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The Clouds, by Aristophanes

This document was originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 2 . ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 26-27. is very well known, but for the most part little understood and appreciated. It is intended to show that in the propensity to philosophical subtleties, the martial exercises of the Athenians were neglected, that speculation only serves to shake the foundations of religion and morality, that by sophistical sleight, in particular, all justice was turned into quibbles, and the weaker cause often enabled to come off victorious. The Clouds, themselves, who form the chorus, no doubt dressed fantastically enough, are an allegory on these metaphysical thoughts, which do not rest on the ground of experience, but hover about without definite form and substance, in the region of possibilities. It is one of the principal forms of Aristophanic wit in general to take a metaphor in the literal sense, and so place it before the eyes of the spectators. It is said, for instance, of a person who has a propensity to idle, unintelligible dreams, that he walks in air, and thus Socrates, at his first appearance on the stage, descends from the sky in a basket. It is in his character as a sophist that he plays the leading part; for Aristophanes brings no serious charge against him as a citizen or as a man, and this is far more in his favor than all the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Nevertheless he was an innovator in education; he approved, perhaps assisted, in the corruptions which

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