UNIVERSITY LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS UNIVERSITY LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF FOUR OXFORD LECTURES BY W. W. CAPES, M. A. READER IN ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OB' OXFORD REPRINT 1922 NEW YORK G. E. STECHERT&CO. 1922 PBEFACE THESE PAGES have been written simply as a chapter in the history of the past, which is little known perhaps among us. Modern names and analogies have been freely used, but only to assist the fancy, and with no wish to imply, by way of oblique refer- ence, any judgment on the merits or demerits of our present system. Comparison may possibly be useful, but the reader is asked to draw his conclu- sions for himself, and not to ascribe them to the writer. The materials for the first chapter are gathered almost exclusively from monumental sources, which may be most easily consulted in a work by A. Dumont * Sur 1'Ephebie Attique,' of which one volume only, containing the Greek texts, had appeared before these sheets were printed. The early part of the second chapter is based on an article by C. Gr. Zumpt on the Schools of Phi- losophy at Athens, which was published in 1843, in the Transactions of the Academy of Berlin, but 617127 vi Preface. the original authorities have been throughout con- sulted. In the other pages frequent references have been made to the biographies by Philostratus and Eunapius, who deal especially with the subjects treated. The writings of Libanius have been also largely used, though his pictures of professorial and student life are only partly drawn from Athens, which he left to lecture at Antioch and elsewhere, but there is no reason to believe that his descriptions do not apply to the conditions of the older Univer- sity. For an introduction to the lectures of Hime- rius, the writer was indebted to a treatise by L. Petit de Julleville, ' L'Ecole d'Athenes au quatrieme Siecle,' as also possibly for one or two other hints. Hertzberg's ' Greschichte Grriechenlands unter der Herrschafb der Romer ' has also been consulted, as containing probably the fullest treatment of the sub- ject, but from that source little or nothing in the following pages has been consciously derived. BRAMSHOTT: March 1877. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION ..1-3 CHAPTER I. * THE COLLEGE SYSTEM. Our information comes from the inscriptions of the Ephebi which extend for centuries . 4 Early usages with regard to the Ephebi . . . . 5 Important changes in the Macedonian period . . . . 6 Many Athenians never were included . . . 6 Aliens were admitted ........ 6 The Term was shortened 7 Matriculation and religious ceremony at the opening of Term 7 Stress laid on religious influence, and holy seasons . . 8 Their academic dress . 9 They probably lived together . . . . . .10 Their use of gymnasia . . . . . v . . . 10 They attended the Lectures of the Public Professors . .12 Attendance at all except the Epicurean, encouraged . . 12 The term of College life was very short . . . .13 But the expenses considerable. College dues . . . 14 Payment to College Library 14 Offertory. Testimonials. Athletic Sports. Sconces . . 15 The final examinations in the Senate House . . .16 Their healthy state and good behaviour 17 The Cosmetes or Head of the College . . . . .18 viii Contents. PAGE The Sophronistae or Proctors. Tutors. College Accounts . 19 The vote of thanks in the Public Assembly . . . ,20 A characteristic specimen recorded in the inscriptions . 21 The System above described was a national one , . .25 Our information drawn almost entirely from the inscriptions 26 These give the number and names of the students, many of whom were Semitic .27 CHAPTER II. THE PROFESSORS or PHILOSOPHY. The four great schools of thought ..... 29 The succession in each school religiously respected . . , 30 The heads lectured in the public gymnasia . . .31 Rudimentary forms of endowment in the Platonic sect . 32 in the Aristotelian . 33 in the Epicurean . , 34 Endowments for philosophic dinners, which tended to become extravagant 35 No legal recognition of corporate rights in the sects . . 37 '-They resented any interference from the State . . . 38 Fees paid by the students 39 The Cynic or Stoic sect discouraged endowments and fees . 39 The large number of students of philosophy . . .40 Stories of sudden conversion . . . . . . , 41 Honorary recognition of the philosophers by Athens . . 41 Little endowment as yet needed . . . . 42 Rival seats of i earning for other branches of study . . 42 The influence of old associations in favour of Athens . . 43 Yet her attractive power grew weaker 44 Her revival thanks to the patronage of Hadrian, and the Antonines, who began the system of State endowments . 45 Lucian's description of an Election by a Board . . .46 A more favourable picture of Athenian society by the same author 47 Also in Aulus Gellins 48 The description of Herodes Atticus ... . 50 Few signs of originality or deep study in later days. . . 51 Contents. ix CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSORS OP RHETORIC. PAOB The Sophists or Professors of Rhetoric . . . . 53 The public professors and private lecturers generally aliens, often men of wealth and rank 54 The story of Hippodromus to illustrate the knight errantry of the Sophists ... 56 The story of Marcus of Byzantium 57 Popular enthusiasm for the Sophists. Their vanity and ostentation 58 Their professional gains . 60 Their immunities from civil burdens . . . , 61 Examples of imperial caprice in the treatment of the Sophists 62 The interests of learning suffered from the whims of Caracalla 63 And in the third century from war and faction . < . 64 Athens stormed by the Goths, who were routed by Dexippus 65 The fourth century a brilliant age for the University of Athens .....*..... 65 The endowed Chairs, and influence of the Provincial Governor 67 Official salaries varying like tithe rent charge. Lecture^ rooms . . . . 68 Jealousies of rival Sophists illustrated from Eunapius . . 69 Another illustration of their bitter feeling and rhetorical skill . . . . . 71 The three great Sophists rather Asiatic than Hellenic in race 73 The general character of their educational influence . . 74 The personal ties between teacher and student were very close, and desertion keenly felt by the lecturer . . . 75 The evils of rivalry sometimes avoided by special unions . 76 The position of the sub-professors in these is not attractive 77 Libanius called to account for neglect of professorial work 78 The Sophists' pride in the number of their pupils . .79 The solemn language of Himerius to the freshmen . . . 80 The course consisted of the study of the Classics, together with the rules of rhetoric . . . . . . .81 Original compositions were required, and exercises in logic and elocution .....*.. .83 x Contents. PAGE The Sophists professed to aim at more than rhetoric . . 84 But the course of study was more imposing than profound . 85 The evidence remaining in the works of Professors like Hiinerius . 86 The difficulty of doing justice to the rhetorical beauties of Greek style . . . 87 Themistius, though a philosopher, is as rhetorical as the Sophists 89 As moral preachers the Sophists were surpassed by Christian doctors 90 The dwindling numbers and reputation of the Schools , . 91 Illustrations from Libanius of the poverty of Professors . 93 CHAPTER IV. STUDENT LIFE. Our knowledge mainly drawn from writers of the fourth century , . 96 Few students were of Attic race ....... 96 Commonly they were very young and had pedagogues often 97 Each attached himself specially to a Professor , . . . 98 The students touting for their own Professors. Experience of Libanius . . .99 The practical jokes which few freshmen escaped . . . 100 National differences seem to have been marked by social clubs 102 The factious spirit of these illustrated by Eunapius . . . 103 Effect of such students' brawls on the fancy of the young Libanius . . . . . , , . . ,105 Town and gown riots ........ 106 Attacks upon the pedagogues 107 No discipline exerted by the University or by city police , 108 Very different provisions at Borne 109 The students at Lecture 110 They often behaved badly, as Libanius describes . . .111 Even in earlier ages there is evidence of rudeness and in- attention , . . . , , . . . . 113 Question among the Sophists as to the use of the rod . .114 Contents. xi PAOB Himerius relied on love, but Libanius used the rod, though he shrank from expulsion . . . . . . . 115 Students often would not pay the fees 116 Many of them were very poor, and there were no exhibitions 118 They often remained long, and left the University with regret ........... 119 < CHAPTER V. CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES ON THE SCHOOLS OF ATHENS. The early Sophists were freethinkers, the later conservative in religion 120 The later philosophers were devout and claimed powers over the spirit world . . 121 The Christian alarm and dislike of the schools of rhetoric . 122 The complaints of Libanius of the discouragement to study 123 Brighter times came in with Julian, but were not lasting . 124 His death was followed by edicts and riots against Paganism 126 The bitter resentment of Eunapius and Libanius . . . 127 The schools of Athens suffered from the downfall of Pagan- ism, and from the spread of legal and Latin studies . .129 Synesius tells us of pilgrims attracted to Athens . . . 130 But he speaks with contempt of the studies carried on there 131 The schools of rhetoric disappeared 132 These were closed by the edict of Justinian . . .133 A few philosophers retired to Persia, but only to be dis- appointed of their hopes . . . . . . . . 134 CHEONOLOGICAL TABLE. B.C. The death of Socrates . . . . . . . .399 Plato in the Academy 388 Antisthenes the Cynic . . . . . . . fl. 366 Speusippus, Head of the Academy .... 347-339 Xenocrates succeeded Speusippus 339 Isocrates wrote the Panegyr. 380 . . / . died f 338 Aristotle in the Lyceum ...;.., 335 Crates the Cynic /. 328 Theophrastns succeeded Aristotle in the Lyceum . . 322 Demetrius Phalereus, Governor of Athens . . . . 318 Polemon succeeded Xenocrates . 315 Epicurus at Athens 306 Straton succeeded Theophrastus .... about 287 Antigonus Gonatas 283-239 Zenon in the Porch fl. 278 Lycon succeeded Straton ....... 272 Cleanthes succeeded Zenon . . . . . . 263 Chrysippus succeeded Cleanthes . . . born 280 f 207 Carneades, Ambassador of Athens ..... 165 Siege of Athens by Sulla . . 87 Cicero at Athens . . . . . . , 79 Horace at the University . . . . . . . 47 A.D. Athens declined in reputation . . . . . Dion Chrysostom ' fl. dbovt 97 Epictetus /. 104 Plutarch . . , A. 115 xiv Chronological Table. A.D. Hadrian beautified Athens 124 The Sophists, Favorinus and Polemon . . . Ji. 132 Herodes Atticus, 101-177 ..... consul 143 Aulus Gellius at Athens . . . . . . 160-4 Marcus Aurelius, Emperor 1 The University endowed J Lucian wrote fl. about 162 Aristides wrote his sermons 176 The Deipnosophistae of Athenaens written . ... 193 Philostratus wrote the lives of the Sophists . . after 221 Plotinus 205-270 Diogenes Laertius /. about 250 Dexippus routed the Goths 269 Longinns . f 273 Eumenius ' pro restaurandis scholis ' 296 Himerius 315-368 Libanius at Athens . . 336 Death of Julian the Sophist ...... 340 Libanius, Professor at Antioch 1 3&2 Themistius, Professor at Constantinople } Letter of Emperor Julian to people of Athens . . .361 Eunapius born 346 . . . . .at Athens 362 Death of Proasresius 367 Synesius at Athens about 390 Death of Libanius 396 Eunapius wrote the lives of the Sophists . . about 406 Plutarch at Athens t 431 Justinian closed the Schools of Athens . . 529 UNIVERSITY LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS. INTRODUCTION, WHEN Pericles reminded his Athenian hearers, in his Timc.ii.4i. famous funeral speech, that their fatherland was a sort of school of G reece, he was using words uncon- sciously that were weighty with prophetic meaning. He was thinking of the monumental glories of the city, which strangers flocked from every land to visit ; of the impulse given to art-studies by the geniun of Phidias, and of his band of fellow-labourers on the Acropolis ; of the outburst of literary talent stirred by the strong sense of national freedom; of the charms of poetry and music enlisted in the ser- vice of the stately ceremonials of religion. But the professional teacher? of his day were aliens for the most part ; Sophists, cosmopolitan in feeling, who settled in the Imperial city because they found there a ready mart for all their foreign wares, where practised skill in fence of words was needed most B 2 University Life in Ancient Athens. for the free play of national life. In the orator's own days, however, the movement was beginning which was to render Athens before long the home of intellectual training. Socrates was dropping into the minds of his young friends those fruitful seeds which, modified by the various soils on which they fell, were to grow in course of time into the four great schools of thought, which between them occupied well-nigh all earnest seekers after truth. They quartered themselves in Athens as their home, assuming each an organised shape, and gathering admirers from all lands. Around them was grouped a multitude of other teachers, lecturers in rhetoric and grammar, who dressed up in popular and showy forms their theories of literary art. And so men came to think of her as the University of higher culture, in which were represented all the studies of the age. The Ethical systems took to some extent, as Bacon says, the place which Theology has filled else- where, while the ancient Metaphysic dealt more expressly with many of her problems. .Physical enquiry of a kind was encouraged in the Lyceum, as a part of the encyclopaedia of Aristotle. Logical method was pursued, though on different principles, by all ; and the Rhetoricians, too, were busy supplying something like courses oi philology, or the ' Liters) Introduction. 3 Humaniores ' of our later times. Private benefactors before long came forward with endowments to pro- vide a quiet shelter for the chief professors of each school, the local permanence of which was thus se- cured. Soon, indeed, Athens had to stoop from her former rank among the nations ; but she stepped almost at once into another, and became the school not of Greece only, but the world. After a while again she suffered from the rivalry of other intellectual centres, as also from the marked dejcline of original research. But the endowments of the Antonines gave her a new lease of life, and in the third and fourth centuries she was, beyond com- pare, the foremost of the Universities then known. She lingered on a century longer, though in spectral form and with decaying strength, till the edict of Justinian closed her schools ; and her pro- A.D. 529. fessors moodily withdrew to far-off Persia, to seek, though vainly, for the enlightened favour which was denied them irj the Koman Empire. B 2 4 University Life in Ancient Athens. CHAPTER I. THE COLLEGE SYSTEM. Ourinfor- SOME scholars may be inclined to call in question in at ion comes from the term which has been chosen for the heading of the inscrip- tions of the this chapter; may doubt if there was anything at Athens which could answer to the College Life of modern times. Indeed it must be owned that formal history is nearly silent on the subject, that ancient writers take little notice of it, and such evidences as we have are drawn almost entirely from a series of inscriptions on the marble tablets, which were covered with the ruins and the dust of ages, till one after another earne to light in recent days, to add fresh pages to th* story of .the past. which ex- Happily they are both numerous and lengthy, centuries, and may be already pieced together in an order which extends for centuries. They are known to Epigraphic students as the records which deal with the so-called Ephebi ; with the youths, that is, just passing into manhood, for whom a special discipline was provided by the State, to n't them for the re- The College System. 5 sponsibilities of active life. It was a National system with a many-sided training ; the teachers were members of the Civil Service ; the registers were public documents, and, as such, belonged to the Archives of the State. The earlier inscriptions of the series date from the period of Macedonian ascendency, but in much earlier times there had been forms of public drill prescribed for the Ephebi. It had been an ancient usage that the youths who had Early usages with just entered on their nineteenth year should appear, in regard to the Ephebi. the presence of their kinsfolk and their neighbours, to have their names put on the Civic Roil, to be armed in public with a shield and spear, and to be then escorted to a temple where the solemn oath was taken of loyal service to their country and their gods. ' I swear,' so ran the words, ' not to bring disgrace upon these arms, nor to desert my comrade in the fight. I will do battle for the common weal, for the religion of my fathers. I will obey those who bear rule, and the laws which are in force, and all that the sovereign people shall decree.' The young champions so pledged were bound awhile to special forms of military duty ; they were drafted into companies of National guards, and patrolled the country districts, or were posted in outlying forts in defensive service on the frontier, till their two years of probation had expired. 