Plutarch, De liberis educandis, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 13

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[13] 9b ἤδη δέ τινας ἐγὼ εἶδον πατέρας, οἷς τὸ λίαν φιλεῖν τοῦ μὴ φιλεῖν αἴτιον κατέστη. τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ βούλομαι λέγειν, ἵνα τῷ παραδείγματι φωτεινότερον ποιήσω τὸν λόγον; σπεύδοντες γὰρ τοὺς παῖδας ἐν πᾶσι τάχιον πρωτεῦσαι πόνους αὐτοῖς ὑπερμέτρους ἐπιβάλλουσιν, οἷς ἀπαυδῶντες ἐκπίπτουσι, 5 καὶ ἄλλως βαρυνόμενοι ταῖς κακοπαθείαις οὐ δέχονται τὴν μάθησιν εὐηνίως. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ φυτὰ τοῖς μὲν μετρίοις ὕδασι τρέφεται, τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς πνίγεται, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ψυχὴ τοῖς μὲν συμμέτροις αὔξεται πόνοις, τοῖς δʼ ὑπερβάλλουσι βαπτίζεται. 10 9c δοτέον οὖν τοῖς παισὶν ἀναπνοὴν τῶν συνεχῶν πόνων, ἐνθυμουμένους ὅτι πᾶς ὁ βίος ἡμῶν εἰς ἄνεσιν καὶ σπουδὴν διῄρηται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ οὐ μόνον ἐγρήγορσις ἀλλὰ καὶ ὕπνος εὑρέθη, οὐδὲ πόλεμος ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰρήνη, οὐδὲ χειμὼν ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐδία, 15 οὐδʼ ἐνεργοὶ πράξεις ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑορταί. συνελόντι δʼ εἰπεῖν ἡ ἀνάπαυσις τῶν πόνων ἐστὶν ἄρτυμα. καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ζῴων μόνων τοῦτʼ ἂν¹ ἴδοι τις γιγνόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων καὶ γὰρ τὰ τόξα καὶ τὰς λύρας ἀνίεμεν, ἵνʼ ἐπιτεῖναι δυνηθῶμεν. 20 καθόλου δὲ σῴζεται σῶμα μὲν ἐνδείᾳ καὶ πληρώσει, ψυχὴ δʼ ἀνέσει καὶ πόνῳ. ἄξιον δʼ ἐπιτιμᾶν τῶν 9d πατέρων ἐνίοις, οἵτινες παιδαγωγοῖς καὶ διδασκάλοις ἐπιτρέψαντες τοὺς υἱεῖς αὐτοὶ τῆς τούτων μαθήσεως οὔτʼ αὐτόπται γίγνονται τὸ παράπαν οὔτʼ αὐτήκοοι, 25 πλεῖστον τοῦ δέοντος ἁμαρτάνοντες. αὐτοὺς γὰρ παρʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας δεῖ δοκιμασίαν λαμβάνειν τῶν παίδων, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχειν ἐν μισθωτοῦ διαθέσει· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι πλείονα ποιήσονται τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν παίδων, μέλλοντες ἑκάστοτε διδόναι τὰς εὐθύνας. κἀνταῦθα δὴ τὸ ῥηθὲν² ὑπὸ τοῦ ἱπποκόμου χάριεν, ὡς οὐδὲν οὕτω πιαίνει τὸν ἵππον ὡς βασιλέως ὀφθαλμός. πάντων δὲ μάλιστα τὴν μνήμην 5 9e τῶν παίδων ἀσκεῖν καὶ συνεθίζειν αὕτη γὰρ ὥσπερ τῆς παιδείας ἐστὶ ταμιεῖον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μητέρα τῶν Μουσῶν ἐμυθολόγησαν εἶναι τὴν Μνημοσύνην, αἰνιττόμενοι καὶ παραδηλοῦντες ὅτι οὕτως οὐδὲν³ γεννᾶν καὶ τρέφειν ὡς ἡ μνήμη πέφυκε. καὶ 10 τοίνυν ταύτην κατʼ ἀμφότερʼ ἐστὶν ἀσκητέον, εἴτʼ ἐκ φύσεως μνήμονες εἶεν οἱ παῖδες, εἴτε καὶ τοὐναντίον ἐπιλήσμονες. τὴν γὰρ πλεονεξίαν τῆς φύσεως ἐπιρρώσομεν, τὴν δʼ ἔλλειψιν ἀναπληρώσομεν· καὶ οἱ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἔσονται βελτίους, οἱ δʼ ἑαυτῶν. 15 τὸ γὰρ Ἡσιόδειον⁴ καλῶς εἴρηται

εἰ γάρ κεν καὶ σμικρὸν ἐπὶ σμικρῷ καταθεῖο 9f

καὶ θαμὰ τοῦτʼ ἔρδοις, τάχα κεν μέγα καὶ τὸ γένοιτο.

μὴ λανθανέτω τοίνυν μηδὲ τοῦτο τοὺς πατέρας, ὅτι 20 τὸ μνημονικὸν τῆς μαθήσεως μέρος οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν παιδείαν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰς τοῦ βίου πράξεις οὐκ ἐλαχίστην συμβάλλεται μοῖραν. ἡ γὰρ τῶν γεγενημένων πράξεων μνήμη τῆς περὶ τῶν μελλόντων εὐβουλίας γίγνεται παράδειγμα.

