MONTANUS. I can dispute dispassionately with these people, however harshly they speak to me. I do not become hot-headed unless I dispute with people who imagine that they understand Methodum disputandi and that they are just as well versed in philosophy as I. For this reason I was ten times as zealous when I argued against the student to-day; for he had some appearance of learning. But here come my parents.
SCENE 4
(Enter Jeppe and Nille.)
JEPPE. Oh, my dear son, don't carry on so, and don't quarrel with everybody. The bailiff and deacon, who at our request undertook to make peace between you and your father-in-law, have, I hear, been made sport of. What is the use of turning good folk into cocks and bulls?
MONTANUS. For this purpose I have studied, for this purpose I have racked my brains: that I may say what I choose, and justify it.
JEPPE. It seems to me that it would have been better never to have studied in that way.
MONTANUS. Keep your mouth shut, old man!
JEPPE. You're not going to beat your parents?
MONTANUS. If I did, I should justify that, too, before the whole world. [Exeunt Jeppe and Nille, weeping.]