Similar methods are suggested for fighting against the vice of stealing which considerably fouls up the established order. “When a child has reached the age of reason and is ready to understand the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vice, a father should present him with the act of stealing as something detestable and to achieve this it would be enough for him to say that this vice is directly contrary to the queen of virtues namely, justice”.115 The means are first and foremost positive still, rather than negative: “The constant and living example” of the father; “his advice and the effectiveness of his reasoning, showing the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vice, will see that his son falls in love with virtue and hates vice”. “He should do this by removing all kinds allurement to evil and by getting the child accustomed to doing good”.116
Corrections and Punishments, during childhood, should be balanced by the use of reason, fear and love.117 The basic rule is “the middle-of-the-road, the golden mean”.
Fathers and teachers should remember that beatings are like a medicine. And, since they are like a medicine, they should be given at the right time and in the right measure. The reason for this is that beatings should not create more damage than help. A father and teachers should use beatings with discretion and judgment, in order to really provide a cure for the soul of the child who ordinarily commits a sin out of ignorance and weakness... A father’s concern should be that his son becomes good from within, so he will run away from sin more out of love for virtue than out of fear of punishments. However, the fear of God, the knowledge of the beauty of virtue and of the ugliness of vice should be the most effective means… The respect for a Father should act as a restraint and an incentive, holding back a child or urging on a child as the occasion calls for. And in short, I would expect that our well-educated son should be so well accustomed to respecting his father, that just seeing his face upset or showing displeasure for an action would be equivalent to a very serious punishment.... Meanwhile, a father should act towards his son in such a way that he is both loved and feared. Being only feared will not win over the heart of the child and the child does not become virtuous from within. At any rate, something done out of fear will not last long. Therefore he should blend love with fear; let him keep a gentle severity so that he may be both loved and feared but the fear we are talking about is a filial fear, not the fear of a servant, the fear of a slave who fears the stick; on the contrary, a son who loves his father is afraid to do something which may displease his dear father. In short, whenever a good father has the intention of beating his son, let him first of all discreet reasons and not blind wrath as his reasons.118
Didactic and educational methods should take the fatherly approach as their exemplar, and should be followed both by a private instructor (Tutor) and by a school teacher. “A teacher takes the place of a father and his job is not only purely that of teaching literature but of forming the tender mind of a child to achieve virtue through his good example and useful advice, no less than a father. Even more so, father and teacher have to be so well attuned to each other that the child recognises at home what he has been taught by his teacher at school, and in school, what he has been taught by his father at home. In short, much of good Christian education depends on the diligence of the teachers…Let the teacher”, Antonione concludes, “lead a blameless, exemplary life and behave himself in such a way that children may recognise the very image of true Christian goodness in him. And citizens should deservedly esteem him and recognise him as the common father of their children”.119 The fear of
115 S. Antoniano, book 2, Ch. 102, sheet 95v.
116 ibid, book 2, Ch. 101, sheet 94r-95r. cf also Ch. 102, sheet 95r-v.
117ibid, book 3, Ch. 5, Del batter i fanciulli; Ch. 6 Della troppa indulgenza et tenerezza d’alcuni padri, sheet 126v-127v. 118ibid, book 3, Ch. 7, sheet 127v-128v. Della mediocrità nel battere I figliuoli, et dell’amore et timor filiale; cf also book
3, Ch. 8 De i varij modi della correttione et castighi puerili, sheet 128v-129r.
119 S. Antoniano, book 3, Ch. 34, sheet 146r-v. Dell’offitio del maestro, circa I buoni et christiani costumi.