the bribe aslost according to need. Strepsiades recalls howPericles attened Boeotia (line 213) and he accountsfor the theft of his shoes at The Thoughtery in Peri-clean terms as lost according to need (859). Peri-cles is mentioned in three other plays.[52]Hieronymus, sonofXenophantus: Anotoriouslyhairy guy. The Clouds imitate him when they seemto resemble centaurs (line 349). His long hair madehim appear invisible in an earlier play The Acharni-ans.[53]Simon: He was well known to his contemporaries asa thief of public money and a perjuror (lines 351,399), otherwise obscure.Cleonymus: A conspicuous gure in Athens, he hadrecently lost his shield in the retreat from Delium.The Clouds imitate himwhen they seemto resembletimid deer (line 353), he is a perjuror (400) and hisname should be declined like a feminine noun (673-80). He is frequently the target of jokes.[54]Cleisthenes: A notoriously eete man. The Cloudsimitate him when they seem to resemble women(line 355). He appears as a character in The Achar-nians and Thesmophoriazusae and he is also men-tioned in other plays.[55]Theorus: An associate of Cleon. He is another manwho should be struck by thunderbolts for perjury(line 400). He is named in another three plays.[56]Cleon: The populist leader of the pro-war faction.He was at the height of his power when Aristophanesattacked him in his plays (line 549), meteorologicalomens had warned Athens not to trust him and thegods will favour Athens once more after he is pun-ished for corruption (581-91). He was the antag-onist in The Knights, where he was represented asa Paphlagonian slave, and he is often mentioned inother early plays.[57]Hyperbolus: A colleague of Cleon and eventuallyhis successor as populist leader of Athens. He andhis mother are an easy target for inferior dramatists(lines 551-58), the wind blewohis chaplet when herepresented Athens at the Amphictyonic League, hepaid a fortune to learn how to speak properly (876)and he made much more than that through wicked-ness (1065). He is ridiculed in other plays also.[58]Sostrate: A common female name used here onlyto demonstrate the comic potential of a rational ap-proach to grammar (line 678). The name occurs inother plays.[59]Philoxenus, Amynias, Melesias: Athenians whosemanhood was open to question. Traditional gram-mar does not always identify the gender of suchnames and this might be appropriate in their case(line 686). Philoxenus was notoriously eete andhe is mentioned again in Wasps.[60] Amynias be-came a generalin the year that TheClouds wasperformed and comic poets at about this time lam-pooned him for his eeminacy, pretensions and -nancial problems.[61] He too is mentioned again inThe Wasps.[62]Pandeletus: Unknown individual, possibly a politi-cian and a sycophant. According to Superior, Infe-rior feeds on scraps belonging to Pandeletus.6 3 DISCUSSIONHippocrates: Probably the general reported byThucydides to have died in the Battle of Delium,[63]his sons are mocked in comedy as simpletons.Ac-cording to Inferior, any student of Superior ends upresembling the sons of Hippocrates (line 1001).Antimachus: A man of this name had been Aristo-phanes choregus in 427-6 BC and he was mockedin The Acharnians for a lack of generosity.[64] Ac-cording to Superior, students of Inferior turn out tobe buggers like Antimachus (line 1022).PoetsEupolis: A major comic poet and a rival of Aristo-phanes. The Chorus accuses him of stealing ma-terial for his play Maricas from Aristophanes TheKnights andfromPhrynichus Andromeda(lines553-6). Phrynichus, the comic poet, is mentionedagain in The Frogs.[65] Eupolis in fact produced Mar-icas in 421 BC, two years after The Clouds was pro-duced (see The Clouds and Old Comedy).Hermippus: Another comic poet, victorious at theCity Dionysia in 436. His play The Breadsellers istypical of the works of inferior poets who attack easytargets (line 557).Stesichorus: A renowned poet from Sicily. He isnot mentioned in this play but he is possibly the au-thor of a quoted description of Athena as a sackerof cities (line 967). He is later quoted in Peace.