UC-NRI

it ais

I II LL

THEORY AND PRACTICE

ANCil'.NT EDUCATION

Chancellor's English C 1885

WALT,:-;

H)KMKKLY SCHOLAx (>|- M \,

ANASTA 1 1C REPRINT OF THH EDITION OXFORD 1885

NEW YORK, 1910 G. E. STECHERT & CO.

THE

THEORY AND PRACTICE

OF

ANCIENT EDUCATION

BEING

Chancellor's Cnglist) Cssay 1885

BY

WALTER HOBHOUSE, B. A.

FELLOW OF HERTFORD COLLEGE FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF NEW COLLEGE

ANASTATIC REPRINT OF THE EDITION OXFORD 1885

NEW YORK, 1910 G. E. STECHERT & CO.

L.A-M

PREFACE.

IP 'a great book is a great evil/ a small book is, possibly, a greater still : nor can there be any excuse for the publicat ion of a prize Essay like the present, save an excessive deference to custom,. I have thought it better to publish the present pages in the original nakedness .of their Essay form, rather than to simulate the appearance of an exhaustive treatise on Ancient Education. My aim has been to give a connected account of the main features of Ancient Education with illus- trations from original writers, and I have ventured to add. some remarks on Modern Education which I fancied, perhaps wrongly, to be not altogether out of place. For the many obvious inadequacies of the Essay I can only urge as a very partial excuse the fact that it was written during some months of foreign travel, with scanty opportunities for referring to many authorities of whom I should have been glad to make more use.

I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. J.L. Sir ackan -Davidson, of Balliol, for the references to Polybius on p. 15, and p. 31.

OXFORD, July 1885.

255821

CONTENTS.

PACE

I. INTRODUCTORY ' I

II. EDUCATION IN GREECE ..••... 3

§ i. ITS DIVISIONS • 3 § 2. INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD . . • • .4

§ 3. INSTRUCTION IN •yv/ivao-rueq $

§ 4. EDUCATION IN /iovo-i*//, (a) ypa/i/iara ..... 9

§5. „ „ (0) Music AND DRAWING . . . n

§6. EDUCATION OF CHARACTER AND MANNERS. . . . 12

§ 7. EDUCATION IN GREEK STATES OTHER THAN ATHENS. . 14

§ 8. FEMALE EDUCATION .16

§ 9. HIGHER EDUCATION (a) SOPHISTS AND RHETORS . . 16

§ 10, „ „ O) SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHY . . 20

§ u. GREEK THEORIES ABOUT EDUCATION 22

in. EDUCATION AT ROME 29

§ i. EDUCATION BEFORE THE PUNIC WARS .... 29 §2. RISE OF GREEK INFLUENCE . . . • ... -32

§ 3. EDUCATION IN TIME OF CICERO, (a) EARLY YEARS • • 34 § 4. EDUCATION IN TIME OF CICERO (cont.}, (ft) GRAMMAR AND

RHETORIC ... 36

§ 5. EDUCATION TN TIME OF CICERO (cont.\ (y) YOUNG MANHOOD 38 § 6. EDUCATION IN TIME OF CICERO (coni.), (8) PHYSICAL EDU- CATION ... 40

§ 7. EDUCATION UNDER THE EMPIRE .... 41

§ 8. QUINTILIAN • 44

I\r. COMPARISON OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN SYSTEMS 49

V. EDUCATION. ANCIENT AND MODERN ' 51

ANCIENT EDUCATION.

I. INTRODUCTORY

' What sculpture is to the block of marble, education is to the human soul.' — ADDISON.

IN attempting a discussion of the principles and the practice of Ancient Education we are met at starting by the question, What is Education? Where are we to draw the dividing line between the process which prepares us for life, and the life for which we are thus prepared ? Are we to reckon the training of moral and physical qualities on an equal footing with the intellectual studies which in modern times we are perhaps most prone, to associate immediately with the word 'Education'? We are not indeed called upon, at this stage at all events, to consider different theories as to the true end of Education ; but we should be neg- lecting an important side of the enquiry if we did not give a liberal interpretation to the word. That such an interpretation was given by the Greeks and Romans to their equivalent words, * iraibcia ' and * institutio,' is evident, not from a few passages, but from the whole tone and spirit of their writings and discussions on the subject. We see it on the one hand in the prominence of yvnvao-riKri, on the other in the importance attached to tduTpos 1 as a factor in shaping a good moral character. To understand ancient education we must approach it from this point of view : and if we do so, it at once becomes plain that education is inseparably bound up with all that is deepest in national life, national charac- ter, and national history. Education is both a cause and an effect: it is the index of the moral state of the family, of the vitality or decay of religion, of the growth or arrest of culture: it is at the same time shaping the coming generation, and with it the whole destiny of a people. If there is any one lesson that the history of Rome teaches us, it is that national prosperity cannot coexist with moral decay, and in tracing the course of Roman education we find this moral decay writ large, beyond possibility of mistake. ' The Empire perished for want of men,' — in other words, from the immorality of society ; immorality first producing and then aggravated by faulty education. Similarly on the intellectual side we perceive the connection between educa- tion and literature : in the earliest stages there is no culture, for

1 Arist (Eth. x) reckons it with <(>vffis and 8«5dx^ as an element in morality.

B

2 7'heory and Practice of Ancient Education.

there is no literature to use as material for culture ; education and literature rise pari passu, and are mutually dependent.