6 University Life in Ancient Athens. important changes in the Mace- donian period. Manv Aliens were admitted. Such were the forms which lasted on through the old days of independence, when every citizen must be a soldier, and the first claim which Athens made was that her children should defend her. But in the later days of Macedonian rule, when she enjoyed only a faint show of freedom, she no longer de- manded as a right the personal service of her sons, and soon changed, in the case of the Ephebi,the essen- tial character of her educational routine. 1- The name did not henceforth include the whole rising manhood of the State. All who feared the loss of time or want of means, all who thought the drill too irksome, could stand aside when they reached the fitting age, and not enrol themselves in what was now a corps of Volunteers. The poorer classes, as we may suppose, dropped out, and betook themselves at once to active life ; only the well-to- do aspired to such a finish to a liberal training. 2. It served no longer as a test of purity of birth or civic rights. We find from a decree, which, if genuine, dates even from the days of Pericles, that the young men of Cos were allowed by special favour to share the discipline of the Athenian Ephebi. Soon afterwards others were admitted on all sides. The aliens who had gained a competence as merchants or as bankers, found their sons welcomed in the ranks of the oldest families of Athens; strangers flocked thither from dis- The College System. 7 tant countries, not only from the isles of Greece, and from the coasts of the ^Egean, but, as Hellenic culture made its way through the far East, students even of Semitic race were glad to enrol their names upon the College registers, where we may still see them with the marks of their several nationalities affixed. 3. The young men were no longer, like soldiers The term was short- upon actual service, beginning already the real work ened. of life, and on that account, perhaps, the term was shortened from two years to one ; but the old associa- tions lasted on for ages, even in realistic Athens, which v ** in early politics at least had made so clean a sweep. The outward forms were still preserved, the soldier's drill was still enforced, and, though many another feature had been added, the whole institution bore upon its face the look rather of a Military College than of a training school for a scholar or a states- man. The College year began somewhat later than the Matricula- tion, opening of the civil year, and it was usual for all the students to matriculate together ; that is, to enter formally their names upon the registers, which were copied afterwards upon the marble tablets, of which large fragments have survived. That done, they andreii- were expected to take part, with their officers and tutors, in a religious ceremonial held in the Guild- 8 University Life in Ancient Athens. hall of the city, which even in its name reminds us of our stated services at the opening of Term. For the Athenian Government laid special stress upon religious influence in education; they insisted that the young men should be trained to reverence the guardian powers of the State, The documents for stress before us emphasize the hope that they would grow religious to orderly and pious manhood ; and, with all their education, large tolerance of Nonconformist systems, the rulers had no scruple in prescribing the religion of the State. The creeds of Paganism were too wide and too elastic to cause anxiety to any tender conscience, and the votaries of Syrian gods could join without misgiving in the ritual of Hellenic worship. Even to the last days of the heathen world, Athens was the stronghold of religious feeling. Old associations lingered round its venerable walls, and linked them- selves to great historic names, as in our modern Oxford, till those even owned the glamour of the ancient city, whose reason had rebelled against its outworn dogmas. We may read, therefore, of a long round of special times, like the holy seasons and the saints' days of our modern calendars, which were all of interest to the young men at College, not as holi- days from earnest work, but as days of ceremonial observance. At some they walked in military guise, like Hungarian students at the Stephan's fest, march- and many holy sea-" sons were observed. The College System. 9 ing through the streets of Pesth with their swords buckled to their sides ; at some they moved in slow procession with their lighted torches, like an Acade- mic club of Germany ; at other times they joined in a thanksgiving service or State prayers for a victory won centuries before, like that of Marathon, engaging in mimic contests to revive the excitement of the past ; while, in honour of the triumphs won upon the sea at Salamis, they raced over the waters, and made processions with their boats, as in later ages on the Isis or the Cam. In most of these, as on other Their State occasions, they wore the same official dress dress. which distinguished them from all beside. ' To put the gown on,' or, as we should say, ' to be a gowns- man,' was the phrase which stood for being a mem- ber of the College ; and the gown, too, was of black, as commonly among ourselves. But Philostratus tells us, by the way, that a Phiio*- tratus, change was made from black to white at the prompt- an, !. Trttlmer. ing of Herodes Atticus, the munificent and learned subject of the Antonines, who was for many years the presiding genius of the University of Athens. The fragment of an inscription lately found curiously confirms and supplements the writer's statement. Herodes, it would seem, did not only introduce the more auspicious colour, but defrayed himself the expenses of the charge, and is represented in the 10 University Life in Ancient At liens. contemporary document as saying, ' While I am living you shall never want white robes.' Some may possibly remember the attempt made nearly twenty years ago to introduce a seemlier form of gown for use among the Commoners of Oxford ; but no Herodes Oxoniensis volunteered to meet the objection of ex- pense, and so make the change easier for slender purses. Theyprob- The members of the College are spoken of as ably lived ogether. ' friends ' and ' messmates ; ' and it is probable that some form of conventual life prevailed among them, without which the drill and supervision, which are constantly implied in the inscriptions, could scarcely ^ ave ^ een en ^ orce ^ ^ * ue officials. But we know Their use nothing o > which in all Greek towns were the centres vmnasia nothing of any public buildings for their use save the training"* 1 ^ educational routine, and of which there were several well known at Athens. Drawing, as they did, their name from the bodily exercises for which they bad been first provided, and serving in this respect for men as well as boys, they were used also for the culture of the mind. Public lecturers of every kind resorted to them, philosophy sought to gain a hearing in their halls, and rival systems even took their names from buildings such as these, where they catered for the in- tellect, while trainers a few yards off were drilling the body in the laws of healthy work. One such especi- The College System. 1 1 ally, the Diogeneum, served as a centre of stirring College life ; the President, who had the charge of it, is one of the officials often mentioned. Here probably they had a College library, as also certainly in another called the Ptolema^um. In such gymnasia a variety of trainers were employed to call out the physical powers in the full energy of balanced life. Here the youths qualified themselves as marksmen in the use of the javelin and the bow, and a separate instructor was appointed in each case. Here, too, they were prac- tised in the drill which was to fit them for their Grand Parades, at which the public would look on, and the Chief Minister of State preside. Athletic sports of every kind found in such scenes a natural home. They were encouraged, almost prescribed in this case, by the government, which showed a lively interest in what was done. Here, too, the students fell into their ranks as Volunteers, and marched out to form an escort for some distinguished stranger who favoured Athens with a visit. Or they formed themselves into a guard of honour, and kept order in the sittings of the National Assemblies, listening meantime to the course of the debates, and gaining betimes an insight into the business of public life, and a personal acquaintance with the prominent statesmen of the day. But they had their livelier spectacles at times. They went to the theatre to 12 University Life in Ancient Atficns. They had to attend lectures ; but at the courses of the public professors fltrenoanee wa> im- partially encouraged, see the play together, and there they had, we read, their proper places kept for them in a sort of Under- graduates' Gallery. They had their lectures also to attend, in their own gymnasia or in other buildings of the kind ; for they were not allowed to slight the chances of intel- lectual progress in the eager love of races, sports, and volunteering. Some sort of certificate of attend- ance at the courses was seemingly required. But in this respect, at least, the College did not try to monopolise the education of its students. It had, indeed, its own tutors or instructors, but they were kept for humbler drill ; it did not even for a long time keep an organist or choirmaster of its own ; it sent its students out for teaching in philosophy and rhetoric and grammar, or, in a word, for all the larger and more liberal studies. Nor did it favour any special set of tenets to the exclusion of the rest. It encouraged impartially all the schools of higher thought. One document which we possess speaks approvingly of the young men's attendance in the lecture-hall of a Professor who expounded seemingly the Stoic system, but it goes on to note that they were present also at the courses given by Plato- nists and Aristotelians alike. The context even would imply that they went together in a body, attended by their Head, and listened to the lectures The College System. 13 of all the Professors ; or, as the inscriptions more than once record, of all the philosophers who taught their theories in public. The College had no fear, it seems, of critical enquiry and free thought, though it may, perhaps, have overtasked the receptive powers of its students. One only of the great his- except the Epicurean. toric systems was ignored, perhaps as likely to be pushed too far by inexperienced minds to some ex- treme of dangerous licence, or rank impatience of control. No mention is ever made of the theories of Epicurus, which were judged, probably, unfit for the youths who were still ' in statu pupillari? The appetite for knowledge thus excited could be ill satisfied with a few months of lectures ; but, though the discipline so far described lasted only for a year, there was nothing to prevent them from carrying on their interest in high thought. As students unat- tached they might linger for years round the same lecture-halls, busy themselves with the same un- solved problems, and in their turn hold conferences on great occasions, or aspire to fill some public Chair of Morals or Philology. The term, indeed, was far too short for such a The term <>i multifarious training, which was at once gymnastic, }\f e ^ martial, intellectual, and moral; but many even in vtiys those days were reluct ant, it would seem, to postpone the active work of life in the interests of higher cul- ture. 14 University Life in Ancient Athens. imt the ex- As it is, the names of the old families figure "derabie. most upon the registers ; for there were other forms of outlay, besides the expenditure of valuable time, to deter the less opulent of the middle classes. We College read nothing indeed of College dues, or of the sums dues. paid for batells by the students ; and more than once the authorities are praised in the inscriptions for lowering, if not remitting altogether, certain charges. It is possible that the expense was partly met by a grant of public money, or by some form of endow- ment ; and the mention that recurs of the sacrifices in the memory of past benefactors seems to point to this conclusion, while it reminds us of the Bidding Prayer in which we hear the names of the pious founders of old time. But of the accounts, which were to be audited each year in public by some officials of the State, it is most likely that the payments of the young men themselves formed an important item. Payment to Nor did their expenses end with those for board library. or for tuition. Each must pay his quota to provide a hundred volumes yearly for the College library, which was stored, as we have seen, in a gymnasium. Their piety must be attested by liberal offerings to the Mother of the Gods and Dionysus, and some- times, too, to other powers. Nor was it left to them to give at their free will ; but a decree is quoted which defined the amount to be expended, somewhat The College System. 1 5 as a few years back at Oxford the Chapel offertory Offertory, was charged in College batells. Each generation left behind it year by year the pieces of gold and silver plate which, duly emblazoned doubtless with their names, were stored up not in the College buttery, but in the treasury of some temple. Four costly goblets of the kind, we read in one in- scription, were presented by the students of a single year. The Kectors, too, who did their duty, must re- Testi- ceive some sort of testimonial, and have their bronze or marble statues presented to them by their grateful pupils, as men accept their pictures nowadays. It became at last a customary thing, to be mentioned in the record of each year ; and therefore the honour was but trifling, though the cost was real, and the omission was a slight. Then, again, there was the cost of their uniforms and arms, which must be of the gayest on parade, when they were playing at the soldiers' trade. The wealthier among the members, we are told, were en- couraged by the authorities to show their public feel- ing in promoting common interests, and so, doubtless, spent their money freely to give eclat to their games or their processions. The office of Gymnasiarch Athletic sports. especially is recorded as the privilege of men of means, who fostered the athletic sports ; and if not 1 6 University Life in Ancient Athens. Sconces. The final examina- tions. ix. 1. '" the Senate- house. in that respect, at least in others, may remind us of the captain of a modern cricket club, or of a College eight. Something, too, there is which reads as if there had been sconces or fines imposed by the members on each other, in support of social rules or codes of honour ; but these were looked on with disfavour from above, as likely to cause jars in the harmony of friendly intercourse; and one rector, at least, put them down. At length the year drew to its close, and with it the restraints of discipline ; but one ordeal still re- mained to try them. There is no new thing under the sun, and we find that there were examinations, even in old times, at Athens. Plutarch tells us by the way that the Mayor on one occasion came to the gymnasium to examine the Ephebi 'who studied literature and geometry, rhetoric and music.' The ceremony ended with a public dinner to which all the college tutors \vere invited as well as lecturers and men of learning, but the guests, we read, were not so orderly in their behaviour as might have been expected. At the end of Term the town council was expected to attend, and hear the posers do their work ; or, as we should say in modern language, the student sat for examination in the Senate-house. There was, probably, no paper-work required, but only an oral The College System. \ 7 apposition ; it may be even that the phrase chiefly refers to some manual exercises or parade, more than to tests of intellectual progress. For we do not Class-lists. hear of any class-lists ; or rather those we have, and they are full enough, contain the names only of the prizemen in the races and athletic sports, and do not deal with the cultivation of the mind. In any case they do not seem to have hurt them- *j. r h r selves with their hard reading ; the records insist upon 6tate the perfect health enjoyed by all the youths, as fully as if we had the extracts of a sanitary report. They and behaviour. were models, too, of good behaviour, those pattern stu- dents of old time, if we may trust the complimentary language of the marbles. They went to lectures steadily, and listened quietly to what was told them, and never rioted about the streets, or fell out in their cups like vulgar fellows in a drunken brawl, nor failed to do what their authorities enjoined, but 6 were quite faultless all the long year through.' We may naturally ask who were the guardians of a discipline so perfect as to seem more fitly lodged in some cloister of Utopia. The Head of the College held the title of Cos- The Coe- metes, or of rector, and was assisted or replaced at Head 'of the times by a sub-rector ; for so custom, though not Iaw 5 required, since one at least declined to have a formal deputy, and preferred the assistance of his son. c 1 8 University Life in Ancient Athens. There were also various instructors, too low in rank to be like tutors, though for convenience we may call them by that name* The Rector, appointed only for a year by popular election, was no merely honorary head, but took an important part in the real work of education. He was sometimes clothed with priestly functions ; was, as we should say in Holy Orders ; and never failed, so we are often told, to be present at religious service. He went to lec- tures even with the men, attending sometimes all the public courses with exemplary diligence. But that was not enough. He must go to drill with them at their volunteering ; must visit, at their head, the watch-towers and outposts on the frontier, where the Ephebi had been posted in old days ; he must look on at their gymnastic feats, and see that they were kept in proper training, and were very careful to avoid all coarse and indecorous language; arid he must even take some part, as starter or as judge per- haps, in their boat-races. He must be a man of substance, to play his part becomingly, for there were expenses which he could not well avoid. He often bore the cost himself of the religious services of his own College, paying for the victims for the sacrifice. He subscribed to- wards the silver plate which was the customary offering, and in other ways lightened the burdens on The College System. 