Source book of the history of education for the Greek and Roman period

Front matter

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Preface

Since neither history nor education has a meaning of universal acceptation, the "History of Education" presents for solution a problem containing two variable quantities. Without attempt at definition of either term, the following selections from the literary sources are presented as an aid to the exposition of education in its historic aspect. For the most part, these relate to education in the accepted historic meaning of the term, — that of a definitely organized institutional attempt to realize in individuals the ideals controlling a given people. In the early historic period of any people such efforts are not exerted through an institution specially organized for the one purpose ; hence the earlier sources are quite general in their nature, relating more to the aims and ideals of education than to its organization. The great majority of the selections, however, deal with education as the work of a specific institution, for thus it is found to be as soon as a people comes into a consciousness of its own ends and of ways of attaining them. With the Greeks a third type of sources is essential to an understanding of their educational thought and practices. These are the philosophical discussions of education, both as to its proper function and as to its theoretically perfect means.

vi Preface

It is not to be understood that all such sources for the Greek and Roman people are here presented ; for it would be a difficult, if not impossible, task to indicate the limits of the literature that might be used as historical evidence. Nevertheless, this volume includes most of the important discussions of organized educational efforts that are to be found in classical literature. There exist other sources, such as inscriptions, vase and mural paintings, and other art works, which possess no less value as sources than the literary monuments of the past, and which offer corroborative evidence for the use of the historian.

The purpose of this volume is to render accessible to the student with limited time and limited hbrary facilities, the ideas of the Greeks and Romans concerning education, and such descriptions of their educational systems as are given in their own literature. In lieu of such available material the student has hitherto been restricted to secondary or more remote discussions, which in many cases are not even based upon a study of the sources. It is believed that by such direct study there will result, not only a more correct idea of the education of the classical period, but also a better apprehension of the meaning of education in its historical and contemporary aspects. This volume is designed as a text; hence the sources are classified into periods, in order to afford the student aid in their interpretation, and each group of sources is accompanied by a brief introductory sketch indicating the general setting of the period to which it belongs and the main principles of interpretation to be followed. These introductory chapters furnish little more than a syllabus for study ; the

Preface vii

interpretation is purposely left in a large degree to the student. The brief connecting links between the various periods under which the sources are classified secure for the student a connected text, and do away with a serious limitation to the usefulness of many source books.

As far as possible, all questions of controverted historical interpretation and all textual criticism have been avoided. There has been no effort at original translation, since with one or two minor exceptions standard versions are available, and the greater need is for selection and classification. Wherever possible, selections have been made from such translations as are most readily accessible in complete form. The passages from the Dialogues of Plato are from the second Jowett edition, those from Aristotle and Thucydides are from the first Jowett editions, and most other passages from the Bohn Library editions. Where other translations have been used, due credit has been given. At the expense of no little variety, it has seemed best to preserve the punctuation and spelling of the translations used. Where, in deference to modern standards of taste, it has been necessary to expunge passages or phrases, the omission has been indicated by asterisks. This necessity is regrettable, for in the passages expunged are very frequently indicated some of the most characteristic aspects of ancient education ; but in a text for general use such omissions cannot well be avoided.

The scope of the book does not include any specific account of Roman education after the Christianization of the Empire. As being more vitally connected with early viii Preface

Christian and mediaeval education, the presentation of such sources is reserved for a future volume.

The author desires to express his obligation to Messrs. | Bell and Sons, publishers of the Bohn Library series, for the privilege of making very liberal use of their publications; to Messrs. Little, Brown and Company for the privilege of using the selection from Professor Goodwin's edition of Plutarch's Morals ; to Messrs. Butterworth and Company for the privilege of using the selection from their publication on Roman Law ; and to Messrs. Macmillan and Company for the privilege of using the extract ■ from Jebb's Attic Orator: also to Professor Franklin T. Baker and Mr. Theodore C. Mitchill for assistance in the revision of the text, and to Mr. Rudolph L Coffee for the preparation of the Index.

