< Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol1.djvu
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126

THE CLOUDS.

203—220.

Strep. What then is the use of this?

Dis. To measure out the land.

Strep. What belongs to an allotment?

Dis. No, but the whole earth.

Strep. You tell me a clever notion; for the contrivance[1] is democratic and useful.

Dis. (pointing to a map). See, here's a map of the whole earth. Do you see? this is Athens.

Strep. What say you? I don't believe you; for I do not see the Dicasts[2] sitting.

Dis. Be assured that this is truly the Attic territory.[3]

Strep. Why, where are my fellow-tribesmen of Cicynna?

Dis. Here they are. And Eubœa here, as you see, is stretched out a long way by the side of it to a great distance.

Strep. I know that; for it was stretched by us and Pericles.[4] But where is Lacedæmon?

Dis. Where is it? Here it is.

Strep. How near it is to us! Pay great attention to this,[5] to remove it very far from us.

Dis. By Jupiter, it is not possible.

Strep. Then you will weep for it. [Looking up and discovering Socrates.] Come, who is this man who is in the basket?

Dis. Himself.

Strep. Who's "Himself?"

Dis. Socrates.

Strep. O Socrates! Come, you sir,[6] call upon him loudly for me.

  1. ↑ "Fatuitas ridetur hominis rustici, qui totum orbem terrarum divisum iri pauperibus putat. Idemque pulcrum hoc dicit et lepidum inventum, quod sit populate et ad ditandos cives utilissimum." Schütz.
  2. ↑ "Quasi hoc præcipuum sit signum, unde Athenn. urbs a cæteris dignosci possit, si nempe judices in foro sedeant; perstringit autem hic etiam τὸ φιλόδικον eorum de quâ re ex professo edidit Vespas." Berg.
  3. ↑ "Du Kannst dich drauf verlassen, diess ist Attisch Land." Droysen.
  4. ↑ "This refers to the reduction of the revolted Eubœans, twenty-two years before the first representation of this play, by the good generalship of Pericles. See Thirlwall's Hist. Greece, iii. p. 41, 42."
  5. ↑ See note on Thesm. 520.
  6. ↑ See Krüger's Gr. Gr. § 51, 7, obs. 8.
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