1 Education,' says Paiey, ' in the most extensive sense of the word may comprehend every preparation made in our youth for the rest of our lives/ Such too is the best interpretation of the word for the purposes of our enquiry.

To go further and attempt any definition of « Ancient ' may be thought dangerous, more especially in Oxford. Yet, for purposes of classification and arrangement, divisions are necessary, even though artificial and shallow. Education, like History, may be one and indivisible, and yet have its turning-points, its epochs, its ebb and flow. The most satisfactory line of division may probably be found in the spread of Christianity over the Roman Empire. For whilst there is a certain continuity both of practice and of theory, and though the study of classical authors continues to form so large a part of the education of to-day, there was too complete a change in the leading ideas and in the moral atmos- phere of society, and more especially in the aims of the chief educating class, not to have a paramount effect on the educational system. At the. same time also the proportion of the educated class to the whole population decreases, as the Northern invaders settle in ever increasing numbers on the territories of Rome till by a gradual process learning becomes the monopoly of a class, and culture is well-nigh totally extinguished,

'Ancient* being thus limited in point of time, it remains to limit it in space. By the intrinsic value of their systems and theories, as well as by the more abundant evidence as to their nature, our attention is chiefly drawn to the two great countries of Greece and Rome. Of the educational views and customs of other nations of antiquity we have little knowledge, but our ignor- ance need cause us no great regret. The Persians we know, on the authority of Herodotus, were taught to ride, to shoot, and to speak the truth; among the Jews non-professional education was probably confined to studies connected with the Scriptures : in Egypt, according to Plato, science was taught in the shape of geometry and astronomy ; but the system was stereotyped and unprogressive, if we may credit Plato's statement that the < patterns of music, dancing, and painting have been fixed there for 10,000 years, and no others are allowed V

Limiting our enquiry to the education of clasrical antiquity, it will be best to exhibit, in some detail and with illustrations from the original authorities sufficient to render the picture fairly com- plete, the systems of education which prevailed in the ancient world, and the theories projected for their amendment. We shall then be able to form a judgment of their strong and of their weak points ; to compare the main features of Greek education with that of Rome, and to contrast ancient education as a whole with more modern views. It may be that in so doing amongst much

, 656.

Education in Greece.

that is adapted only to a small city state and to a stage of society less complex than our own, amongst much that disgusts and repeJs, we may find some customs of which we regret the disappearance, and some ideas that we might labour to restore. The old things have passed away , but the monuments of ancient intellect and character may repay investigation as well as the ruins of stone, the work of men's hands.

II. EDUCATION IN GREECE § i, ITS DIVISIONS.

vatStiav ws Siffctiro. — AR. Nub. 961

To the Greeks of succeeding generations the k men who fought at Marathon ' formed an ideal of virtue and simplicity and bravery, which their own age, in its supposed degeneracy, could only imitate at a distance. Aristophanes attributes the qualities which distin- guished the Mapa0<av6fiaxot to the old system of education, the frpxata vrcuSefa, which in his opinion was being fast supplanted by the sophistic instruction fashionable in his time, to the ruin of all robustness both of intellect and character l. Of the extent of the ordinary system, and of its aim and its principles, we have suffi- cient means of judging. Our authorities are referring generally to Athens, but the same features apparently prevailed in other Greek states with the exception of Sparta.

The ordinary education was usually classified under two heads — /uovo-tKrj and yvjuwaoTun} 2 ; the one directed to the improvement of the mind, the other to that of the body. Movtrucij, however, had a specialised as well as a general sense, and so in Aristotle we get another classification, yu/u^aoTuij, jbtovo-tKi/, yp<£jxjuara,and ypa<J>i*7}; the latter, he remarks, was not universal 3.

Thus the ordinary education of an Athenian in the time of Pericles consisted in yvjuwcumfci}, and the two divisions of JAOVCTIKTJ, music and letters. We have evidence that education was held to be of the greatest importance, and was widespread. In the Per- sian Wars, when the refugees from Athens sought for shelter at Troezen, we hear of arrangements being immediately made for the instruction of their children4, and Mitylene once punished the revolt of a colony by forbidding education6. When prosperity revived in Greece after the Persian Wars more attention seems to have been devoted to education, and new experiments were tried6. Some of these were short-lived, and no great change came over education till the appearance of the Sophists.

1 Nnb. 986 rttvr' \erriv t«e tvu kf 8 Plat, Rep. ii 376 E. 3 Ari&t. Pol. v. (viii.) icot reraprijv tviot yptHpttefy . 4 Plut. Themist. 10.

