PHIDIPPIDES. By Bacchus, I will obey you. STREPSIADES. Very well then! Look this way. Do you see that little door and that little house?[482] PHIDIPPIDES. Yes, father. But what are you driving at? STREPSIADES. That is the school of wisdom. There, they prove that we are coals enclosed on all sides under a vast extinguisher, which is the sky.[483] If well paid,[484] these men also teach one how to gain law-suits, whether they be just or not. PHIDIPPIDES. What do they call themselves? STREPSIADES. I do not know exactly, but they are deep thinkers and most admirable people. PHIDIPPIDES. Bah! the wretches! I know them; you mean those quacks with livid faces,[485] those barefoot fellows, such as that miserable Socrates and Chaerephon.[486] STREPSIADES. Silence! say nothing foolish! If you desire your father not to die of hunger, join their company and let your horses go. PHIDIPPIDES. No, by Bacchus! even though you gave me the pheasants that Leogoras rears. STREPSIADES. Oh! my beloved son, I beseech you, go and follow their teachings. PHIDIPPIDES. And what is it I should learn? STREPSIADES. 'Twould seem they have two courses of reasoning, the true and the false, and that, thanks to the false, the worst law-suits can be gained. If then you learn this science, which is false, I shall not pay an obolus of all the debts I have contracted on your account. PHIDIPPIDES. No, I will not do it. I should no longer dare to look at our gallant horsemen, when I had so tarnished my fair hue of honour. STREPSIADES. Well then, by Demeter! I will no longer support you, neither you, nor your team, nor your saddle-horse. Go and hang yourself, I turn you out of house and home. PHIDIPPIDES. My uncle Megacles will not leave me without horses; I shall go to him and laugh at your anger. STREPSIADES. One rebuff shall not dishearten me. With the help of the gods I will enter this school and learn myself. But at my age, memory has gone and the mind is slow to grasp things. How can all these fine distinctions, these subtleties be learned? Bah! why should I dally thus instead of rapping at the door? Slave, slave! (_He knocks and calls._) A DISCIPLE. A plague on you! Who are you? STREPSIADES. Strepsiades, the son of Phido, of the deme of Cicynna. DISCIPLE. 'Tis for sure only an ignorant and illiterate fellow who lets drive at the door with such kicks. You have brought on a miscarriage--of an idea! STREPSIADES. Pardon me, pray; for I live far away from here in the country. But tell me, what was the idea that miscarried? DISCIPLE. I may not tell it to any but a disciple. STREPSIADES. Then tell me without fear, for I have come to study among you. DISCIPLE. Very well then, but reflect, that these are mysteries. Lately, a flea bit Chaerephon on the brow and then from there sprang on to the head of Socrates. Socrates asked Chaerephon, "How many times the length of its legs does a flea jump?" STREPSIADES. And how ever did he set about measuring it?