§698bκακοδαίμων ἐγώ,
Strepsiades: Unfortunate me, what a penalty I shall pay to the bugs today.
§699οἵαν δίκην τοῖς κόρεσι δώσω τήμερον. §700φρόντιζε δὴ καὶ διάθρει πάντα τρόπον τε σαυτὸν §701στρόβει πυκνώσας.
Chorus: Think now and examine in every way, and spin yourself round, having packed yourself tight.
§702ταχὺς δʼ, ὅταν εἰς ἄπορον πέσῃς, §703ἐπʼ ἄλλο πήδα §705νόημα φρενός· ὕπνος δʼ ἀπέστω γλυκύθυμος ὀμμάτων.
And quickly, whenever you fall into difficulty, leap to another thought of mind; and let sweet-tempered sleep be absent from your eyes.
§707ἀτταταῖ ἀτταταῖ.
Strepsiades: Attatai, attatai!
§708τί πάσχεις;
Socrates: What are you suffering?
τί κάμνεις;
What is troubling you?
§709ἀπόλλυμαι δείλαιος·
Strepsiades: I am dying, wretch that I am!
ἐκ τοῦ σκίμποδος §710δάκνουσί μʼ ἐξέρποντες οἱ Κορίνθιοι, §711καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς δαρδάπτουσιν §712καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκπίνουσιν §713καὶ τοὺς ὄρχεις ἐξέλκουσιν §714καὶ τὸν πρωκτὸν διορύττουσιν, §715καί μʼ ἀπολοῦσιν.
Out of the bed crawling out, the "Corinthians" are biting me, and they are devouring my sides, and drinking dry my life, and dragging out my testicles, and digging through my anus, and they will destroy me.
§716μή νυν βαρέως ἄλγει λίαν.
Socrates: Do not then grieve too heavily.
§717καὶ πῶς;
Strepsiades: And how?
ὅτε μου §718φροῦδα τὰ χρήματα, φρούδη χροιά, §719φρούδη ψυχή, φρούδη δʼ ἐμβάς· §720καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι τοῖσι κακοῖς §721φρουρᾶς ᾄδων §722ὀλίγου φροῦδος γεγένημαι.
When my money is gone, my complexion is gone, my life is gone, and my shoe is gone; and besides these evils still, while singing on guard duty, I have almost become gone.
§723οὗτος τί ποιεῖς;
Socrates: Hey you, what are you doing?
οὐχὶ φροντίζεις;
Are you not thinking?
§723bἐγώ;
Strepsiades: I?
§724νὴ τὸν Ποσειδῶ.
Socrates: Yes, by Poseidon.
§724bκαὶ τί δῆτʼ ἐφρόντισας;
Socrates: And what then did you think?
§725ὑπὸ τῶν κόρεων εἴ μού τι περιλειφθήσεται.
Strepsiades: Whether any part of me will be left behind by the bugs.
§726ἀπολεῖ κάκιστʼ.
Socrates: Go to worst ruin!
§726bἀλλʼ ὦγάθʼ ἀπόλωλʼ ἀρτίως.
Strepsiades: But, my good sir, I have just now been ruined.
§727οὐ μαλθακιστέʼ ἀλλὰ περικαλυπτέα.
Socrates: You must not be soft, but cover yourself up.
For a depriving mind and a trick must be found out.
Strepsiades: Oh, who then would cast over me a depriving thought from sheepskins?
§731φέρε νυν ἀθρήσω πρῶτον ὅ τι δρᾷ τουτονί.
Socrates: Come now, let me first see what this fellow is doing.
§732οὗτος καθεύδεις;
Hey, are you sleeping?
§732bμὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ʼγὼ μὲν οὔ.
Strepsiades: No, indeed, by Apollo, not I.
§733ἔχεις τι;
Socrates: Do you have anything?
§733bμὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ ἔγωγʼ.
Strepsiades: No, by Zeus, certainly not I.
§733cοὐδὲν πάνυ;
Socrates: Nothing at all?
§734οὐδέν γε πλὴν ἢ τὸ πέος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ.
Strepsiades: Nothing indeed, except my penis in my right hand.
§735οὐκ ἐγκαλυψάμενος ταχέως τι φροντιεῖς;
Socrates: Will you not cover yourself up quickly and think of something?
§736περὶ τοῦ;
Strepsiades: About what?
σὺ γάρ μοι τοῦτο φράσον ὦ Σώκρατες.
Tell me this, Socrates.
§737αὐτὸς ὅ τι βούλει πρῶτος ἐξευρὼν λέγε.
Socrates: Yourself find out first what you wish, and speak.
Strepsiades: You have heard ten thousand times what I wish: about the interest, how I might pay it to no one.
§740ἴθι νῦν καλύπτου καὶ σχάσας τὴν φροντίδα §741λεπτὴν κατὰ μικρὸν περιφρόνει τὰ πράγματα, §742ὀρθῶς διαιρῶν καὶ σκοπῶν.
Socrates: Go now, cover yourself, and having split your thought finely, ponder your affairs little by little, dividing and examining correctly.
§742bοἴμοι τάλας.
Strepsiades: Oh, wretched me!