19 the students. When the outer wall of their gym- nasium fell into ruins, the Rector of the day rebuilt it at his own expense; and though he thankfully accepted from his pupils the complimentary present of his statue, yet he did not forget to pay for it himself. Some, however, of the work of supervision de- TheSo- volved upon the Sophronistse, or the proctors, who Jr proctors, were charged specially with the moral guidance of the youths, and to whose constant watchfulness the orderly behaviour often spoken of was largely due. The tutors, or instructors, were specialised, as we Tutors. have seen, to definite work; each was told off to deal with a single set of muscles, or some physical apti- tude or grace, and therefore they scarcely rose above the rank of trainers, or of fencing or dancing masters. At first appointed by each rector only for a year, they gradually obtained a longer hold upon their places, till they gained a sort of vested right, and held their offices for life. The Rector had his accounts at last to pass before Th official auditors appointed by the State. That done accounts with credit, he might return to private life after one year of responsible routine; but he was seldom allowed to lay down office without some mark of honour, if he had done hia duty faithfully, and not been too unpopular among his pupils. Some one in C2 2O University Life in Ancient Athens. the general assembly was sure to propose a vote of thanks, couched in the most complimentary terms, to the rector and all the officials of the year. The vote of The motion was carried without fail, and em- the public bodied formally in a decree. So flattering a proof of merit was not allowed to remain buried in the dusty archives. It was reproduced in more enduring form in stone, and posted, probably where all might read it, in the gymnasium of the College, whose walls 'were made to serve as a gazette of academic news. The in- The custom was observed from year to year, till the marble slabs spread over a large area of masonry ; and such votes. . - ,. i ,1 /% ,, as in course of time, by the ravages of war, or the processes of slow decay, the buildings crumbled into ruins, the storied fragments were strewn upon the ground and covered over, till history lost sight of them for ages. But gradually one after another reappeared ; and, as the ardour of antiquarian research revived at Athens in our own days, a lengthy series was at length pieced together and arranged, extending. though not of course in an unbroken order, from the Macedonian period to the third century of our era. We may gain a clearer insight into the social man- ners of the times, if we take the trouble to read over one of the decrees as a characteristic member of the series in question. The document is dated from the 8th of the month Boedromion, and the year, as indi- The College System. 2 1 cated by the Archon's name, belongs probably to the beginning of the first century before our era. Aphrodisius, the son of Aphrodisius the Azenian, A vote <>f moved : ' That whereas the Ephebi of last year sacri- proposed in ficed duly at their matriculation in the Guildhall, Dumont by the sacred fire of the City, in the presence of their Eph.ii.16t. Rector and the Priests of the People and the Pontiffs, according to the laws and decrees, and conducted the procession in honour of Artemis the Huntress, . . . and took part in others of like kind, and ran in the cu r Lornary torch-races, and escorted the statue of Pallas to Phalerum, and helped to bring it back again, and light it on its way in perfect order, and carried Dionysus also from his shrine into the theatre in like fashion, and brought a bull worthy of the God at the Dionysiac festival, * . . and took part in all due offerings to our Gods and our Bene- factors, as the laws and the decrees ordain; and have been regular in their attendance all the year at the gymnasia, and punctually obeyed their Rector, thinking it of paramount importance to observe discipline, and to study diligently what the People has prescribed ; whereas there has been no ground for complaint, but they have kept all the rules made by their Rector and their Tutors, and have attended without fail the lectures of Zenodotus in the Ptole- mseum and the Lyceum, as also those of all the 22 University Life in Ancient Athens. other Professors of Philosophy in the Lyceum and Academy ; and have mounted guard in good order at the popular assemblies, and have gone out to meet our Roman friends and benefactors on their visits: . . . and have given 70 drachmae, as the law pro- vides, to the proper functionaries to provide the goblet for the Mother of the Gods, and offered another also in the temple at Eleusis ; and have marched out under arms to the Athenian frontiers, and made themselves acquainted with the country and the roads, . . . and have gone out to Marathon and offered their garlands and said prayers at the shrine of the heroes who died fighting for their country's freedom ; . . . . and have gone on shipboard to the feast of Aiantsea, and held boat-races and processions there, and earned the praises of the Salaminians, and the present of a golden crown because of their good discipline and orderly behaviour ; and whereas they have lived in friendly harmony all the year without a jar as their Sector wished, and have passed their Examinations in the Senate House as the law requires ; and being full of honourable ambition and desire to help their Rector in his public-spirited endeavours to promote the public good as well as their own credit, they have taken in hand one of the old catapults that was out of gear, and repairing it at their own expense, have The College System. 23 learnt once more how to use the engine, the practice of which had been disused for years ; and in all other matters have conducted themselves with all pro- priety, and have provided all that was required for the religious services of their own gymnasia to show the wish of the Senate and the People to honour them for their merits and obedience to the laws and to their Rector, in their first year of adult life, the Senate is agreed to instruct the Presidents of the next assembly following, to lay before the People for approval the Resolution of the Senate to pass an honorary vote in praise of the Ephebi of last year, and to present them with a golden crown for their constant piety and discipline and public spirit, and to compliment their Tutors, their trainer Timon, and the fencing master Satyrus, and the marksman Nicander, and the bowman Asclepiades, and Calche- don the instructor in the catapults, and the attend- ants, and to award a crown of leaves to each ; and to have the decree engraved by the Secretary for the time being on two pillars of stone, to be placed one in the Market-plac'e, and the second wherever may seem best.' Again, a few days afterwards, in a regular assem- A decree bly in the theatre, one of the presidents put to the assembly, vote the following resolution of the Senate and the people : ' Whereas the People always has a hearty 24 University Life in Ancient Athens. interest in the training and discipline of the Ephebi, hoping that the rising generation may grow up to be men able to take good care of their fatherland, and has passed laws to require them to gain a know- ledge of the country, of the guardposts and of the frontiers, and to train themselves as soldiers in the use of arms, thanks to which discipline the City has been decked with many glories and imposing tro- phies ; and whereas on this account the People has always chosen a Rector of unblemished character, and accordingly last year Dionysius the son of Socrates, the Phylasian, had the care of the Ephebi entrusted to him by the People, and duly sacrificed with them at their matriculation, . . . and has trained them worthily, keeping them constantly engaged at the gymnasia, and making them all efficient in their drill, and insisting on decorum, that they should not fail throughout the year in obedience to the Generals, the Tutors and himself; and whereas he has watched over their habits of order and of self-control, taking them with him to the Professors' Lectures, and being present always at their courses of instruction , . . and whereas he has also roused their public spirit by teach- ing them to be good marksmen with the catapult, and accompanied them in their rounds to the guardposts and the frontiers . . . and has arranged the boat- races in the processions at Munychia . . . and also The College System. 25 the footraces in the gymnasia, and the escorts of honour for our Roman friends and allies . . . and re vie we- L. iv. 6. waved their differences of creed, we hear, and dined together in good fellowship, and each master of the schools became in turn the chairman at the banquet ; but now and then their jealous antipathies could not be soothed, and one at least, we read of, Lycon, would D.L.v.^4, not accept the invitation to a rival's table. As yet we have seen no forms of State endow- recognition ment, nor even any legal recognition of the corporate of corporate rights in status of the sects. Sometimes the little property the 8ects - was possessed by their head in his own right, though with a tacit understanding that he should leave it to his next successor, sometimes it was held in trust for the benefit of the connexion, like modern chapels on the congregational system. The principal members, too, were something like the deacons, and could at times appoint, if not dismiss their spiritual head. 38 University Life in Ancient Athens. They So jealous were they of their independence as to resented any inter- resent the least show of interference from the State, ference from the somewhat as priests resent at times in matters of the State. D.L.v.2.5. faith any appeal to secular tribunals. On one occa- sion, as we read, a crisis in politics was followed by a liberal reaction, which found little favour with the thinkers nursed in theories like those of Plato ; a law was passed in haste, at the motion of one Sophocles, which made it penal for any one to open school, or give any sort of public lectures, without the sanction of the State. The students soon were in high dudgeon when they heard that the liberty of instruction was thus narrowed, and they resolved to migrate in a body from a city so intolerant of intellectual freedom. Theophrastus, then in the zenith of his fame, and counting his pupils by the thousand, sympathised with the movement, and seceded with his scholars, till Athens realising speedily how much her attraction and renown depended on her academic throngs, repealed the un- lucky law in haste, and sued them humbly to return. Some of the philosophers were men of substance, and could easily maintain themselves in studious ease, while others found their little means eked out by the help of the small endowments lately mentioned. But besides this nearly all accepted presents at the hands of those who came to hear them. The Professors of Philosophy. 39 Socrates, indeed, had spoken strongly against paid bv what seemed to him a sordid and a mercenary prac- tice, for wisdom was too infinitely precious to be appraised at any money value. His own immediate followers and friends shared probably his sentiment, and taught in the true missionary spirit. But before long the prejudice grew weaker; and Speusippus, Plato's immediate successor, was taunted with dis- D L iv t loyalty to his own master's principles, in ' exacting tri- 6< bute from all whether they would or no.' Xenocrates, indeed, adhered more faithfully to old traditions, and decb'ned nearly all the presents sent to him, even by crowned heads, though he was so poor that he was 5.' sold on one occasion when he cou d not pay the taxes, and owed his freedom to the liberal friend of D. L. iv. 2 10. learning, Demetrius Phalereus. But it soon became a recognised thing that, even in the fie d of science the labourer was worthy of his hire, though so late as the days of Lucian it was thought unworthy of a grave professor to make much ado .about his fees, Lucian, or appeal to the law courts to enforce the payment, timus. Yet there was one sect, the Cynic or the Stoic, The Cynic or Stoic which for many generations discouraged all endow- sect dis- couraged ments, and would accept litt e or nothing: from the endow- ments and living. At first its members aimed at nothing more *<** than the means of bare subsistence, and like Crates when smitten with the love of wisdom, sold what 40 University Life in Ancient Athens. they had in the spirit of the sainted Francis, and D. L. vi. 5. gave the money all away, as only a hindrance in the perfect way of life. The scholars who gathered round them were often of the poorest, like Cleanthes, who turned the miller's wheel hy night to earn a J> L. vii. scanty pittance, that he might have leisure to attend the public courses in the day. They often did their best to drive away from them the wealthy or fastidi- ous, by putting them to irksome tasks, like Zenon, who was bidden to carry a pot of porridge through D. L. viL l. the streets, and when he felt ashamed and hid it in his cloak, had a blow from his master's stick which broke the pot and spilt the mess over his clothes. Th-Urge Yet in spite of all discouragements the students students of of philosophy increased, and rich and poor crowded alike to the lecture halls of the Professors. Theo- phrastus, for example, had as many as 2,000 pupils. "For the passion of speculative thought was fresh and vigorous in Greece, though the currents of free life were flowing feebly ; as the confidence was -shaken in the old standards of authority and State enactments, men turned with eagerness to systems which promised to make them a law unto themselves ; the earnest- minded .crowded round the sages as in the Middle Ages men were drawn to the cloister or to the lectures of the Schoolmen, to get more light on the eternal problems of roan's destiny, or to find an intellectual excitement in a subtle dialectic. The Professors of Philosophy. 4 1 We may take as .typical the story whi-ch we read Stories of sudden con- of Zcnon, visiting Athens for purposes of trade, and version, lighting at a bookseller's shop on the Socratic Me- moirs, which he pored over with increasing interest till he asked at length < Where are such men to be D. L. vii. i. o found ? ' and at once attached himself to Crates, who was pointed out to him close by. The call to Phi- losophy in his case, as in that of many another, reads like the stories of conversion to religion, or like the sudden resolution to renounce the world as Monk or Nun. Athens, though she maintained no Chairs as yet, Honorary was proud of the distinguished teachers who made of thf phi a home within her walls. She felt a pride in her Athens. y Hellenic name, which was becoming through the world synonymous with mental cultivation. She welcomed gracefully the strangers who came to sit at the feet of famous sages ; she insisted on the at- tendance at their lectures of the Ephebi whose studies she controlled by law ; and when a great man died among them, alien though he was like Zerion, she honoured him with a solemn vote of thanks, and decreed him a public funeral as a ' good man who had done his best to form the character of his young hearers, and lead them on to manliness and self-restraint by showing his own practice to be p. L. always in harmony with his professions.' 