made them utilitarian in all their views and aims. Utilitarianism determined education. "The children of the Romans," says Cicero, "are brought up that they may some time be useful to the country, and hence they should be taught the nature of the state and the regulations of our forefathers. Our country has borne and educated us on the condition that we consecrate to its service the best powers of our spirit, talent, and understanding; therefore we must learn the arts through which we can serve the state, for I hold that to be the greatest wisdom and the highest virtue."

The family life of Rome marked a notable advance over that of Greece and the Oriental countries. The worth of woman began to receive proper recognition. Polygamy was not tolerated. In theory, the husband was unlimited master, and even held the right of life and death over his children; but, in practice, the wife, by her virtues and tact, softened the sternness of his authority and arrived at undisputed control in the household. The type of womanhood produced in the best days of Rome was admirable. Its leading traits were attractive dignity, strong motherly instincts, and lovely domestic virtues. Not diamonds or pearls, but her two rosy-cheeked boys, were Cornelia's most precious jewels. The Roman matron managed her household tastefully and frugally, and found delight in caring for her children. For the first six or seven years she was their only teacher; and with the utmost fidelity she formed their language, ideas, and moral sentiments. It was not till the age of degeneracy had set in that Roman mothers intrusted their children to nurses and pedagogues.

Elementary instruction in school began with the

seventh year, and embraced reading, writing, and arithmetic. The teacher of the primary school was called literator. The general custom was to teach the names and order of the letters before their forms-a method that Quintilian properly criticises. In connection with spelling and reading, great care was bestowed upon pronunciation. By degrees the easier poets were read and explained, and choice passages were learned by heart. Writing was taught by inscribing a copy on a waxen tablet or board, and allowing the pupil to follow the outline of the letters with the stylus. After reading and writing came the art of reckoning, to which importance was attached because of its value in business. The fingers and an abacus of pebbles were extensively employed; and, through repeated mental exercises, the pupil was accustomed to compute with rapidity. In one of his odes, Horace presents us a picture of boys passing along the streets of Rome with slate and satchel, not unlike what may be seen in the modern

town.

The school regulations were exacting, and the discipline was sufficiently severe. Obedience and modesty were looked upon as important qualities. The pupils were required to be neat in dress and cleanly in person, and to observe a quiet decorum. On entering the school-room, they greeted the teacher with a respectful salutation. Corporal punishment was employed. The ferule was the ordinary instrument of punishment; but, in case of grave faults, the rod or whip was also used.

The primary training of the child ended with the twelfth year, when he was handed over to the literatus in order to receive more advanced instruction. The

Greek language was taken up, and grammar was care. fully studied. For the culture of the understanding, the best writers, particularly the poets, were employed, among whom may be mentioned Homer, Virgil, Esop, and Cicero. Poems and orations were committed to memory. Especial importance was attached to history, and several Romans have won celebrity by the extent and accuracy of their historical knowledge. Poetry, oratory, philosophy, and criticism were other subjects studied under the literatus.

The schools were private enterprises. The teachers of the primary schools did not stand in high esteem, as the literator was often a person who had failed in other callings. The literati, however, were frequently able to attain to wealth and distinction, especially if they were called to the instruction of the imperial princes. The public schools were not generally patronized by the higher classes of society. The moral tone of these schools was low; and the vitiated air, with which the rooms were filled, was felt to be prejudicial to health. Hence it was common to employ private tutors; or, as in the case of Emilius Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia, to keep Greek teachers permanently attached to the house.

At fifteen or sixteen, the young Roman assumed the dress of manhood, known as the toga virilis. It devolved upon him to choose his calling, and to direct his subsequent studies in reference to it. Agriculture, arms, politics, law, and oratory were open to him. In his choice the young Roman, with his utilitarianism, was determined more by the prospect of accumulating wealth than by the dignity of the calling. Agriculture,

which was held in great esteem, was selected by those who lacked ability to achieve success in other pursuits. The art of war was acquired in the field; politics, law, and oratory were learned in the forum, courts, and senate, under the guidance of some distinguished patron. Eloquence, as the surest road to popularity and success, was studied with assiduity. Theory and practice were combined. A wide course of reading was pursued in this connection; for, according to a saying of Cicero's, the orator ought to know everything.

Such is a history of education in Rome during the golden age. It is the period which followed the subjugation of Greece, and the absorption of Grecian literature and art. It stands in decided contrast with the rough simplicity of the earlier and purely Roman civilization, which was intensely utilitarian, and hostile to the highest forms of culture. The elder Cato may be regarded as the embodiment of this earlier Roman spirit. He used his influence to repress the influx of Grecian learning. He wrote to his son: "Believe me, as if a prophet had said it, that the Greeks are a worthless and incorrigible race. If this people diffuse their literature among us, it will corrupt everything." His fears, not of the literature of the Greeks, but of their vices, were only too well founded; and as has happened at later periods in the world's history, brilliant culture went hand in hand with deep moral degradation. The educational practice of this earlier period is well exemplified by Cato.

As Plutarch tells us, this sturdy Roman taught his son to read, "although he had a servant, a very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many others; but he thought not fit, as he himself said, to

have his son reprimanded by a slave, or pulled, it may be, by the ears when found tardy in his lesson; nor would he have him owe to a servant the obligation of so great a thing as his learning; he himself, therefore, taught him his grammar, law, and his gymnastic exercises. Nor did he only show him, too, how to throw a dart, to fight in armor, and to ride, but to box also, and to endure both heat and cold, and to swim over the most rapid and roughest rivers. He says, likewise, that he wrote histories, in large characters, with his own hand, that so his son, without stirring out of the house, might learn to know about his countrymen and forefathers; nor did he less abstain from speaking anything obscene before his son, than if it had been in the pres ence of the sacred virgins, called vestals."

In completing this sketch of Roman education, which has been called practical, it only remains to present the views of two or three distinguished Romans who have treated of the subject in their writings.

(A.) CICERO.

Cicero, the distinguished orator and philosopher, is perhaps the best representative of his age, combining in himself the highest Roman and Grecian culture. Born in the year 106 B. c., of a noble family, he was educated at Rome under the best teachers of the time. At sixteen he assumed the manly gown, and studied . law, oratory, and philosophy. He afterward traveled in Greece and Asia for the purpose of study. At Rhodes he studied oratory with Apollonius, a celebrated rhetorician, at whose request he once delivered a declamation in Greek. When he had finished, the auditors were