Pagina 574 di 1391

Here we can hardly agree with him; and, if we may judge by

experience, the effect of spending three years between the ages

of fourteen and seventeen in mere bodily exercise would be far

from improving to the intellect. Secondly, he affirms that music

and gymnastic are not, as common opinion is apt to imagine,

intended, the one for the cultivation of the mind and the other

of the body, but that they are both equally designed for the

improvement of the mind. The body, in his view, is the servant of

the mind; the subjection of the lower to the higher is for the

advantage of both. And doubtless the mind may exercise a very

great and paramount influence over the body, if exerted not at

particular moments and by fits and starts, but continuously, in

making preparation for the whole of life. Other Greek writers saw

the mischievous tendency of Spartan discipline (Arist. Pol;

Thuc.). But only Plato recognized the fundamental error on which

the practice was based.