42 University Life in Ancient Athens. Little en- g f or a g e8 Jifctle or no endowment of research ctovrinent needed was neec ^ e< ^j while the passion for knowledge was intense; and multitudes who had little taste for earnest thought still flocked as a thing of course to Athens to get a sort of educational finish, or to gain a familiarity at second-hand with the great specula- tive questions of the day. To some study was its own reward, and they could live contentedly on little. Others who set up for Professors, and were ready to instruct all comers, could reap rich har- vests, if they cared, from the payments of their willing pupils. Rival seats But it was only in philosophy that the schools of trf learning for other Athens reigned supreme. Other intellectual rivals branches of study. were growing into note meantime, and were able to assert their separate claims. Alexandria had her royal founder, to build and endow a great museum with cloisters, dining-hall, and library, and salaried professors who were perhaps not always bound to lecture, but might give them- selves to study unhampered by restrictions, and swell the gathered store of knowledge, and stimulate mainly by example. Here were able critics, great in canons of prosody and rules of taste ; poets whose facile muse was at times somewhat overweighted by its learning ; geometers who carried to the furthest the Greek subtlety of deductive thought; geographers who The Professors of Philosophy. 43 arrayed in scientific form the tales of travellers and explorers. Rhodes, although no more the mistress of the sea, had her famous schools of rhetoric, in which Cicero stayed awhile for study. Scarcely less skilful in the play of dialectic were the teachers who abounded in the great towns of Asia Minor. Tarsus Strabo, iv. 10. 13. is singled out by Strabo as a seat of learning, whose citizens had the most unselfish love of letters. Marseilles, again, was fast becoming the favourite resort of studious Romans. j* .Here were formidable rivals to compete with the The in- doctors of the Porch and the Academy. For a time, old associa- tions in probably, the influence of Athens rested mainly on favour of Athens. the associations of the past, or the artistic beauties of a city peopled with so many memories dear to thoughtful minds. It is thus that Cicero, in his later years, speaks of the recollections of his visits to those scenes : ' After hearing Antiochus in the Pto- De Finibus. lemaeum, in the company of Piso and my brother and Pomponius and my cousin Lucius, for whom I had a brother's love, we agreed to take our evening walk in the Academy, chiefly because that spot would be the least crowded at that time. So we all met at Piso's house, as was agreed, and, chatting as we went, walked the six stadia, between the Gate Dipylum and the Academy. When we reached the scenes so justly famous, we found the quietude we craved. 44 University Life in Ancient Athens. " Is it a natural sentiment," asked Piso, " or a mere illusion, which makes us more affected when we see the spots frequented by men worth remembering-, than when we merely hear their deeds or read their works? It is thus that I feel touched at present, for I think of Plato, who, as we are told, was wont to lecture here. Not only do those gardens of his, close by, remind me of him, but I seem to fancy him before my eyes. Here stood Speusippus, here Xenocrates, here his hearer Polemon. ..." " Yes," said Quintus, i; what you say, Piso. is quite true, for as I was coming hither, Oolonus, yonder, called my thoughts away, and made me fancy that I saw its inmate Sophocles, for whom you know my passionate admiration. ..." " And I too," said Pomponius, " whom you often attack for my devotion to Epi- curus, spend much time in his garden, which we passed lately in our walk." ' Yet her But, in spite of old associations, the attractive- power grew ness of Athens had declined, and the student world no longer crowded to her as before. The ravages of war had swept over the land, the siege of Sulla had laid waste the groves of Plato, and the garden in which Epicurus lived j the civil strife left little time for peaceful studies, and the early empire showed no favour to the home of letters, where Brutus and even Antony had loved to court a brief respite from the The Professors of Philosophy. 45 din of war. The sages, indeed, had soon returned with quiet times to the old haunts, and Cicero was surprised to see how little they cared for the havoc that was made ; but philosophy had spent, for a time at least, its force of active speculation, and was living on its hoarded capital ; as such . it had less charm for earnest minds; other centres, other studies beguiled away the growing manhood of the age, and, as Strabo says, the young noblemen of Rome forgot the way to Athens and betook them- iv. 1.5. selves to Gaul. But the old city raised its head asrain, thanks it revived, thanks to to the magnificent patronage of Hadrian, who ho- the patron- noured it with marked affection, and deserved by his Hadrian, liberality some at least of the pompous phrases in which the Greeks spoke of him in inscriptions, as ' founder, benefactor, restorer of the world.' The Antonines did even more for it in the interests of learning. With them began the system of endow- and the Antonines, ments by the State ; some of the lecturers became who be^an the system recognised Professors, and the University existed as of state en- dowments, by law established. Few precise details are giveri us in ancient authors of the number and the value of the imperial appointments. Dion Cassius tells 71, 31. us, in vague language, that the philosophic Emperor Marcus ' gave salaried teachers to the world at Athens in every branch of letters.' From Lucian it 46 University Life in Ancient Athens. would seem that a round sum of 10,000 drachmae was allotted to at least one representative in each of the four great schools, to say nothing of lecturers in other subjects, who will be mentioned presently. Stoic as the Emperor was himself, he was so tolerant as to wish all other systems to have fair play and equal favour. He was competent enough to choose the ablest men, but he allowed the brilliant Herodes Atticus to have the disposal of his patronage. After description of an eiec- his death, if we may trust Lucian's lively pictures, a tionbya J ^ hoard." board of electors filled the vacant places, and the Ednnchac. Satirist describes them as grave and reverend seniors, before whom the competitors appeared in person to make good their title to the vacant chair (fy?o//os), and to prove their fitness by actual display, like candidates in these days preaching their trial sermons for a vacant living. The field was gradually narrowed, till only two were left, like athletes, to dispute the victory. Each made parade of all his erudition, his mastery of the logic of his school, to prove himself the fittest representative of Aristotle's doctrines. But they warmed to their work, as they went on, and leaving the passionless theories of dialectic, they betook them- selves to virulent invective, not shrinking from per- sonalities the most grotesque, and the most unsavoury charges. The scene described is too absurd to be literally true, though it may point to some unseemly The Professors of Philosophy. 47 passages in the appointments of the board. Yet we may fairly balance this unfavourable picture by an- other which the same writer paints for us, in far more flattering colours. He puts into the mouth of one A more favourable Xigrinus an elaborate eulogy of Athens : ' Brought up picture in as are the citizens in philosophy and poverty, they author of never look with favour on a neighbour or a stranger society. who tries to bring in luxury among them. Far from that, if anyone arrives among them with such habits, they try to convert him by degrees, and school him imperceptibly till they bring him to a better mind. He told me how a wealthy upstart came in vulgar pomp to Athens, expecting to be envied and ad- mired for his crowds of servants and his clothes of broidered gold ; but they only pitied the poor wretch, and tried to correct him in a kindly way, not blaming him rudely to his face, as in their free city anyone may live as he thinks best. But when he annoyed them at the gymnasia or the baths, by crowding them with all his slaves, one of them whispered to his neighbour, as if he did not witsh the man to hear, " He is afraid of being murdered at his bath, yet all is perfectly secure, and there is no need of an armed force. 1 ' The stranger heard the plain truth, and took the hint. And so they made him put aside his embroidery and purple by their sly remarks upon the flowery colours. " Why, here we 48 University Life in Ancient Athens. have the spring already," said one ; " where does this peacock come from ? " said another. " Surely, he has put on his mother's gown, ' a third ; and so on with like pleasantries. In this way too they made their jokes about his many rings and perfumed locks and extravagance of manner, till they brought him to a sounder state, and sent him home the better for his schooling. . . . Nigrinus praised, besides, the freedom which prevailed in Athens, the absence of all jea- lousy, the tranquil leisure which they enjoy so fully. He showed me how a course so ordered is in agree- ment with philosophy, and can preserve its moral purity ; and that nothing can be better suited to a man of virtue, who does not care for riches, but is resolved to live a natural and honest life.' It is true that the picture may be overcoloured from the wish to bring out more into relief, by way of contrast, the affectation and the vice of Eome. But we may turn to a less questionable witness, and read the pleasant memoirs of his student life at as also in Athens, with which Aulus Gellius relieves the dul- ness of his pedantry. In them we shall find por- trayed a simplicity of habits, and an unaffected interest in moral progress which were rare seemingly elsewhere. He tells us most of Taurus the philoso- pher, who was not content with formal lectures, but did his best to form the character of his young The Professors of Philosophy. 49 friends by personal converse, chatting with them at his bedroom door when they had walked home with GeHius,ii.2. him from lecture, travelling with them sometimes in the country, taking long walks to see them when xii. 5. he heard that they were sick, and whiling away their weariness by pleasant talk, in which the serious xviii. 10. mingled with the gay. If he asked his pupils to his table he did not care to tempt the appetite with xvii. 8. costly viands, but the simple fare of pudding or of salad was seasoned with true Attic salt, and his guests were happier and wiser when they left him. He had a way of delicately hinting that a fault might xx. 4, be mended or bad habit dropped, which served its end, while it spared his hearer's self-respect. Yet Taurus was no easy going teacher, with a standard easily attained. He liked to tell his youthful friends the story of Euclides, who braved death to hear vi.io. Socrates, his friend and guide, when it was penal for one of Megara to enter Athens ; whereas nowadays, he said, philosophers must often wait till their pupils have recovered from the wine party of the night before. He reproached them also for their want of i. 9. earnestness and depth; told them that they wanted to pick and choose, to gather here a thought and there a hint, somewhat as lecturers in our days at times complain that undergraduates are too practi- cally minded, and read not for the sake of knowledge, 50 University Life in Ancient At liens Thede- but a class. The same writer also dwells upon the scription of Herrxies pleasant memories of Kephissia, where among leafy groves and murmuring cascades Herodes Atticus kept open house, and entertained the students with digni- fied and courteous refinement* Munificent patron of the arts and letters, and acknowledged leader of the Academic world, he was at home alike in the flowery paths of rhetoric and the gravest themes of speculation, and was at once Philosopher and Sophist. i. He had his passages of Epictetus ready to silence the conceited braggart who set up for a Stoic oracle on the strength of a little captious dialectic, and a few learned phrases caught up at second hand. He had no mercy on the Cynic who rudely pushed in, tx. 2. demanding alms of right, and grumbling because he was not recognised as a compeer. 4 A beard and staff indeed I see,' was the retort, but no phil- osopher.* But he was too much of the ' grand seigneur ' to be accepted as the type of the Greek sage, con- tented with a modest lot. Much indeed of his colossal fortune was expended on stately works to beautify the towns of Greece. But there does seem too much of personal display in his royal road to spelling, planned for the sake of his own back- ward child. He had, so runs the story, a number of his humble friends, each representing a different letter of the alphabet, to move about and form them- The Professors of Philosophy. 5 1 selves into varying groups, to show the little dullard how to spell, somewhat as our journals tell us that a Viceroy of India may play at chess. He was a little too intent to reign supreme over the schools of Athens among the Professors of his own electing, as a sort of Chancellor by Imperial favour. Woe to the un- lucky rhetorician who had not paid his court with due respect, or who presumed to air his brilliant periods without permission. A hint was quite enough to the young students in the theatre, and they clamoured the poor lecturer down, just as impatient lads at times drown the voice of the Public Orator at Oxford. At last men learnt to take his measure, and to get over him with guile. The famous Aristides, who was asked to pronounce the Panathenaic speech, read him the preamble in a draft which was so spiritless and tame as to disarm all jealous fears, but when the day came for the state display the real speech proved to be the author's masterpiece. But indeed it must be owned that with all the endowment of research we hear too little of quiet But there study or of keenness of original speculation. The signs' of . originality great names and moving powers are found else- or deep study at where. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius at Rome ; Athens. Plutarch at Chseroneia, and Dion the Golden Mouthed in many a distant city, these probed deepest into the mysteries of life, or guided best the wavering E 2 52 University Life in Ancient Athens. conscience. Philosophy meantime had left the cloisters and the garden, and gone out in Stoic guise among the busy haunts of men. Sometimes she spoke with true missionary fervour, pleading with rude energy to every class without distinction, but talking mainly in the people's tongue. Sometimes, if we trust the Satirist Lucian, she condescended to questionable shifts, in the person of the spiritual confessors in great houses, submitting to the imper- tinence of vulgar upstarts, or attending the titled lady Lucian_ at her toilette, and whispering ghostly admonitions ircpi f!av in her ear, as the maid brought in the billet-doux, or lavishing their care on the poodle of their mis- tress, when the little poodles were expected to appear. Sometimes her tenets might be heard from the mouth of Cynic vagrants, who moved about the world with staff and wallet, like the begging friars of a later age, but dragging often high professions through the mud. The four great sects were repre- sented still at Athens, as we have seen, with their salaried Professors in their Chairs ; but the ancient doctrines were rather themes for rhetorical expan- sion, than problems for serious thought, or rules of manly life. Henceforth the name of Sophist is the literary term for nearly all the public teachers, and there is little seeming difference of method or of aims between Philosophers and Rhetoricians, with the latter of whom we now proceed to deal. 53 CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSORS OP RHETORIC. IN the pages of Philostratus and of Eunapius. we The Sophists or see the Sophists pass in a long line before us, the professors of rhetoric. same at Athens as at Antioch, or Smyrna, or many another seat of learning and of fashion, and for several centuries their characteristic features scarcely change. It was the old name that was revived, but with none of that undercurrent of contempt which the writings of the Socratic school had introduced into Greek thought. The older Sophists had their systems to explain the problems of the world around them ; they mostly had their principles of metaphysics, however shallow they might seem to deeper reasoners like Plato. The new were mainly literary artists, playing on the chords of human feeling, laying under contribution poetry, and art, and ethics in their im- partial interest in telling images and useful tropes. Never was rhetoric so much in vogue ; never were such enthusiastic crowds assembled round men to 5 4 University L ife in A ncien t A thens. The public professors, the private lecturers, generally aliens. Philostra- tus, ii. 62. Often men of vrealih and rank. whom the manner was of vital moment, while they cared infinitely little for the matter of the thought There were hundreds ready to compete for the Chairs at Athens, whenever they were vacant, and if it were of interest, we might make out the list of those who filled them in succession. Two of this kind were specially endowed : one from imperial funds, the other by the city, and worth respectively ten thousand drachmae and a talent. But besides these, as in other seats of fashion, there were many private teachers, who gathered an audience round them as they could, and at times even eclipsed the salaried Professors. At Athens, so few out of the Academic world were native born, that there seemed good reason for the fears of purists like Herodes, who complained that such a multitude of strangers had corrupted the purity of the Attic tongue, and only here and there, from a hermit in the country, could the old dialect be heard in all its beauty. With many it was far from being a question of a mere livelihood to gain. To say nothing of the princely manners of Herodes, the wealthiest of living men, many were of noble birth, and filled high office in their several states, or were entrusted with weighty diplomatic duties. Aliens even rose to posts of honour, like Lollianus, the first occupant of the Athenian Chair, who was The Professors of Rhetoric. 