ach this youth, you old dotard.

Just Yes, if he is to be saved, and not merely to
practise loquacity.

Unj. (to Phidippides) Come hither, and leave him to
rave.

Just You shall howl, if you lay your hand on him.

Cho. Cease from contention and railing. But show to us,
you, what you used to teach the men of former times, and
you, the new system of education; in order that, having
heard you disputing, he may decide and go to the school
of one or the other.

Just. I am willing to do so.

Unj. I also am willing.

Cho. Come now, which of the two shall speak first?

Unj. I will give him the precedence; and then, from
these things which he adduces, I will shoot him dead
with new words and thoughts. And at last, if he mutter,
he shall be destroyed, being stung in his whole face and
his two eyes by my maxims, as if by bees.

Cho. Now the two, relying on very dexterous arguments
and thoughts, and sententious maxims, will show which of
them shall appear superior in argument. For now the
whole crisis of wisdom is here laid before them; about
which my friends have a very great contest. But do you,
who adorned our elders with many virtuous manners, utter
the voice in which you rejoice, and declare your nature.

Just. I will, therefore, describe the ancient system of
education, how it was ordered, when I flourished in the
advocacy of justice, and temperance was the fashion. In
the first place it was incumbent that no one should hear
the voice of a boy uttering a syllable; and next, that
those from the same quarter of the town should march in
good order through the streets to the school of the
harp-master, naked, and in a body, even if it were to
snow as thick as meal. Then again, their master would
teach them, not sitting cross-legged, to learn by rote a
song, either "pallada persepolin deinan" or "teleporon
ti boama" raising to a higher pitch the harmony which
our fathers transmitted to us. But if any of them were
to play the buffoon, or to turn any quavers, like these
difficult turns the present artists make after the
manner of Phrynis, he used to be thrashed, being beaten
with many blows, as banishing the Muses. And it behooved
the boys, while sitting in the school of the
Gymnastic-master, to cov