[318]. Dion Chrysostom tells a curious story respecting a blunder of the Athenians on this subject. Apollo once commanding them, if they desired to become good citizens, to put whatever was most beautiful in the ears of their sons, they bored one of the lobes, and inserted a gold earring, not comprehending the meaning of the God. But this ornament would better have suited their daughters or the sons of Lydians or Phrygians; but for the offspring of Greeks, nothing could have been intended by the God but education and reason, the possessors of which would probably become good men, and the preservers of their country.—Orat. xxxii. t. i. p. 653. sqq.—The popular maxim that knowledge is power may be traced to Plato.—De Rep. v. t. vi. p. 268.
[319]. Montagne relates, in his Travels (t. iii. p. 51), an instance of how the mind may be cultivated, particularly in poetry, by persons ignorant of the art of reading and writing. His Lucchese improvisatrice may be regarded as a match for the ancient rhapsodists.
[320]. Cf. Plat. De Legg. vii. t. viii. p. 1.
[321]. Notwithstanding that Plato regards knowledge as the medicine of the soul.—Crit. t. vii. p. 145.—Cf. t. viii. p. 2. seq.—Aristot. Ethic. vi. 13.
[322]. Plat. de Legg. l. vii. t. viii. pp. 4. et 11.—During the pregnancy of women great care was taken not to bring into the house the wood of the ostrya or carpinus ostrys, the appearance of which was ominous of difficult births, or even of sudden death. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 10. 3.
[323]. Xenoph. de Rep. Laced. i. 3. Perizon. ad Ælian. Var. Hist. x. 13.
[324]. Theodoret. iv. 921.
[325]. v. Τριτοπ. t. ii. p. 947. b. seq. Cf. Siebel. ad Frag. Philoch. p. 11. Meurs. Græc. Fer. p. 264. Lect. Att. iii. 1. Vales. in Harpoc. p. 223. seq.
[326]. Paus. viii. 21. 3.
[327]. Paus. ix. 27. 2. Cf. Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23.