rubbed, polished, &c.; hence, metaphorically, a person skilled and polished in any thing. кpóraλov, a rattle or bell, and met. a talking person, a rattler. Tanáλn, fine meal, met. a subtle fellow, a keen disputant. 261, 262. μà... . yevńσoμaɩ, by Zeus, you will not deceive me; that is, What you say about my being made meal of I'm afraid will be true enough. Upon the 262nd line Mitchell says,-" The words are hardly out of the mouth of Strepsiades, when the whole contents of the bag (a mingled mass of fine pebble, tin, and meal) are dashed into his face. Strepsiades sputters and spits, and spits and sputters, till, the intervening obstacles being at last removed, out comes the word Taιán, like a pellet from a pop-gun. But this is not all. Strepsiades turns to the spectators, and part of the freemasonry of the Socratic school is discovered; for the face of Strepsiades, hitherto of a ruddy colour, has now assumed the hue of deadly pale peculiar to that school. Such appears to me the meaning of this difficult passage." 263. evonμeîv, to observe a religious silence. The ceremony of initiation is now over, and nothing remains but to introduce Strepsiades to the new divinities. The first line is addressed to him; then Socrates proceeds with a solemn invocation to Air and Ether, and the Clouds, the deities of the new school. 266. τῷ φροντιστῇ, to the phrontist. "These words," says a scholiast," may be understood either of Socrates or the old man; of Socrates, so that he may be invoking the clouds to appear to him; or of the old man, since Socrates already counts him among the number of the philosophers." Mitchell says they refer to Strepsiades, "the newlyadmitted member. That the popular voice subsequently fixed the term on Socrates himself may be gathered from the language which Xenophon puts into the mouth of his Syracusan juggler, when offended at seeing the guests whom he had been brought to amuse paying more attention to Socrates than to his own sleight-of-hand tricks." He then cites the passage from Xenophon's Symposium to the following effect:-" And these discourses going on, when the Syracusan saw them neglecting his exhibitions, and entertaining themselves with one another, envying Socrates, he said to him, Are you, then, O Socrates, the reflector, so called (ò poovtorns)? Better so,' he replied, than if I were called the unreflecting (appóvrioTOS).' "Yes, unless you were a reflector (poovriors) upon things on high (Twν μεTεWOWV).' 'Do you know, then,' said Socrates, any thing higher than the gods?' But, by Zeus, it is not these, they say, that you give your thoughts to, but the most useless things. . . . . But let these things alone, and tell me how many flea's feet you are distant from me; for these are the things they say, that you apply geometry to.'" Xen. Sym. VI. 6. 6 267. μm. Strepsiades, frightened at the invocation, bawls out, begging the clouds not to appear until he has folded his cloak about him. 268. τὸ . . . . ἔχοντα, unlucky dog that I am, to have come from home without my cap! Kuvv is properly a dog-skin cap. For the use of the accusative and infinitive with the neuter article, cf. Gr. 1054 (814) § 679, 1. 269. Tậ8' els rideığı, to exhibition before him, that is, before Strepsiades. The following lines are in that high poetic vein, of which no one was a greater master than Aristophanes, when he chose to give free scope to his lyric genius. 270. χιονοβλήτοισι, snow-beaten. 271. Núppais, with the Nymphs [dat. of accompaniment], that is, the daughters of father Oceanus, and of Tethys, the same that compose the chorus in the Prometheus Bound. 272. Tpoxoaîs, literally, the outflowings, that is, the mouths.―xpvσéals ȧpúτeσde Tрóxоlow, ye draw in golden pitchers. With regard to the places mentioned in these lines, Bothe observes,-"The poet describes the earth, from its centre, where Mount Olympus was believed to be situated, and in four directions, towards the west, where were the ocean isles; the south, where was the Nile; the north, where was lake Mæotis; and, finally, the east, where was Mimas, the highest mountain in Ionia,-not in Thrace, as has been supposed;" the same Mimas, probably, that is mentioned in the Odyssey, III. 172:— Ἡ ὑπένερθε Χίοιο, παρ' ἠνεμόεντα Μίμαντα. 