5 Ael. V. H. 15 irAfforv KoXafffaiv ^yrjyafjifvot &apvTarr)v tin at, 8 Arist. Pol. v. (viii.) 6. ii <j>povt)(juiTia0(VTes irdffqs tfirrorro

B 1

4 Theory and Practice of Ancient Education.

Before proceeding to examine in detail the course of training in gymnastic and music, it may be well to say something of the early years of a Greek, and the management of children in the family.

§ 2. INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.

Certainly custom is most perfect when it beginneth m young years ; this we' call education, which is in effect but early custom/ — BACON.

The management of children in the earlier stages of their exist- ence naturally presents us with fewer contrasts to modern society. To this, however, there is one striking exception — the recognised power of the father to decide whether the offspring should or should not live. Infanticide and exposure were only the practical corollary from the authority of the paterfamilias, whose property the child was held to be : nor is there any reason to doubt that they were largely practised, where considerations of poverty or convenience suggested their advisability. Weakly infants were especially treated in this manner, and the custom no doubt accounts partially for the rarity of large families, which has been noticed as prevailing in Greek society. Supposing the infant to have survived this danger and to have been * taken up by his or her father at the d/x^uSpo'/jua on the fifth day after birth, when the child was carried round the hearth l, there was not. as far as we can judge, any lack of parental affection in the Greek character : love of children is as prominent as we should expect it to be, both in the Homeric poems and in tragedy. Classical literature does not unfortunately throw much light on the Greek nursery and the women's apartments, where the first few years of the child's life were spent. In the upper classes it apparently became unusual for mothers to suckle their own child- ren, though the practice is recommended by Plutarch as natural and beneficial3. At Athens Spartan nurses seem to have been the fashion ; apparently it was thought that they would make the child harder : foreign nurses were not in demand, since foreign languages were not a part of education. On the 6tK<ir?7 presents were made to the child, and the name was given ; sometimes the naming was a matter of dispute between the parents 3 Of the apparatus of babyhood we have some slight notices. Cradles (jcXtpftta) are not mentioned till Plutarch ; dandling in the arms was prevalent then as now 4 ; lullabies 6 (ftavKaX^ara) were used ; baubles (-nep&tpaia) were hung round the neck, and used as ypwptVjaara 6, and among the earliest toys we find rattles (TrAarayeu), the invention of Archy- tas ; go-carts (apiA&bts) 7, and dolls (nopal) usually made of clay 8, such as have been discovered in the tombs of young children at Corinth and elsewhere in Greece.

1 Plat. Theaet. 160. 9 Plut. de Educ. Puer. 5.

3 Ar. Nub. 61 wipl rovvAnaros 81) 'vrtvOtv eXei&opofytfa.

* Plat. Legg. p. 790 (v TCUS l-yxaAaf* d«i <mou<rai. » Theocr. Id. xxiv. 6.

* Plat. Theseus 4. r Nub. 864 TOVTOV 'vpi&^ijv aol Ataafots d/*a^i8a.

* Plat. Theaet. 146 mj

Education in Greece.

Coming to the period of early childhood, we have preserved to us the names of a number of toys and games *. Among these were the hoop (rpoxos), tops of various kinds (;3<?fx/3i£, orpo/u/So's), the toss- ing of pebbles and shells (Tttvra\i,0t(eu>, affTpdmvba), ( ducks and drakes ' (eiroorpajucrfiosV spinning coins (xaA*t*r;xos), flying beetles (firjAoAoVflr;), blindman s buff (\aAK?i ^vla), and several different games with balls. The street seems sometimes to have been the scene of these sports *. Sometimes we find a father playing with his children to amuse them :;. Nursery tales then, as now, formed an important feature in the young life (ypa&v (rtr#<£r) /x£)0o',) ; they were chiefly mythological, and thus came in for Plato's censure as instil- ling low views of the gods4. Various bugbears were invoked to frighten naughty children, of which some names are preserved5. Be- sides this frightening, actual castigation appears to have been ap- plied. Sometimes a slipper was used for the purpose6. Attention was often paid to children's manners ; they were taught to be seen and not heard 7, and to pay respect to their parents and elders • nor, we may believe, was the reverence due to children entirely neglected8. Actual instruction during these years seldom went beyond what was picked up from nursery tales and the conversation of elders. School life began young, as, owing to the existence of small city communities, day schooling prevailed. Seven seems to have been the age recommended by theorists for beginning school life, but we may suppose that in actual practice the age varied with the for- wardness of the pupil. Let us follow the pupil, ov to school and to his gymnastic exercises

§ 3. INSTRUCTION IN

fjv

Kal irpvs rovroiv irpoafx^ i<>v vo f£«s at] arrjffo', Xiirapuv \poicii' ACI/JC^P. c//iovs fjt(ya\ovs

Baiav — AR. Nut1 1009

Despite of numerous incidental allusions, our knowledge of Greek education is so fragmentary that it is uncertain whether gymnastic training went on at the same time that a boy was going to school or not, and, if not, which was put first. Plato9 advises gymnastic training from six or seven till ten, followed- by instruc- tion in ypa/oi/uara, but he does not say whether or no he wished gym- nastic to go on concurrently, nor what was the usual course Plautus speaks of both as going on in the same day |0, but it is diffi- cult to say how far his picture is true to Greek life Here, per

Chiefly in Pollux. ' Pint. Alcib. 2. * Pint. Agesilaus 25

Plat. Rep. 377, Laws 887, * E.g. O.KKW, /iop/tei;, dX^iro;, Aaput, tjtirotxra

Lucian. Philop. 28. T Flat, Rep. atyai vforrepuv iropd wpf<r0vrtpoi«

Cf. Theocr. xv. n (Gorge and Praxnioe) TO) IU.KKW vaptovros. Rep. Book iii.

