Evening star., 1933-09-10
EDUCATION TRACED
FROM ANTIQUITY
Modern System Seen as Re.
suit of Early DeveI-
opment.
Continued From First Page }


scum had not existed for a hundred
years. before its scientific energy was
extinct"
But 1t Is to the Alexandrines, Antio-
dorus Of Eratosthenes that grammar
as science and the grammar school
as an institution are attributed. The
earliest extant treatise on "the practi-
cal knowledge Of the usage Of writer's
OF poetry and prose" is by DionSsius
OF Thrace, born about l46 BIC; q
pupil OF the Homeric critic, Artist
archus, and the work was destined to
be the standard grammar for no less
than Is centuries. The word school"
has It's first known appearance In q
letter written by Dionysius Halicar-
nassus. 80 BIC.
Early Education In Rome,
Roman education was directly de-
scended from Greek education. Suction
ius, author Of DE grammatic!s" c"The
School MastersD and secretary to the
Emperor Hadrian, says that literary
teaching and the science of grammar
in Rome began with Livius Andronicus,
a slave from Magma Graecia, who
translated the Odyssey into Latin about
272 BIC, and Plutarch reports that
the first grammar school In Rome was
opened by Spurius Carvilius, q freed
man. about 23o. Ennius, the first
Latin poet, was half Greek. he came
to Rome tn 2os and taught both
Pergamun was q noted center Of
learning in the middle Of the second
century BIC, and 1t is recorded that
Crates, journeying to Rome from that
city, accidentally suffered a broken leg
and while thus incapacitated gave lee
lures. His example soon was initiated
by others. A few schools for in
struction in the fundamental Laws Of
the Twelve Tables were set up by
Greeks or freedmen, but Rene did not
adopt the gymnasium or the music
school.
Owen D. Evans says. THE Roman
school was very much like the modern
school. All the methods Of torture
which have made the service of the
Muses. for most boys veritable slavery
were in full vogue Early rising.
loud speaking and hard iogging were
in the ascendant" The texts were the
works of the poets. Greeks and Latin,
including Homer, Vergil. Hesiod. Aesop.
Menander and Terence. The poets
of the Silver Age. Lucan and Status.
became school books in their own
lfetimes"
DR.. Webster explains, "A Roman boy
began his school days al about the
age OF T. He learned to read, to
write with stylus on wax tablets and
to cipher by means of the reckoning
board or abacus He received little
instruction in singing and memorized
all sorts Of proverbs and maxims.
His studying went on under the watch
full eyes of a harsh schoolmaster, who
did not hesitate to use the rod. After
Rome began to come into close con-
tact with Greece. the curriculum was
enlarged by the study Of literature. The
Romans were the first' people who
made the learning of a foreign tongue
an essential part of education. Schools
now arose in which the Greek language
and literature fotmed the chief sub
ject of instruction. As Lain litera-
ture came into being, its productions,
especially the orationS of Cicero and
the poems Of Vergil and Horace, were
also used as texts for study
Endowed" School. Appears.
st. Jerome testifies that Fabius
Quintilianus. author OF "Institutio
Oratoria," was the first who kept
public school in the sense that he was
the first 10 receive stipend for his
service from the emperor. The first
definitely endowed" school appears
to have been that set up by Pliny the
Younger, q pupil Of Quintilian, at
Como.
The Emperor, Antonius Plus. 138-
16l AID, assigned Offices and salaries
for rhetoricians throughout the prov
inces Alexander Severus established
exhibitions for poor boys, providing they
were free-born.
Quintilian, it may be noted paren-
thetically. is supposed to have made
fortune through his school, but most
teachers. it is said, were poorly paid.
The Romans had little regard for aca-
demic learning rs such; theirs was
practical ideal. and they had small
patience with cultural acrobatics.
Grammar and rhetoric schools. how
ever spread to the limits Of the Roman
domain. and it was characteristic OF
the system that they should remain true
to type as long as the Roman empire
lasted. Subjects and methods were
fixed from the first century AID. to
of st. Augustine Of Hippo and the
witness to the rigidity of educational
theory-both men were teachers. the
one at Carthage and Milan the other
at Bordeaux. Additional educational
centers of the period were at Constan-
tinople, Syracuse, Corinth. Bayeux.
Poitou, Narbonne, Trier, Toulouse and
Lerida. 1t is curious to find among the
relics Of the Emperor Gratian a tariff
for schoolmasters' salaries. In every
town "a noble professor" was to be
elected. and each Of the number was
to have an income equivalent to "a
times a laborer's yearly wage. The
date was 378.
Church Schools Arise.
The standard text of the time was
Priscian's Latin grammar, "for the most