No man can with impunity live in the state without some employment.
This would be an infringement upon her rights and an abuse of her
privileges. The individual, with all his wealth and talents, belongs to the
state, and should, therefore, make such an appropriation of these as will
be most conducive to its welfare.
And besides, we know not what disastrous changes may take place in life.
The parental legacy may soon be squandered by the child, and he be left
without funds or friends; the emergencies of the future may increase
beyond all anticipation; sickness and manifold adversities may soon sweep
away all his inheritance. And then what will become of your child if he is
ignorant of any pursuit in which to engage for a subsistence? Besides, it
is a matter of very common observation, that those who receive a large
legacy and have been brought up in idleness, become prodigal in their
expenditure, and squander their fortune by dissipation more rapidly than
their parents amassed it by industry and frugality; and then, ignorant and
helpless and profligate, they eke out a wretched existence in abject
poverty, resorting to illegitimate means for a living, until the last
fruits of their improper training may be seen in the state's prison or upon
the gibbet.
History will afford ample illustration of this. From it we may easily infer
the duty of parental interposition. The Athenians expressed their sense of
this duty in the enactment of a law that, if parents did not qualify their
children for securing a livelihood by having them learn some occupation,
the child was not bound to make provision for the parent when old and
necessitous.
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