CONTENTS PART I

CREEK EDUCATION

CHAPTER I Old Greek Education PACK

Periods of Greek Education i

Education of the Homeric Period 2

The City State as the Basis of Old Greek Education ... 3 The Sources relating to the Historic Period of Old Greek Education 4

Spartan Education ........ 9

Athenian Education 11

The Zz/i? ^ Zy^?^r^«j by Plutarch 15

Pericles' Funeral Oration, from Thucydides ... 24

Tht Protagoras oi ¥\3Xo 31

The Ephebic Oath 33

CHAPTER n Education of Women in Greece

Period and Source 34

The Education of Women 36

The Econofuics of Xenophon . . .... 37

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X Contents

CHAPTER III The New Greek Education PAGB

The Period 51

Changes in Education 58

The Sophists 60

Literary Education ......... 64

The Clouds of Aristophanes ....... 66

The Oration Against the Sophists, by Isocrates . . • 91

The Oration On the Exxhange of Estates, by Isocrates . . 95

The Republic of Plato 109 \

CHAPTER VII The Later Cosmopolitan Greek Education The Period 295

The Philosophical Schools 297

The University of Athens ........ 300

The Decrees of the Athenian Senate ..... 302

The Decrees of the Athenian Assembly .... 304

The Panegyric on Saint Basil, by Gregory Nazienzen . . 305

The Morals of Plutarch 307

CHAPTER I Early Roman Education in General

Periods of Roman Education ....... 327

Sources 328

The Laws of the Twelve Tables ....... 330

Ideals of Roman Education . . . . . . . -331

The Subject-matter, Method, and Organization of Early Roman

The Laws of the Twelve Tables 334

The De Orator e of Cicero 345 xii Contents

CHAPTER II The Second Period of Early Roman Education PAGE

The Period 346

The Introduction of Schools and the Hellenization of Education . 347

The Lives of Eminent Grammarians, by Suetonius . . 349 Hht Lives of Eminent Rhetoricians, hy Sntiomas . . '352

CHAPTER III Contrast between the Earlier and the Later

Periods of Roman Education

I The Periods 35J

The Sources ; their Interpretation ...... 356

The Contrast as to Aim, Subject-matter, Method, and Organization ........... 358

The Bacchides of Plautus 360

The Dialogue on Oratory, by Tacitus 361

CHAPTER IV Survival of Early Roman Educational Ideals in THE Later Period

The Stoic Philosophy 373

Summary of these Survivals 374

The Life of Atticus, by Cornelius Nepos .... 375

The Life of Augustus, by Suetonius 375

Th& Life of Agricola, hyTzciiMs 376

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius yjj

Contents xiii

CHAPTER V The Third Period: The Hellenized Roman Education PAGE

The Period 386

Purpose and Content of Education of this Period . . . 390

The Organization of Education 390

The Method of Education 393

The Education of Women 394

The Decadence of Roman Education 394

The Satires and the Epistles of Horace .... 396

The Epigrams of Martial 399

The Epistles of Seneca 4°°

The Lives of the Twelve Cc^sars, by Suetonius . . . 400

Musonius 4°!

The Letters of Pliny the Younger 406

The 6"fl//r^j' of Juvenal 4^6

CHAPTER VI The Orator as the Ideal of Roman Education

The Period and the Authority 421

The Source 423

Summary of the Dialogue on Oratory 425

The Dialogue on Oratory, by Cicero 428

CHAPTER VII The Period and the Authority 445

General Character of the Educational Content of the Institutes . 447 Selections from

The /«j///«/« of Quintilian 45*

- PART I GREEK EDUCATION

I. OLD GREEK EDUCATION

The Periods of Greek Education may be characterized at that of the Old Greek Education and that of the New Greek Education. The Periclean Age, or the middle of the fifth century b.c, forms the dividing line. However, the characteristic changes marking the transition from the old to the new are not simply political, but are manifold, and can be understood in respect to education only by a study of such sources as those presented in the third section of this book. Each of these general periods may be subdivided. The earlier one includes, first, the Homeric period, and second, the historic period down to the middle of the fifth century. The second general period includes, first, the period of transition in educational, religious, and moral ideas, this being the time of philosophical activity and of development of formal education. The second of these special periods may be dated from the Macedonian conquest toward the close of the fourth century b.c. By the opening of this last period the philosophical schools have become definitely formulated, and during the period are organized into the University of Athens. In her intellectual hfe Greece now becomes cosmopolitan, and ceases to have distinctive characteristics aside from the philosophical schools.