55 made Strategus or Mayor by the admiring city, and had the charge not of the arsenals as in old days of freedom, but of the markets and the corn trade. It would seem, however, that he was less at home in these new duties than in his lecture hall, for once we read, when there was a riot round the baker's shop, the populace began to pelt him, and were going on to Phil. iL 39. worse, when a bystander brought them to their senses by exclaiming, ' Nay, Lollianus only deals in words, not loaves.' To some it seemed the highest object of am- bition to rise to distinction as a Sophist, and feel that a great audience was hanging on their words. They could not stay long in their native homes, if they felt that they were capable of greater things, but must go forth into the larger world to air their talents and measure themselves with rivals of re- nown. Clazomenae had hoped, indeed, that Scope- Phil. ii. a . lianus would remain at home, and lend a lustre to their little town, but he said in somewhat mocking jest, ' The caged bird will not sing,' and betook himself to fashionable Smyrna, whither the youth of all the neighbouring countries flocked to hear him. Often they wandered off from land to land, to engage in literary tournaments with the champions whom they met, offering to lecture on some startling thesis, or to improvise on any that was given. 56 University Life in Ancient Athens. U. us. WuSrate SophLts. The following story in Philostratus may serve to illustrate the habit. Hippodromus, afterwards ap- pointed to a professorship at Athens, came for the first time to Smyrna, and as soon as he had landed, walked straight to the market-place, to get a local guide. He saw a temple on his way, by which some private tutors sat, with servants carrying bundles of books under their arms, and guessed that there was somebody of note lecturing within. He walked in- side and found Megistias, whom he bowed to without saying more. Megistias, thinking that it was a father or a guardian come to talk to him about a pupil, asked him what his errand was, but he only said, ' I will tell you when we are by ourselves.' When be had catechised the lads, the teacher said, * now tell me what you want.' 6 Let us exchange clothes,' was the answer of Hippodromus, who had on a travelling suit, while the other wore a lecturer's gown. * \Vhydo you ask that?' 'Because I wish to give you a specimen of my skill.' Megistias thought the stranger must be mad for talking in that style, but seeing that his face was quite com- posed he handed him his gown, and gave him a thesis as he asked. The other sat down on the chair, and thought a moment, then started up so suddenly as to make Megistias feel sure again that he was mad. But soon after he began his speech, the listener, full The Professors of Rhetoric. 5 7 of admiration, hurried up, and begged to know who he could be. ' I am Hippodromus, the Thessalian,' he answered, ' and I have come here for experience, to see by the example of one man of learning in what style men lecture in Ionia, but let me finish my own speech.' Hardly had he done so, when all the edu- cated men in Smyrna came hurrying to where Megis- tias was, for the rumour had already spread, that Hippodromus had come to visit them. So he took up the same subject, and handled it again in a new style, and afterwards came out in public, and filled them all with admiration. So too we read of Marcus of Byzantium coming Phil. ii. 41. unawares into the room where Polemon was busy with O f Marcus his pupils. The stranger had a rustic look, for his beard and head were all unkempt and shaggy. But some one of the students who had visited Byzantium, remembering his face, whispered his name to his next neighbour, and so on till they knew all round. So when the lecturer called as usual for a theme, they all looked to where Marcus sat, expecting him to name one. ' Why are you staring at the bumpkin,' said their tutor, 4 how can he start a subject ? ' Where- upon Marcus raised his voice and said, ' I will name a theme, and improvise upon it also.' His broad Doric at once betrayed him to his hearer, and they soon began to show off before each other, and parted at last with mutual admiration. 58 University Life in Ancient Athens. Popular The people commonly was nothing loath to hear ; enthusiasm they streamed as to a popular preacher in our own day, or an actor starring in provincial towns : the epicures accepted the invitation to the feast of words, and hurried to the theatre to judge as critics the choice of images, and refinement of the style, and all the harmony of balanced periods. Few could resist the intoxication of applause. Phil. ii. 88. Aristides even, when the Emperor asked to- hear him lecture, made it a condition that his friends might come to listen, and clap and shout as loud as they Their should please. Of course their heads were often turned vanity with such applause : of course they gave themselves high airs, and many a story illustrates the boastful Phil. ii. 4. arrogance of the great sophists. Polemon began a speech at Athens with the words, 'You have the credit, Athenians, for being skilful judges of good style. I shall now see if you deserve it.' He carried in- deed so far his self-assertion as to turn a future Emperor out of doors, when he came home unex- pectedly, and found him quartered in his house by order of the council. Adrian, of Tyre, was not Phil. ii. 91. much humbler, for he began his inaugural address, on his appointment to a Chair at Athens, with the prelude, ' Once more come letters from Phoenicia.' and osten- Like some others of the class, he also showed his pride and ostentation in his outer man. He wore The Professors of Rhetoric. 59 the costliest clothes and rarest stones, and rode on state occasions in a carriage, the horses of which had silver bits. The ceremony over, he was escorted home by students from all parts of Greece, who treated him with all the reverence due to a High Priest at the Mysteries. For he spared no cost to win their love, providing amusements of all kinds, hunting and wine parties, and excursions to the races, till they felt towards him as to some indulgent father. C I have seen the tears standing in their eyes,' says his biographer, 'as they recalled his memory, and fondly imitated his voice or gait, or graceful carriage.' Others, like Adrian, pushed too far the love of PfcH. " 77. finery and display. Alexander of Seleucia came to Eome on a deputation to the Emperor, and when admitted to an interview, somewhat importunately urged the prince to notice him. * I do take notice of you,' was the reply of Antoninus, * and I see what you are like, a coxcomb only thinking of combing your hair, cleaning your teeth, paring your nails, and scenting yourself with perfume.' We find indeed a trace of the old contrast between Philosopher and Sophist, although in altered form, when we read in the story of Alexicles, that he abandoned late in life ii. 74. the sage's grave and austere manners, and took to the theatre and concerts as soon as he became a Sophist. 60 University Life in Ancient Athens. Their pro- They made money rapidly enough so soon as they fcssional gains. rose to eminence, and no profession of the day brought in such incomes. Isocrates, some centuries before, though fresh from the lessons of his master Socrates, who spoke of payment as a sort of simony, had opened a school of rhetoric at Chios, afterwards at Athens, and took from 1,000 drachmae to a talent Phil. ii. 34. for a course of lectures. Scopelianus in later days was still more highly paid, for he received from the young Herodes Atticus a gift of 15 talents, and the grateful father, we are told, gave him as much, and showed his admiration for him by destroying all the statues of the rival Sophists which had graced his numerous corridors. This was exceptional of course, as was the fortune PhiLiiio?, of this princely house. But Damianus the Ephesian, who spent so much on gifts to his fellow-citizens and repairs to the great temple, paid 10.000 drachmae at one time to both of the great teachers whom he heard. Commonly they were content with lower fees, which however mounted up to a good figure Phil. ii. 95. when the auditors were many. Chrestus of Byzan- tium, whom the Athenians tried to get elected for one of their own Chairs, had 100 paying pupils at one time. Some who had good means of their own were very moderate in their demands. Proclus of PhiLii.106. Naucratis, for example, took 100 drachmae once for The Professors of Rhetoric, 6 1 all from each, and let him listen to as many courses as he would ; out of thac sum he provided even a library for the special use of his own pupils, that they might look up all the references at once, and so expand his oral teaching. He carried so far his independence, we are told, as to insist on strictest discipline. Strange to say, he would not let his pupils hiss or laugh, but made them sit quite quietly; the servants and pedagogues together on one side, and the young students marked off by themselves. There was an important privilege attaching to The im- munities the educational profession, which dates also from from civil burdens the Antonines. The teachers for the most were free enjoyed by the profes- from all taxation ; at least in the smaller towns of sors. Asia, and probably elsewhere, three Sophists and three Grammarians enjoyed immunity, while in the larger there might be five of each. The Philoso- phers were to be all free, but it was owned that there were few to claim the privilege. This was a far greater boon in those days than it would seem at present. Civic burdens, cheerfully borne in earlier ages by the men of substance, while the currents of free life flowed strongly, were felt to be more grievous as public spirit grew more feeble, and the number of the town councillors diminished. Aristides tells us without shame in his confessions, 62 University Life in Ancient Athens. how the local honours of all kinds pursued him, each with some heavy burden on his funds ; how he wept and prayed and fasted, till at length by special favour of his guardian powers, he saw a vision of white maids who came to free him, and woke to find a letter from the Emperor, which conferred the much longed-for dispensation. Examples But Imperial caprice sometimes withheld what of imperial caprice in Imperial favour had bestowed. Academic quarrels the treat- ment of the now and then were heard of by the court at Rome, Sophists. and the professors were sent for in post haste to advocate their rival claim. ' No wonder if they sometimes lost heads and floundered in their speech,' Phil. ii. 114. says the compassionate biographer of Heraclides ; 8o University Life in Ancient Athens. Ionia, and Caria ; some few even among the Paphla* gonians and Cappadocians. Far more there were in Galatia and in Armenia, and most of all in Ciiicia and Syria. * If you cross the Euphrates, and visit the cities which lie beyond it, you will find some not unworthy members of our brotherhood. Phoe- nicia besides, and Palestine, and Arabia owe me some gratitude.' The lan- Among the remaining speeches of Himerius are tfuage of Himerius several addressed to the freshmen who had lately to the J freshmen joined his classes. He is careful in every case to was note their birth-place, and to add some flattering words of reference to the historic glories or the pre- sent importance of their race, while dwelling on his pleasure at being brought into such wide-spread relations. But he does not forget to respect his dignity amid such complimentary phrases, and to magnify the importance of his office. The language of his opening address is as solemn as that of any as solemn priest of the Eleusinian rites. They are grave priest at the mysteries, of which he holds the keys, and the pro- mvsteries. Him. ei cess of initiation has begun. * Before the ceremony Wernsdorf. opens which is to give you access to the sanctuary, let me distinctly warn you what you should do, and what refrain from. Let the ball drop from your hands, and the pen alone engage your care; the sports of the gymnasium must cease, and the studio The Professors of Rhetoric. 8 1 of the Muses be thrown open. Delicate or wanton habits ill accord with industry ; come to me, if you will, unwashed, so you set your foot on self-indulgence. There in a few words you have my precepts and my rule. The obedient hearer shall find grace and light. The careless and refractory shall be warned off the holy fire, and find no access to the sanctuary of eloquence. The warning applies indeed to all, but specially to you who are freshmen but of yesterday.' There followed a sort of introduction of the younger to the senior students, in which the same set of religious images recurs, drawn from the lan- guage of the mysteries. ' The adept already familiar xv. s. with the sacred way is the best guide to initiate the inexperienced novice, as old sailors can best steer the ship, and old hounds teach the young ones how to hunt." Then began in the forenoon a systematic course J ii. 3IG. of study, for later in the day private lectures only The co , l?se were given for older men who had a taste for learn- ing. The young students read and commented together on the writings of the classics, on the older authors, that is, whose style seemed purest or senti- ments the noblest. Thus, in Libanius we have a in. 438. scholar complaining to himself, 4 What shall I gain from all this ceaseless work, in which I have to read right through so many poets, and so many rheto- 82 University Life in Ancient Athens. ricians, and writers of every style of composition ? ' The lecturers discoursed on the beauties, or on the characteristic features, of the authors ; while the stu- dents, assisted sometimes by the slaves who wrote short-hand, took down the notes of what they heard, Iabanius,ii. * reproduce it on occasion. It would seem that QQ they were diligent enough in this respect, as in our own day, for we read that in a single month they filled their note-books many times with hints and illustrations of good style. The comments were Themistius, 289. often wearisomely long, if we may trust a critic^ who LibaniuSjii. 273. talks of their ' wasting as much time in dissecting one poor book as the Greek warriors spent at Troy.' but only of Their studies in philology extended only to one the Greek 8J language, language. The literature of Rome was quite ignored by these disdainful schoolmen, as unworthy to be mentioned by the side of Demosthenes and Homer. Even Demosthenes himself seemed somewhat too bare and unadorned in style to suit the fastidious taste of this late age ; he was read and quoted with respect, indeed, but the real models of their imitation were the showy and inflated periods of masters of rhetoric together like Polemon and Aristides. Meantime they laid to with rules ofifi?toric. heart elaborate theories of literary grace; trained their ears to catch the rhythm of each sentence, and to note the significance of accent, and the varying use of anapaest or spondee at the close of every The Professors of Rhetoric. 83 period. Verbal analysis was not forgotten ; rules of synonyms and homonyms and paronyms had to be mastered and remembered, with all the machinery of tropes and figures. Before long the principles must be applied to original _ composi- compositions of their own, and essays and themes of tions were every kind became the order of the day. The pedagogues might lend their aid, and recall to memory the lecturer's hints, turn out the classical authors whose thoughts or images could be pressed into the service, or stimulate the flagging industry of their young charges. But the exercises must be brought in time under the Professor's eye, to be examined and corrected, and to serve as evidence of progress made. Their fluency of speech was trained meantime, and all the rules of dialectic learnt. It and exer- cises in was not enough for them to bring their essays care- logic and elocution fully prepared on subjects long ago suggested ; they must learn to improvise on any question laid before them, show their perfect self-possession and easy grace in an extempore debate. They stored their memories for this purpose with a whole stock of common-places (^psiai) which could readily be turned to good account ; they studied their teacher's oratorical displays, which were published often for their use, that they too might learn to show off upon occasion with an elaborate harangue 84 University Life in Ancient Athens. . They fancied themselves bidding adieu to friends upon a journey, and took leave in appro- priate style (TrpoTrs/JLTTTifcoi \6yoi) ; or addressed complimentary speeches (Trpoo-^wwrjfuiTiKoi) to the great men, ministers of state or generals, who might one day look in upon them at their work. Or they took their themes from ancient history, and de- claimed, like the Roman lads of Juvenal's age, and gave their good advice to Sulla, or wrangled about the course of action which it would have been wiser for Hannibal to follow. Bat the The lecturers were very far indeed from saying professed to that their pupils needed only to have courses of rhe- more than toric and logic. Their curriculum of study had a much rhetoric. Greg, in more ambitious sound. Thus Gregory isazianzen laud. Basil. ^ ug ^^ hig friend g Uule Rg he w&g in sympathy with the spirit of the place, traversed the whole round of academic study, not only mastered rhetoric and philology, but excelled all others in philosophy, including in the term ethics and meta- physics, as well as the rules of dialectic. Not con- tent with that, he went on to mathematical inquiries, rising even to astronomy, after learning the proper- ties of numbers and of figures. Then at last he studied medicine, both in theory and practice, So too, when Himerius traces a sketch of the liberal education of his day in the person of his friend The Professors of Rhetoric. 