Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“no single instrument of youthful education has such mighty power ... as the study of arithmetic.”
- Source
- Laws
- Date
- 4th century BCE
- Local voice
- Dialogue speaker · Athenian Stranger
- English wording
- Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning of “no single instrument of youthful education has such…”
The Athenian Stranger praises arithmetic as a tool for developing practical and civic judgment. The abbreviated extract presents a philosophical claim about training, not a measured comparison of school subjects.
Where does it come from?
Laws, Book V, Benjamin Jowett English translation. Explicit excerpt: an ellipsis omits the intervening phrase about domestic economy, politics and the arts; the surrounding passage praises arithmetic while warning against separating skill from moral aims.
Why the local voice matters
Laws, Book V; explicitly abbreviated extract from the sentence praising arithmetic as a civic and practical educational instrument.
