A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence - The Works Of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With An Essay On - His Life And Genius, Notes, Supplements by Caius Cornelius Tacitus
page 160 of 259 (61%)
page 160 of 259 (61%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
the care of their infant children to hired nurses, Tacitus observes,
that no such custom was known among the savages of Germany. See _Manners of the Germans_, s. xx. See also Quintilian, on the subject of education, lib. i. cap. 2 and 3. [b] Cornelia, the mother of the two Gracchi, was daughter to the first Scipio Africanus. The sons, Quintilian says, owed much of their eloquence to the care and institutions of their mother, whose taste and learning were fully displayed in her letters, which were then in the hands of the public. _Nam Gracchorum eloquentiæ multum contulisse accepimus Corneliam matrem, cujus doctissimus sermo in posteros quoque est epistolis traditus._ Quint. lib. i. cap. 1. To the same effect Cicero: _Fuit Gracchus diligentiâ Corneliæ matris a puero doctus, et Græcis litteris eruditus._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 104. Again, Cicero says, We have read the letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, from which it appears, that the sons were educated, not so much in the lap of their mother, as her conversation. _Legimus epistolas Corneliæ, matris Gracchorum: apparet filios non tam in gremio educatos, quam in sermone matris._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 211. Pliny the elder informs us that a statue was erected to her memory, though Cato the Censor declaimed against shewing so much honour to women, even in the provinces. But with all his vehemence he could not prevent it in the city of Rome. Pliny, lib. xxxiv. s. 14. [c] For Aurelia, the mother of Julius Cæsar, see _The Genealogical Table of the Cæsars_, No. 2. [d] For Atia, the mother of Augustus, see _Genealogical Table of the Cæsars_, No. 14. As another instance of maternal care, Tacitus informs us that Julia Procilla superintended the education of her son. See |
|