Opening Moralia, Part I (Books I–II) — Plutarch in Plato Scroll…
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Plutarch · F. C. Babbitt; three essays from the Goodwin edition
1 1 1 Let us consider what may be said of the education of free-born children, and what advantages they should enjoy to give them a sound character when they grow up. 2 1 It is perhaps better to begin with their parentage first; and I should advise those desirous of becoming fathers of notable offspring to abstain from random cohabitation with women; I mean with such women as courtesans and concubines. For those who are not well-born, whether on the father’s or the mother’s side, have an indelible disgrace in their low birth, which accompanies them throughout their lives, and offers to anyone desiring to use it a ready subject of reproach and insult. Wise was the poet who declares: The home’s foundation being wrongly laid, The offspring needs must be unfortunate. A goodly treasure, then, is honourable birth, and such a man may speak his mind freely, a thing which should be held of the …
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