⟨Laws I⟩

I say and maintain that anyone who is going to be good at anything must practice that very thing right from childhood, both in play and in earnest, in the particulars appropriate to the task.¹²⁶³

Republic VII

For we must not believe Solon that one can learn many things as one grows old; one is less able to do so than to run. Great and numerous labors are all for the young.¹²⁶⁴

⟨In the same work⟩

The beginning is the greatest part of any work, especially with anything young and tender. For then, above all, molding takes place and a pattern is impressed—whatever one wishes to stamp on each individual.¹²⁶⁵

⟨In the same work⟩

It seems likely, then, that whatever direction one takes in education, what follows will be of the same kind. Or does not like always call forth like?¹²⁶⁶

Republic VII

“Then, my good friend,” I said, “bring children up in their studies through play, instead of by force, so that you may better see what each is naturally suited for.”¹²⁶⁷

⟨In the same work⟩

For souls lose heart far more in demanding studies than in physical training: the effort is more their own, being theirs alone, rather than shared with the body.¹²⁶⁸

⟨In the same work⟩

Each person could practice one pursuit well, but not many; if he tried to take up many, he would fail to attain distinction in any of them.¹²⁶⁹

Laws VII

Without a shepherd, neither sheep nor any other creature at all should live; nor children without some attendants, nor slaves without masters.¹²⁷⁰ The child is the hardest of all beasts to manage. Since it possesses in the highest degree a source of understanding that is not yet ordered, it becomes a scheming, shrewd and exceedingly insolent beast. That is why it must be bound, as it were, with many bridles.¹²⁷¹

⟨In the same work⟩

Then I suppose it has been rightly said that proper nurture must in every case be seen to be capable of making bodies and souls as beautiful and good as possible. — Of course. — As for making bodies most beautiful, the simplest point, I think, is that children must grow as straight as possible from their earliest years. — Yes, indeed.¹²⁷²

And what of this? Do we not realize that every living thing’s first growth is by far its greatest and most abundant—so much so that it has even given many cause for dispute that human stature does not double as it increases during the twenty remaining years after age five? — True.¹²⁷³

What, then? When great growth comes without numerous and proportionate exertions, do we not know that it produces countless evils in the body? — Most certainly. — Then bodies need the most exertion when they receive the most nourishment.¹²⁷⁴

⟨In the same work⟩

Three further subjects, then, belong to free people. Calculation and the study of numbers form one; measuring length, surface and depth, a second; and third, the circuit of the stars—how they naturally travel in relation to one another. The majority must not labor at all these in their precise form, but a certain few; which people, we shall specify when we reach the end. That would be fitting. For the majority, as much of them as is necessary . . .¹²⁷⁵

But it seems that whoever first framed the proverb about god had these matters in view when he said that not even a god would ever be seen fighting necessity—at least, I think, those necessities that are divine. For as regards human necessities, which most people have in view when they say such a thing, this is by far the most foolish of all sayings.¹²⁷⁶

— What, then, stranger, are the necessities of these studies that are not of that sort, but divine? —

I think that no one, without having practiced and learned these things, could ever become a god, a divine spirit or a hero among human beings.¹²⁷⁷

Republic II

What, then, is the education to be? Or is it hard to find a better one than that discovered over so long a time? I suppose it consists of physical training for the body and music for the soul. — Indeed. — Then do we not begin educating with music before physical training? — How could we not? — Do you include accounts in music, I said, or not? — I do. — And do accounts have two forms, one true, the other false? — Yes. — Must we educate in both kinds, but in false ones first? — I do not understand, he said, what you mean.

— Do you not understand, I said, that we first tell children stories? This is, I suppose, generally speaking false, but there is truth in it too. We use stories with children before physical training. — That is so. — This is what I meant: we must take up music before physical training. — Right, he said.¹²⁷⁸

Republic II continued

Then you know that the beginning is the greatest part of any work, especially with anything young and tender. For then, above all, molding takes place and a pattern is impressed—whatever one wishes to stamp on each individual. — Most certainly.¹²⁷⁹

Then shall we so readily let children hear whatever stories anyone happens to invent and take into their souls beliefs mostly contrary to those we shall think they ought to hold once they are grown? — We certainly shall not allow it. — First, then, we must, it seems, supervise the makers of stories, approving any good story they make and rejecting any that is not good. We shall persuade nurses and mothers to tell the approved stories to children and to shape their souls with stories far more than their bodies with their hands. Most of the stories they now tell must be thrown out.¹²⁸⁰