“A man’s ground is of itself good; yet, if it be not manured, it will contract barrenness; and the better it was naturally, so much the more is it ruined by carelessness, if it be ill-husbanded. On the other side, let a man’s ground be more than ordinarily rough and rugged; yet experience tells us that, if it be well manured, it will be quickly made capable of bearing excellent fruit. “
Plutarch, “The Training of Chldren,” from The Ancient History Sourcebook at Fordham University
© Paul Halsall, June 1998 halsall@murray.fordham.edu