§743ἔχʼ ἀτρέμα· κἂν ἀπορῇς τι τῶν νοημάτων, §744ἀφεὶς ἄπελθε, κατὰ τὴν γνώμην πάλιν §745κίνησον αὖθις αὐτὸ καὶ ζυγώθρισον.
Socrates: Keep still; and if you are at a loss for any of your thoughts, dismiss it and go away, and in your mind again move it once more and examine it closely.
§746ὦ Σωκρατίδιον φίλτατον.
Strepsiades: O dearest little Socrates!
§746bτί ὦ γέρον;
Socrates: What is it, old man?
§747ἔχω τόκου γνώμην ἀποστερητικήν.
Strepsiades: I have a depriving thought for the interest.
§748ἐπίδειξον αὐτήν.
Socrates: Show it.
§749γυναῖκα φαρμακίδʼ εἰ πριάμενος Θετταλὴν §750καθέλοιμι νύκτωρ τὴν σελήνην, εἶτα δὴ §751αὐτὴν καθείρξαιμʼ ἐς λοφεῖον στρογγύλον, §752ὥσπερ κάτοπτρον, κᾆτα τηροίην ἔχων —
Strepsiades: If, having bought a Thessalian witch, I should pull down the moon by night, and then indeed shut it up in a round case, like a mirror, and then keep it under watch?
§753τί δῆτα τοῦτʼ ἂν ὠφελήσειέν σʼ;
Socrates: What then would this benefit you?
§753bὅ τι;
Strepsiades: What?
If the moon should no longer rise anywhere, I would not pay the interest.
§755bὁτιὴ τί δή;
Socrates: Why is that?
§756ὁτιὴ κατὰ μῆνα τἀγύριον δανείζεται.
Strepsiades: Because money is loaned by the month.
§757εὖ γʼ·
Socrates: Excellent!
ἀλλʼ ἕτερον αὖ σοι προβαλῶ τι δεξιόν.
But again I will propose another clever thing to you.
If some five-talent lawsuit should be written against you, tell me how you would make it disappear.
§761ὅπως;
Strepsiades: How?
ὅπως;
How?
οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἀτὰρ ζητητέον.
I do not know; but it must be sought.
§762μή νυν περὶ σαυτὸν εἶλλε τὴν γνώμην ἀεί, §763ἀλλʼ ἀποχάλα τὴν φροντίδʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα §764λινόδετον ὥσπερ μηλολόνθην τοῦ ποδός.
Socrates: Do not then always wind your thought about yourself, but slacken your thought into the air, like a cockchafer tied by its foot with a thread.
Strepsiades: I have found a most clever disappearance of the lawsuit, so that you yourself will agree with me.
§766bποίαν τινά;
Socrates: What kind of thing?
§767ἤδη παρὰ τοῖσι φαρμακοπώλαις τὴν λίθον §768ταύτην ἑόρακας τὴν καλήν, τὴν διαφανῆ, §769ἀφʼ ἧς τὸ πῦρ ἅπτουσι;
Strepsiades: Have you already seen at the druggists' that stone, that beautiful, transparent one, from which they kindle fire?
§769bτὴν ὕαλον λέγεις;
Socrates: Do you mean glass?
§770ἔγωγε.
Strepsiades: I do.
φέρε τί δῆτʼ ἄν, εἰ ταύτην λαβών, §770aὁπότε γράφοιτο τὴν δίκην ὁ γραμματεύς, §771ἀπωτέρω στὰς ὧδε πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον §772τὰ γράμματʼ ἐκτήξαιμι τῆς ἐμῆς δίκης;
Come, what then if, having taken this, whenever the clerk should write down the lawsuit, standing further off, thus toward the sun, I should melt away the letters of my lawsuit?
§773σοφῶς γε νὴ τὰς Χάριτας.
Socrates: Clever indeed, by the Graces!
Strepsiades: Oh, how I am pleased that a five-talent lawsuit has been wiped out for me.
§775ἄγε δὴ ταχέως τουτὶ ξυνάρπασον.
Socrates: Come now, quickly seize this.
§775bτὸ τί;
Strepsiades: What?
Socrates: How you might avert a lawsuit when defending yourself, being about to lose, with no witnesses present.
§778φαυλότατα καὶ ῥᾷστʼ.
Strepsiades: Very easily and most simply.
§778bεἰπὲ δή.
Socrates: Tell me then.
§778cκαὶ δὴ λέγω.
Strepsiades: And indeed I am speaking.
If, while one lawsuit was still pending before mine, before mine was called, I should run off and hang myself.
§781οὐδὲν λέγεις.
Socrates: You are speaking nonsense.
Strepsiades: By the gods, indeed I am, since no one will bring a lawsuit against me once I am dead.
§783ὑθλεῖς·
Socrates: You are talking rot!
ἄπερρʼ, οὐκ ἂν διδάξαιμʼ ἄν σʼ ἔτι.
Be gone, I will not teach you anymore.
§784ὁτιὴ τί;
Strepsiades: Why is that?
ναὶ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν ὦ Σώκρατες.
Yes, by the gods, Socrates!
§785ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ἐπιλήθει σύ γʼ ἅττʼ ἂν καὶ μάθῃς·
Socrates: Because you immediately forget whatever you learn.
§786ἐπεὶ τί νυνὶ πρῶτον ἐδιδάχθης;
Since what was the first thing you were taught just now?
λέγε.
Speak!