I14 ARISTOPHANES,

Strep. “Pardon me; I live a long way off in the
country. Tell me, pray, what it was that I injured.”

Disciple. “ But these things are told only to dis-
ciples.”

Strep. “Never mind; I am come to be a disciple.”

Dis. “Very well; but remember these things are
secret. The other day Socrates asked Cheerephon
how many of its own feet a flea could jump. One
had been biting Chzrephon’s eyebrow, you must un-
derstand, and jumped on to Socrates’s head.”

Strep. “How did he measure it?”

Dis. “In the cleverest way possible. He melted
some wax; then he took the flea and dipped its feet
into the wax. When this was cold, the flea had slip-
pers on; these he undid, and measured the distance.”

Strep. “What a clever thing! a

Dis. “1 can tell you something else. Yesterday
evening we had nothing for dinner. So Socrates
sprinkled a thin coat of ashes on the carving-board,!
bent a spit, and making it into a compass, stole a
piece of meat from the sacrifice.” ;

Strep. “Wonderful! and we talk about Thales !
Let me into the Reflectory. Show me Socrates, for
I am bent on becoming a disciple.”

Accordingly the door was thrown open.

“Good heavens!” cried the visitor, as soon as he
was admitted, seeing the disciples scattered about

- 1 This would be the carving-board of the altar of Hermes, which
stood in the Gymnasium.