Education of their Children might have been ascertained. This is justly charged by Plutarch, as a capital Defect in Numa's Legislation:[1] This Defect, when once admitted into the Essence of the State, could not easily be rectify'd in succeeding Times: The Principle could only have been effectually infused, at the general Formation of the whole Mass. In Consequence of this Error in the first Concoction, the supporting Principles of Freedom were vague and fluctuating: For Want of this preventing Power, the incidental Vices of a Parent were naturally transmitted to his Children, and thence to future Ages. The rigorous Education of Sparta was a strong Check to the Proneness of human Nature towards Degeneracy and Corruption: Through This, every incidental Vice dy'd with its first Possessor: While the more lax Institution of the Roman Republic, suffered every original Taint in Man-
- ↑ See above, Sect. vii.
