THE CLOUDS. 117

them into the kindred air. Had I stayed on earth it
would have been impossible, for the earth forcibly
draws to itself the moisture of the intellect. Just the
same thing happens to cress.”

Strep. “What is it? Intellect attracts moisture
to cress; is that it? But descend a while, and teach
me that which I came here to learn.”

Soc. “ What is that?” ;

Strep. “I want to learn to speak. I am being
cheated and plundered by the cruelest set of cred-
itors.”

Soc. “But how did you get into debt without
knowing it?”

Strep. “A plague of horses has eaten me up.
Now I want you to teach me one of the two argu-
ments you keep; the not-paying-your-creditors argu-
ment, I mean. Teach me, and I will swear by the
gods to pay you your fee.”

Soc. “What gods? Gods don’t pass current here.”

Strep. “What does pass, then? Pieces of iron,
such as they have at Byzantium?”

Soc. “Do you want to know the truth about gods
and such things ?”

Strep. “Ves, by Zeus !—if there is a Zeus.”

Soc. “And make acquaintance with the clouds?
They are what we worship, you understand.”

Strep. “ By all means.”

Socrates then descended from his basket, seated
the old man on a pallet-bed, put a chaplet on his