10 Plaut. Bacchides iii 3. 23. - Aristotle is apparently against carrying on both together, Pol. v. (viii.) 4.

6 Theory and Practice of Ancient Education.

haps, it may be convenient to take the * corpus sanum ' as the pre- cedent condition of the ' mens sana,' and first to discuss the train- ing of the gymnasium and palaestra, and the other sports which went to make up the physical training of the Greek.

The exact relation of the palaestra to the gymnasium has been disputed. According to Krause's theory, the former was intended for boys, the latter for young men : the palaestra was the private enterprise of the irat&orpi/Sq?, the gymnasia were built by the State for public use. Becker pointed out serious objections to this theory, quoting passages to prove the presence of boys in the gymnasia l. If it was the case that boys practised in the gymnasia, we must suppose that they used a separate part of the building or went there only at certain hours of the day, as the law quoted by Aeschines a shows that attempts were made to prevent the presence of boys and men at the same time. Young boys would be accompanied to the palaestra and gymnasium, as to the school, by a Traifiayoryoy— always a slave, and often not one of the best character 3, whose duty it was to prevent them from getting into mischief and from forming un- desirable acquaintances. The palaestra, as its name shows us, was a wrestling school ; the gymnasium included grounds for running, archery, and javelin practice, and usually had baths attached to it. Vitruvius gives a description of a gymnasium, probably of that of Naples, which may have differed in some respects from the earlier Greek type. It is difficult to follow the whole of his description, but there was apparently a large open peristyle, 300 feet square, used for exercises 4 ; opening out of this was a large Ephebeion ; near this were cold and warm baths, and exedrae or saloons, with seats for the rhetoricians and philosophers6. There was also a stadium or race-course, where foot-races took place. The buildings were often very ornate, and were adorned with statues of gods and heroes, and altars where sacrifices took place on festivals. There were three at Athens, the Lyceum, the Academy, and the Cynos- arges ; these were placed under the care of ten yvpvcuj tap\oi. The office was one of the regular liturgies, and annual ; the gymnasi- archs superintended the buildings, and could remove from them philosophers or teachers of whom they disapproved. They were assisted by inferior officers (vtroKovfAYiTat, etc.), and there was a staff of i nstructors ( 7rcu6orpi/3ai and -/v^acrrat). Probably the usual train- ing of an Athenian youth would comprise the Winra0Aov, leaping, running, throwing the dio-ico?, throwing the spear, and wrestling, in which a contest was held at Olympia. Boxing and the irayKpanov

1 Ar. Aves 141 mut typafos dwo •yv/wacnot;, Aesch. Timarch. 35, Luc. Navig. 4, Antiph. De Caed. Herod, 661 (of a utipditiov] nfkcrbv ptrcL rStv j)\f.von' faovrifav ivi to/ yvtwaaitf (pfipaiciov. however, appears to have been used of later boyhood.)

8 Aesch. Timarch. p. 38 /*f> k£t<rti» rofs inrlp r^v rStv naibcav j)\ueiav ofaiv curicyat rojv -naibojj' itv$ov ovru^f .

8 Plat- Lysis 208, Plut. de Educ. Puer. 7 Av8p&iro8ov olvo\rjirrejv /cat \l^vov.

4 This is apparently the ato^ of Plato's Lysis (of (**v iro\\oi iv rrj o^Xf? 4fau(««

*£«•>).

• Cf. Euthyd. 271, Lysis passim, Theaet. 169 AMwAofpAfcM Arftvcu r) drro8i;«<reo. f (\evovoif

Education in Greece.

were, we are told, forbidden at Sparta, and were less generally practised than the other exercises. Whether boys were trained on any particular diet, like the professional athlete, we do not know ; indeed we know little of the athlete's diet ; though from one or two passages we may infer that a heavy meat diet met with some favour among the athletes of that day \ as among those of the present. The exercises of the gymnasia were thought to be best performed without the hindrance of clothing, and Greek sentiment, though apparently at first opposed to this practice, soon became reconciled to it8. According to Pausanias 3, married women were not allowed to be spectators at Olympia, and it is doubtful whether such was the custom in ar.y Greek state with the exception of Sparta. Private gymnasia appear to have been the fashion among rich men *, just as afterwards at Rome gymnasia and palaestrae are found among the luxurious adjuncts of a nobleman's villa.