85 Hermogenes, he made him speedily devote himself to the study of philosophy, in the several stages of morals, physics and theology. In so doing he mastered not merely the doctrines of a single school, but was at home alike in all the great systems of Greek thought. Like Basil, he too learnt astronomy, and also travelled far and wide to gain a practical ac- quaintance with the outer face of nature. But, indeed, we need not be so much impressed But the course of with this encyclopaedia of learning. With all their study was more ira- iinposing names these sciences were something quite posing than profound different from what we think them now. The ex- perimental methods had not been applied as yet, and few of nature's secrets were discovered, as compared with the stores of information since amassed. / In place of careful study of the facts, men ac- cepted principles unproven, oftentimes unprovable ; they dealt with theories instead of things ; and specu- lation in all the spheres of philosophy, morals, and religion tended to mystic reverie and edifying talk. In the academic schools, moreover, such grave studies were not pursued from any earnest love of truth, from the real desire to probe the mysteries of nature, or draw the veil a little further back-; but rather as a source of varied illustration, to furnish the rhetorician's stock-in-trade, to give a glib assurance to the speaker, or a show of dignified omniscience. 86 University Life in Ancient Athens The evi- dence re- maining in the public lectures of dis- tinguished professors ; as, for example, of Himerius. Armed with a large array of sounding phrases, and passing with ease from technicalities to common- place, he could suit himself to every hearer, and hold his own on every question in debate. Is such a criticism thought too sweeping or severe ? We may turn, perhaps with interest, to see how far it is confirmed by the works which have come down to us from the masters of the schools. These are, as it is natural to suppose, their greater efforts : inaugural addresses at the opening of term, when the holidays of summer had passed by, and the lecturer met his class again. Often they were lectures of parade, delivered in the Long Vacation, when the daily catechisings were suspended, and time and energy were left entire for bolder flight of rhetoric. Or when distinguished visitors passed by, crowned heads, or ministers, or provincial governors, and the local magistrates came out in state to do them honour, the ceremony was not thought complete if the fore- most orator did not grace it with a speech. For purposes like these the talents of Himerius were always in request. An encomium or elegy from his pen was looked for as a thing of course on state occasions, as much as in later days an ode from a Poet Laureate, or an eloge from a French Academi- cian. Take all, or any of these lectures there are some volumes ready for our use by different The Professors of Rhetoric. 87 authors read and re-read in search of the ripe fruit of all this varied study. Where are the new canons of literary taste, the fine theories of poetic art, the principles of historic method, the critical survey of great schools of moral thought. Now, if ever, surely might a large and learned eclecticism flourish, com- paring and balancing the errors of one-sided systems, full of delicate sympathy and insight, if wanting in creative power. We turn over the pages, and we only feel the more how impossible it is to enter fully into the thoughts and feelings of the generations that are gone. We know that the charms of style are evanescent, and we must lose the graces of natural gesture and of modulated .voice ; but surely here is a poor outcome of all this earnest study, and all this gathered store of learning, in thought which hardly ever rises above the sameness of dull common-place, relieved but ill by tags of poetry and borrowed images, which to our modern taste seem often in- congruous and insipid. It may be urged, indeed, and with some show of it is hard, J indeed, for reason, that we have here only the works of rhetori- s to do justice cians, more intent on beauty of form than breadth of to the rhetorical thought, and that for the higher education of the age beauties of we must turn to other teachers. It may be well to weigh both these objections. As to the first, it is quite true that there is a real danger of injustice in 88 University Life in Ancient AtJiens. our criticism of these schoolmen. It is so hopeless for us now to try to feel what the sensitive ears of the old Greeks must have felt, we are so ignorant of the rhythmical melodies of the language which they spoke, and whose resources they studied with so fond a love, that periods which roused them to enthusiasm fall flat and cold on our unsympathetic nerves. Nor is this all, our sensibilities for grace and beauty have certainly not kept pace with our scientific progress. Our deepest thinkers are often quite indifferent to the elegance of literary form. They may see to it that the words shall faithfully reflect the thoughts, but beyond that they often neglect entirely the niceties of style, and would almost despise them- selves for caring much about the harmonies of balanced cadence, or the subtleties of characteristic phrase. And so we listen with a natural impatience when we hear of the laboured efforts of these rhetori- cians to gain an entire mastery over the beauties of their language, or to make perfection of the out- ward form their end and aim. Yet after all they were musicians, playing on an instrument of many strings ; and if through them they stirred the fancy and touched the hearts of a thousand hearers, we have no right to underrate their skill, because some of the strings are tuneless in our ears, or our ignorant hands have never learnt to use them deftly. The Professors of Rhetoric. 89 But is it true, that at the University there Was there much was much teaching of a higher order, thrown into teaching of the shade, perhaps, by the popular graces of these order? literary artists, but still ready, if required, for any deep and earnest thinkers ? One potent influence of this kind there was elsewhere already, soon to be better represented also in the schools of Athens, for without doubt the Neoplatonic system was not wanting in vigour or intensity of thought. But we cannot take this as the type of what was then in vogue, as the professorial teaching of philosophy. Eather for that purpose we may take Themistius, The versed in all the Aristotelian lore, and famous at this Themistius, though time as Public Lecturer in the New Rome, the seat professedly aphil- of Empire. A volume of his popular works survives osopher, to show us what was the spirit of his teaching. He is very careful, more than once, to hold himself dis- tinct from all the Sophists of the day. To make the contrast more explicit, he describes them as Plato did his rivals of old time, following closely in his master's steps, and using the same definitions for the heads of his own lecture. Thanks to his own ample means, he need not teach in any mercenary spirit, or vex his pupils for their tutor's dues, or, like his rivals, puff and advertise his literary wares ; but thanks still more to the genial spirit of philosophy, he was raised above suspicion of betraying the interests of truth, 9O University Life in Ancient Athens. and making the worse appear the better cause. The Sophists might dwell contentedly in their unrealities of dreamland, but eternal verities alone engaged the attention of his class. If so, however, it must be admitted that only the privileged few might enter into the inner circle of such mysteries. In the discourses which are left, popular he has borrowed all the rhetorician's tools, and used and rhet- hisiecture8 ^ em seem i n gty without misgiving. Homeric illus- So'hilte ^rations cropping up in subjects most incongruous to their use, frigid conceits of stalest imagery, wordy developments of thought already worn threadbare, this is what Themistius thought enough to attract an ignorant public to the fruits of liberal culture. As moral He takes credit to himself for forming the he and the character of those who listen, and helping them for- Sopbiata were easily ward on the road to virtue ; and indeed his lectures by the read often like dull sermons, though delivered from Christian doctors. the Professor's Chair. But as preachers of righteous- ness the schoolmen were easily surpassed by the great doctors of the church, who like themselves had mastered all the rules of rhetoric, and used them in a nobler cause. Some there were, indeed, who tried to breathe new life into the dry bones of heathen ethics, whose mystic enthusiasm and devotional warmth were quite unknown to earlier ages; but they could not vie with the fire of intense conviction, The Professors of Rhetoric. 91 the vigour of invective, the weight of personal cha- racter with which their rivals denounced the vices of the age, or enlarged upon the mysteries of faith. In another chapter we may enter more into details This may upon the struggle between the old and new religions, account in so far as it affects the subject now before us; it dwindling numbers remains only here to note its influence on the outer and reputa- tion of the fortunes of the schools, in their fading prestige and schools. dwindling numbers. We may fail, indeed, to re- cognise the change, so long as we are only dealing with the greatest names among the schoolmen. We see that they still take a high rank in their cities, have honours and riches showered upon them, receive distinctions from their Sovereigns, and even military decorations, as Proaeresius was made the colonel of a regiment, and had a statue raised to him at Rome, with the inscription on it, ' the Queen of Cities to Eunapius the King of Eloquence.' They are indispensable on state occasions, as the official orators of every im- portant cause. Provincial Governors send them pupils as a mark of their esteem, and go in state to their inaugural addresses. Sometimes also they honour them bv letting their own children join the Libanius, in. 134. class, forgetting however to send the customary fees, or even any present of fruit, or wine, or geme. But the rank and file are not so lucky, and before long they keenly feel the suspense and discouragement 92 University Life in Ancient Athens. Liban. of a decaying trade. We have, indeed, a humorous Epist. 401. definition of the Sophist, given us by one of their own number, in which stress is laid on their big houses, multitudes of pupils, rounded paunch, and insinuating ways. But the reverse of the picture is presented, though still in jesting vein, by the same writer, when he maintains that the Sophist's trade is but a form of slavery, in gilded chains at best. He has to flatter the friends and parents of his pupils, and say that they are prodigies of talent, though they may be hopeless blockheads ; he must pay court to the innkeepers and tradesmen, and the masters of the lodging-houses, that they may not give him a bad name, or prejudice the freshmen against his training- college for young sophists (crofa&Twv spya(TTt')piov} ; he must make interest with the Aldermen, lest in a fit of spleen or of caprice they may deprive him of his Chair ; he must not even forget to have a ready word and liberal fee for the porters at the great men's houses. When the day comes for any of his studied lectures, to which the general public is invited, the veriest dolt, the most irreverent witling, soldier or pugilist or what-not, may spoil his happiness by check- ing Oif* natural movement of applause. The writer however does not always speak so lightly. One of his speeches contains a strong appeal in behalf of the poorer members of his own profession, in which he The Professors of Rhetoric. 93 draws a melancholy picture of the misery to which illustration they were exposed. A French bishop pleading for his speech of clergy, who can scarcely live upon their scanty pit- f tance, taunting the state for its cruel neglect of so many of its faithful servants ; this would he, perhaps, the nearest analogue in our experience to the Sophist's expostulation with the citizens of Antioch. ' Be Lib ^ 2 <)y not misled,' he says, ' by names like those of orators and professorial Chairs, but listen to the truth from one who knows it well. Some of them have not even now a cottage of their own, but, like cobblers, live in hired lodgings ; or if any one has bought a little house, it is still so mortgaged that the owner has more anxiety than if he had never bought it. * One has three slaves, another two, a third still fewer ; these are all the more insolent and tipsy, be- cause their master is so poor. . . . One rhetorician counts himself a lucky man because he only has a single child; another thinks his numerous family a real misfortune; the prudent avoid marriage altogether. In former days, the schoolmen used to stroll into the goldsmiths' shops, and talk freely to the craftsmen, finding fault with the workmanship of one, or pointing out the finer tooling, or praising them for promptitude, or blaming them if they were too slow. Now they have to deal mainly with the bakers, to whom they owe the very bread they eat ; 94 University Life in Ancient Athens. they have to promise that they soon will pay, and beg a little more meantime ; they are driven to grievous straits, for they would gladly shun their shops, because they are ashamed to owe them money, but are forced by hunger to go to them again. As the debt goes on increasing always, and no funds come in to meet it, they curse their literary craft, and carry to the bakers the earrings or neck- lace of their wives ; they must not think what present they can give them to replace it, but only what other ornament there is to sell. * Their lessons over, they do not hurry home, as would be natural, to enjoy their leisure, but linger awhile longer in their lecture rooms, because they know that they will feel their misery more at home. They sit down, and talk and bemoan their wretched- ness to one another, but each finds that however piteous his tale, he has something worse to hear.' The Speaker claims his right to raise his voice in their behalf even in the council chamber. Their influence had made Antioch what it was the home of liberal studies ; their moral character was worthy of themselves and of the reputation of the State. He couM point to their bearing their poverty with unrepining patience, mingling with noblemen and squires, but saying nothing of their personal wants, and meantime neglecting none of the duties of their The Professors of Rhetoric. 95 calling. The artisans, in their workshops, might indeed make much ado about the fees and presents on which the teachers grew so fat, but in sad earnest they were very few, and national help was needed if they would not see them starve. He does not ask, however, for a grant of public money, the pressure of which would fall upon the rates; but there were waste lands at the disposal of the city, ground at least which was unclaimed at present, most of which, indeed, must go to the landowners, to meet the growing burdens of taxation, but of which, perhaps, some little might be spared to supply each teacher with a modest glebe. It will be noticed that our information on this point deals solely with the state of things at Antioch, but the same forces were at work elsewhere, and there is reason to believe that the like holds good for Athens. 