[66]Phrynis: A Mytilenean citharode who won a prizeat the Panathenaea in 456 BC. He is condemned bySuperior as a corruptor of music (line 971).Ceceides: A dithyrambic poet. According to Infe-rior, he is typical of Superiors old-fashioned tastes(line 985).Homer: The great bard. He denoted the wise coun-sellor, Nestor, as agoretes (Iliad i.248 and iv.293).According to Inferior, this is proof that it is alrightto loiter in the agora (line 1056) though in fact itmerely demonstrates a change in the words signi-cance. Homer is named in three other plays.[67]Euripides: A renowned tragic poet and a controver-sial gure in his own time. Laments from one of hisplays[68] are parodied by Strepsiades (lines 718-9and 1165-6). Pheidippides considers himthe clever-est of poets (1377), he particularly enjoys his de-piction of incest in Aiolus and he quotes from Alces-tis[69] in defense of his right to beat his father (1415).Euripides is frequently the butt of jokes in Aristo-phanes plays and he appears as a ludicrous charac-ter in The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae and TheFrogs.Carcinus: A naval commander in 431 BC and atragic poet. One of his sons, Xenocles, was alsoa tragic poet, good enough to defeat Euripides atthe City Dionysia in 415.[70] Strepsiades imagines hecan hear a lament from one of Carcinus daemons(line 1261) though it is unclear if this refers to acharacter from one of Carcinus plays or if it refersto Xenocles in tragic mode. Lines from one of theirplays are subsequently parodied in the lament of thesecond creditor (lines 1264-5). Carcinus sons ap-peared as dancers in The Wasps and their dancingskills were subsequently mocked in Peace.Simonides: A renowned poet. Strepsiades askedPheidippides to recite verses from his poemTheRam (line 1356) but Pheidipiides dislikes his poetry(1362). Simonides is mentioned also in Peace andThe Birds.[71]Aeschylus: A renowned tragic poet. Strepsiadeslikes his poetry but Pheidippides thinks it is full ofsmoke (line 1366). Aeschylus is a character in TheFrogs and he is mentioned in other plays.[72]3 DiscussionPlato appears to have considered The Clouds a contribut-ing factor in Socratestrial and execution in 399 BC.There is some support for his opinion even in the mod-ern age.[73] Aristophanes plays however were generallyunsuccessful inshapingpublicattitudesonimportantquestions, as evidenced by their ineectual oppositionto the Peloponnesian War, demonstrated in the play Ly-sistrata, and to populists such as Cleon. Moreover, thetrial of Socrates followed Athenstraumatic defeat bySparta, many years after the performance of the play,when suspicions about the philosopher were fuelled bypublic animosity towards his disgraced associates (suchas Alcibiades).[74]Socrates is presented inTheClouds as a petty thief, afraud and a sophist with a specious interest in physi-cal speculations. However, it is still possible to recog-nize in him the distinctive individual dened in Platosdialogues.[75] The practice of ascetism (as for exampleidealized by the Chorus in lines 412-19), disciplined, in-troverted thinking (as described by the Chorus in lines700-6) andconversational dialectic(as describedbySocrates in lines 489-90) appear to be caricatures of So-cratic behaviours later described more sympatheticallyby Plato. The Aristophanic Socrates is much more in-terested in physical speculations than is Platos Socratesyet it is possible that the real Socrates did take a stronginterest in such speculations during his development asa philosopher[76] and there is some support for this inPlatos dialogue Phaedo 96A.It has been argued that Aristophanes caricatured a 'pre-Socratic' Socrates and that the philosopher depicted by7Plato was a more mature thinker who had been inu-enced by such criticism.