images. “Whosoever thinks silence to be a thing of little importance,” says Plutarch, “is scarcely of a sound mind”; because to keep silence prudently is the beginning of sound wisdom; for, assuredly keeping silence hurts no one, whereas talking has injured many; and even though no injury were sustained, yet since both of these qualities—namely, to speak and to keep silence—constitute the foundation and ornament of all our conversation throughout life, they ought to be so closely united that we may at the same time acquire the habit of both. Parents ought to accustom their children to keep silence. In the first place, during prayer and divine service, whether at home or in publie, children should sit quietly; and no running about, shouting, or making a noise should, at such times, be allowed them. Children should also learn to attend silently to the orders of their father and mother in everything. The other benefit of keeping silence is with a view to well-ordered speech, so that before the speaker replies to any question, children may consider what the matter is, and how to speak reasonably; for to utter whatever comes uppermost is folly, and it is not becoming in those whom we desire to see intelligent beings. However, I incessantly repeat that these things should be done as far as the age permits, and which circumspect parents should attend to with the greatest care.
17. A child may contract a habit of patience, provided that excessive softness and immoderate indulgence be carefully avoided. In some children, as early as their first and second year, the vice of an evil inclination begins to appear, which it is best to remove with the roots, as we do thistles; for example, a child of a perverse and obstinate disposition labors hard by crying and wailing to obtain what it has set its hearb upon; another displays anger, malevolence, and desire of vengeance by biting, kicking, and striking. Inasmuch as these affections are preternatural, and incidentally
