Nor are these the only examples to prove the efficacy of painstaking. Instances are countless. Soil may be naturally [Sidenote: E] good; but neglect it, and it becomes a waste. Indeed, the better it is by nature, the more hopeless a wilderness will your neglect make of it. On the other hand, it may be too hard and rugged; yet cultivation will speedily cause it to produce excellent crops. Is there any tree which will not grow crooked and cease to bear fruit if left untended, whereas, when properly trained, it bears well and brings its fruit to perfection? Does not bodily strength invariably become effete when you take your ease and neglect to keep in good condition, whereas a feeble physique gains immensely in strength through gymnastic and athletic exercise? Is there any horse which a rider cannot render obedient by [Sidenote: F] a thorough breaking-in, whereas, if left unbroken, it will prove stiff-necked and full of temper?
But why dwell longer on such cases, when there are so many examples of the most savage creatures being tamed and made amenable to hard work?
When a Thessalian was asked which of his countrymen were the gentlest in manner, his answer was a good one: _Those who are giving up war._ But it is useless to multiply instances. Character is long-standing habit, and it would scarcely be beside [Sidenote: 3] the mark to speak of the virtues of the mind as the virtues ‘of minding’.[56] One more illustration, and we will dispense with further elaboration of the subject. The Spartan legislator Lycurgus once took two puppies belonging to the same parents and brought them up in entirely different ways. The one he turned into a gluttonous good-for-nothing, the other into a keen and capable hunting-dog. Subsequently he got the Lacedaemonians together and said to them: ‘A great factor [Sidenote: B] in engendering virtue consists of habit and education—of instruction in the conduct of life—as I am about to prove to you here and now.’ He then brought forward the two young dogs, put down directly in front of them a plate of food and a hare, and let the dogs loose; whereupon the one darted after the hare, while the other made for the plate. The Lacedaemonians, who were not yet in the secret, failed to perceive the meaning of his demonstration, until he told them: ‘Both these dogs come from the same parents, but the difference in their education has turned the one into a glutton and the other into a hunter.’