perverse and refractory. These are usually a great source of difficulty in schools, and for the most part are given up in despair. If treated in the right way, however, they frequently develope into the greatest men. A good example of this type is Themistocles, the great Athenian general. As a youth he was very wild, so that his tutor said to him: “My boy, you will not develope into anything mediocre; you will be either of great use or of great harm to your country.” And later on, when people wondered at his strange character, he used to say, “Wild colts make the best horses, if only they are properly trained.” Indeed, this was the case with Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great. For, when Alexander saw that his father Philip was about to give away this unruly animal, which would suffer no rider on his back, he said: “What a magnificent horse these people are spoiling. They are unskilled and do not know how to treat it!” He forthwith took the horse in hand, and with marvellous skill (for he never used blows) he got it into such a condition that not only then but ever afterwards it carried him well, and no horse more noble or more worthy of his great master could be found in the whole world. Plutarch, who tells us this anecdote, remarks: “This story reminds us that many men of good parts are ruined by their teachers, who, in their inability to rule or to guide free men, treat them not as horses but as asses.”
22. In the fourth place we have those who are flexible and anxious to learn, but who at the same time are slow and heavy. These can follow in the footsteps of the last-mentioned. But to render this possible the teacher must meet their weak natures half-way, must lay no heavy burden on them, must not demand anything excessive, but rather have patience, help them, strengthen them, and set them right, that they may not be disheartened. Though such pupils take longer to come to maturity, they will probably last all the better, like fruit that ripens late. And, just as the impression of a seal made in lead lasts a long time, though hard to make, so these men have more stable
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