- Strepsiades blames the Clouds for his new misfortunes, but the Chorus Leader won't hear it—he says that Strepsiades chose the path toward evil, and now he has to live with it.
- Strepsiades asks why the Clouds didn't just tell him that road was evil from the beginning, and the Chorus Leader says that it's pretty much just protocol—if they see someone who loves evil, they make him suffer so he comes over to loving the "gods." Strepsiades agrees this is fair and apparently feels sorry now that he tried to cheat his creditors.
- He asks Pheidippides if he'll come murder Socrates and Chaerephon (Socrates's partner). Pheidippides refuses.
- Strepsiades says he has gone back to believing in Zeus, but apparently Pheidippides is still a convert. He heads back inside his house and leaves his father to figure his stuff out.
- To decide what to do next, Strepsiades chats with Hermes (or a statue of Hermes, as the footnotes suggest). He wonders if he should sue, but apparently Hermes recommends just burning down the Thinkery.
- So, he calls someone named Xanthias to help him, and they do just that. The Pupil and Socrates claim that they are going to die in the fire. Strepsiades recommends that they beat it, if they want to live.