children: primary source documents My son, if it be the wish of a ruler that you belong to him, if you are entrusted with his closely guarded seal, open his treasure house and enter it, for no one but you may it Uncounted wealth you will find inside, but not covet any of that, nor set your mind on a secret crime, for afterwards the matter will be investigated and the secret crime which you committed will be exposed Do not speak ill, speak only good Do not say evil things, speak well of people He who speaks ill and says evil—people will waylay him because of his debt to Shamash Do not talk too freely; watch what you say Asia and the Pacific Do not express your innermost thoughts even when you are alone What you say in haste you may regret later Exert yourself to restrain your speech Worship your god every day Sacrifice and pious utterance are the proper accompaniment of incense Have a freewill offering for your god, for this is proper toward a god Prayer, supplication, and prostration offer him daily, then your prayer will be granted, and you will be in harmony with god From: Internet History Sourcebooks Available online URL: http://www fordham.edu/halsall/ Confucius: Analects, excerpt, ca 479–221 b.c.e Mang I asked what fi lial piety was The Master said, “It is not being disobedient.” Soon after, as Fan Ch’ih was driving him, the Master told him, saying, “Mang-sun asked me what filial piety was, and I answered him, ‘not being disobedient.’” Fan Ch’ih said, “What did you mean?” The Master replied, “Th at parents, when alive, be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety.” Mang Wu asked what fi lial piety was The Master said, “Parents are anxious lest their children should be sick.” Greece 199 Tsze-yu asked what filial piety was The Master said, “The filial piety nowadays means the support of one’s parents But dogs and horses likewise are able to something in the way of support; without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?” Tsze-hsia asked what fi lial piety was The Master said, “The difficulty is with the countenance If, when their elders have any troublesome affairs, the young take the toil of them, and if, when the young have wine and food, they set them before their elders, is THIS to be considered fi lial piety?” From: The Analects of Confucius, translated by James Legge (Oxford, U.K: Clarendon Press, 1893) Herondas (Herodas): The Third Mime excerpt, ca third century b.c.e [A mother, Metrotimé, brings her truant son Cottalos to his schoolmaster, Lampriscos, to receive a flogging.] Metrotimé Flog him Lampriscos, across the shoulders, till his wicked soul is all but out of him He’s spent my all in playing odd and even; knucklebones are nothing to him Why, he hardly knows the door of the Letter School And yet the thirtieth comes round and I must pay—tears no excuse His writing tablet, which I take the trouble to wax anew each month, lies unregarded in the corner If by chance he deigns to touch it, he scowls like Hades and then puts nothing right but smears it out and out He doesn’t know a letter till you scream it twenty times The other day his father made him spell “Maron”; the rascal made it “Simon”: dolt I thought myself to send him to a school! Ass-tending is his trade!—Another (continued)