That a system like that of Pythagoras, combining the religious, the
mystical, the scientific, the ethical, and the social tendencies of the
Hellenic mind, should have exerted a deep and abiding influence, need
not surprise us. We find profound traces of it, not only in all
subsequent Greek thought, but even in foreign systems, such as Essenism,
whose elements were Hebrew Nazarenism and Greek Pythagoreanism. The
relations between Essenism and Christianity have not yet been
determined. Of the effect of Pythagoras' teaching on Epaminondas I have
already spoken.
CHAPTER V
IONIAN OR ATHENIAN EDUCATION
Let me now give an account of the Old Education, when I, uttering
words of justice, was in my prime, and self-control was held in
respect. In the first place, a child was not allowed to be heard
uttering a grumble. Then all the boys of the quarter were obliged to
march in a body, in an orderly way and with the scantest of
clothing, along the streets to the music master's, and this they did
even if it snowed like barley-groats. Then they were set to rehearse
a song, without compressing their thighs,--either "Pallas, mighty
city-stormer," or "A shout sounding far," putting energy into the
melody which their fathers handed down. And, if any one attempted
any fooling, or any of those trills like the difficult inflexions _à
la_ Phrynis now in vogue, he received a good threshing for his
pains, as having insulted the Muses. Again, at the physical
trainer's, the boys, while sitting, were obliged to keep their legs
in front of them.... And at dinner they were not allowed to pick out
the best radish-head, or to snatch away anise or celery from their
elders, or to gourmandize on fish and field-fares, or to sit with
their legs crossed.... Take courage, young man, and choose me, the
Better Reason, and you shall know how to hate the public square, to
avoid the bath-houses, to be ashamed of what is shameful, to show
temper when any one addresses you in ribald language, to rise from
your seat when your elders approach, and not to be a lubber to your
own parents, or to do any other unseemly thing to mar the image of
Modesty, or to rush to the house of the dancing-girl, and, while you
are gaping at her performances, get struck with an apple by a wench
and fall from your fair fame, or to talk back to your father, or,
addressing him as Japhet, to revile the old age which made the nest
for you.... Then, fresh and blooming, you will spend your time in
the gymnasia, and not go about the public square, mouthing monstrous
jokes, like the young men of to-day, or getting dragged into
slippery, gumshon-bamboozling disputes, but, going down to the
Academy, with some worthy companion of your own age, you will start
a running-match, crowned with white reed, smelling of smilax,
leisure and deciduous white poplar, rejoicing in the spring, when