the earth. For our natural disposition is, as it were, the soil; the
tenets of our teacher are, as it were, the seed; instruction in youth
is like the planting of the seed in the ground at the proper season;
the place where the instruction is communicated is like the food
imparted to vegetables by the atmosphere; diligent study is like the
cultivation of the fields; and it is time which imparts strength to all
things and brings them to maturity.