De liberis educandis

An effort should be made to yoke in marriage those who cannot resist their desires, and who are deaf to admonitions. For marriage is the most secure bond for youth. One should, however, betroth to his sons women who are not greatly

above them either in birth or wealth. The maxim Keep to your own place [*](The figure is said to be derived from the laguage of boys whipping tops. It is attributed to Pittachus by Diogenes Laertius, i. 4. 8; cf. The Palatine Anthology, vii. 89 (in L.C.L. The Greek Anthology, vol. ii. p. 63). A similar expression (from the race-track) may be found in Aristophanes, Clouds, 25.) is wise, since those who take to wife women far above themselves unwittingly become not the husbands of their wives, but the slaves of their wives’ dowries.