9 6 Our pic- tures of student life at Athens are drawn mainly from writers of the fourth century fto students were of Attic race CHAPTER IV, STUDENT LIFE. IT is from the writers of the fourth century that we mainly learn the habits of the student world at Athens. So many men of eminence, both Christians and Pagans, passed years of their growing manhood in its schools, that it is no wonder if in later life they recurred fondly to the friendships formed, the knowledge learnt, and even to the frivolities and pranks witnessed if not indulged in by themselves. Scarcely any of the teachers, and few seemingly among the students, were of the Attic race. * Men of all the nations subject to the Roman sway,* says Eunapius, e were gathered there ; ' but the West was little represented. Italian names seldom occur in our authorities, for Autun (Augustodunum) and Treves (Augusta Treverorum), Marseilles and Alex- andria, in addition to the old imperial city, carried off probably the studious youth of one-half of the empire. But the Hellenized inhabitants of Asia Minor, and the populations of Syria and Phoenicia Student Life. 97 betook themselves especially to Athens, whose name stood highest wherever the language and art of Greece were prized. Many came in riper years, after So 6 were a long- course of study, spent in one or more of the other seats of learning, as German students in our own days pass from one University to another, attracted by some celebrated name. Thus the future Em- peror Julian was twenty-four, Basil was twenty -five, and Gregory Nazianzen nearly thirty when they still carried on the life which brought them there together. Sometimes even practised teachers sought to profit for a time by the experience and skill of a more conspicuous talent. But more often they were butcom- younger than the undergraduates of our own days, were veiy* Eunapius the biographer was only sixteen, as he 5 V tells us, when he entered, and they are spoken of so often as mere lads in the speeches of the time that we cannot doubt that they were very young. As they came at such an early age from dis- tant homes, and their parents very rarely could be with them though we do hear of some at times they often had their personal attendants, whohml pedagogues or private tutors, to exercise some eon~ P nvate trol, and represent the influence of home. * Watch- thcm ' men and guardians,' as they were termed in the rhetorical phrases of the day ; ' bulwarks to protect the growing manhood, barking hounds to frighten H 98 University Life in Ancient Athens. Libamus, ill* *o. but the professors exercised a moral supervision, and each freshman specially The touted for their own professors, away wolves,' they watched over the daily life of their young charges, kept them to their hours of study, warning, encouraging, arid threatening even in the last resort ; they travelled with them over the subject of the Professors' lectures, looked to see if their notes were rightly taken, and helped them often in their exercises. Yet they were commonly of lower social rank, and as such had not always moral weight, -and even were at times exposed, as we shall see, to sorry treatment. So the public teachers were expected to exert a pastoral care ; the lecturers speak of themselves as shepherds, and their audience as a flock which they must tend. It was the first thing for every youth on his . _ arrival to put himself upon the list of some Pro- fessor, chosen at the wish of guardians or friends, and, after some sort of examination and settlement of money terms, his name was entered on the roll, and he was made free of all the future courses. But this was not always such a simple matter as it may seem to us at first sight. Let us hear what Gregory Nazianzen has to tell us. * Most of the young enthusiasts for learning^ noble and lowborn alike, become mad partisans of their Professor. As those w h h ave a passionate love of racing hardly can con- tain themselves, but copy all the gestures of the jockeys, or bet upon the horses entered for the prize, Student Life. 99 although they hardly have the wherewithal to live themselves ; so the students show like eagerness for their teachers and the masters of their favourite studies : they are all anxiety to get their audience larger, and to have their fees increased. And this is carried to portentous lengths. They post them- selves over the city, on the highways, about the harbour, on the tops of the hills, nay, in lonely spots ; they win over the inhabitants to join their faction. As each new comer disembarks, he falls "into their hands ; they carry him off at once to the house of some countryman or friend, who is bent on trumpeting the praises of his own Professor, and by that means gaining his favour or exemption from his fees.' Libanius was one of those who suffered most Libanius suffered hardly from this practice, and in his memoirs he from this practice. draws a lively picture of his treatment. Hardly had ^ 13. he set foot in the city, after the hazards of a winter voyage from Constantinople, than he fell into the hands of a party of these touters, who, carrying him off by main force, kept him in durance vile until he promised to give up his former plans, and attach himself to the lecturer for whom they catered. They made light of all his protests, and only let him out when he had bound himself by solemn oath. He went accordingly to lecture with them, but, whether H 2 ioo University Life in Ancient Athens. from chagrin or not, he was very painfully impressed by the feebleness of the instruction given, and was in no mood to join the others in their rapturous applause. Their scowling looks, however, speedily convinced him that it might be dangerous to criticise too freely, so he excused himself upon the plea that he was suffering from sore throat,' and must sit by in silent admiration. But as soon as he safely could, he quietly gave up attending, betook himself to lonely studies, training himself on the old models, yet never quite forgot his disappointment, or spoke otherwise than with contempt of the lecturers of Athens. The practi- Nor was this the only ordeal which the freshmen f-al jokes to which the had to bear. They were exposed to other treatment, freshmen were sub- in sorrv taste as it may seem to us, as practical jokes jecteiL are commonly, with little Attic salt about them. Yet Gregory, even in a funeral speech on his friend Basil, lingers complaisant ly on such memories of their youth. He tells us how the novice, just arrived and carried off to the house of some acquaintance, was set upon and badgered by the senior men about him. If he was very fresh, and inexperienced in repartee, they resorted to mere vulgar banter; but if he showed any quickness in retort, they tried upon him all the resources of their practised wit. Wearied of this, at last they set off for a walk, which proved to be a Student Life. ' i'pi sort of mock parade of the new-comer. Two and two they paced the streets in slow procession, till they brought him to the bath; but as they drew near they broke out suddenly into frantic uproar, as if the door were barred and they must needs take the place by storm. After this feint of assault and of defence, when the nerve of the freshman had been tested, they took him in at last, and the trials of the novitiate were over. Now and then, by special favour, some were spared, f e ,JJ Eunapius, on his way by sea to the Piraeus, had Euna P iu9 been struck down by fever, and carried to a lodging in an almost hopeless state. A quack doctor was allowed to try his hand upon him, when his life was now despaired of, and, to the surprise of all, he cured his patient. The news spread through the city, and Proaeresius, the professor, showed a lively interest when he heard it. So 5 turning to his class, he said, * Excuse him, if you love me, the ordeal of the bath, and be sparing of your jests and banter ; treat him as if he were my son.' In like manner, in the case of Basil, Gregory and Basil, interceded for his countryman, whose character, he knew, was far too earnest and reserved to enter readily into such poor jests. * This,' says Gregory, * was the beginning of our friendship, for no one in our time, save him, was exempted from the general IO 2 University ; L ife in A ncient A thens. law.' Yet even so he did not quite escape from captious quibbles. Some Armenian students, jealous possibly of the young freshman's reputation, set upon him unawares, and tried to draw him into a dispute ; and even Gregory at first failed to see their malice. But they found their match in the clear- headed Basil, who was too strong for them in dialectic, and made his way out of their snares. National Besides the references already made to the ties difference!* seem to of race among the youths, there seems evidence of have been marked hv closer union among the several nations represented sociai clubs. than can be found at earlier times. In Philostratus, indeed, we read of the Greek set, as if it were kept separate from the rest ; but now we are told of na- tional differences, so strongly marked, as if they had some organised form of clubs or social unions among them, somewhat as in later days we read in modern Universities of standing jealousies between north and south, or recognised subdivision into nations. There Oiympio- are some data even whicli may lead us to infer that Phot. 63. not only were the students to be distinguished as Lib. ii. 432. g (>(Vn8men from the world, but that each nation had its own variety of academic garb. They grouped themselves in this way round their favourite Pro- fessors, attracted often by such local ties, and thus intensified by sympathies of race the passionate spirit of their partisanship. Student Life. 103 On one occasion we are told that the whole The factious University was split up into angry factions in the spirit of J these illus- interest of rival teachers. But Progeresius had bv tratedby Eunapius far the largest following. All Pontus and Bithynia grouped itself around him. The western coast of Asia, from Lydia to Tarsus, was with him to a man. Even Egypt and the regions far beyond to unknown distances flocked to hear him and to sound his praises. So hot grew the disputes at times among them, that the teachers hardly dared to show them- selves outside their doors, and lectured in their houses, lest their appearance in the streets, escorted home by their young partisans, should be the signal for a riot. One such we hear of more at length in the pages of Eunapius, and it may serve, to illustrate still further the relation of tutor to his pupils. Julian, the leading Sophist of his time, in the early part of the fourth century, had kept himself care- fully in doors, and taught his scholars in his theatre, for fear of an affray ; but some of them were set upon by students of the- rival faction of Apsines, who, not content with such rough usage, actually cited them be- fore a court of law, as if the others were the aggressors. The case was brought for hearing before the Provincial Governor himself, who had Julian appre- hended, with all his pupils who were concerned in the affair. Apsines too was present to advise and 104 University Life in Ancient Athens. prompt his friends the prosecutors, though the Judge eyed him sternly, and asked him what busi- ness he had there. In came the accused, in bonds and piteous plight, while their Professor, dressed in mourning, stood beside them. The counsel for the prosecution then began, but the Magistrate soon cut him short, and bade the accuser state his case in his own words. But he stood stammering and confused, for he and his friends only came prepared to hiss and clamour down the speaker on the other side. As they kept silence, Julian humbly begged to be allowed to say a word. ' No one of you doctors,' said the Judge, ' shall have a chance of letting off the speeches you came primed with, nor shall any of your scholars clap you. The prosecutor shall open his case first, then, Julian, do you name any of your pupils whom you like to plead in your defence, and let him do his best.' The accuser was dumb- founded still, and the laughing-stock of all the court. Julian therefore humbly pointed to his pupil Proaeresius, and asked to have him set free from his bonds, engaging that he at least should find his voice. Proaeresius was brought forward, and encou- raged by his master, as athletes by their friends on their entering the lists. He prefaced his speech with a few touching words of complaint at his own sorry plight, and of respectful reference to his Student Life. 105 teacher, hinting even that the Judge was acting harshly in letting him be dealt with so ignomini- ously when nothing had been proved against him. The Magistrate bowed his head to hide his mingled feelings of shame and of surprise, so skilfully was the rebuke administered, and so graceful was the style. The speaker then continued; but scarcely had he spoken a few words, when the Judge bounded like a young enthusiast from his chair, and shook his robe of State with loud applause, while even the Professor of the rival faction forgot his enmity in admiration. After this story it is curious to turn to the Effect of memoirs of Libanius, and read his account of the of students' , , . . ,. , brawls on impression made upon his young imagination by theimagi- nation of such tales of student life as made their way to him the young Libanius. at Antioch. * When I heard of the fighting in the j 16 streets of Athens, of the clubs and stones and the cold steel, of the wounds given and received, of the prosecutions and defence in courts of law, and of all the perils endured by the young men for the honour of their teachers, I thought as highly of their courage in facing danger as if they were fighting for their fatherland. I prayed to Heaven that I too might one day signalise myself in this way, hurrying to the Piraeus or to Sunium, to carry off the novices as soon as they had landed.' Yet he was soon dis- enchanted with the vulgar facts, and thought the io6 University Life in Ancient Athens. Yet he taunts his pupils in later years for not fighting for him. i. 203. Town and gown riots. poor Professors whom he heard quite unworthy of such self-devotion, and thanked his guardian angel that he was saved from all such risks. But strange to say, in later years, long after he had filled a public Chair himself, he could not help recurring to such brawls as a proof of the affection of the scholars for their teachers. He even taunts his pupils with the sights that he had seen elsewhere ; ' wounds on the head and face and hands, wounds everywhere, sure evidence of the love they bore their tutors, as great as for their parents. But you, 5 he adds dis- dainfully, ' what service of this sort in my behalf can any of you point to ? What risk or blow encoun- tered, or what bold word or look ? Nay, far from that, you run away to other teachers, taking your fees with you, and so rob one Professor, while you pay court to another.' It is not easy to imagine a state of feeling so unlike our own, or to realise the possibility of such complaints made gravely from a Professorial Chair. We light upon a more familiar feature when we find that the riots of the students were not always the mere contests of rival factions; even in those days there were town and gown disorders, in which, unlike our later times, the gownsmen were most off-en the aggressors, breaking even into the houses of the citizens, and maltreating those they found within. Student Life. 107 As usually in ancient cities, the police force was inefficient, and the Governor had at times to inter- fere, and to punish the offenders. He had probably good reason for thinking that the teachers were in fault, or as Libanius puts it, ' he chastised the shep- herds when the sheep ran wild.' The lecturer therefore does not fail to press good advice on his Lib. iii.25* young friends. They should indeed be models of courteous amenity, charming the unlettered towns- men by the beauty of their manners, not forsaking the soft dalliance with the Muses for the rude logic Df rough words and broken heads, not bandying abuses with carpenters and cobblers, nor forgetting all at once the sobering influence of the daily service in the temples. There was besides another class which suffered Attacks upon the now and then from the wild frolics of the wanton pedagogues youth. A lecture of Libanius brings a scene before tutors. our fancy, in which a poor pedagogue is tossed m ' 25 * in a blanket by some students who resented an act of seeming disrespect. A Proctor or Dean of later days, if the offence were brought before him, would administer rebuke or penalty in a few moments. But we realize more easily the wordy spirit of that age, when we find that the Professor writes, delivers, publishes a lengthy speech to his class among which were the offenders, drawing a roS University Life in Ancient Athens. No disci- pline or control exerted bj University authorities at Athens, or by city police, or dele- gates. moving picture of the poor sufferer's fright, his present ignominy, his future shame, his hopelessness of like employment, together with the fatal blow struck at all moral discipline. He even makes a personal appeal to their good feeling, reminding them how much his own credit suffers by their bad behaviour, how unwilling parents would be to entrust their sons to one whose authority had been weakened by such flagrant outrage. The University as such could exert no form of discipline ; for there was no bond of union between the Masters ; no power seemingly of legislation or of penalty; it was left to the several teachers to use such influence as they chose or could enforce ; and only by sinking mutual jealousies could they come to an understanding on their common interest, or agree to a joint course of action, such