7:10 a. m A return to Classical Literature - in this case an online reading of The Clouds by Aristophanes. I begin at line 961 but wonder about the length of the complete play.

I am enjoying the play immenselly - it is pure fun. When I get to lines 1353 I encounter a couple of links to Aeschylus and decide to pursue them.

Here are a few notes on Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles (considered the three great 5th century tragedy poets, and Aristophanes (wrote comedy).

• Aeschylus
• born 525 B.C. died 456 B.C.
• well known for his tragedies (he won numerous awards in contests)
• he instituted the ideas of props and costumes
• Euripides
• born 484 B.C. died 404 B.C.
• well know for his tragedies
• Aristotle called him the "most tragic of the poets"
• Sophocles
• born 495 B.C. died 406 B.C.
• he won far more awards than anyone else
• his plays had strong central characters.

Fascinating! I now have a brief sense of four of the early Greek playwrights, three of whom wrote tragedy and one who wrote comedy.

• Aristophanes
• born 447 B.C. died 386 B.C.
• know for his comedies
• his plays The Clouds and The Frogs provide information on the three great tragedy poets.

This has been a great morning. I now have a much better understanding of these four playwrights. I feel, at least at the moment, that I want to read at least one play of each before moving on to Dante. I am still intriqued by the "modern" translation of The Clouds and would like to compare it with a more "formal" translation.

I have finished The Clouds. As I was reading the last few hundred lines I could imagine the audience laughing (guffawing?) as the lines came out in rapid fire. This was a very clever, and funny, play with many very witty lines. I loved it!

The Project Perseus web site has a historical section which is based on a book by Thomas Martin called Ancient Greece. A quick check indicates that this is available at Chapters. The web site also says that this is a book for nonspecialists, which pretty well describes me. I also want to do a little browsing and see what other books are in the same section.

One of my three current themes is about the history of Japan since 1868. It is beginning to look like I may be extending my Classical Literature theme to a study of early Greek history. This is all very genuine new learning for me. I remember having a unit on Greek history in Grade 10 in high school (more than 40 years ago!!), but nothing since then.

2 p. m. I begin reading The Oresteia by Aeschylus. I complete the first of the three acts, Agamemnon, in one sitting. At one point I decide to use my yellow highlighter to capture some of the more striking passages. I hope to include some of these in my notes, after I have completed all three acts.