Socrates: By the Breath, by the Chaos, by the Air
Socrates: I have not seen such a rustic man as this.
Socrates: neither difficult nor awkward nor forgetful;
Socrates: whoever learns a few little things by climbing up the ladder
630
Socrates: he has forgotten these things before learning them; nevertheless, indeed
Socrates: Him, I call out, out of doors, come here to the light.
Socrates: Where is Strepsiades? Will he take the strap?
Strepsiades: But the girls do not let me bring them out.
Socrates: Do something and pay attention.
635
Socrates: Come then, what do you wish to learn first now?
Socrates: Of these, have you not learned anything at all? Tell me.
Socrates: Whether about measures, or about words, or about rhythms?
Strepsiades: I'm talking about the meters; for once recently
Strepsiades: I was cut down by a flour-miller, a man of dissension.
640
Socrates: I do not ask this of you, but [ask] what is the most beautiful measure.
Socrates: Lead the way. Which one, the trimeter or the tetrameter?
Strepsiades: I, for my part, am not yet half-emptied.
Socrates: You say nothing, man.
Strepsiades: Now, look at me.
Strepsiades: if it is not in four-meters, it must be read in half-meters.
645
Socrates: To hell with you, since you are a boor and slow to learn.
Socrates: you would quickly be able to learn about rhythms.
Strepsiades: And how will the rhythms help me in relation to the barley-cakes?
Socrates: First of all, to be refined in conversation,
Socrates: know what kind of rhythms it is.
650
Socrates: By the arms, and what a way it is by the finger.
Strepsiades: By the finger? By Zeus, but I know.
Strepsiades: Who else, instead of this finger?
Strepsiades: Before, yes, when I was a boy, this fellow.
Socrates: You are a rustic and clumsy fellow.
655
Strepsiades: For you are not a fool.
Strepsiades: I desire to learn nothing of these things.
Strepsiades: That one, that most unjust speech.