[75] Conversely, it is possible thatAristophanes caricature of the philosopher merely re-ects his own ignorance of philosophy.[77] According toyet another view, The Clouds can best be understood inrelation to Platos works, as evidence of a historic rivalrybetween poetic and philosophical modes of thought.[78]4 The Clouds and Old ComedyDuring the parabasis proper (518-62), the Chorus revealsthat the original play was badly received when it was pro-duced. References in the same parabasis to a play by Eu-polis called Maricas (produced in 421) and criticism ofthe populist politician Hyperbolus (ostracized in 416) in-dicate that the second version of The Clouds was probablycomposed somewhere between 421-16 BC. The paraba-sis also includes an appeal to the audience to prosecuteCleon for corruption.Since Cleon died in 422 it can beassumed that this appeal was retained from the originalproduction in 423 and thus the extant play must be a par-tial revision of the original play.[79]The revised play is an incomplete form of Old Comedy.Old Comedy conventionally limits the number of actorsto three or four yet there are already three actors on stagewhen Superior and Inferior enter the action and there isno song at that point that would allow for a change ofcostume. The play is unusually serious for an Old Com-edy and possibly this was the reason why the original playfailed at the City Dionysia.[73] As a result of this serious-ness, there is no celebratory song in the exodus, and thisalso is an uncharacteristic omission. A typical Aristo-phanic Chorus, even if it starts out as hostile to the pro-tagonist, is hardly more than the protagonists cheer squadby the end of the play. In The Clouds however, the Cho-rus appears sympathetic at rst but emerges as a virtualantagonist by the end of the play.The play adapts the following elements Old Comedy in avariety of novel ways.Parodos: The arrival of the Chorus in this play isunusual in that the singing begins ostage some timebefore the Chorus appears. It is possible that theconcealed Chorus was not fully audible to the audi-ence and this might have been a factor in the origi-nal plays failure.[80] Moreover, the majestic openingsong is more typical of tragedy than comedy.[81]Parabasis: Theparabasis proper(lines 518-62)is composed in eupolidean tetrameter rather thanthe conventional anapestic tetrameter. Aristophanesdoes not use eupolideans in any other of his extantplays.[82] The rst parabasis (510-626) is otherwiseconventional. However the second parabasis (111330) is in a shortened form, comprising an epirrhemain trochaic tetrameter but without the songs and theantepirrhema needed for a conventional, symmetri-cal scene.Agon: The play has two agons. The rst is be-tween Superior and Inferior (949-1104). Superiorsarguments are in conventionalanapestic tetrame-ter but Inferior presents his case in iambic tetram-eters, a variation that Aristophanes reserves for ar-guments that are not to be taken seriously.[83] Asim-ilar distinction between anapestic and iambic argu-ments is made in the agons in The Knights[84] andThe Frogs.[85] The second agon in The Clouds is be-tween Strepsiades and his son (13451451) and it isin iambic tetrameter for both speakers.Episodes: Informaldialogue between charactersis conventionally in iambic trimeter. However thescene introducing Superior and Inferior is conductedin short lines of anapestic rhythm (889-948). Later,in the agon between Strepsiades and his son, a lineof dialogue in iambic trimeter (1415) - adapted fromEuripides play Alcestis - is inserted into a speech iniambic tetrameter, a transition that seems uncharac-teristically clumsy.[86]5 TranslationsBenjaminDannWalsh, TheComedies ofAristo-phanes, vol. 1, 1837. 