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The Clouds

Aristophanes

First performed in 423 BCE and later revised, The Clouds is Aristophanes's satire of the new sophistic education and of Socrates, whom he portrays as a charlatan running a "Thinkery" that teaches students to make the weaker argument appear stronger. Plato cites the play in the Apology as having poisoned public opinion against Socrates years before his trial. It remains the chief surviving comic portrait of a philosopher by a contemporary.

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Contents

1. The Clouds