Socrates also says that the accusations for which he is answering in court already had been spoken and published by the comic poet Aristophanes, and are therefore beyond the legal scope of a trial for corruption and impiety. Years earlier, in the play "The Clouds" (423 BC), Aristophanes lampooned Socrates as a charlatan, the paradigm philosopher of atheist and scientific sophistry — carefully arranged arguments constructed of ornate words and phrases — misrepresented as wisdom. In light of that definition, Socrates defensively argues that he cannot be mistaken for a Sophist philosopher because Sophists are wise men, are thought to be wise by the people of Athens, and, thus, are highly paid for their teaching; whereas he (Socrates) lives in ten-thousand-fold poverty, and knows nothing noble and good (23c).