The Education of the Homeric Period was that of a primitive people. It was an education that had little or no place for definite instruction of a literary character, but was essentially a training process in definite practical activities. Though noble youths are spoken of as having been given a course of instruction in arms and martial exercises, and Achilles as having had instruction in music, the healing art, and even in rhetoric {Iliad, IX. 414), this instruction amounted to little more than a direct training by imitation, into which entered Httle or no instruction, as later distinguished by the Greeks. The education of thife period, as with all primitive peoples, consisted in that practical training which prepared for the immediate duties of life. Such training was given in the home for the humbler needs of life, — those connected with the securing of food, clothing, and shelter. The remainder of their j education was the training received in council, wars, and f marauding expeditions, for the more general public services demanded. This constituted the higher aspect of their education. The Homeric poems are a fertile source of information on this topic, though only in a very general way. In the Homeric period educational institutions were not distinct; the council and the camp furnished all higher education. The ideal of education was twofold : the man of valor, typified by Achilles ; the man of wisdom, by ' Odysseus. The characteristics of these ideals are found throughout the narratives of the Iliad and the Odyssey, though these passages are so general and so remote in character from education, as technically understood, that it is impossible to make brief selections that would be to the present purpose. The following selections, giving descriptions of council, or battle, or of the man of bravery, or man of wisdom, may, nevertheless, be found helpful as an introduction to the further study of the historic type of Old Greek education: the Iliad, I. 52-302; II. 35-380, 445-482; IX. 50-180; X. 335-579; XL 617-804; XVIII. 245-318; XIX. 40-275.

The Character and Organization of Old Greek Education is determined by the city state. This institution furnished the basis and ideals of education, as did the family with the Chinese and the theocracy with the Hebrews. Even in the Homeric period there were evidences of the fundamental importance of the city state, though it had not completely taken shape at that time {Iliad, XVIII. 490). In the historic period, on the other hand, it furnished the key to the understanding of the educational development of the Hellenic people. The city state grew up by the successive amalgamation of patriarchal families into village communities, of village communities into phratries or brotherhoods, of phratries into tribes, and of tribes into cities. The bond which held the family together was dominantly that of blood relationship. The village depended more on economic interests ; the phratry, upon religious ties ; the tribe, upon the communal ownership of land. So too the city state in its beginning as a union of tribes was held together by this descent from the old famiHes and by possession of land. This " ancient wealth and worth " constituted the nobility of the Grecian citizen. Citizenship was confined at first to the heads of these noble families, but in time expanded until inclusive of all freemen. Though economic independence and free birth were always essential, this ideal of nobility came in time to consist less and less of wealth and noble birth, and more and more of certain traits of character that could be produced by education.

Nobility now became virtue or worth. The Grecian idea of virtue underwent development, and this development constituted the basis of the historic growth of these educational ideals and practices. Virtue consisted at first almost wholly of physical bravery and a subordination of individual motives to the social welfare or demands. But in time it became spiritualized and intellectualized, and this growing intellectuality produced the literary element in education. ' With the transition to the period of new Greek education the literary element became supreme, at least with the Ionic Greeks; yet, whether small or great, it formed but a part of the Greek ideal of virtue or nobility. This idea of nobility is, then, the basis of their fundamental social institution, the city state. The possession of nobility was the prerequisite to membership in that institution. The dominant purpose of every prospective Grecian citizen was to attain this nobility or virtue. While economic independence, or wealth, and membership in the old families, or birth, were essential, all these could, in the later periods, be acquired. The intellectual and spiritual elements, the latter consisting largely of aesthetic appreciation, could be obtained only by education. Nobihty or virtue, whatever was the stage of its development, constituted the basis of social organization, and at the same time the ideal of achievement of every citizen or prospective citizen. This idea of virtue, or nobility, then, constituted the aim or purpose of education. The development of the organization, means, and method of education followed the evolution of this idea of nobility or virtue and that of the city state. This development constitutes the history of Greek education.