3 vols. English metre.William James Hickie, 1853 - prose: full textBenjamin B. Rogers, 1924 - verseArthur S. Way, 1934 - verseRobert Henning Webb, 1960 - verseWilliam Arrowsmith, 1962 - prose and verseThomas G. West and Grace Starry West,1984 -prosePeter Meineck, 1998 - proseCharles Connaghan (prose),John Curtis Franklin(metrical translation of choral lyrics), 2000Ian Johnston, 2003 - verseEdwardTomlinson, SimonR. B. Andrews andAlexandra Outhwaite, 2007 - prose and verse (forKaloi k'Agathoi)George Theodoridis, 2007 - prose: full textMichael A. Tueller, 2011 - prose8 8 CITATIONS6 AdaptationsAndrew David Irvine, 2007 - prose, Socrates onTrial: AplaybasedonAristophanes CloudsandPlatos Apology, Crito, andPhaedo, adaptedformodern performance7 PerformancesThe Oxford University Dramatic Society staged itin the original Greek in 1905, with C.W.Merceras Strepsiades and Compton Mackenzie asPheidippides.[87]Nottingham New Theatre staged an adaptation ofthe play from 1720 March 2009. It was directedby Michael Moore; with Alexander MacGillivray asStrepsiades, Lucy Preston as Pheidippides and To-pher Collins as Socrates.8 Citations[1] Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The CloudsAlan Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, page 37[2] ibidem[3] Clouds (1970), page XXIX[4] Aristophanes: Lysistrata, TheAcharnians, TheCloudsA.Somerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, page 107[5] Rhetoric, Comedy and the Violence of Language in Aristo-phanes Clouds Daphne O'Regan, Oxford University PressUS 1992, page 6[6] Aristophanes:Old-and-newComedy-Sixessaysinper-spective Kenneth.J.Reckford, UNC Press 1987, page 393[7] The Apology translated by Benjamin Jowett, section4[8] Apology, Greek text, edited J Burnet, section 19c[9] Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds A.Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, pages 16-17[10] EarlyGreekPhilosophyMartinWest, in'OxfordHis-tory of the Classical World', J.Boardman, J.Grin andO.Murray (eds), Oxford University Press 1986, page 121[11] Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds A.Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, pages 108[12] Clouds (1970), page XVIII[13] Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, Clouds A. Som-merstein, Penguin Classics 1975, page 31[14] Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, Clouds A. Som-merstein, Penguin Classics 1975, page 16[15] Clouds (1970), page XIX[16] Clouds (1970), pages 119-20 note 523[17] Clouds (1970)[18] Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The CloudsA.Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973[19] Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus II F.Hall and W.Geldart,Index Nominum[20] Wealth II 720[21] Knights 55, 76, 355, 702, 742, 846, 1005, 1058, 1167,1172, 1201; Peace 219, 665; Lysistrata 104, 1163[22] Knights 582; Wasps 1076; Birds1704; Thesmophori-azusae 1192[23] Wasps 715[24] Wasps 236[25] Thesmophoriazusae 855[26] Knights 560; Birds 868[27] Frogs 1057, 1212[28] Wasps 159, 1446; Birds 618, 716[29] Wasps 1247, 1274; Lysistrata 1152; Plutus 522[30] Acharnians 181, 697, 698; Knights 781, 1334; Wasps 711;Birds 246; Thesmophoriazusae 806; Frogs 1296[31] Peace 1253; Birds 504, 1133; Thesmophoriazusae 856,878; Frogs 1206, 1406; Wealth II 178[32] Birds 485, 707, 1030; Thesmophoriazusae 734, 1175; Ly-sistrata 229, 1261; Ecclesiazusae 319[33] The Birds 1009[34] The Birds 692[35] Histories ii.2[36] Knights 604,608; Birds 968, 969; Lysistrata 91; Thes-mophoriazusae 404, 648; Frogs 443; Ecclesiazousae 199,828; Wealth II 149, 173, 303[37] Birds 1073; Frogs 320[38] Acharnians 614[39] Lysistrata 2[40] Thesmophoriazusae 130[41] Knights 1055; Wasps 438; Birds 1407; Wealth II 773[42] The Knights 511[43] Peace 418; Frogs 1090[44] Frogs 963[45] Frogs 855, 864[46] Peace 420[47] Knights 1189; Lysistrata 3479[48] Frogs 863[49] Birds 1660[50] Wasps 1408, 1412; Birds 1296, 1564[51] Wasps 1269[52] Knights 283; Peace 606; Lysistrata 530[53] Acharnians 386[54] Acharnians 88, 844; Knights 958, 1294, 1372; Wasps 19,20, 822; Peace 446, 673, 675, 1295; Birds 289, 290, 1475;Thesmophoriazusae 605[55] Knights 