FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36  
37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  
sent civil war whoever draws his sword against the laws, threatens the honestest men with the whip and the halter. And, moreover, by living at home, the authority of this governor, which ought to be sovereign over the boy he has received into his charge, is often checked and hindered by the presence of parents; to which may also be added, that the respect the whole family pay him, as their master's son, and the knowledge he has of the estate and greatness he is heir to, are, in my opinion, no small inconveniences in these tender years. And yet, even in this conversing with men I spoke of but now, I have observed this vice, that instead of gathering observations from others, we make it our whole business to lay ourselves open to them, and are more concerned how to expose and set out our own commodities, than how to increase our stock by acquiring new. Silence, therefore, and modesty are very advantageous qualities in conversation. One should, therefore, train up this boy to be sparing and an husband of his knowledge when he has acquired it; and to forbear taking exceptions at or reproving every idle saying or ridiculous story that is said or told in his presence; for it is a very unbecoming rudeness to carp at everything that is not agreeable to our own palate. Let him be satisfied with correcting himself, and not seem to condemn everything in another he would not do himself, nor dispute it as against common customs. "Licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia." ["Let us be wise without ostentation, without envy." --Seneca, Ep., 103.] Let him avoid these vain and uncivil images of authority, this childish ambition of coveting to appear better bred and more accomplished, than he really will, by such carriage, discover himself to be. And, as if opportunities of interrupting and reprehending were not to be omitted, to desire thence to derive the reputation of something more than ordinary. For as it becomes none but great poets to make use of the poetical licence, so it is intolerable for any but men of great and illustrious souls to assume privilege above the authority of custom: "Si quid Socrates ant Aristippus contra morem et consuetudinem fecerunt, idem sibi ne arbitretur licere: magnis enim illi et divinis bonis hanc licentiam assequebantur." ["If Socrates and Aristippus have committed any act against manners and custom, let him not think that he is
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36  
37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  



Top keywords:
authority
 

knowledge

 

custom

 

Socrates

 
Aristippus
 
presence
 

condemn

 
coveting
 

accomplished

 

carriage


satisfied

 

palate

 
ambition
 

correcting

 
images
 
Seneca
 

ostentation

 

discover

 
invidia
 

sapere


dispute

 

uncivil

 

customs

 
common
 

childish

 
arbitretur
 

licere

 

magnis

 

fecerunt

 

contra


consuetudinem

 

committed

 
manners
 

assequebantur

 

divinis

 

licentiam

 
derive
 
reputation
 

ordinary

 

desire


omitted

 

opportunities

 

interrupting

 

reprehending

 
illustrious
 

intolerable

 
assume
 

privilege

 
licence
 

agreeable