JUST DISCOURSE. I am beaten. Debauchees! in the name of the gods, receive my cloak;[563] I pass over to your ranks. SOCRATES. Well then! do you take away your son or do you wish me to teach him how to speak? STREPSIADES. Teach him, chastise him and do not fail to sharpen his tongue well, on one side for petty law-suits and on the other for important cases. SOCRATES. Make yourself easy, I shall return to you an accomplished sophist. PHIDIPPIDES. Very pale then and thoroughly hang-dog-looking. STREPSIADES. Take him with you. PHIDIPPIDES. I do assure you, you will repent it. CHORUS. Judges, we are all about to tell you what you will gain by awarding us the crown as equity requires of you. In spring, when you wish to give your fields the first dressing, we will rain upon you first; the others shall wait. Then we will watch over your corn and over your vine-stocks; they will have no excess to fear, neither of heat nor of wet. But if a mortal dares to insult the goddesses of the Clouds, let him think of the ills we shall pour upon him. For him neither wine nor any harvest at all! Our terrible slings will mow down his young olive plants and his vines. If he is making bricks, it will rain, and our round hailstones will break the tiles of his roof. If he himself marries or any of his relations or friends, we shall cause rain to fall the whole night long. Verily, he would prefer to live in Egypt[564] than to have given this iniquitous verdict. STREPSIADES. Another four, three, two days, then the eve, then the day, the fatal day of payment! I tremble, I quake, I shudder, for 'tis the day of the old moon and the new.[565] Then all my creditors take the oath, pay their deposits,[566] swear my downfall and my ruin. As for me, I beseech them to be reasonable, to be just, "My friend, do not demand this sum, wait a little for this other and give me time for this third one." Then they will pretend that at this rate they will never be repaid, will accuse me of bad faith and will threaten me with the law. Well then, let them sue me! I care nothing for that, if only Phidippides has learnt to speak fluently. I go to find out, let me knock at the door of the school.... Ho! slave, slave! SOCRATES. Welcome! Strepsiades! STREPSIADES. Welcome! Socrates! But first take this sack (_offers him a sack of flour_); it is right to reward the master with some present. And my son, whom you took off lately, has he learnt this famous reasoning, tell me. SOCRATES. He has learnt it. STREPSIADES. What a good thing! Oh! thou divine Knavery! SOCRATES. You will win just as many causes as you choose. STREPSIADES. Even if I have borrowed before witnesses? SOCRATES. So much the better, even if there are a thousand of 'em!