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Rh which should be sovereign, is interrupted and hindered by the presence of the parents. Besides which, the respect that the household pays to him, the knowledge of the wealth and grandeur of his race, are in my opinion no slight disadvantages at that age. In this school of intercourse with men, I have often observed this defect, that, instead of acquiring knowledge from others, we strive only to give it of ourselves, and are more desirous to dispose of our wares than to acquire new ones. Silence and modesty are very needful qualities in social relations. This child will be trained to be saving and thrifty with his store of knowledge when he shall have acquired it, and not to take exception to the follies and falsehoods that are uttered in his presence; for it is a discourteous unmannerliness to do battle with every thing that is not to our liking. (c) Let him be content with correcting himself, and not seem to reprove in others all that he refuses to do, or to oppose public morals: licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia; let him shun such discourteous conceits and the puerile ambition of desiring to appear more subtle by being different; and — as if reprehension and innovations were difficult matters — to seek to derive reputation of some special worth from them. As it befits only great poets to employ the licenses of the art, so it is tolerable only for great and illustrious minds to claim privileges above what is customary. Si quid Socrates et Aristippus contra morem consuetudinem fecerint … idem sibi ne arbitretur licere; magnis enim illi et divinis bonis hanc licentiam assequebantur. (a) He is to be taught not to enter into discussion or disputation except with a champion worthy of his steel, and even then not to employ all the methods that may be of service to him, but only those that will be most effective. Let him be trained to be nice in the selection and sifting out of his arguments, loving pertinency and, consequently, brevity. Let him be taught above all to surrender and lay down his arms