Bad nights of sleep

A new blog post where I discuss the opening scene of Aristophanes's Clouds and give my reasons why I can relate to the protagonist in his opening lines.
It contains the same theme as my Monday Mornings post so you may suspect I'm a bit intrigued by the process of sleeping.

Aristophanes - Clouds (v1-11) 

In this opening scene of Aristophanes’ Clouds, the old man Strepsiades complains about not getting to sleep, while his son and household slave are all dozing off carelessly. This longwinded soliloquy acts as a smooth exposition on the plot of this comedy. From the beginning, we as an audience start to engage with the character and start wondering why it is he can’t fall asleep. Starting very expressive and emotional, we get a clear idea of what our main protagonist feels. In addition to this interesting opening technique, this scene resonates with me mostly concerning the lack of sleep: it’s often been the case that I was thinking the first two lines while lying in bed. Especially now when it is a couple of days off from midsummer's eve and the nights are as brights as they can be. Contrary to Strepsiades, the nights feel just too short and don't seem to begin. I can never hear the rooster's crow (or the alarm clock in my case) since the day never starts. No wonder that I have lost the count of days. Similar to Strepsiades, though, I am also worried and cannot "fart away" in my dreams ( πέρδομαι has almost the meaning of sleeping in Old Comedy). Hopefully, this little excerpt makes you more relaxed or interested to read the rest.

Ai, Ai,
King Zeus, why are the nights so extremely long?
Never-ending almost. Will the morning ever come?  
It has been a good while since I’ve heard the rooster’s crow
The slaves are snoring, but they wouldn’t dare to do so beforehand.
Certainly, now is the time you may perish, war, for many reasons,
for now, it isn’t even possible for me to punish my slaves.
And neither is that excellent young man, my son, getting up
at night, but he farts while his five blankets are totally
wrapping up around him.
Well, alright then, let me snore while being wrapped up.
But I - how miserable - cannot sleep as I am being bitten
by my expenses and my manger and the debts
made by that son of mine.

ἰοὺ ἰού:
ὦ Ζεῦ βασιλεῦ τὸ χρῆμα τῶν νυκτῶν ὅσον:
ἀπέραντον. οὐδέποθ᾽ ἡμέρα γενήσεται;
καὶ μὴν πάλαι γ᾽ ἀλεκτρυόνος ἤκουσ᾽ ἐγώ:
οἱ δ᾽ οἰκέται ῥέγκουσιν: ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν πρὸ τοῦ.
ἀπόλοιο δῆτ,᾽ ὦ πόλεμε, πολλῶν οὕνεκα,
ὅτ᾽ οὐδὲ κολάσ᾽ ἔξεστί μοι τοὺς οἰκέτας.
ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὁ χρηστὸς οὑτοσὶ νεανίας
ἐγείρεται τῆς νυκτός, ἀλλὰ πέρδεται
ἐν πέντε σισύραις ἐγκεκορδυλημένος.
ἀλλ᾽ εἰ δοκεῖ ῥέγκωμεν ἐγκεκαλυμμένοι.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ δύναμαι δείλαιος εὕδειν δακνόμενος
ὑπὸ τῆς δαπάνης καὶ τῆς φάτνης καὶ τῶν χρεῶν
διὰ τουτονὶ τὸν υἱόν.

6-7   may you perish, war, …. : This statement refers to still ongoing Peloponnesian War (431-421). Clouds’ first performance was during the Dionysia of 423 BCE, where the play won the third and last prize. During the war, many Athenian slaves fled or deserted to the hostile forces. As such, Athenian citizens were prohibited to punish their slaves too severely to cut down the losses (Dover 1972)

Emblem of Socrates in a basket while Strepsiades and his son have a discussion,
a later scene of Clouds, made by Joannes Sambucus, 1564