STUDY XIV. 297 



STUDY FOURTEENTH. 



OF EDUCATION. 



' npO what higher objea," fays Plutarch'^, 

 JL " could Numa have diredled his atten- 



* tion, than to the culture of early infancy, and 

 ' to uniformity in the treatment of young per- 



* fons ; in the view of preventing the collifion of 



* different manners, and turbulency of fpirit arit- 

 ' ing from diverfity of nurture ? Thus he pro- 



* pofed to harmonize the minds of men, in a flate 

 ' of maturity, from their having been, in child- 



* hood, trained in the fame habits of order, and 



* caft into the fame mould of virtue. This, inde- 

 ' pendent of other advantages, greatly contribut- 



* ed, likewife, to the fupport of the Laws of Ly- 

 ' ciirgus ; for refpeâ: to the oath, by which the 

 ' Spartans had bound themfelves, mufl have pro- 

 ' duced a much more powerful effeâ:, from his 



having, by early inftruflion and nurture, died 

 in the wool, if I may ufe the expreffion, the mo- 



* Comparifon of 'K^ma and Lycurgus, 



" rals 



