But come, my dear son, come with me
to take vengeance on this wretched
Chaerephon
and on Socrates, who have
deceived us both.
Aristophanes
all our troubles emanate from you, from you, to whom I
entrusted myself, body and soul.
CHORUS. No, you alone are the cause, because you have pursued the path of
evil.
STREPSIADES. Why did you not say so then, instead of egging on a poor
ignorant old man?
CHORUS. We always act thus, when we see a man conceive a passion for what
is evil; we strike him with some terrible disgrace, so that he may learn
to fear the gods.
STREPSIADES. Alas! oh Clouds! 'tis hard indeed, but 'tis just! I ought
not to have cheated my creditors....
But come, my dear son, come with me
to take vengeance on this wretched
Chaerephon
and on Socrates, who have
deceived us both.
PHIDIPPIDES. I shall do nothing against our masters.
STREPSIADES. Oh! show some reverence for ancestral Zeus!
PHIDIPPIDES. Mark him and his ancestral Zeus! What a fool you are! Does
any such being as Zeus exist?
STREPSIADES. Why, assuredly.
PHIDIPPIDES. No, a thousand times no! The ruler of the world is the
Whirlwind, that has unseated Zeus.
