214. The need for educated parents. Rome, 1st cent. A.D. (Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory 1.1.6. L)
As for parents, I should like them to be as well educated as possible, and I am not speaking just of fathers. We know that Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, contributed greatly to their eloquence, for the erudition of her speech has been handed down even to the present day in her letters. Laelia, too, daughter of Gaius [Laelius], is said to have brought back the elegance of her father's speech in her own; and the oration which Hortensia, Quintus' daughter, made before the triumvirs is read not merely as an honour to her sex.
1. Nicknamed Sapiens, the wise. Laelius was a hero of the Third Punic War and consul in 140 B.C. Cf. number 223.
2. Cf. number 176.