STREPSIADES. Then I am going to shout with all my might. "Woe to the usurers, woe to their capital and their interest and their compound interest! You shall play me no more bad turns. My son is being taught there, his tongue is being sharpened into a double-edged weapon; he is my defender, the saviour of my house, the ruin of my foes! His poor father was crushed down with misfortune and he delivers him." Go and call him to me quickly. Oh! my child! my dear little one! run forward to your father's voice! SOCRATES. Here he is. STREPSIADES. Oh, my friend, my dearest friend! SOCRATES. Take your son, and get you gone. STREPSIADES. Oh, my son! oh! oh! what a pleasure to see your pallor! You are ready first to deny and then to contradict; 'tis as clear as noon. What a child of your country you are! How your lips quiver with the famous, "What have you to say now?" How well you know, I am certain, to put on the look of a victim, when it is you who are making both victims and dupes! and what a truly Attic glance! Come, 'tis for you to save me, seeing it is you who have ruined me. PHIDIPPIDES. What is it you fear then? STREPSIADES. The day of the old and the new. PHIDIPPIDES. Is there then a day of the old and the new? STREPSIADES. The day on which they threaten to pay deposit against me. PHIDIPPIDES. Then so much the worse for those who have deposited! for 'tis not possible for one day to be two. STREPSIADES. What? PHIDIPPIDES. Why, undoubtedly, unless a woman can be both old and young at the same time. STREPSIADES. But so runs the law. PHIDIPPIDES. I think the meaning of the law is quite misunderstood. STREPSIADES. What does it mean? PHIDIPPIDES. Old Solon loved the people. STREPSIADES. What has that to do with the old day and the new? PHIDIPPIDES. He has fixed two days for the summons, the last day of the old moon and the first day of the new; but the deposits must only be paid on the first day of the new moon. STREPSIADES. And why did he also name the last day of the old? PHIDIPPIDES. So, my dear sir, that the debtors, being there the day before, might free themselves by mutual agreement, or that else, if not, the creditor might begin his action on the morning of the new moon. STREPSIADES. Why then do the magistrates have the deposits paid on the last of the month and not the next day? PHIDIPPIDES. I think they do as the gluttons do, who are the first to pounce upon the dishes. Being eager to carry off these deposits, they have them paid in a day too soon. STREPSIADES. Splendid! Ah! poor brutes,[567] who serve for food to us clever folk! You are only down here to swell the number, true blockheads, sheep for shearing, heap of empty pots! Hence I will sound the note of victory for my son and myself. "Oh! happy, Strepsiades! what cleverness is thine! and what a son thou hast here!" Thus my friends and my neighbours will say, jealous at seeing me gain all my suits. But come in, I wish to regale you first.