BOOK III

The whole course of man’s life up to adolescence is a period of weakness; yet there comes a time during these early years when the child’s strength overtakes the demands upon it, when the growing creature, though absolutely weak, is relatively strong.  His needs are not fully developed and his present strength is more than enough for them.  He would be a very feeble man, but he is a strong child.

What is the cause of man’s weakness?  It is to be found in the disproportion between his strength and his desires.  It is our passions that make us weak, for our natural strength is not enough for their satisfaction.  To limit our desires comes to the same thing, therefore, as to increase our strength.  When we can do more than we want, we have strength enough and to spare, we are really strong.  This is the third stage of childhood, the stage with which I am about to deal.  I still speak of childhood for want of a better word; for our scholar is approaching adolescence, though he has not yet reached the age of puberty.

About twelve or thirteen the child’s strength increases far more rapidly than his needs.  The strongest and fiercest of the passions is still unknown, his physical development is still imperfect and seems to await the call of the will.  He is scarcely aware of extremes of heat and cold and braves them with impunity.  He needs no coat, his blood is warm; no spices, hunger is his sauce, no food comes amiss at this age; if he is sleepy he stretches himself on the ground and goes to sleep; he finds all he needs within his reach; he is not tormented by any imaginary wants; he cares nothing what others think; his desires are not beyond his grasp; not only is he self-sufficing, but for the first and last time in his life he has more strength than he needs.

I know beforehand what you will say.  You will not assert that the child has more needs than I attribute to him, but you will deny his strength.  You forget that I am speaking of my own pupil, not of those puppets who walk with difficulty from one room to another, who toil indoors and carry bundles of paper.  Manly strength, you say, appears only with manhood; the vital spirits, distilled in their proper vessels and spreading through the whole body, can alone make the muscles firm, sensitive, tense, and springy, can alone cause real strength.  This is the philosophy of the study; I appeal to that of experience.  In the country districts, I see big lads hoeing, digging, guiding the plough, filling the wine-cask, driving the cart, like their fathers; you would take them for grown men if their voices did not betray them.  Even in our towns, iron-workers’, tool makers’, and blacksmiths’ lads are almost as strong as their masters and would be scarcely less skilful had their training begun earlier.  If there is a difference, and I do not deny that there is, it is, I repeat, much less than the difference between the stormy passions of the man and the few wants of the child.  Moreover, it is not merely a question of bodily strength, but more especially of strength of mind, which reinforces and directs the bodily strength.