4
But this branch of learning, I am told, you are not content with, but you choose rather the training which rhetoric gives, which is of use in the practical affairs of everyday life and aids us when we deliberate concerning public affairs. By means of this study you will come to know how at the present time to form reasonably sound opinions about the future, how not ineptly to instruct your subject peoples what each should do, how to form correct judgements about the right and the just and their opposites and, besides, to reward and chastise each class as it deserves.
5
You act wisely, therefore, in devoting yourself to these studies; for you give hope to your father and to all the world that if, as you grow older, you hold fast to this course, you will as far surpass your fellow-men in wisdom as your father has surpassed all mankind.For Isocrates’ views on Education, with numerous references to his writings, see Norlin’s General Introd. (Isocrates, Vol. I, pp. xxiii ff., L.C.L.).
