Shall not the air, which is boundless, produce these
mighty claps of thunder?
mighty claps of thunder?
Aristophanes
When you have heartily gorged on
stew at the Panathenaea, you get throes of stomach-ache and then suddenly
your belly resounds with prolonged growling.
STREPSIADES. Yes, yes, by Apollo! I suffer, I get colic, then the stew
sets a-growling like thunder and finally bursts forth with a terrific
noise. At first, 'tis but a little gurgling _pappax, pappax_! then it
increases, _papapappax! _ and when I seek relief, why, 'tis thunder
indeed, _papapappax! pappax! ! papapappax! ! ! _ just like the clouds.
SOCRATES. Well then, reflect what a noise is produced by your belly,
which is but small.
Shall not the air, which is boundless, produce these
mighty claps of thunder?
STREPSIADES. But tell me this. Whence comes the lightning, the dazzling
flame, which at times consumes the man it strikes, at others hardly
singes him. Is it not plain, that 'tis Zeus hurling it at the perjurers?
SOCRATES. Out upon the fool! the driveller! he still savours of the
golden age! If Zeus strikes at the perjurers, why has he not blasted
Simon, Cleonymus and Theorus? [510] Of a surety, greater perjurers cannot
exist. No, he strikes his own Temple, and Sunium, the promontory of
Athens,[511] and the towering oaks. Now, why should he do that? An oak is
no perjurer.
STREPSIADES. I cannot tell, but it seems to me well argued.
stew at the Panathenaea, you get throes of stomach-ache and then suddenly
your belly resounds with prolonged growling.
STREPSIADES. Yes, yes, by Apollo! I suffer, I get colic, then the stew
sets a-growling like thunder and finally bursts forth with a terrific
noise. At first, 'tis but a little gurgling _pappax, pappax_! then it
increases, _papapappax! _ and when I seek relief, why, 'tis thunder
indeed, _papapappax! pappax! ! papapappax! ! ! _ just like the clouds.
SOCRATES. Well then, reflect what a noise is produced by your belly,
which is but small.
Shall not the air, which is boundless, produce these
mighty claps of thunder?
STREPSIADES. But tell me this. Whence comes the lightning, the dazzling
flame, which at times consumes the man it strikes, at others hardly
singes him. Is it not plain, that 'tis Zeus hurling it at the perjurers?
SOCRATES. Out upon the fool! the driveller! he still savours of the
golden age! If Zeus strikes at the perjurers, why has he not blasted
Simon, Cleonymus and Theorus? [510] Of a surety, greater perjurers cannot
exist. No, he strikes his own Temple, and Sunium, the promontory of
Athens,[511] and the towering oaks. Now, why should he do that? An oak is
no perjurer.
STREPSIADES. I cannot tell, but it seems to me well argued.
