_Life of Agricola_, s. iv.


Section XXIX.

[a] Quintilian thinks the first elements of education so highly
material, that he has two long chapters on the subject. He requires,
in the first place, that the language of the nurses should be pure and
correct. Their manners are of great importance, but, he adds, let them
speak with propriety. It is to them that the infant first attends; he
listens, and endeavours to imitate them. The first colour, imbibed by
yarn or thread, is sure to last. What is bad, generally adheres
tenaciously. Let the child, therefore, not learn in his infancy, what
he must afterwards take pains to unlearn. _Ante omnia, ne sit vitiosus
sermo nutricibus. Et morum quidem in his haud dubiè prior ratio est;
rectè tamen etiam loquantur. Has primùm audiet puer; harum verba
effingere imitando conabitur. Et naturâ tenacissimi sumus eorum, quæ
rudibus annis percipimus; nec lanarum colores, quibus simplex ille
candor mutatus est, elui possunt. Et hæc ipsa magis pertinaciter
hærent, quæ deteriora sunt. Non assuescat ergo, ne dum infans quidem
est, sermoni, qui dediscendus est._ Quint. lib. i. cap. 1. Plutarch
has a long discourse on the breeding of children, in which all
mistakes are pointed out, and the best rules enforced with great
acuteness of observation.

[b] Juvenal has one entire satire on the subject of education:

Nil dictu fœdum visuque hæc limina tangat,
Intra quæ puer est. Procul hinc, procul inde puellæ
Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantis parasiti.