We may now leave details to consider the effect of this, the most prominent, side of Greek physical education, The training of the gymnasium and palaestra and the great contests at the public festivals of Greece, on which the aspirations of the successful athlete were centred, were an insoluble problem to the barbarian, and were seen by the Greek to form a distinctive feature in his national life6. The Romans emphatically condemned them, and their condemnation was anticipated by some few amongst Greek thinkers. Aristotle notices that they were frequently carried too far, ' interfering with the growth of the body, and making men brutal6. Plato remarks that the iroXvaapKia of the athlete interfered with mental work7. Euripides^ in a well-known Fragment, complains of the uselessness of athleticism as well as of the exaggerated im- portance attached to it8. Phtlopoemen translated his dislike of it into deed9, and would have none of it. Others objected to it, and not without ground, on the score of morality, from the peculiar dangers which attended the Greek palaestra.

Regarded as an instrument to produce bodily health10 and physique this gymnastic training was undoubtedly efficient up to a certain point. The body claimed its due share in education ;

1 Cf. Plat Rep. i in discussing the ' interest of the stronger,' 338 C, D. a Plat. Rep. 45:3 ow iro\v$ x/><5vos &f>' ov *5o*e< TOIS "FAA^ati' aloxp& tbo-i fal yt\ota . . . yvfjyovy dvSpas 6pd<tdai.

* Pausao. v. 6. 8.

* Xen, de Rep. Ath. 2. to xdl yvpvaffta teat \ovrpd rots irAovcrfois lanv iSia Iviois.

5 See especially Lucian, Anacharsis 24 seq. Anacharsis is represented as discussing with Solon the efficacy of this training in time of war. Solon defends it on this ground, and also as part of a larger plan — 'the KOIVOS dyuiv vtpl tvScunovi.cn.

6 .Arist. Pol. v. (viii.) 4 kcafMjfKvoi T& rt eftJj; ieo.1 rfy avfaoiv. r Rep. 453.

* Eur. Fragm. 84 itaitiov ycip i>vr<av pvpiiuv icaff* 'EAAa&x j ov&lv *6.Ki6v kariv &$\^rS)v Y«KOW? .... Trt/Tf/ja /^a vi>ui/rct iroktfuotfftv Iv XfP°^ 1 Mffitovs ty^ovres % 81 &omdojv xff* OfivovTtt 4/c/3aXot/(7' no\* /atovs irarpas ;

* Plut. Philop. 3 v&ffoif d0\r)ffiv i£tft<iA(v us ra xP1J<f*tt^rar0 *&* otofuSiToav is TOWS Avayftaiovs d-ya/vcr a.\pricrn. itoiovaav.

10 The gymnasia were dedicated to Apollo, the God of Healing, Plut. Symp. viii. 4- 5-

8 Theory and Practice of Ancient Education.

constant and regular exercise was the rule, and was viewed as serious work, not as mere relaxation. So far it was superior to any system which neglected physical education as a trifling matter, but probably inferior to the system of out-door games prevalent in the England of to-day, both in the general effect on health, and in the fostering of habits of discipline and self-reliance. As a direct training for warfare gymnastic was no doubt inadequate ; but this was not its purpose, and in every state it was supplemented by drill and military exercise. In developing symmetry of form and that refined perception of beautiful form which raises Greek sculpture above the plastic art of any other nation, there is no doubt that the gymnasia were largely operative; unfortunately there is equally little doubt that they favoured the growth of the vice which leaves so black a stain on the Greek character1. An attempt was made to deal with the evil by a stringent law regulating the presence of men in the gymnasia2, but this appears to have become a dead letter, for there was little public opinion to back it up. Theo- phrastus3 represents the babbler of his day using them as a lounge, and interrupting the boys at their lessons. Short of this graver vice, they were productive both of idleness and of quarrels4; here and there a Socrates might find in them his opportunity to con- vince the young Athenian world of ignorance or of sin ; generally, however, they must have contributed to that 'corruption of youth ' which was so groundlessly laid to Socrates' charge.

The gymnasia and the palaestrae are so prominent in Greek life, that we hear comparatively little of other games. Hunting was a pas- time appreciated in some parts of Greece, especially in Sparta, where the surrounding country favoured it, and apparently in other parts of the Peloponnese, but it was impossible in a town like Athens5, situated in a region like Attica. Rowing, which might have been practised there, at least on the sea, would have been thought quite be- neath the KaAortdyatfos. Swimming was apparently a common ac- complishment, if we may judge from the proverbial expression for ignorance and incapability6; and Herodotus remarks on the inability of the barbarians to swim, as if it were the exception in Greece. There are some traces of games of ball having been played in the gym- nasia ; but out-door games of this kind, if known at all, certainly did not form any large part of an Athenian exercise. In a people which lived more out of doors than is possible in a northern climate the physical loss was not great ; but, if with Plato t, we regard

1 Cf. Ar. Nub. 978 seq., Plut. Quaest. Rom. 30 T« yvftvama Kal ras ira\aiffrpcu woAvp aXuv val ffxo\})v ivrfKovtras KOI KaKna^oXiav na.1 r& ir<u8epa/TTt/V, Cf. also Plat Lysis 204 seq.