275. ἀέναοι Νεφέλαι. "Loud claps of thunder are here heard; these are succeeded by a solemn strain of music; after which, a chorus of voices, apparently proceeding from a body of clouds which float about on the side of Mount Parnes. These clouds gradually assume the appearance of females of the most commanding aspect, and subsequently occupy, like other choruses, the orchestra, or empty space between the stage and the spectators." Mitchell. After the prayer of Socrates, the clouds summon each other to obey the invocation to assemble, and thus to make their appearance before Socrates. With 276. δροσερὰν φύσιν εὐάγητον, dewy, easy-moving nature. regard to the appearance of the clouds, Welcker remarks,-"In the uncovered theatre, the chorus was really seen moving along from the side of Parnes, veiled like clouds, directly opposite the spectators, coming down over the walls, which on both sides shut in a large part of the long stage, and behind which the machinery was disposed. While they were rapidly and tumultuously shaking off their cloudy veils, and coming forth as women of wondrous dignity and beauty, they occupied the orchestra, the empty space between the spectators and the players, and then took the elevated Thymele, in order to speak, by means of the choir-leader, with the actors or the spectators, to whom they alternately addressed themselves." 287-290. dλλ' . . . . ..yaiav, but let us, having shaken off the showery cloud from our immortal forms, survey the earth with far-seeing eye. There is some doubt as to the reading of daváraç idiaç. Some have ἀθανάταις ἰδέαις, and a scholiast mentions the reading ἀθανάτης ideas. The reading given in the text is perhaps the best, and the genitive case is constructed with droσsioάμevaι, having shaken off from. 292. ἤισθου . . . . θεοσέπτου ; Socrates addresses this to Strepsiades. OεoσÉπTov, worthy of divine worship, to be reverenced as a god. 296. ἅπερ . . . . οὗτοι. The poet makes Socrates allude satirically to the comedians in these words. Tovyodaipovec. This ludicrous epithet was compounded in imitation of the Kaкоdaiμоves, applied by the comic poets to Socrates and his fellow-philosophers. It means literally (rpus, daiμoves) lees-dæmons, and refers to the comic actors daubing their faces with the lees of wine. .... 297. μέγα . . ảoɩdaîs, for a great swarm of goddesses is in motion with their songs. 299. παρθένοι ὀμβροφόροι. "After a preluding strain of music, the voices of the chorus are again heard, but they themselves are not yet visible." Mitchell. 300. λιπαρὰν χθόνα Παλλάδος, the fair land of Pallas. Pindar calls Athens λιπαραὶ καὶ ἀοίδιμοι, Ελλάδος ἔρεισμα, κλειναὶ ̓Αθῆναι, illustrious Athens, fair and famous, the prop of Greece. 302. ápρńτwv iepŵv, the unspeakable sacred rites, that is, the Eleusinian mysteries. 303. μVOтodókos Sóμos. "Sacellum templi Eleusinii, in quo initiatio fiebat." Schütz. 304. ἀναδείκνυται, is thrown open. 308. Kal.... iepútatal, and the most sacred processions, in honour of the immortals. 309-313. εὐστέφανοι . . . . αὐλῶν, and well-crowned festivals and banquets in all the seasons, and, at the coming spring, the Bromian joy, and the rivalries of harmonious choruses, and the deep-resounding music (literally, Muse) of flutes. This choral song is a most beautiful description of the festivities and poetical amusements of the Athenians. No city of ancient times equalled Athens in the variety, taste, and splendour of its entertainments, its processions, its cyclic dances, and its Dionysiac exhibitions, which were the most remarkable of all, as being the occasions which produced the masterpieces of the Attic tragic drama, the works of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. These exhibitions are meant by the Boouía xápis, at the coming of spring, the greater Dionysiac festival taking place at that season of the year. See Panegyricus of Isocrates, p. 15, Felton's edition, and note, p. 79. Dr. Wordsworth, the elegant author of "Athens and Attica," makes the following remarks:-Aristophanes, in his play of the Nephelæ, brings his goddesses, the Clouds, from the heights of Mount Parnes, when, in compliance with the invocation of Socrates, they descend to visit the earth. Quitting their aerial station on this lofty mountain, they soar over the Athenian plain, and floating across the peaked hill of Lycabettus, at the north east extremity of the city, and above the town itself, and the rock of the Acropolis, they fly over the Parthenon, and at last alight on the stage of the theatre on the south side of the citadel. Before they commence their flight, they join their voices in a choral strain, replete with poetical beauty, which furnishes conclusive evidence that the poet who composed it might have been as distinguished for lyrical as he was for his dramatic excellence; that, in a word, he might have been a Pindar, if he had not been an Aristophanes. "While listening to the beautiful language and melodious harmony Ecloga Arist. G of this song, the audience might almost imagine itself to be placed in the same elevated position as was occupied by those who united in giving it utterance; and thence it might seem to contemplate all the noble and fair spectacles which they there see and describe. Together with the Chorus of the Clouds, it might appear to look down upon the objects of which they speak as then visible to themselves: to see the land of Pallas stretched out before them, and the lofty temples and statues of Athens at their feet; to trace the long trains of worshippers in festal array going over the hills to the sacred mysteries of Eleusis; to follow the sacred processions winding through the streets to the Acropolis of the Athenian city; to witness the banquets and sacrifices on solemn holidays; to behold the crowds seated in, the theatre at the beginning of spring, and viewing the dances and listening to the melodies which there gave an additional charm to that season of festivity and joy." Pictorial Greece, pp. 87, 88. 