The Sources relating to the Historic Period of Old Greek

Education are rather meagre if the selection be limited to direct discussion of education in a technical sense. The fullest are those which relate to Spartan education. This is owing to the fact that the old education was characteristic of Sparta throughout its history, for Sparta never accepted the new educational ideas or tolerated the new practices. Hence there are many authorities on the old education as found at Sparta, but comparatively few detailed discussions of the same period at Athens. Sparta, however, offers the best type of the old education, though of a much more extreme type than that found anywhere else in Greece, unless Crete be an exception. The account of Spartan education is from Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, that being the fullest description of these educational institutions. It could be supplemented by passages drawn from the Morals of Plutarch, as well as by briefer references from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle. Plutarch was a citizen of Boeotia, and lived about 50 to 120 A.D. His Parallel Lives were written during the first years of the second Christian century. Plutarch was a moralist rather than a historian, and was more concerned in emphasizing the morals of an incident or life than in the accuracy of his facts. Hence his value as a historian depends upon the sources which he uses. In the Life of Lycnrgiis these are chiefly subsequent to Aristotle; Plato, Xenophon, and three of the minor poets are his only earlier authorities. His best authority is Aristotle.

However, the errors in the Life of Lycuj-gus relate to statements that are not essential to the discussion of education. They are for the most part connected with the question of the character of Lycurgus and the division of the land.^ The question whether Lycurgus was an historical personage does not affect the value of the present narrative. There is no agreement on this point among modern historians. On the other hand, there is quite general agreement that Plutarch's account of the division of the land is without historic basis. But there is no question as to the characteristic social and educational institutions. The testimony from ancient authorities on these points is uniform and voluminous. As to the time of the introduction of these educational institutions, there is also substantial agreement. Though the writers make no mention of Lycurgus as the author of these changes which were responsible for the characteristic Spartan institutions, both Thucydides and Herodotus refer to these changes, as having taken place in the ninth century B.C. This is the period to which Lycurgus is assigned by other writers, including Plutarch.

The educational- and social institutions of Sparta were peculiarly her own, for, while they form the best type of the old Greek education, they were not a common possession even among the Dorians. The nearest approach to them was in Crete ; but here they were more communistic and of but brief duration. At Sparta, on the other hand, this education was coincident with Spartan political power. While there was evidently a marked decline in these institutions by the time of Aristotle, they were yet characteristic and influential. By the third century B.C., they had fallen into decay, when Agis (244-240 B.C.) and Cleomenes (236-222 b.c.) attempted their restoration. With the coming of the Roman power these old ideals ceased to have any influence whatever, and the old institutions became obsolete.

It is the new Greek education that was typical of

Athenian life, hence the references to the old education as it existed at Athens are not so numerous or detailed. As the literary age was essentially that of the new education, the sources referring to the old period are from writers that lived in the new. The best complete description of the old education is the brief passage from the Protagoras of Plato. The Protagoras belongs in the early group of Plato's writings, dating probably from the first decade of the fourth century B.C. The scene is supposed to have been laid about 425 b.c. Protagoras was the first of the Sophists at Athens, where he began to teach about the middle of the fifth century b.c. The passage given is merely incidental to the main trend of the argument in the dialogue. The discussion between Socrates and Protagoras is concernifig virtue. The substance of Socrates' argument is that virtue is unified because it reduces to a common principle, that common principle being knowledge. If this is true, then virtue is teachable. In regard to this last point, the position taken by disputants in the earlier part of the dialogue is reversed. The passage given is taken from a lengthy speech of Protagoras, in which he argues that virtue is teachable. One evidence he cites is this general account of old Athenian education, the aim of which was substantially the inculcation of virtue. The account is very concise and covers the entire scope of early education. This account can be supplemented by passages found in selections relating to later periods, notably the contest between the old and new education in the Clouds of Aristophanes, in the ideal education advocated in the Republic, and in the scientific exposition of the Politics of Aristotle.

