Scholion to Aristophanes’ Clouds 96d = T 29 Kassel-Austin
ταῦτα πρότερος Κρατῖνος Fr. 167 Kassel-Austin ἐν Πανόπταις δράματι περὶ Ἵππωνος τοῦ φιλοσόφου κωμωιδῶν αὐτὸν λέγει· ἀφ’ οὗ στοχαζόμενοί τινές φασιν, ὅτι μηδεμιᾶς ἔχθρας χάριν Ἀριστοφάνης ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Νεφελῶν ποίησιν, ὅς γε μήτε <πρὸς> <πρὸς> Hermann ἴδιον μήτε ἁρμόττον ἀλλὰ μηδὲ πρὸς ἓν ἔγκλημα ἦλθε Σωκράτους. δύο γὰρ κατ’ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα προθεὶς ἐγκλήματα, τὸ περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὡς ἔστι πνιγεύς, καὶ ὡς ἱκανός ἐστι τὸν ἥττω λόγον διδάσκειν καὶ τὸν κρείττονα, τὸ μὲν κοινὸν τῶν φιλοσόφων ἁπάντων ἐπήγαγεν ἔγκλημα, φαίνεται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτωι ὁ Ἵππων κωμωιδηθῆναι φθάσας, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων οὐδὲ τὸ σύνολον ἐπικοινωνεῖ φιλοσοφίαι· οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐπαγγέλλονται οἱ φιλόσοφοι, δεινοὺς ποιήσειν λέγειν, ἴδιον δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτο μᾶλλον <τῆς> <τῆς> Aldus ῥητορικῆς.
Previously, Cratinus said this about the philosopher Hippon when he made fun of him in his drama the All-Seeing. And making inferences from this, some say that Aristophanes did not come to compose the Clouds out of any hostility, since the accusation that he made against Socrates was neither personal nor fitting, and not even directed towards a single fault. For he makes these two charges against him: that the sky is an oven-cover and that he is capable of teaching the weaker argument as well as the stronger, the first being a common accusation against all philosophers—and Hippon seems to have been mocked first for this—the second of the accusations does not even have any share in philosophy at all. For the philosophers do not make this proclamation, that they can make men clever orators, but this rather seems to pertain to the art of rhetoric.
| Relevant guides | Aristophanes |
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