Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol1.djvu/180

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164
THE CLOUDS.
1131—1149.

Strep. The fifth, the fourth, the third, after this the second; and then, of all days what I most fear, and dread, and abominate, immediately after this there is the Old and New.[1] For every one, to whom I happen to be indebted,[2] swears, and says he will ruin and utterly destroy me, having made his deposits against me; though I only ask what is moderate and just,—"My good sir,[3] one part don't take just now; the other part put off, I pray; and the other part remit;" they say that thus they will never get back their money, but abuse me, as that I am unjust, and say that they will go to law with me. Now therefore let them go to law, for it little concerns me, if Phidippides has learned to speak well. I shall soon know by knocking at the thinking-shop. [Knocks at the door.] Boy, I say! Boy, boy! [Enter Socrates.]

Soc. Good morning,[4] Strepsiades.

Strep. The same to you. But first accept this present;[5] for one ought to compliment the teacher with a fee. And tell me about my son,[6] if he has learned that cause, which[7] you just now brought forward.

Soc. He has learned it.

Strep. Well done, O Fraud, all-powerful queen!

Soc. So that you can get clear off from whatever suit you please.

  1. The last day of the month, to which Solon gave the name of the ἔνη καὶ νέα, as partaking of the light both of the old moon and the new. To Strepsiades it is a day of horror, as placing him in danger of legal proceedings by his creditors.
  2. "Da verschwört's denn jeder Gläubiger; alle, Kosten gleich
    Deponiren, sagt er, will er, mich jagen von Haus und Hof." Droysen.
  3. "Vortrefflicher, sag' Ich, press' mich doch um das Sümmchen nicht!
    Diess schiebe noch auf! ja diess erlass mir!" Droysen.
  4. Strepsiadem salvere jubeo, in the language of Terence.
  5. The promised bag of meal. There is an allusion to the contributions of the friends and pupils of Socrates towards the maintenance of their instructor. See Süvern, Clouds, p. 125.
  6. "Accusativus de quo." See Mus. Crit. i. p. 532, and for this use of "Anticipation," see Krüger, Gr. Gr. 61, 6, obs. 2. Cf. vss. 1155, 1185. Ran. 432, 750, 932, 1454. Eccles. 1125. Soph. Phil. 573.
  7. "The antecedent of ὅν is not υἱὸν, but λὀγον. Strepsiades was very anxious that his son should learn the ἄδικος λόγος in order to defraud his creditors. This ἄδικος λόγος had just before been brought on the stage as a person: to which circumstance those words, ὅν ἀρτίως εἰσήγαγεσ, refer." Seager. So also Walsh, Droysen, and Felton.