Vat.lat.5953

He spoke about temperance original: "temperantia," referring to moderation or self-control. in this way: he said that the age of the young and the strong brief in time original: "abr tꝑis," likely an abbreviation for "abbreviato temporis," indicating the fleeting nature of youth. is the most fertile experience of nature itself, an opportunity which great desires seize upon. Afterward, he led them to consider that this is the only one among all the virtues that is fitting for a boy, a woman, and the elderly to acquire; yet it is most especially appropriate for the younger ones. He would say that it is most apparent that this virtue encompasses both the goods of the body and the goods of the soul: preserving health and a desire for the best works. He also called upon the young men and urged them to be set on fire for learning original: "eruditionem."; they should consider that it would be absurd to judge the mind to be the most excellent of all things and yet use it to consult about other matters while spending no time or labor in this exercise [of the mind]. This is especially true since the goods of the body are like false friends, who easily desert you you at a moment's notice; but the goods of the soul are likened to true friends, who never desert us, and for whom they bring forth eternal glory after death. He also demonstrated that learning was the shared ingenuity of those things which are fated in every kind. For the inventions of those people become the instruction and education of others. Such is the nature of this pursuit of study. For whereas with other things that are praised, some are not possible to acquire from another—such as physical strength, beauty, health, and bravery. In other cases, it is impossible for the giver to keep the thing himself—such as wealth and positions of power. But those things which are overlooked by men [knowledge] can be received from another while the one who gives possesses nothing less. Other things are not within men's power, but to learn is within their own choice. When Pythagoras had said these things to the youths in the gymnasium In ancient Greece, the gymnasium was a place for both physical training and intellectual discussion., they reported them to their own fathers; for they petitioned the magistrates, and they ordered that he should advise them on the matter in a public assembly.