[24]
... _Memini quæ plagosum mihi parvo
Orbilium dictare._--Lib. II. Ep. i. v. 70.
[25] ... “_Jam si minor in diligendis custodum & præceptorum
moribus fuit cura, pudet dicere in qua proba nefandi homines isto
jure cædendi abutantur; non morabor in parte hac, nimium est quod
intelligitur._”--Institut. Orat. Lib. I. Cap. 3.
[26] “_Denudari deindè, Ludi-magistrum jussit, eumque pueris tradidit
reducendum Falerios, manibus post tergum illigatis; virgas quoque eis
dedit, quibus proditorem agerent in urbem verberantes._”
The inhabitants of _Falerii_ were so struck with the just conduct of
the Dictator (Livy adds) that a total change of their dispositions
towards the Romans was the consequence; and the Senate having been
assembled thereupon by the Magistrates, they came to the resolution
of opening their gates, and surrendering to the Romans; which was
soon after effected.
[27] From the above-mentioned passages of king Solomon, Livy, and
other antient authors, down to Petrarch, we may safely conclude that
the practice of flagellating children has been followed in the world
during a number of successive centuries; and we know from undoubted
authorities, that the same practice continues in our days to
prevail, especially among Schoolmasters. Nay more, very respectable
Writers inform us, that Schoolmasters still possess the same strong
inclination to exert their authority that way, as they did in the
times of Horace and Quintilian.
Thus, Mr. _Henry Fielding_, a Writer who, better than most others,
knew the manners of Men, in his _History of a Foundling_, represents
_Thwackum_ the Schoolmaster, as having, upon every occasion, recourse
to his rod, and describes him to us as a true successor of the
_plagosus Orbilius_.
Mr. Gay, another writer, who, too, was deeply versed in the knowledge
of Mankind, expresses himself with still more precision on that
head, and lays it down as an undoubted maxim, that the delight of a
Schoolmaster is to use his whip. The opinion of that Author on the
subject is contained in a song written by him: this song was composed
in honour of _Molly Mog_, an Innkeeper’s daughter, at Oakingham in
Berkshire: the verses are fifteen in all; and the name of _Molly Mog_
is to be found in each of them, with a rhyme to it.
The School-boy’s desire is a play-day,
The Schoolmaster’s joy is to flog,
The milk-maid’s delights are on May-day;
But mine are in sweet Molly Mog.
However, the researches of our Author on the present deep subject,
as well as mine in my humble capacity of Commentator, can bear no
comparison, I think, in point of sagaciousness, with the discovery
made by Thomas Perez, the Uncle of Diego, who relates his own
history in the third volume of the Adventures of Gil Blas, and who
takes that occasion to mention the great abilities of his Uncle as an
Antiquary. “If it had not been for him (says he) we should still be
ignorant that children, in Athens, cried when their Mothers whipped
them.”