The latest period of education mentioned in the Protagoras is that devoted to the service of the state. The ideal of this education is given in the oath which the Ephebes were required to take, here given as the second selection. The third selection is the famous funeral oration of Pericles written by Thucydides. This is one of the best presentations of the ideal governing the Athenian people, and indicates quite clearly the spirit and purpose of their education. Both Pericles and Thucydides were among the earlier products of the new Greek education — at least, both were profoundly influenced by it. The speeches of Pericles, especially those reported by Thucydides, are clear samples of the results of the new education, showing evidently the influence of the rhetorical schools. But while the form of the speech is a product of new conditions, its content is one of the best presentations of the ideals of the old. The lives and deeds celebrated in the panegyric were the product of the old education. The passage is especially valuable as giving an analysis of those conditions which made possible the growth of the new type of education. Even under the old regime there was a place for the individuality of the citizen at Athens as there had not been elsewhere in Greece ; and while this individualism was wholly subject to the interests of the city state, it at least had a place under conditions which provided for its development. Thucydides was born about 471 B.C. and lived until the opening of the next century. He received rhetorical training from some of the earliest Sophists, Gorgias among others, but in the severity and conservatism of his ideas he belonged to the earlier period. The oration given is most probably his own work and not that of Pericles ; if of Pericles, it is rather the compilation of a number of speeches. Though it may be designed for the reader of the history, rather than for the audience of occasion, it reflects accurately the spirit of such occasions and the character of the times. While Pericles, both in his training and in his life, was more clearly than Thucydides a product of the newer education, it would not be inconsistent that on such an occasion he should express the dominant characteristics of the old. Irrespective of its authorship, this oration can be taken as an exposition of the ideals and results of the old education.

Spartan Education was almost identical with Spartan life in general. Sparta was practically a military camp organized for the training of warriors. The Spartans were a small group of conquerors among a large subject population. Their national existence depended upon the military excellence of their citizens, and their whole life was organized to this end. The home was practically abohshed, and for it was substituted the camp or school. While there was no definite school, all of childhood was a schooling, definitely systematized for educational purposes; and the chief occupation of the adults, aside from their military life, was the education of the younger generation. This education was almost wholly physical and moral. It was narrow but intense, producing the highest and most permanent results that have ever been attained along these restricted lines. Above all, it meant the production of individuals wholly subject to the state. Next to this idea of the complete subordination of the welfare of the individual to that of the community, came the Spartan ideal of physical bravery, power, and endurance. Patriotism and sacrifice of the individual to the common welfare were inculcated throughout life and in every incident and interlo Source Book of the History of Education

est in life. The physical results were obtained through the definite training that was a substitute for all school work. This rigid discipline began from the day of birth, but for the first seven years the boy remained in the charge of ■ the mother. Thereafter he was in the charge of selected | state officials that were responsible for his physical and moral education. The boys were trained in companies, lived in public barracks, and ate at common tables. These companies were under immediate command of boys of an older age, though the general supervision of adults was never absent. The training consisted of a definite system of exercises and games, of a more military character after the age of twelve, and wholly so from the eighteenth or twentieth year, during which time the youth lived in barracks or was engaged in actual military service. In time of peace this service was in the nature of police or garrison duties. Only at the thirtieth year were the youths admitted into full citizenship. ^ The moral training aimed to produce self-control in action and speech, endurance, reverence, a spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice, dignity of action, and subjection of all emotional expression. Such results were obtained by a constant association with others of the same age under the close supervision of the elders at their meals, at their games, in public dances of military character, in religious services of choral character, in their sports, especially hunting, and in their barrack life. After the age of twelve, boys were trained to provide for their own wants through the obligation resting upon them of contributing to the common mess and to the few comforts allowed in their sleeping quarters. In this elaborate state education there was little provision for the intellectual element save as it was incidental in the

