< Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol1.djvu
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132
340—351.
THE CLOUDS.
Soc. Is it not just,[1] however, that they should have their reward, on account of these?

Strep. Tell me, pray, if they are really Clouds, what ails them, that they resemble mortal women? For they are not such.

Soc. Pray, of what nature are they?

Strep. I do not clearly know: at any rate they resemble spread-out fleeces, and not women, by Jupiter! not a bit;[2] for these have noses.

Soc. Answer, then, whatever I ask you.

Strep. Then say quickly what you wish.

Soc. Have you ever, when you looked up, seen a cloud[3] like to a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a bull?

Strep. By Jupiter, have I! But what of that?[4]

Soc. They become all things, whatever they please. And then, if they see a person with long hair, a wild one of these[5] hairy fellows, like the son of Xenophantes, in derision of his folly, they liken themselves to centaurs.

Strep. Why, what, if they should see Simon, a plunderer of the public property, what do they do?

  1. ↑ "Und haben sie 's nicht um jene verdient?" Droysen.

    ⁠"And proper fare;
    ⁠What better do they merit?" Cumberland.

  2. ↑ See Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 51, 13, obs. 3.
  3. ↑ Porson has referred to parallel passages in Shakspeare, Swift, and Cicero. To Dobree we are indebted for the following extract, from the Worthy Communicant of Jeremy Taylor:—"We sometimes espie a bright cloud form'd into an irregular figure; when it is observed by unskilful and phantastic travellers, looks like a centaure to some, and as a castle to others: some tell that they saw an army with banners, and it signifies war; but another, wiser than his fellow, says it looks for all the world like a flock of sheep, and foretells plenty; and all the while it is nothing but a shining cloud, by its own mobility and the activity of the wind cast into a contingent and inartificial shape."
  4. ↑ See Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 62, 3, obs. 11.
  5. ↑ So vs. 104, ὦν ὁ κακοδαίμων Σωκράτης καὶ Χαιρεφῶν. Cf. 527. Lys. 819, ὑμῶν τοὺς πονήρους ἄνδρας, Shakspeare, Sonnets,

    "On whose tops the pinks that grow,
    ⁠Are of those that April wears."

    Cf, Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 47, 9, For πάνθ᾽ ὅ τι, cf. Thesm. 248. Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 58, 4, obs. 5.

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