_Str._ Sleep, if you like; but these debts, I can tell you, “Will fall on your own head some day, young man. Heugh! may those match-makers come to an evil end Who drew me into marrying your good mother! There I was living a quiet life in the country,-- Shaved once a-week, may-be, wore my old clothes-- Full of my sheep, and goats, and bees, and vineyards, And I must marry the fine niece of Megacles. The son of Megacles! an awkward country fellow Marry a fine town belle, all airs and graces! A pretty pair we were to come together-- I smelling of the vineyard and the sheep-shearing, She with her scents, and essences, and cosmetics, And all the devilries of modern fashion. Not a bad housekeeper though--I will say that-- For she kept open house. “Madam,” said I, Showing her one day my old coat with a hole in’t, By way of parable,--“this can’t last long.” _Slave_ (_examining the lamp, which is going out_). This lamp has got no oil in it. _Str._ Deuce take you, Why did you light that thirsty beast of a lamp? Come here, and you shall catch it. _Slave._ Catch it,--why? _Str._ (_boxes his ears_). For putting such a thick wick in, to be sure.-- Well,--in due time this boy of ours was born To me and my grand lady. First of all, We got to loggerheads about his name; She would have something that had got a _horse_ in it,-- Xanthippus--or Charippus--or Philippides;[29] I was for his grandfather’s name--Pheidonides. Well, for some time we squabbled; then at last We came to a compromise upon Pheid--ippides. This boy--she’d take him in her lap and fondle him, And say, “Ah! when it grows up to be a man, It shall drive horses, like its uncle Megacles, And wear a red cloak, it shall.” Then I would say, “He shall wear a good sheep-skin coat, like his own father, And drive his goats to market from the farm.” But there--he never would listen to me for a moment; He’s had a horse-fever always--to my ruin. He has thought of a scheme, however, if he can but get his son to fall in with it, by which they may both be relieved from the pressure of these debts. So he awakes young Pheidippides, and takes him into his counsels. They both walk to the front; the scene shuts, and they are outside the house. The father points to another building at the wing. That’s the great Thinking-School of our new philosophers; There live the men who teach that heaven around us Is a vast oven, and we the charcoal in it.[30] And they teach too--for a consideration, mind-- To plead a cause and win it, right or wrong. _Ph._ (_carelessly_). Who are these fellows? _Str._ I don’t quite remember The name they call themselves, it’s such a long one; Very hard thinkers--but they’re first-rate men.