- Aesch. Timarch. 38 eav 51 irapa ravr' 'Iffiy Gai'dry fpjuovfftfcu.

9 Theophr xix. (7) (s ray ira\ai<TTpas daituv K<a\v(tv TOU? iraibas ita.v9o.vtiv.

* Cf. id. ibid.

5 Xenophon, who wrote on Hunting, derived his experience from the Peloponnese. Plato discusses hunting in the Laws, but only approves of certain kinds, which demand skill and endurance (824).

iv pT)5c ypdpnara. " Rep. 410 C.

Education in Greece.

gymnastic as aiming at the good, not only of the body, but of the mind, we may regret the absence of games which, whilst developing the muscles, develope also a boyish discipline and esprit de corps, and increase both independence of character and strength of limb.

§ 4. EDUCATION IN /J.OVCTIKTJ — (a) ypdjj.iA.aTa.

. — PLATO.

Greek parents, like those of our own day, often sent their children to school at an early age to keep them out of mischief at home1, though, as boarding-schools were unknown, this could not be done so completely as with ourselves ; for the same reason, how- ever, school life could begin earlier. The age for beginning school life and its duration, depended largely on the incomes of the parents2. Seven appears to have been a common age for be- ginning3, and fifteen or sixteen for leaving school.

Schools in which this elementary education in 'letters' was given apparently existed in every Greek town. In Mycalessus there seem to have been more than one4. Some of them were of considerable size: we hear of one at Chios with 120 boys5, and sixty boys were killed by an accident in a school at Astypalaea 6. It thus appears that there were regular buildings, with a certain amount of furniture and apparatus for teaching 7 ; doubtless there were also poorer schools where the teachers availed themselves of a hedge or a colonnade8.

School hours began early in the morning9, but it is uncertain how long they continued ; holidays were given on festivals, which, like Christian saints' days, sometimes occurred in quick succession, so that Theophrastus tells us 10 that an economizing parent did not send his children to school at all during the month of Anthesterion, as it contained so many holidays that he did not think it worth while to pay the fees. These fees, we gather from this and other passages, were paid every month ; their amount is unknown, but was evidently small in the case of the ordinary school ; nevertheless, payment not unfrequently fell into arrears or was evaded11.

The elementary schoolmasters (y/oa/uijxarioTaty were ill-paid and

I Lucian, Hermotimus 82. 2 Plat. Protag. 326 3 Pseudo-Plato, Axiochus 366 E oirorav Is krrratriav fapifcgrai, K.T.*.

* Thuc. vii. 29. * Herod, vi. 27. 6 Pausanias.

7 School benches were in use. Cp. Dein. de Cor. where he taunts Aeschines with sponging the QaOpoi.

8 Such teachers were called xa|*ot5tSd<r«aAot, Scholiast on Arist. Eccl. 804.

* Thuc. vi. 29 cfym rJ7 fintpq.

10 Theopur. 26 the a.iaxPOK(P^h*- Apparently these festival holidays were considered insufficient : we find Anaxagoras leaving a bequest to the town of Clazomenae on condition that the anniversary of his death shall be kept as a holiday in the schools.

II Demosth. in Aphob. i. 828, Theophr. Char. 22 teal TO. ircuSia Stivfc (6 dwAcu-

irtiaf«u is St8afffea\ov orav 17 TO awodidovai, dAAd tpqfftu KQKWS

io Theory and Practice of Ancient Education.

little respected. Demosthenes taunts Aeschines with having been a teacher of letters l. Lucian classes this branch of the educational profession with begging and selling fish a. Apparently there was no test of a man's qualifications : he set up on his own account, and had to rely on the merits of his teaching for his success. The TrcuSoVojxot, or Council of Education, who in some Greek cities3 had the general supervision of the young, examined moral rather than intellectual qualifications in the teachers ; but at Athens there was a laxity, which Plato deplores, about the control of in- struction *, nor were there any public institutions provided at the general expense6. Of punishments and the maintenance of disci- pline in Greek 6i6a<7*aAeia we hear little ; corporal punishment certainly existed, but we do not find any objections raised to it by Greek writers similar to those which are so strongly expressed by Quintilian6, though Plutarch considers that it might be dispensed with.

Instruction commenced with the alphabet and learning to read, children being first taught to recognise separate letters, and then proceeding to their combinations in syllables7. From the phonetic character of their spelling the task of a Greek child was easier than that imposed on English children. Something appears to have been done to make the study more interesting by means of a met- rical alphabet 8, and by the grammatical tragedy composed later on by Callias. Writing was done on tablets covered with wax with a pointed stylus, and was taught by means of copies; great quickness in writing does not seem to have been generally aimed at. as copying work was performed by slaves. When the pupil had attained a very moderate proficiency in reading and writing he was introduced to the works of the great poets of his country, and was taught the 1 praises of famous men V and especially of the Homeric heroes. Homer was read aloud both by the teacher and the pupil, and great stress was laid upon good reading ; large portions of the poems were committed to memory, and we hear of instances of men knowing them by heart all through 10. Homer was in fact regarded as a moral teacher u ; his wisdom was thought to be due to inspiration ; a quotation from Homer on any subject had all the force of a serious argument. The lyric and elegiac poets were also used in this way, and some scholars have thought that our text of

1 Demosth. dc Cor. ad fin. iStSaiKcs jpAftfjuira, l-yw 8' i<t>oiruv.

I Lucian, Necyomant. 17, Plut. Ale. 7.

a E.g. Sparta, Xen. Lac. 2. a. Cf. Arist. Pol. vii. 17. 5.

