Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper argues that the first words uttered by Pheidippides in his sleep in the first scene of Aristophanes’ Clouds (l. 25) are to be interpreted as an omen (a κληδών) directed at his father Strepsiades. Pheidippides’ words closely resemble Pittacus’ maxim τὴν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἔλα (“keep to your own track”), whose ethical meaning is extremely relevant both to Strepsiades’ past moral errors (his marriage with a woman of higher standing than him) and his present ones (his plan to cheat his creditors).