De liberis educandis. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1888.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Περὶ παίδων ἀγωγῆς (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.)

Translations (2)

The Education of Children Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. I. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1927 (printing).) — 13 focus

[13] In my time I have seen fathers in whom excessive affection had become the cause of no affection. What is it that I mean to say, in order that by the example I give I may make my argument more luminous? It is this: in their eagerness that their children may the sooner rank first in everything, they lay upon them unreasonable tasks, which the children find themselves unable to perform, and so come to grief; besides, being depressed by their unfortunate experiences, they do not respond to the instruction which they receive. For, just as plants are nourished by moderate applications of water, but are drowned by many in succession, in the same fashion the mind is made to grow by properly adapted tasks, but is submerged by those which are excessive. Children must be given some breathing-space from continued tasks, for we must bear in mind that our whole life is divided between relaxation and application. For this reason there have been created not only waking hours but also sleep, not only war but also peace, not only storm but also fair weather, not only periods of vigorous activity but also holidays. In short, rest gives relish to labour. We may observe that this holds true not merely in the case of living creatures, but also in the case of inanimate things, for we unstring bows and lyres that we may be able to tighten them again. The body, generally speaking, is maintained by hunger and its satisfaction, and the mind by relaxation and labour.

It is right to rebuke some fathers who, after entrusting their sons to attendants and masters, do not themselves take cognizance at all of their instruction by means of their own eyes or their own ears. Herein they most fail in their duty; for they ought themselves every few days to test their children, and not rest their hopes upon the disposition of a hired person; for even those persons will devote more attention to the children if they know they must from time to time render an account. And in this connexion there is point as well as wit in the remark of the groom who said that nothing makes the horse so fat as the king’s eye.¹

Above all, the memory of children should be trained and exercised; for this is, as it were, a storehouse of learning; and it is for this reason that the mythologists have made Memory the mother of the Muses, thereby intimating by an allegory that there is nothing in the world like memory for creating and fostering. This, then, is to be trained in either case, whether one’s children be naturally gifted with a good memory, or, on the contrary, forgetful. For we shall thus strengthen nature’s generous endowment, and thus fill out her deficiency; and while the first class of children will excel others, the second class will excel their former selves. The saying of Hesiod ² is admirably put:

If even small upon the small you place And do this oft, the whole will soon be great.

Nor should parents forget that those branches of instruction which involve memory make no small contribution, not merely to education, but also to the practical activities of life; for the memory of past activities serves as a pattern of good counsel for the future.

A Discourse Touching the Training of Children Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Ford, Simon, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1874.) — 13 focus

[13] Moreover, I have seen some parents whose too much love to their children hath occasioned, in truth, their not loving them at all. I will give light to this assertion by an example, to those who ask what it means. It is this: while they are over-hasty to advance their children in all sorts of learning beyond their equals, they set them too hard and laborious tasks, whereby they fall under discouragement; and this, with other inconveniences accompanying it, causeth them in the issue to be ill affected to learning itself. For as plants by moderate watering are nourished, but with over-much moisture are glutted, so is the spirit improved by moderate labors, but overwhelmed by such as are excessive. We ought therefore to give children some time to take breath from their constant labors, considering that all human life is divided betwixt business and relaxation. To which purpose it is that we are inclined by nature not only to wake, but to sleep also; that as we have sometimes wars, so likewise at other times peace; as some foul, so other fair days; and, as we have seasons of important business, so also the vacation times of festivals. And, to contract all in a word, rest is the sauce of labor. Nor is it thus in living creatures only, but in things inanimate too. For even in bows and harps, we loosen their strings, that we-may bend and wind them up again. Yea, it is universally seen that, as the body is maintained by repletion and evacuation, so is the mind by employment and relaxation.

Those parents, moreover, are to be blamed who, when they have committed their sons to the care of pedagogues or schoolmasters, never see or hear them perform their tasks; wherein they fail much of their duty. For they ought, ever and anon, after the intermission of some days, to make trial of their children’s proficiency; and not intrust their hopes of them to the discretion of a hireling. For even that sort of men will take more care of the children, when they know that they are regularly to be called to account. And here the saying of the king’s groom is very applicable, that nothing made the horse so fat as the king’s eye.

But we must most of all exercise and keep in constant employment the memory of children; for that is, as it were, the storehouse of all learning. Wherefore the mythologist have made Mnemosyne, or Memory, the mother of the Muses, plainly intimating thereby that nothing doth so beget or nourish learning as memory. Wherefore we must employ it to both those purposes, whether the children be naturally apt or backward to remember. For so shall we both strengthen it in those to whom Nature in this respect hath been bountiful, and supply that to others wherein she hath been deficient. And as the former sort of boys will thereby come to excel others, so will the latter sort excel themselves. For that of Hesiod was well said,—

Oft little add to little, and the account

Will swell: heapt atoms thus produce a mount.¹

Neither, therefore, let the parents be ignorant of this, that the exercising of memory in the schools doth not only give the greatest assistance towards the attainment of learning, but also to all the actions of life. For the remembrance of things past affords us examples in our consults about things to come.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ παίδων ἀγωγῆς

1. ἂν add. H

2. τὸ ῥηθὲν] Xen. Oecon. XII 20

3. οὐδὲν] add. τὴν παιδείαν W

4. Ἡσιόδειον] OD 361

Plutarch De liberis educandis 13

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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