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Moreover, one’s sons are to be kept from foul language; for, according to Democritus,Diels, Fragmete der Vorsokratiker, ii. p. 87. A word is a deed’s shadow. Then, too, proper measures must be taken to ensure that they shall be tactful and courteous in their address; for nothing is so deservedly disliked as tactless characters. Besides, children may avoid getting themselves disliked by their associates if they do not prove totally unyielding in discussions. For it is a fine thing to understand, not only how to gain the victory, but also how to submit to defeat, in cases where victory is injurious; for there is really such a thing as a Cadmean victory. A victory which (like a Pyrrhic victory) is disastrous to the victor. The reference is to the combat between Eteocles and Polyneices, the two sons of Oedipus. Cf. also Moralia, 488 A and Herodotus, i. 166. As a witness of this I may quote Euripides the wise, who says: When of two speakers one is growing wroth, Wiser is he that yields in argument.From the Protesilaus; Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 654.
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We must now lay down some rules of conduct which the young should follow no less but even more than those previously given. These are: To practise the simple life, to hold the tongue in check, to conquer anger, to control the hands. We must consider the importance of each of these; and they will be more intelligible if based on examples.
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So, to begin with the last, some men by putting their hands to wrongful gains have upset the good repute of their earlier lives. Witness the case of Gylippus, The story is told in detail by Plutarch in his Life of Lysander, chap. 16 (p. 442). the Spartan, who was forced into exile because he had secretly unsewed the bags of money.
