makes the pupil not only more learned but also better and more virtuous."[1]
The Fathers Jouvancy and Sacchini say that the explanations of all authors, also of pagan writers, should be conducted so that they become, as it were, heralds of Christ. This is very important in our times, when pagan ideas, principles, and tendencies are praised as the spirit of the progressing human mind, as the precious fruit of modern research and civilization. From the study of the ancients, particularly the Greeks, the young may learn that mankind is on the point of going again through a circle of errors, which in a retrogressive movement shall lead our race through all the aberrations which Christianity has long ago overcome. Against the enticing sirens of "modern progress," "freedom of thought," and "independence of morality," a most salutary lesson may be learned from the ancients, who in spite of their accomplishments in art, literature, and politics, could not find in them the remedy for social evils, nor contentment of mind and heart. Such suggestions, however, must be made discreetly, with great tact and moderation, when an occasion naturally offers. Here, too, the old ne quid nimis is of the greatest import; if the teacher too often, in season and out of season, indulges in pious exhortations, the pupils may easily conceive disgust at them and a loathing for all kinds of spiritual and religious instruction. Therefore, the teacher should not only not molest the pupils by too frequent admonitions, but should also observe prudence in those he thinks fit to give.[2]
