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yourself; I would offer myself to hammer on, for that matter.

. Will you not, pray, now believe in no god, except wllat we believe in—this Chaos, and the Clouds, and the Tongue—these three?

. Absolutely I would not even converse with the others, not even if I met them; nor would I sacrifice to them, nor make libations, nor offer frankincense.

. Tell us then boldly, what we must do for you? for you shall not fail in getting it, if you honour and admire us, and seek to become clever.

. O mistresses, I request of you then this very small favour, that I be the best of the Greeks in speaking by a hundred stadia.

. Well, you shall have this from us, so that henceforward from this time no one shall get more opinions passed in the public assemblies than you.

. Grant me not to deliver important opinions; for I do not desire these, but only to pervert the right for my own advantage, and to evade my creditors.

. Then you shall obtain what you desire; for you do not covet great things. But commit yourself without fear to our ministers.

. I will do so in reliance upon you, for necessity oppresses me, on account of the blood-horses, and the marriage which ruined me. Now, therefore, let them use me as they please. I give up this my body to them to be beaten, to be hungered, to be troubled with thirst, to be squalid, to shiver with cold, to flay into a leathern bottle, if I shall escape clear