316. μεγάλαι . . . . ἀργοῖς, great goddesses for idle men, that is, the philosophers and sophists, whose pursuits the poet would represent as idle and useless. Ωφέλιμοι τοῖς ἀνθρώπων ἀπράκτοις· οἱ γὰρ ἀργοὶ κεχήνασιν εἰς τὰς Νεφέλας, says the Scholiast. .... 317, 318. αἵπερ κατάληψιν. In following out his purpose of ridiculing the philosophers, the poet makes Socrates ascribe to the Clouds the faculties and arts which the sophists professed to ascertain and to cultivate. He ludicrously mingles up philosophical terms with the cant of the jugglers. yvwunv, thought. diáλeživ, the art of discussion by question and answer, or dialectics, an art carried to its highest perfection by Socrates. vovv, used in a variety of philosophical senses, but all traceable to the general idea of intelligence, or the intelligent principle, as distinguished from matter. reparɛiav, the wondrous art, the art of dealing with supernatural things, jugglery, witchcraft, the black art. πEpiλeživ, the art of talking round and round a subject ; a gloss explains, εὐπορία καὶ περιττότης λόγων, abundance and superfluity of words, the wordy art. κpovov, literally, a blow, a stroke upon vessels to ascertain whether they are cracked, hence a proof, a test, also the touch of a musical instrument; perhaps, here, playing upon the mind, cheating; the same idea that is expressed in Hamlet's dialogue with Guildenstern: "Hamlet. Will you play upon this pipe? "Guildenstern. My lord, I cannot. "Ham. I pray you. "Guil. Believe me, I cannot. "Ham. I do beseech you. "Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord. "Ham. "Tis as easy as lying; govern these ventages with your finger and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, there are the stops. "Guil. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill. "Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me? You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. S'blood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me." Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 2. Karáλniv, comprehension, skill in getting hold of any thing, from KaTαXaußávo. In the "Knights," Aristophanes describes a rhetorician thus: συνερκτικὸς γάρ ἐστι καὶ περαντικός, καὶ γνωμοτυπικός, καὶ σαφὴς καὶ κρουστικός, 319-322. ταῦτ ̓.... ἐπιθυμῶ. Ταῦτ ̓, an Attic construction for dià Taura. Strepsiades breaks out in a strange flood of words, as if in a fit of inspiration. Tεπórηraι, has soared aloft. deπrodoyɛiv, to discuss subtilely, to split hairs. "to distinguish and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side." OTEVOλEOXεiv, nearly the same as the last, to argue subtilely. Kai yvoudig. This line is supposed by Wieland to refer to the manner in which Socrates was accustomed to manage his philosophical discussions with the aid of his celebrated irony (called by an old English writer dry mock), by which he opposed the opinions or maxims of the philosophers (yvoμac) with doubts and questions (yvwμudíos), which, as it were, stuck them through. Strepsiades is so much excited by this new enthusiasm, that he longs to see the inspiring goddesses in bodily form. 323. Tρòs Thν Пápνne', towards Parnes, a mountain in Attica, in sight of the spectators at the theatre. It is situated northward from Athens, and now bears the name of Casha. See note to 309— 313. 324, 325. χωροῦσ ̓.... πλάγιαι. The editors have found some difficulty with this sentence on account of the repetition of the pronoun aura. Mitchell says, "Socrates is here to be considered as pointing out to Strepsiades the course which the Clouds are taking; these coming through the hollows between two hills (coiλa) and shrubberies (daoia); those proceeding sideways (πλάɣiai), till he brings them to the loodog, or place where the chorus entered the part of the theatre appropriated to them." Bothe assigns part of the sentence to Strepsiades, altering the pronoun to avrai; so that Strepsiades is made to ask, φέρε, που, δεῖξον, χωροῦσ ̓ αὐταί; and remarks, with regard to the common arrangement, "Quid sibi velit bis positum, aurai, nemo exputaverit." It seems to me the words will not bear the meaning put upon them by Mitchell. They clearly are not used by Socrates to indicate separate bodies of clouds approaching. There is no difficulty in supposing Socrates to be watching their course, and pointing them out to Strepsiades as they move along; repeating the demonstrative pronoun (used, according to a very common idiom, adverbially), because Strepsiades, though look |