7:30 a.m. I am beginning to read The Clouds by Aristophanes from an online site. Thus I can flip between this page and the story with a mouse click and make a few comments as they occur to me.

• The style is very modern - that catches me off guard. I will try to adapt, but I wonder if there are other translations that are more formal.
• slavery is acceptable. Strepsiades has one.
• clicking on the word horses gives a page with hundreds of examples of the drawing of horses on Greek pottery. This is impressive. It immediately gives me a much better sense of the importance of horses in Greek culture of that time.
• the gods are still an important part of their thinking:
                           Don't give me any of that Poseidon stuff!
                           That god's the very source of all my troubles!
• clicking on Dionysus gives a wealth of information about this god - the god of wine
• Here is a lovely quote as Strepsiades tries to convince his son to change his ways:
                           That house is a Thinkery for clever souls.
                           Some gentlemen live there who argue that the sky
                           is a casserole-cover--and make us all believe it--
                           and that it covers us all, and we're charcoal briquets.
                           These people train you, if you pay them money,
                           to win any argument, whether it's right or wrong.
                           Pheidippides
                           Who are these people?
                           Strepsiades
                           I can't exactly name them.
                           Reflective cogitators, upstanding gentlemen.
  Not everyone values a philosopher!
• Strepsiades fails to convince his son to get educated so decides to try it himself - he believes he can learn how to win arguments, even when he is in the wrong.
• With the modern tone to the language, this reads much more like a Shakespearean comedy - fascinating!
• By line 250 this is clearly becoming a farce - light and poking fun at the philosophers and Socrates in particular.
• Here is the quote that gives meaning to the title of this story:
                           And to enter into communion with the Clouds,
                           who are our deities?
• The reinterpretation of many weather phenomena as being due to the clouds is great fun.
• Here is a nice educational line:
                           Now, tell me what your disposition is:
                           I need to know so I can bring to bear
                           the latest pedagogical artillery
  This is actually quite modern!
• This is light fun, much different than I was expecting. I didn't realize that there was Greek comedy among the classics and plays - all I was aware of were tragedies and serious plays
• A critical question from the point of view of the web site is how to return to this place in the story when I come back. There is a search engine window that has the phrase "aristoph. cl. 961". I will try this. Perfect - I left the site, returned, typed this phrase into the window and I was ready to continue.

7:40 a. m. So far, I am enjoying this online approach to this play. I like the interplay between this site and the play. This is a much more efficient way to take notes. One weakness is that I don't have any sense of how much is remaining. Perhaps that information is available, but I haven't found it yet. Another weakness is that I am not sitting in my familiar comfortable chair while reading the play. But this may just be a matter of habit.