“Nothing sweeter than one’s native land” Odyss. 9, 34 
is
already a commonplace. If nothing is sweeter, then
is anything more holy and divine? Truly of all that
men count holy and divine their native land is cause
‘and teacher, in that she bears, nurtures and educates
them. To be sure, many admire cities for their size,
their splendour and the magnificence of their public
works, but everyone loves his own country; and
even among men completely overmastered by the
lust of the eye, no one is so misguided as to be forgetful of it because of the greater number of wonders
in other countries.

 

Therefore a man who prides
himself on being citizen of a prosperous state does
not know, it seems to me, what sort of honour one
should pay his native land, and such an one would
clearly take it ill if his lot had fallen in a less
pretentious place. For my part I prefer to honour
the mere name of native land. In attempting to
compare states, it is proper, of course, to investigate
their size and beauty and the abundance of their supplies; but when it is a question of choosing between
them, nobody would choose the more splendid and
give up his own. He would pray that it too might
be as prosperous as any, but would choose it, no matter
what it was. Upright children and good fathers do



 

just the same thing. A lad of birth and breeding
would not honour anyone else above his father, and
a father would not neglect his son and cherish some
other lad. In fact, fathers, influenced by their
affection, give their sons so much more than their
due that they think them the best-looking, the
tallest and the most accomplished in every way.
One who does not judge his son in this spirit does
not seem to me to have a father’s eyes.