< Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol1.djvu
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267—293.

THE CLOUDS.

129

Strep. Not yet, not yet, till I wrap this around me, lest I be wet through. To think of my having come[1] from home without even a cap, unlucky man!

Soc. Come then, ye highly honoured Clouds, for a display to this man.[2] Whether ye are sitting upon the sacred snow-covered summits of Olympus, or in the gardens of father Ocean form a sacred dance with the Nymphs, or draw in golden pitchers the streams of the waters of the Nile,[3] or inhabit the Mæotic lake, or the snowy rock of Mimas,[4] hearken to our prayer, and receive the sacrifice, and be propitious to the sacred rites.[5] [The following song is heard at a distance, accompanied by loud claps of thunder.]

Cho. Eternal Clouds! let us arise to view with our dewy, dear-bright nature, from loud-sounding father Ocean to the wood-crowned summits of the lofty mountains, in order that we may behold clearly the far-seen watch-towers, and the fruits, and the fostering sacred earth, and the rushing sounds of the divine rivers, and the roaring, loud-sounding sea; for the unwearied eye of Æther sparkles with glittering rays. Come, let us shake off the watery cloud from our immortal forms and survey the earth with far-seeing eye.

Soc. O ye greatly venerable Clouds, ye have clearly heard me when I called. [Turning to Strepsiades.] Did you hear the voice, and the thunder which bellowed at the same time, feared as a god?

Strep. I too worship you, O ye highly-honoured,[6] and am

  1. ↑ Cf. vs. 813. Aves, 5. Ran. 741. Vesp. 835. Eun. Alc. 842. Med. 1051. See Valckn. Adon. p. 384, C. Herm. Vig. n. 19, 159. Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 55, 1, obs. 6. Bernhardy, W. S. pp. 855, 358. Monk, Alc. 848.
  2. ↑ "Gewährt den Genuss ihm eueres Anblicks." Droysen.
  3. ↑ ⁠"Or in the azure vales
    ⁠Of your own father Ocean sporting weave
    ⁠Your misty dance, or dip your golden urns
    ⁠In the seven mouths of Nile." Cumberland.
  4. ↑ "Mimas is a mountain in Thrace, mentioned also by Homer." Dindorf.
  5. ↑ Cf. Equit. 759, 823, 1188. Lys. 1142. Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 59, 2, obs. 3, and index to Krüger's Thucydides, voc. καί.
  6. ↑ "And I too am your Cloudships' most obedient.
    ⁠And under sufferance trump against your thunder." Cumberland.
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