Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

time we set him to recite some childish piece; he sifts

it out like water through a crack, “Apollo”—pause,—

then “hunter!”

[Th e poor mother goes on to say that it is useless to scold

the boy; for, if she does, he promptly runs away from

home, to sponge upon his grandmother, or sits upon the

roof out of the way like an ape, breaking the tiles, which

is expensive for his parents.]

Yet he knows the seventh and the twentieth of the

month, whole holidays, as if he reads the stars; he lies

awake o’nights dreaming of them. But, so may yonder

Muses prosper you, give him in stripes no less than—

Lampriscos [briskly]. Right you are, here, Euthias,

Coccalos, and Phillos hoist him upon your backs. I like

your goings on, my boy! I’ll teach you manners! Where’s

my strap, with the stinging cow’s tail?

Cottalos [in terror]. By the Muses, sir,—not with the

stinger?

Lampriscos. Th en you shouldn’t be so naughty.

Cottalos. O, how many will you give me!

Lampriscos. Your mother fi xes that.

Cottalos. How many, mother?

Metrotimé. As many as your wicked hide can bear.

[Th ey proceed with the fl ogging]

Cottalos. Stop!—Th at’s enough!— Stop! Lampriscos.

You should stop your ways.

Cottalos. I’ll never do it more, I promise you.

Lampriscos. Don’t talk so much, or else I’ll bring a gag.

Cottalos. I won’t talk,—only do not kill me,—please!

Lampriscos [at length relenting]. Let him down, boys.

Metrotimé. No—eather him till sunset.

Lampriscos. Why, he’s as mottled as a water snake.

Metrotimé. Well, when he’s done his reading, good or

bad, give him a trifl e more, say twenty strokes.

Cottalos [in agony]. Yah!

Metrotimé. [turning away]. I’ll go home and get a pair

of fetters. Our Lady Muses, whom he scorned, shall see

their scorner hobble here with shackled feet.

From: William Stearns Davis, ed.,

Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative

Extracts from the Sources. Vol. 1: Greece

and the East (Boston: Allyn and Bacon,

1912–1913), pp. 255–257.

(cont inues)

Children ought to be made to abstain from speaking

fi lthily, seeing, as Democritus said, words are but the

shadows of actions. Th ey are, moreover, to be instructed

to be aff able and courteous in discourse. For as churlish

manners are always detestable, so children may be kept

from being odious in conversation, if they will not be

pertinaciously bent to maintain all they say in dispute.

For it is of use to a man to understand not only how to

overcome, but also how to give ground when to conquer

would turn to his disadvantage....

Add we now to these things some others of which

children ought to have no less, yes, rather greater care;

to-wit, that they avoid luxurious living, bridle their

tongues, subdue anger, and refrain their hands.... To

begin with the last: some men there have been, who, by

opening their hands to take what they ought not, have

lost all the honor they got in the former part of their

lives. So Gylippus the Lacedaemonian, for unsewing

the public money-bags, was condemned to banishment

from Sparta. And to be able also to subdue anger is the

part of a wise man. Such a one was Socrates; for when a

hectoring and debauched young man rudely kicked him,

so that those in his company, being sorely off ended,

were ready to run after him and call him to account for

it, What, said he to them, if an ass had kicked me, would

you think it handsomely done to kick him again? And yet

the young man himself escaped not unpunished; for

when all persons reproached him for so unworthy an

act, and gave him the nickname of Laktistes, or the

kicker, he hanged himself. Th e same Socrates—when

Aristophanes, publishing his play which he called Th e

Clouds, therein threw all sorts of the foulest reproaches

upon him, and a friend of his, who was present at the

acting of it, repeated to him what was there said in the

same comical manner, asking him withal, Does not this

 Plutarch: “ Th e Training of Children,” ca. 110 c.e. 

Rome

200 children: primary source documents