1374; Wasps 1187; Birds 831; Lysistrata 621,1092; Frogs 48, 57, 426[56] Acharnians 134, 155; Knights 608; Wasps 42, 47, 418,599, 1220, 1236[57] Acharnians 6, 300, 377, 502, 659; Wasps 62, 197, 242,409, 596, 759, 1220, 1224, 1237, 1285; Peace 47, 270,313, 648; Frogs 569, 577[58] Acharnians 846; Knights 1304, 1363; Wasps 1007; Peace681, 921, 1319; Thesmophoriazusae 840; Frogs 570[59] Wasps 1397; Thesmophoriazusae 375; Ecclesiazusae 41[60] Wasps line 84[61] Aristophanes:Wasps D.MacDowell, Oxford UniversityPress 1971, page 139 note 74[62] The Wasps 74, 466, 1267[63] Thucydides iv 66.1, 101.2[64] Acharnians 1150[65] Frogs 13[66] Peace 798, 800[67] Peace 1089, 1096; Birds 575, 910, 914; Frogs 1034[68] Hecuba line 159 and 171[69] Alcestis 691[70] Aristophanes:Wasps D.MacDowell, Oxford UniversityPress 1971, pages 326-7 note 1501[71] Peace 697-8; Birds 919[72] Acharnians 10; Birds 807; Lysistrata 188; Thesmophori-azusae 134[73] Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The CloudsA.Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, page 109[74] Clouds (1970), pages XIV-XV[75] PostmodernPlatosCatherineH.Zuckert, UniversityofChicago Press 1996, page 135[76] The Socratic Movement Paul Vander Waerdt, Cornell Uni-versity Press 1994, page 74[77] Clouds (1970), pages XXII[78] PostmodernPlatosCatherineH.Zuckert, UniversityofChicago Press 1996, page 133, commenting on Socratesand Aristophanes by Leo Strauss, University of ChicagoPress 1994[79] Clouds (1970), pages XXVIII-XXIX[80] Clouds (1970), page 99 note 275-90[81] Clouds (1970), page XXVIII[82] Clouds (1970), page 119 note 518-62[83] Aristophanes:Wasps D.MacDowell (ed.), Oxford Univer-sity Press 1971, page 207 note 546-630[84] Knights 756-940[85] Frogs 895-1098[86] Aristophanes:Wasps D.MacDowell (ed.), Oxford Univer-sity Press 1971, page 187 note 1415[87] Times review March 2nd 19059 ReferencesDover, K.J. (1970). Aristophanes: Clouds. OxfordUniversity Press.Pierre Brul, Les Nues et le problme del'incroyance au Ve sicle, in Pierre Brul (ed.), Lanorme en matire religieuse en Grce ancienne. Actesdu XIIe colloque international du CIERGA (Rennes,septembre 2007) (Lige, 2009) (Kernos Suppl-ment, 21), 49-67.Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: Aplay based on Aristophanes Clouds and Platos Apol-ogy, Crito, andPhaedo, adaptedformodernper-formance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.ISBN978-0-8020-9783-5(cloth); ISBN978-0-8020-9538-1 (paper)10 External linksWorks related to The Clouds at WikisourceThe Clouds translated by William James Hickie' atProject GutenbergThe Clouds translated by Ian JohnstonThe Clouds: A Study GuideJohn Curtis Franklin - Aristophanes Clouds EssayOn Satire in Aristophaness The Clouds has a verygood analysis of The Clouds and on satire in gen-eral.(Includes full version of the text with commen-taries)10 11 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses11.1 Text TheCloudsSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clouds?oldid=675748345Contributors: Mav, SimonP, Ezubaric, Two halves,Asilvahalo, Chinju, Ihcoyc, TUF-KAT, Cimon Avaro, Richj, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Furrykef, Ardeo, Lupin, Dersen, Alen-sha, Proslaes, RetiredUser2, Yossarian, TheObtuseAngleOfDoom, Gloucks, Maksym Ye., Paul August, Bender235, ESkog, Tgies, Mr.Billion, Wareh, Bobo192, Brainy J, MPerel, Acb, Saga City, Deror avi, Jjurquia, Canisestmortis, Eubot, Chadamir, Srleer, Eamon-nPKeane, YurikBot, Wavelength, Ravenous, Badagnani, Tomisti, SmackBot, InverseHypercube, Jtuba, Eskimbot, Marktreut, Gilliam,Hmains, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Thumperward, Bob the ducq, Cjnmoerman, Darth Panda, WikiPedant, Ioscius, Fuhghettaboutit, Cyber-cobra, alyosha, J.smith, Lucretius~enwiki, RGCorris, Kripkenstein, Tawkerbot2, Bubbha, MicahDCochran, Neelix, Gregbard, Cydebot,Thijs!bot, NeilEvans, Courtjester555, S. 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