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Aristophanes · c. 446-386 BC

The Clouds

Νεφέλαι
Ancient Sources / Aristophanes / The Clouds

Read our guide to The Clouds. The Clouds was first produced at the City Dionysia of 423 BC, where it came third, and the text that survives is a later revision of it. Strepsiades, an old farmer ruined by his son's horses, sends himself and then his son to Socrates' Thinking-shop to learn how to argue his way out of his debts, with results he did not expect. The sections follow the play's dramatic units and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 12 passages, about 14800 words in English.
Translator
Benjamin Bickley Rogers (1924)
Edition
Greek text: F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds.), Aristophanis Comoediae, Oxford Classical Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906-1907, as digitised by Perseus. English: Benjamin Bickley Rogers, Aristophanes, vol. I, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, and New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924
Cite as
Aristophanes, The Clouds 1 (by line number)

Contents · 12 passages

  1. 1–132Prologue: Strepsiades' debts; Pheidippides refuses to study1148 words
  2. 133–262Episode: Strepsiades at the Thinking-shop; Socrates in his basket1155 words
  3. 263–436Parodos: Socrates invokes the Clouds; the new gods2441 words
  4. 437–509Episode: Strepsiades pledges himself; Socrates questions him650 words
  5. 510–626Parabasis: the poet defends the play and the Clouds complain1087 words
  6. 627–803Episode: Socrates tries to teach Strepsiades; the bugs and the bed1581 words
  7. 804–888aEpisode: Strepsiades takes Pheidippides to school728 words
  8. 889–1112Agon: the Better Logic and the Worse Logic2354 words
  9. 1113–1213Episode: the Chorus address the judges; Strepsiades takes his son home782 words
  10. 1214–1302Episode: the creditors Pasias and Amynias come to call825 words
  11. 1303–1475Episode: Pheidippides beats his father and defends it1686 words
  12. 1476–1511Exodos: Strepsiades burns the Thinking-shop328 words

More by Aristophanes

English translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (1924). Original text: Greek text: F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds.), Aristophanis Comoediae, Oxford Classical Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906-1907, as digitised by Perseus. English: Benjamin Bickley Rogers, Aristophanes, vol. I, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, and New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924.

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Greek: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain (Rogers). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.