Isocrates, To the Children of Jason 7
“These are the reasons why I first said that the first principle to offer is one of the most frequently repeated. For I am in the habit of telling those who attend our school that the first thing they must consider is what must be accomplished by the whole speech and its parts. When we have figured this out and we judge it completely, then I say that we must think about the forms that will advance and complete the goal we have established.
Now, I offer this advice about argumentation but this also applies as a rule into all other matters and your affairs too. For nothing is able to be done in an intentional fashion if you do not first take an accounting and take council with great forethought of how you need to arrange the rest of your lives, what life work you should choose, what kind of reputation you should pursue, and what achievements you will delight in—whether they are those which come willingly from your fellow citizens or those they give up unwillingly.”
τούτου δ᾿ ἕνεκα ταῦτα προεῖπον, ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον ἐπιφερόμενον ἓν τῶν τεθρυλημένων ἐστίν. εἴθισμαι γὰρ λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν τὴν ἡμετέραν διατρίβοντας ὅτι τοῦτο πρῶτον δεῖ σκέψασθαι, τί τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τοῖς τοῦ λόγου μέρεσι διαπρακτέον ἐστίν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοῦθ᾿ εὕρωμεν καὶ διακριβωσώμεθα, ζητητέον εἶναί φημι τὰς ἰδέας δι᾿ ὧν ταῦτ᾿ ἐξεργασθήσεται καὶ λήψεται τέλος ὅπερ ὑπεθέμεθα. καὶ ταῦτα φράζω μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων, ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο στοιχεῖον καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων καὶ κατὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων πραγμάτων. οὐδὲν γὰρ οἷόν τ᾿ ἐστὶ πραχθῆναι νοῦν ἐχόντως, ἂν μὴ τοῦτο πρῶτον μετὰ πολλῆς προνοίας λογίσησθε καὶ βουλεύσησθε, πῶς χρὴ τὸν ἐπίλοιπον χρόνον ὑμῶν αὐτῶν προστῆναι καὶ τίνα βίον προελέσθαι καὶ ποίας δόξης ὀριγνηθῆναι καὶ ποτέρας τῶν τιμῶν ἀγαπῆσαι, τὰς παρ᾿ ἑκόντων γιγνομένας ἢ τὰς παρ᾿ ἀκόντων τῶν πολιτῶν·
Libanius, Autobiography F90 17
“The education of the young had been taken up by people little different from the young themselves.”
τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν νέων ὑπ᾿ ἀνδρῶν οὐ πολύ τι νέων διαφερόντων ἡρπασμένης
