Each
of us had his first sight of the sun from his native
land, and so that god, universal though he be, is
nevertheless accounted by everyone a home-god, because of the place from which he saw him first.
Moreover, each of us began to speak there, learning


 

first to talk his native dialect, and came to know the
gods there. If a man’s lot has been cast in such a
land that he has required another for his higher
education, he should still be thankful for these early
teachings, for he would not have known even the
meaning of “state” if his country had not taught
him that there was such a thing.

 


The reason, I take it, for which men amass
education and learning is that they may thereby
make themselves more useful to their native land,
and they likewise acquire riches out of ambition to
contribute to its common funds. With reason, I
think: for men should not be ungrateful when
they have received the greatest favours. On the
contrary, if a man returns thanks to individuals,
as is right, when he has been well treated by
them, much more should he requite his country
with its due. To wrong one’s parents is against the
law of the different states; but counting our native
land the common mother of us all, we should give
her thank-offerings for our nurture and for our
knowledge of the law itself.