October 25, 2012

"I have to suspend my brain and mingle the subtle essence of my mind with this air..."

"... which is of the like nature, in order clearly to penetrate the things of heaven. I should have discovered nothing, had I remained on the ground to consider from below the things that are above; for the earth by its force attracts the sap of the mind to itself. It's just the same with the watercress."

Socrates, in "The Clouds," by Aristophanes.

11 comments:

Stoutcat said...

SOCRATES: Ahh, but the watercress, that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... the subtle essence of my mind... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist...

Darrell said...

I've looked at clouds from both sides now.

Bob Ellison said...

Aristophanes was a member of the Bad Lip-Reading group?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

If I recall correctly, "The Clouds" was a comedy where Aristophanes lampooned Socrates and his followers.

Lots of fart jokes in it believe it or not.

edutcher said...

Why is there air?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Oh crap!

She's decided to vote for Obama.

YoungHegelian said...

Does anyone recognize that translation? Whose is it? It's definitely old, probably 18th century.

But at least relatively un-Bowderlized, which is important in an Aristophanes translation.

Mitch H. said...

Since the Clouds portrayed Socrates as a con-man offering to teach would-be sophists how to bullshit their way through successful lawsuits, I'd think that it would be a great play to stage at law schools.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Oh crap!

She's decided to vote for Obama.


lol.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

All of a sudden I don't its safe to be in the clouds after the 5:59 comment ;)