The 'pushy parent' syndrome in ancient Rome

By Mary Beard
Professor of Classics, Cambridge University

What were the Romans really like? Different from us in many ways, but there is much that is familiar in Roman family life and in particular parenting.

In 94 AD young Quintus Sulpicius Maximus died.

How had he died? As his parents explain, he had collapsed from too much hard work.

"Sickness and tiredness tore me away because I devoted myself to the muses morning noon and night." In other words, he worked himself to death. By "muses" he means poetry.

So was little Sulpicius a prodigy, snatched by death from a waiting public? Or was he the victim of some very pushy parents - like all those modern kids drilled by their dad in maths, so they can grab the headlines by getting an A-level when they are six.

Who knows? But my bet is that this is a nasty case of the "pushy parent syndrome". In fact, this Roman family reminds us of one universal lesson of parenting - it's a good idea to give the kids a break from time to time.

Yet perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on Sulpicius' mum and dad. Even more than we do today, ordinary Romans invested in their children.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17701080