120 ARISTOPHANES.

Strep. “1 can’t see them.”

Soc. “Surely you must see them now, unless you
are as blind as a bat.”

Strep. “Now I do; indeed, they are everywhere.”

Soc. “And didn’t you know that they were god-
desses ?”

Strep. “Not I; I thought that they were dew
and mist. But tell me, if they are clouds, why they
are like women. For the real clouds are not.”

Soc. “ What are they, then?”

Strep. “ Why, they are like fleeces floating about,
but not in the least like women.’ Those clouds
there have noses.” 4

Soc. “ Now answer me a few questions. Have
you ever looked up into the sky and seen a cloud
that was like a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a
bull ?” ‘

Strep. “ Often; what then?”

Soc. “They become whatever they like. When
they see a minor poet with his hair all long about his
shoulders, they mock at his folly, and make them-
selves into centaurs.” i

Strep. “What do they do when they see Simon,
who stole the public money?”

Soc. “They become wolves, to be sure.”

Strep. “And so, when they see Cleonymus the
coward, they turn into deer, I suppose.”

The Clouds now greeted the sage who had invoked
their presence : —

1 Probably the masks had noses of comic size.