Adam Smith：The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter I, Paragraph 1794

In the early ages, both of the Greek and Roman republics, the other parts of education seem to have consisted in learning to read, write, and account, according to the arithmetic of the times. These accomplishments the richer citizens seem frequently to have acquired at home, by the assistance of some domestic pedagogue, who was, generally, either a slave or a freedman; and the poorer citizens in the schools of such masters as made a trade of teaching for hire. Such parts of education, however, were abandoned altogether to the care of the parents or guardians of each individual. It does not appear that the state ever assumed any inspection or direction of them. By a law of Solon, indeed, the children were acquitted from maintaining those parents who had neglected to instruct them in some profitable trade or business.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Locator：Book V, Chapter I, paragraph 1794 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Exact match

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

公版英文原典；批量导入，未附中文解读。

This text is in the public domain. The edition and source link are above. Copyright

← Back to the library