Economics (7.2-7.3)

True, and you would not have seen me so now, Socrates, had I not made an appointment with some strangers here.

Pray where do you spend your time,

and what do you do when you are not engaged in some such occupation? For I want very much to learn how you came to be called a gentleman, since you do not pass your time indoors, and your condition does not suggest that you do so.

How came you to be called a gentleman?

Well, Socrates, whether certain persons call me so when they talk to you about me, I know not. Assuredly when they challenge me to an exchange of property in order to escape some public burden, fitting a warship or providing a chorus, nobody looks for the gentleman, but the challenge refers to me as plain Ischomachus, my father’s son. Well now, Socrates, as you ask the question, I certainly do not pass my time indoors; for, you know, my wife is quite capable of looking after the house by herself.