* Plat. Ale. I. p. 122 TJJS 5c O-TJS ytvfatut, S> 'AA/atftaS?;, real rpo^ /rat *a*8cias 4 dAAou drovouv TUIV 'ABijvaiojv ovStvt p(\n.

* Aesch. Timarch. p. 35. Plat. I^egg. 804, where the public payment of teachers is his own suggestion.

* Quint. Inst. Or i. 3, 15, Plut. Ed. Puer. XL

7 Plato. Cratylus. ' Athenaeus x. 453. * Plat. Protagf. 326 seq.

10 Xen. Sympos'. iii. 5. Niceratus learnt the whole of Homer, to become an <£r^ &ya06\, and could still repeat it. Cf. Isocr. Paneg. 93.

II Plat. Rep. x. 599-001, where the condemnation passed on Homer shows the ordinary Greek feeling towards him as the 'educator of Greece/

Education in Greece. n

the poems of Theognis is only a school selection from his works1. The study of poetry was not only made to exercise the voice and the memory, but since the poems chiefly dealt with the old my- thology, they taught what was to the Greek of early times at once religion, philosophy, and history.

Turning from the literary2 to the scientific side we do not find much to record. Counting was taught either by the fingers, or on the abacus, by means of pebbles 8. The unit of notation on the abacus was 5, derived from the fingers, and the whole system was far more complicated than ours, from the absence of the symbol o. The four simple rules seem to have been the limit of ordinary study in this direction. Geometry was esteemed as an « exact ' branch of knowledge, but not ordinarily taught ; in this respect Plato considered that the Greeks might imitate the Egyptians, amongst whom it was commonly learnt 4.

Such was the intellectual training of the young Greek. The range of study was not wide; it could not be so. Science did not exist ; the acquisition of languages was not desired ; history and geography were the history and geography of his own land. Written books were scarce, most of the teaching was done orally, and more reliance was placed on the memory. If Plato was right in emphasizing the advantage of the spoken over the written word 6, Greek education was in one respect superior to more modern systems.

§ 5 EDUCATION IN ^oixn*^. (/3) Music AND DRAWING.

3.p' ot>v, %v y J-yey, S) T\avxoy, TOVTW tvata irvfuturdnj % kv ttd\icrra KaraStxrai «s TO tfroi TTJS <faxW *> r€ foQ^os itcu ij &pfwri

'Solemn and divine harmonies recreate and compose our travailed spirits, and, if wise men and prophets be not extremely out, have a great power over dispositions and manners, to make them gentle from rustic harshness aod distempered passions.' — MILTON.

If we are inclined to wonder at the prominence of gymnastic in Greek education, the extraordinary importance attached to music strikes us as still more astonishing. We shall see after- wards the influence on character ascribed to it by Plato ; and this view is not peculiar to him, but was shared largely by the Greek public. Music was not an 'extra subject:' both singing and instrumental music were part, and a large part, of an ordinary education. Instruction in music went on either during the same years 6 that the boy was going to the 6ida<7KaAtu>z> or later. The

1 Vide Mahaffy, Old Greek Education, ch. v. I ought to acknowledge the use I have made, in this and other places, of Professor Mahaffy's book

* As to grammar in our sense of the word it could not have been taught, for it hardly existed before the time of Aristotle: vide Arist, de Interpretatione. Ar, Nub. 66a, etc.

3 Ar. Vesp. 656 mentions both kinds : \ofiaai ^auXcvs >u) ^<j>oe» <iAX' dvd x«po$

4 Plat. Laws 817. • Plat. Phaedrus.

6 Plat. Laws 809 F need not be referring to the actual practice about learning music.

j 2 Theory and Practice of A ncient Education.

lyre was the instrument most commonly learnt, and /adaptor?}? is the general term used for a music master1. The flute2 was fashionable at one time, but, according to the story, Alcibiades thought that flute playing was not becoming to his appearance, and his example sent it out of fashion. Plato enumerates six modes of Greek music — Audinri, fu£oAi/6ior£ o-vj>ro*'oAv8i(rri. 'I corf, tfrpvy/.oTt', Aa^um'. The Lydian and Ionian he condemns as soft (/uaAcuai), the other kinds of Lydian as mournful (0/wjz/wtetj), whilst the Dorian and Phrygian are manly. Aristotle in criticising this decision says that the Phrygian mode was too exciting, and should have been proscribed 3. Of these modes we may say, with Plato, TauTci es A(ijua>z>a <ba£€/3A?j<r0a>. Even to those who are well ac- quainted with modern music the subject of Greek music is extremely obscure, but we know that it differed widely from ours and would not be appreciated by a modern ear.

