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, said I, 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. 
 Smiling at my question, How came you to be called a gentleman? , and apparently
 well pleased, Ischomachus answered: 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.