was degraded by ignorance.

As soon as Antony had entered his seventeenth year, his parents sent him
to the university, intending to bring him up to the study of the law;
and Augustus being intended for the same profession, he accompanied him
thither. Augustus, in his different studies and pursuits, had never had
any other instructor than his father; while Antony had as many masters
as there are different sciences, from whom he learned only a superficial
education, by retaining little more than the terms used in the different
branches he had studied. Augustus, on the contrary, was like a garden,
whose airy situation admits the rays of the sun to every part of it, and
in which every seed, by a proper cultivation, advances rapidly to
perfection. Already well instructed, he still thirsted after further
knowledge, and his diligence and good behaviour afforded a pattern for
imitation to all his companions. The mildness of his temper, and his
vivacity and sprightly humour, made his company at all times desirable;
he was universally beloved, and every one was his friend.

Antony was at first happy of being in the same room with Augustus; but
his pride was soon hurt on seeing the preference that was given by every
one to his friend, and he could not think of any longer submitting to so
mortifying a distinction. He therefore found some frivolous excuse, and
forsook the company of Augustus.

Antony, having now nobody to advise or check him, gave loose to his
vitiated taste, and wandered from pleasure to pleasure in search of
happiness. It will be to little purpose to say, how often he blushed at
his own conduct; but, being hardened by a repetition of his follies, he
gradually fell into the grossest irregularities. To be short, he at last
returned home with the seeds of a mortal distemper in his bosom, and,
after languishing a few months, expired in the greatest agonies.

Some time after, Augustus returned home to his parents, possessed of an
equal stock of learning and prudence; his departure from the university
being regretted both by his teachers and companions. It may easily be
supposed, that his family received him with transports of joy. You know
not, my little readers, how pleasing are those tender parental feelings,
which arise from the prospect of seeing their children beloved and
respected! His parents thought themselves the happiest people, and tears
of joy filled their eyes when they beheld him.

Augustus had not