NOTE: 6

In like manner, so long as a person is in childhood, he can rectify his defect[s] with little labor; but when he develops and grows up, his defect[s] also grow along with him, and become a habit and take firm root; and thereafter, all admonition and instruction become almost in vain and useless, as the common proverb says: “As much as the serpent may grow old, it changeth its skin, but it changeth not its nature.” And thus, an uneducated and uninstructed man becometh a wicked and savage being upon the earth, so that such a one may justly be called a pestilence to human society, and a useless burden unto the world. For [even] the vile thistles and plants, the venomous reptiles and creeping things, the untamed beasts and birds, [serve a purpose]—some being food for living creatures, others [being]...