II Old Greek Edtication ii

physical and moral training indicated above. There was practically no literary instruction. In the later centuries, however, it was customary, or at least not unusual, for reading and writing to be taught, though aside from the state education. Otherwise the intellectual training was received in committing to memory and mastering the Laws of Lycurgus, — these being handed down from one generation to another through several centuries in the verbal form, — the national hymns and choruses, and later the poems of the few native writers held in repute.

As with all the Greeks the content of Spartan education was included in music, gymnastic, and dancing. But music was a much narrower term than it came to be elsewhere, and never contained more than the rudiments of a literary education.

The details of this system of education are given in full in the selection from Plutarch. This education, introduced in the ninth century B.C. was largely responsible for the military power of Sparta. It lost much of its rigidity after the Peloponnesian War, and ceased to have any force by the opening of the second century B.C.

Athenian Education of the old period was similar to the Spartan education in its simplicity of aim and narrowness of content, but not in its organization or in its stationary character. While the details of Spartan education were quite full, the sources on early Athenian education leave much to be desired. The selections from the speech of Protagoras give a general outline, but few details. Education was public only in so far as it was subject to close state supervision of the general results to be expected of home training or individual private institutions. It could be given in the home, but was more commonly obtained in private schools. In contradistinction to the general authority and responsibility of adults at Sparta, a law of Solon forbade any adult save teachers and pedagogues entering the school. There was not the training in large groups as at Sparta, though the ability to act in common and the community sentiment were developed to some extent through the religious chorus, dance, and procession. Athenian education was neither so severe nor so prolonged as that at Sparta, and, after the fifteenth or sixteenth year, it permitted much greater freedom.

As elsewhere in Greece, formal education included music and gymnastic, perhaps with dancing as a third branch, though it was but a combination of the other two. Gymnastic was less important and less military in character than at Sparta. The purpose of gymnastic was the development of a sound and beautiful physique, not simply the making of a warrior. Beauty and grace, quite as well as power of endurance, entered into the aims. The exercises were less rigid and more varied, consisting in running, discus throwing, javelin casting, and wrestHng, to which should be added dancing as a culmination and combination of the other phases of their training. By these exercises there were to be obtained health and strength, beauty and grace, and, in addition, the selfpossession and dignity of bearing that were but the outward manifestations of the moral results of this physical training. Music included the remainder of their formal education. But even in this early period music was a much broader term than at Sparta. It always included the literary element, at least reading, writing, and the mastery of the Homeric writings. Later, other national hterature was introduced, so that this literary education

I would mean a familiarity with national myths, religious customs, and laws. While music was a term applicable to .all the interests of the nine muses, it meant music in the ,! restricted sense as well. Along with reading went instruction in playing the lyre and in singing, for the three were combined to a considerable extent. It is not until the later period that the literary element becomes the promiunent factor, and that the use of musical instruments other than the simple one for accompanying the voice was introduced. The method of these schools was little more than simple training through imitation. Of elaborate literary iinstruction there was none. The work in literature consisted in memorizing the Homeric poems and in repeating them with appropriate musical accompaniments. At fif- ;teen and sixteen the boy devoted the greater part of his ttime to gymnastic, and passed from the palaestra into the gymnasium for advanced physical training, association with adults in the agora being substituted for the music sschool. At eighteen the ephebic stage was reached, ^when the oath given in the selections (p. 33) was adminiistered, and the youth entered on the last stage of apprenticeship for citizenship. This period included a two years' military service in guard and police duty, mostly in t.the rural regions. At twenty he was admitted to full ccitizenship.