Of the songs which were taught we have not many notices : the usual subject seems to have been some incident in the national mythology, or the celebration of the praises of a goddess or a hero4 ; in the Dorian mode, which was held, by the old school at all events, to be the true national music of Greece 5.

ypcu/uK?}, or drawing and painting, is spoken of by Aristotle as not being universally taught, and probably was rare in the fifth century B.C. : as to the method of teaching we have no information. From the fact that the word faypcufria is extended to painting in general we see that figure painting was the first to come into vogue, and this was chiefly confined to painting on vases : it is quite possible that only geometrical drawing was taught, except to those who intended to devote themselves to art.

^ 6. (i) EDUCATION OF CHARACTER AND MANNERS INDIRECT EDUCATION.

What is the education of the generality of the world ? Reading a parcel of books? No. Restraint of discipline, emulation, examples of virtue and justice.' — BURKE.

* Afterwards parents send their children to teachers., and bid them Took after their manners more carefully than after their .letters and their music6.5 This education of manners was carried on both at home and at school, and a certain quietness of behaviour .ind respect to elders (evKotrpfa oidu?) were looked for from Greek children. They were to be * seen and not heard7,' to walk quietly

1 Plat. Protag. 327, Ar. Nub. 964 (Ira &a&fciv \v rcuffiv 6Sois «vra«T<ws Is ttiOapiffrov.

2 The Greek ovXo? was not identical with our 'flute' (irAjry/avXoy).

3 Arist. Pol. viii. (v.) 5.

1 Ar. Nub. 966 dr' av vpopaOeiv 5<r// i&tayxtv . , . ] % HoAAaSa ittpatiroXiv Sttv&v %

6 Ibid, rbv dp/iormi' ty o! vanpe* napiSwav. Cf. Plat. Laches 188 D ' apfiovia.

• Plat. Protag. 326.

7 Ar. Nub. 963 wpwrov p\v iSct weufos <pwv^v ypv^nvros wMv d*ov<rcu.

Education in Greece. 13

in the streets1, to stand up in the presence of elders2, not to contradict their parents, or to call their father * lapetus ' (Old Father Time)3. Then there were rules prescribed for eating4, what dishes to eat, and which hand to use in eating. When they had reached the stage of early manhood they were not to consider themselves the equals of their elders : in Sparta men under thirty did not enter the agora, and at Athens there prevailed a feeling against their making themselves conspicuous in the agora or the law courts 5*

,Qood parents no doubt were anxious for the morality of their children, but we hear little of the influence of the mother, and this is the natural consequence of the position of women in Greece. There were dangers, as we have seen, in the gymnasium and the palaestra, with which the law attempted to deal, but apparently in vain. Care had to be taken in the clroice of a ypa^/maTtorr/?, and even more in selecting a TratSayiwyo?, with whom the boy was naturally brought into close contact6. In some cases the law stepped in to aid morality: in the prohibition of loiterers in the gymnasia, in certain regulations about the hours of opening and closing schools, and the age and minimum number of pupils7, and in disqualifying from public life those who had been guilty of immoral practices8. Plato compares the state to a writing-master tracing out the laws for the guidance of the young9 ; but we have unfortunately only too much evidence to show that in the direction of morality the sanction of law was inadequate, whilst the sanction of religion did not operate at all.

In the general formation of character we can see the effect of several Greek institutions. The theatre was a powerful moral agent 10, uniting in a way the power of the pulpit and of the stage -, the influence of politics came more home to a greater proportion of Greeks than is possible in a large state : a young man could hardly avoid contact with the ecclesia and dikasteries of a democratically governed city. On the aesthetic side there were numerous festivals, splendid temples and an art developed under their shadow, such as contributed to make Athens the c school of Greece11.'

AT. Nub. 964, quoted above, p. 12, note i. Cf. P hit. Ed. Puer.

Ibid. 990 /feu rStv &O.KOJV rof? irpfffftvrfpots vnaviffraaOai irpoffiovffiv.

Ibid. 998 friJS* dvTttirfw ry irarpl pijtitv, 7*178' 'l&irfrov KaXtaavra \ nvijff

IT] j}Ai*W.

Plut. Ed. Puer. 7, Ar. Nub. 981-3.

Plat. Lycurg. 8, Isocr. Areopag. 202 complains of .a change in this. Plut. Ed. Puer. 7, Terent. Andr. i. i. 24, Plaut. Bacch. iii. i. and passing Aesch. Timarch. §§ 34, 35 irpurrov kvopoOtrijaav vcpl TTJ? ffaxppoffvvijs r&v

Ibid. § 48 (dv eraiptyry % wfvopffVfifvos 77. Piot. 326.

10 Lucian, Anach. 22 /<rcu Is rb Qtarpov <rvy6,yoi>r(s avravs

11 Thuc. ii. 41 [vveXojv rt Ac^w rty vatrav *6\w 'FAAaSos iraiStvffiv ttvai. Cf. Isocr. Antidosis 295