The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1892-06-06

tiers and music. In literature he is
required to commit to memory the
works Of the distinguished poets
and is exhorted to initiate the great
men Of whom lie reads Then the
teachers Of the harp look carefully
to the virtnous habits of the youth,
and he is taught to sing the producs
tions Of the lyrical poets while acT
comparing them on the Tyre. Next
he is sent to the gymnasium, in
order that he may have an efficient
body as an aid to the yirtuous mind.
When he leaves school he is requir-
ed to learn the laws and to live after
the pattern they furnish, that he may
not act at random nor according to
his own caprices. Such is the out
line given by the great philosopher.
lit is doubtless impracticable and
ideal in part, but was worthy in its
aim and accomplished some grand
results. You will notice many
points Of similarity to the training.
that is generally recommended for
girls at the present day.
Concerning the education Of their
girls we have not much information.
Pure and retiring manners, modesty.
and domestic economy and virtue
were considered the greatest orna-
ments of the female sex, and Keno
phon makes one Of his characters
say that cookery ii d part of edu
cation extremely important both for
men and women It may well be
doubted whether the Greeks were
much behind the moderns in SOME
of their ideas about education. The
girls training was largely practical,
and as she usually married at an
early age her husband was her chief
instructor. Consequently we find
very few women among the Greeks
who were renowned for their literary
attachments. We may mention Sap
pho, the poetess, Espasia, the Wifee Of
Pericles and Dietima, Who tau CHIT Soc
ratesthe theory oF love- There were
nsf wanting even at that early peri I
Cd advocates Of the co>educAtion OF
the sexes, Plato held that women
have. the same faculties and capaci-
ties as men, though in an inferior
degree, and recommended the same
education for them. He used the
gymnastic training of girls at Spar
ia as one of his arguments: his the
DRY, however, was not generally ac-
copied The position of women in
the Greek states, while far below
that which she occupies in modern
Christian countries, was yet honora-
BILE, respectable and happy.
In view of the prominence of ath-
letics in our modern colleges and
universities, it would be most inter
esting to considerin detail the meth
DDS and results Of Greek gymnastic
training, but space forbids, Suffice
it to say that the best writer's and
thinkers almost universally APPROX
ed and recommended field sports,
in opposition to. purely athletic
sports which require excessive bod
lily training with very little men
tai exercise Herein is lesson for
our own young men. 4
Such is very briefly, the outline Of
ancient Greek education. With all
its limitations and defects, which
are freely acknowledged, it produc1.
ed important and valuable results;
SO that the general and physical de-
velopment, and perhaps in some
cases, the mental development Of the
Greeks have never been equaHed,
Doubtless this old system, faulty as
it is, has some points worthy of
study and imitation By the students
and educators of-the present day. T
B. 6. ANDERSON.