Aristophanes, Clouds 263 ff.

[Paul Derouda]

Not much time for Greek lately, even less for posting... Since Christmas, I've been slogging through a play I've been wanting to read longer than I remember: the Clouds. For some reason, every time I've began reading, something else diverted me. I'm reading now the Budé text with translation along with K.J. Dover's commentary.

Lines 263 ff. are written in a meter that has never caught my attention before. I take it to be anapestic tetrameter catalectic, treated in West's Introduction to Greek metre pp. 29-30 and Greek Metre pp. 54 and 94. From the first of these, I learn that the meter is quite common in Old Comedy, but not much more; I have difficulties in understanding the latter.

Can anybody tell me more about this meter? What is its "purpose" here, what does it express? I don't suppose it has much to do with "marching" anapests, especially as these don't come as a continuous series but as individual lines. Thanks!

Σωκράτης
εὐφημεῖν χρὴ τὸν πρεσβύτην καὶ τῆς εὐχῆς ἐπακούειν.
ὦ δέσποτ᾽ ἄναξ ἀμέτρητ᾽ Ἀήρ, ὃς ἔχεις τὴν γῆν μετέωρον,
λαμπρός τ᾽ Αἰθὴρ σεμναί τε θεαὶ Νεφέλαι βροντησικέραυνοι,
ἄρθητε φάνητ᾽ ὦ δέσποιναι τῷ φροντιστῇ μετέωροι.

Στρεψιάδης
μήπω μήπω γε πρὶν ἂν τουτὶ πτύξωμαι, μὴ καταβρεχθῶ.
τὸ δὲ μηδὲ κυνῆν οἴκοθεν ἐλθεῖν ἐμὲ τὸν κακοδαίμον᾽ ἔχοντα.

Σωκράτης
ἔλθετε δῆτ᾽ ὦ πολυτίμητοι Νεφέλαι τῷδ᾽ εἰς ἐπίδειξιν:
εἴτ᾽ ἐπ᾽ Ὀλύμπου κορυφαῖς ἱεραῖς χιονοβλήτοισι κάθησθε,
εἴτ᾽ Ὠκεανοῦ πατρὸς ἐν κήποις ἱερὸν χορὸν ἵστατε Νύμφαις,
εἴτ᾽ ἄρα Νείλου προχοαῖς ὑδάτων χρυσέαις ἀρύτεσθε πρόχοισιν,
ἢ Μαιῶτιν λίμνην ἔχετ᾽ ἢ σκόπελον νιφόεντα Μίμαντος:
ὑπακούσατε δεξάμεναι θυσίαν καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖσι χαρεῖσαι.

Translation from Perseus:
Soc.
It becomes the old man to speak words of good omen, and to hearken to my prayer. O sovereign King, immeasurable Air, who keepest the earth suspended, and through bright Aether, and ye august goddesses, the Clouds, sending thunder and lightning, arise, appear in the air, O mistresses, to your deep thinker!

Strep.
Not yet, not yet, till I wrap this around me lest I be wet through. To think of my having come from home without even a cap, unlucky man!

Soc.
Come then, ye highly honoured Clouds, for a display to this man. Whether ye are sitting upon the sacred snow-covered summits of Olympus, or in the gardens of Father Ocean form a sacred dance with the Nymphs, or draw in golden pitchers the streams of the waters of the Nile, or inhabit the Maeotic lake, or the snowy rock of Mimas, hearken to our prayer, and receive the sacrifice, and be propitious to the sacred rites.

[jeidsath]

I'm posting in the hopes that someone more knowledgable will weigh in. First of all, this is the schema of the metre:

A ⁞ A ⁞ A ˘ ˘ ¯ ¯

A = a pair of anapests ( ˘ ˘ ¯ ). Dactyls ( ¯ ˘ ˘ ) and spondees ( ¯ ¯ ) can be substituted for the anapests, so long as you don't wind up with ˘˘˘˘ anywhere.

It made me think of a marching song when I said it aloud, with the slow steady rhythm, capped by the catchy little end-segment. In fact it was often used for contest speeches (agon) and the parabasis, when the chorus addresses the audience absent the other players (would they have marched around, I wonder?).

To me, Socrates' speech here is very reminiscent of songs like Why Can't The English Learn to Speak from My Fair Lady. Long lines of rhythm that carry you along smoothly until the coda of each line. Dramatically very similar, I would think.