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| Character | Strepsiades | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Scolding, Descriptive, Depressed, Lamenting, Frustrated, Afraid | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Ancient Greek | |
| Genre | Comedy | |
| Description | Strepsiades worries about his financial troubles | |
| Location | Scene 1 | |
Summary
Strepsiades is an old Athenian who is having financial troubles and is being pursued by many creditors. He plans to enroll his son Pheidippides in The Thinkery, a school for intellectuals. He plans to have his son become a great speaker and beat his creditors in court. When his son refuses to enroll Strepsiades joins the school, only to be kicked out by Socrates. Eventually his son enrolls but ends up beating his father over a domestic argument. At the end Strepsiades gathers a crowd of slaves and sets the school on fire.
This is the initial monologue of the play where Strepsiades, who is trying to fall asleep in his bed, wakes up and laments his financial troubles, blaming his son and wife for having squandered his money.
This is the initial monologue of the play where Strepsiades, who is trying to fall asleep in his bed, wakes up and laments his financial troubles, blaming his son and wife for having squandered his money.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| STREPSIADES [sitting up] Great gods! will these nights never end? will daylight never come? I heard the cock crow long ago and my slaves are snoring still! Ah! Ah! It wasn't like this formerly. Curses on the war! has it not done me ills enough? Now I may not even chastise my own slaves. Again there's this brave lad, who never wakes the whole long night, but, wrapped in his five coverlets, farts away to his heart's content. [He lies down] Come! let me nestle in well and snore too, if it be possible....oh! misery, it's vain to think of sleep with all these expenses, this stable, these debts, which are devouring me, thanks to this fine cavalier, who only knows how to look after his long locks, to show himself off in his chariot and to dream of horses! And I, I am nearly dead, when I see the moon bringing the third decade in her train and my liability falling due....Slave! light the lamp and bring me my tablets. [The slave obeys.] Who are all my creditors? Let me see and reckon up the interest. What is it I owe?....Twelve minae to Pasias....What! twelve minae to Pasias?....Why did I borrow these? Ah! I know! It was to buy that thoroughbred, which cost me so much. How I should have prized the stone that had blinded him!..Come! what debt comes next, after that of Pasias?....Three minae to Amynias for a chariot and its two wheels...Ah! wretched boy! it's my money that you are making roll. My creditors have distrained on my goods, and here are others again, who demand security for their interest....Oh! curses on the go-between who made me marry your mother! I lived so happily in the country, a commonplace, everyday life, but a good and easy one-had not a trouble, not a care, was rich in bees, in sheep and in olives. Then indeed I had to marry the niece of Megacles, the son of Megacles; I belonged to the country, she was from the town; she was a haughty, extravagant woman, a true Coesyra. On the nuptial day, when I lay beside her, I was reeking of the dregs of the wine-cup, of cheese and of wool; she was redolent with essences, saffron, voluptuous kisses, the love of spending, of good cheer and of wanton delights. I will not say she did nothing; no, she worked hard...to ruin me, and pretending all the while merely to be showing her the cloak she had woven for me, I said, "Wife you go too fast about your work, your threads are too closely woven and you use far too much wool."...Later, when we had this boy, what was to be his name? It was the cause of much quarrelling with my loving wife. She insisted on having some reference to a horse in his name, that he should be called Xanthippus, Charippus or Callippides. I wanted to name him Phidonides after his grandfather. We disputed long, and finally agreed to style him Phidippides....She used to fondle and coax him, saying, "Oh! what a joy it will be to me when you have grown up, to see you, like my father, Megacles, clothed in purple and standing up straight in your chariot driving your steeds toward the town." And I would say to him, "When, like your father, you will go, dressed in a skin, to fetch back your goats from Phelleus." Alas! he never listened to me and his madness for horses has shattered my fortune. [He gets out of bed.] But by dint of thinking the livelong night, I have discovered a road to salvation, both miraculous and divine. If he will but follow it, I shall be out of my trouble! First, however, he must be awakened, but it must be done as gently as possible. How shall I manage it? Phidippides! my little Phidippides! |