as that which was proposed to check the vagrant humour of the stu- dents who would stray from one Chair to another. The city on its side was afraid to alienate the students ; in itself it was a petty town, with decay- ing trade and dwindling population ; it lay no longer on the great highway of policy and commerce, and but for its University might be forgotten. So the young scholars lived as and where they pleased. There were no Delegates of lodging houses to inter- pose between the citizen and scholar, to insist that Student Life. 109 outward decencies should be observed, and inquiries into character be made. The civil power only interfered when the heavy hand of law was needed to avenge a flagrant breach of peace. But the State was not always so easy going in Very different the matter. It is curious to turn from Athens and provisions at Rome. contrast the edict of Valentinian at Rome. It ran as follows: 'All who come to Rome to study must Cod.Theod. xiv. 9. appear at once before the public registrar, and present their passports from the Justices of the peace who have given them leave to travel, that thus entry may be made of their birthplace, rank, and character. They must also on their first appearance name the faculty in which they wish to study. The Registry must also take note where they lodge, and see if they adhere to the profession they have chosen. Its officers must look to it that they all behave well in society, being careful of their good name and of the company they keep, not going to the theatre too often, nor sallying out to wine parties at a late hour of the night, Furthermore, if any one's behaviour shall have been discreditable to the interests of learn- ing, we hereby give our Ministers authority to whip the offender publicly, and put him on shipboard at once, and send him home without delay. But those who work steadily at their professional studies may be allowed to stay at Rome till they have reached 1 10 University Life in Ancient Atliens. their twentieth year.' Such rigour may perhaps have suited the stem genius of Rome, but the traditions of Athenian freedom still guarded the spirit of her studies. If we pay in fancy a visit to the lecture hall, we shall carry away probably a like impression. The The young men went, as we have seen, to the students at lecture. house of their Professor, attended often by their private tutors, and sometimes by a servant with their books, or even by a shorthand writer. The lectures were mostly in the morning hours, as with ourselves, at any rate for ordinary courses, for there were some others later in the day, which were different Lib. ii. 316. in their character, attended by men of riper years, by merchants, and even soldiers it would seem who were attracted by the fence of words. They brought with them their themes to be corrected, or they took notes of the arguments and illustrations, or they were catechised on points of literary criticism, or they disputed in his presence to train themselves in readiness of speech. When the Professor spoke, they made no scruple in applauding, and the practice may surprise us less when we remember that the like was done by the congregations in the churches while listening to a sermon. Their But their behaviour was not always so flattering to behaviour very- bad at the teacher. Libanius paints a most unfavourable pic- times, as illustrated tui'fi of the manners of his pupils, and though the scene Student Life. 1 1 1 in that case was at Antiock, we may well believe that by Liba- nius, i. 199. the like went on at Athens. 4 1 send my servant out to all my scholars to summon them to lecture, and he starts off at a run to do my bidding. But they are in no mood, like him, to hurry, though they ought to be even more in haste. They stay some of them to sing their hymns, which we have all heard till we are tired, or else they amuse themselves with foolish merriment and jesting. If their friends or bystanders remark on their delay, and at last they make their mind up to be off, they talk about their sweethearts as they go, or on the skill of some dancer at the circus, and they gossip even when they get inside, to the annoyance of real students. This they do till the lecture has begun. And even when the subject is discussed, and explanation going on, they keep whispering to each other about the jockeys and the races, or the comedians and opera dancers; or about some scuffle past or future. Meantime some of them stand like statues, with their arms folded on each other; others go on blowing their noses with both hands ; others sit stock still unmoved by any of my strokes of brilliancy or wit. Some try to interrupt those who do feel stirred. Others vacantly cast up the numbers in the room or stare at the trees that grow outside. But their insolence goes even beyond this. They like to hiss when others clap, or to 1 1 2 University Life in Ancient Athens. hinder any from applauding, or to move about across the theatre, distracting the attention of the rest, sometimes by a silly hoax, or by an invitation to an early bath . . . You know very well that this is no exaggerated grievance . . . but that the like often has occurred, and that I have often spoken out about it, and given orders that a lazy student should be taken by the collar, and thrust out of the room . . . I had a very different set of pupils once . . . Each of them used to carry something in his memory away of what I said, and then they would put their heads together and compare notes, and write my speech out fair. They were quite distressed if they lost any of the heads, although that seldom happened. For three or four days afterwards their chief employment was to go over what they knew at home before their parents, or still more in their repetitions here , . . But as for you, you forget all about Demosthenes, the latest comments as completely as the first, and go on with your songs again, which you know by heart already . . . you can only tell inquirers that I have been lecturing, but cannot repeat a word of what was said. Some one perhaps may fancy that the fault is mine, and that my lectures are not so good as they were once. Such is not the account of the older men about us ; they say that they can hardly listen to my speeches quietly ; they protest that I Student Life. 113 now surpass myself, that my lectures were always excellent, but that there is more in them now. You surely cannot fancy that you are better judges than they are, though you do insult them by your indiffe- rence to their excitement.' Libanius, it will be seen, is not afraid of speaking plainly, nor of sounding his own trumpet. It may be doubted if Professors have ever scolded their pupils more freely than he did, though perhaps he had good reason, if what he says of them is true that they tried to hinder freshmen from coming to his lectures, and were overjoyed when they saw their fellow-students going off to other Universities. There is evidence indeed that in earlier times Even in earlier ages the scholars of the Sophists were often turbulent and there is like evidence of rude, and had to be dealt with like unruly boys. As rudeness or inattention. has been already noted, it was specified as an unusual thing that in the second century, Proclus kept at Athens such strict discipline in his own circle, and would not let his pupils hiss, or play any of the pranks which, adds Philostratus, are so usual in the pini.ii.ioe. classes of the schoolmen. Philager too was a strict martinet, for he even struck a sleepy hearer on the head when it was nod- ding, and once when on a visit to Herodes Atticus, iL 84> he fired up because he thought a student whom he met was looking at him disrespectfully, 'What is I 1 14 University Life in Ancient Athens. your name and country, Sir,' he asked, like a Proctor of our times, but be ended with a threat not so terrible perhaps to modern ears, ' see that you do not think of coming to any of my lectures.' ' And who are you, Sir,' was the answer, which made the Sophist still more angry, as he thought that all the world must know him. Some local vulgarism escaped him in his passion, which the student gravely noted, asking what good author he could find it in. Phi- lager, wounded in his self-respect, sent an indignant letter to Herodes, to complain of the unseemly con- duct of his pupils, who revenged themselves, however, on the hot-tempered stranger by hissing him off the scene at his first lecture, and afterwards exposing him for passing off some old speech known by heart as an extempore harangue. Question Many of the students were mere lads, away from among the Sophists as a n control of parents, and such discipline as could to the use of the rod. ^ en f orce d among them could only come from the Professors. It was a disputed question seemingly among them whether they should rely on the influence of fear or love. Himerius, the last of the great holders of the Chair of Rhetoric at Athens, would only hear of the- attractiveness of gentle words. He love. begins indeed on one occasion to rebuke plaintively xv. i 2. the idle scholars who woul(J not come and hear him, as foolish and ungrateful to the Master who treated them so fondly. ' Fain would I question them and Student Life. \ 15 say, what voice can chaim your ears like mine, what gestures be so winning in your eyes, what birds of spring can sing so pleasantly as I do, what choral harmony, what blended sound of flute and pipes can touch your souls like the simple accents of this Chair. I detest those, guardians of youth who cannot lead their flock, like shepherds, by the music of their pipe, but threaten them with blows and whippings. My sheep, my nurslings may I never scare them with a frown are to be guided by my eloquence to the groves and meadows of the Muses. To lead them I require no rod, but only melody. Music strengthens our mutual affection, and harmony gives the tone to my authority.' Such language, even from the Chair of Pastoral Theology, might be scarcely thought ap- propriate in these prosaic days. Libanius did not rely so much on the persuasive Libanius power of love, and used the rod at times, we read, to rod, say nothing of the hard words with which he freely pelted his refractory young pupils. Yet he speaks of himself in the same lecture as by far too tender hearted, as naturally prone to be patient rather than to punish. And so he shrinks from the final penalty of expulsion. ' I have friendly relations with their parents, and the cities of their birth. I fear that if K 207 they hear their sons have been expelled, they will grieve as for their death, or even more, thinking such i 2 1 1 6 University Life in Ancient Athens. ignominy even worse than death, knowing that the stigma is more to be dreaded than the sentence of a court of law. The latter indeed may be reversed, but the former can never be effaced. It will cling to them from youth to age, for they may at any moment be silenced with the taunt, Shameless reprobate, were you not thrust out of the Holy Place of Learning, as defiling the temple of the Muses?' There was something more than inattention to complain of often. They did not always pay their t eacner ' s f ees > even when the money was sent them by their parents for the purpose. They pressed no longer. Lib. i. 2.19. as in olden times, to lay their fees at the Professor's feet before his chair, when the calends of January came round, while the private tutors also came with the free will offerings, which showed their love. We i- 197. may hear Libanius again upon this point. 6 It is enough to enrage a lecturer or make him give up teaching altogether, when the money forwarded by the father for himself is spent on wine-parties, or gambling, or immoralities still worse, and in defiance of the law.' For himself, he adds, it is no new thing for him never to be paid, and he is too much used to that to close his lecture rooms in pique, though per- haps it is no kindness to be so lenient, and they who do not pay suffer in the end, as much as the Pro- fessors who are defrauded of their fees. Certainly to the honour of the teachers of that ag e Student Life. 117 be it said that they had too much enthusiastic love The Professors of their profession to think mainly of its money value, were often ready to Eumenius had felt so keenly the fatal blow to learning forego their 3 dues. when the schools of (Autun) Augustodunum were closed because of the ravages of war, that he was ready to forego the salary which the favour of Constantius allotted him, if it might be spent on necessary build- ings for the ruined University. The speeches of the later schoolmen show that they were generous enough ia remitting fees when it was needful, and helping the poorer students to get on. Themistius indeed was so liberal to the more indigent among his scholars, that some malicious gossips said he paid them to come and swell his class. ' I find, 1 he answers, 4 recompense enough for what I do in their sense of honour, in their orderly and modest ways, in seeing that they are neither awkward, nor silly, nor ungrateful . . . None of them follows me about as if he were my servant, nor walks beside me clinging to my gown, though it is the practice of the Sophists to reap such harvests from their trade. So far indeed am I from getting any gain out of my class, that even those who call me Sophist do not dare to add that taunt, but on the contrary they say that I put up with loss, and give them food and money to stay with me, and to keep the flock together . . . Some, they say, get a mina, others two, others as much even 1 1 8 University Life in Ancient Athens. as a talent . . . Well, what of that ? It seems to me more liberal and high-minded to spend my means upon my hearers, if they are in want, than to harry and torment them, or put my hand upon their throats to force the money from them, when they cannot pay.' Many of Many of the students seemingly were poor. Pro- students seresius, the most famous scholar of the age, had were very P or - been so poor in earlier years, that stories were re- Prwer! peated of his student life, to put his poverty in telling forms before the fancy. He and a fellow- student named Hephaestion, it was rumoured, only had one coat between them, and a few old dirty blankets. Only one therefore at the time could walk abroad, or go to lecture ; meantime the other wrapped the bedclothes round him, and did his exercises as he could, till his turn came to wear the coat. Others like Eunapius gave private lessons to younger or less forward scholars, and so managed to pay their way and keep themselves in independence. Sometimes the richer citizens took pity on the poor students, who were living or starving near their doors, and the teachers now and then wrote letters in {^5 Ep ' such cases to appeal to the compassion of their wealthier neighbours, or to thank them for their liberal aid. There is no evidence, however, of any systematic way of helping youths of slender means. Student Life. 119 There were no scholarship or exhibitions such as And there were no those of later times. Such endowments as existed, exhibitions for them. were confined entirely to the Professors, and the claims of studious poverty were quite ignored. But at whatever sacrifice of means or comfort still They often remained they stayed on, and often found it hard to tear long at the University, themselves away. Eunapius remained for a period and left with regret. of five years, poor as he was ; Gregory was there at least for ten. The ambitious hoped to qualify them- selves for teachers, setting up first as lecturers and afterwards aspiring to a Public Chair. Others, who had no such hopes or plans, and felt no spur of poverty, loved so well the Classic memories of the venerable city, and it may be also the freedom from official meddlers, that they lingered on in the old halls and only left them with regret. ' At length,' Greg. Naz. says Gregory, ' the fatal clay was come, and with it all Basil, the troubles of departure ; the last words of farewell, the last good wishes, the repeated leave-takings, the sighs, the tears, and the embracings. Nothing is so harrowing and so painful as for those who have been follow-students to part at last from Athens and each other. Our friends and compeers were all around us, some there were even of our tutors, protesting that they could not let us go, beseeching and imploring us to stay, and showing in everything they did or said, the evidence of genuine sorrow.' 120 CHAPTEK V. The early Sophists were free- thinker*. The later religion. CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES ON THE SCHOOLS OF ATHENS. Tire early Sophists were the free-thinkers of old Greece. They startled the world with revolutionary maxims ; they undermined the faith in the moral standards and the local institutions of each country, by appealing to a wider experience or conclusions drawn from varied data. They were the Encyclo- paedists of their age, the Apostles of enlightenment who set aside authority and advanced the claims of reason. The schoolmen and rhetoricians, who bore in a later age the name of Sophists, clung to the old faith, walked in the old paths, and spoke with un- questioning reverence of the Classic and the Ancient. The poetry, the art, the drama, and the history of Greece were linked so closely to the associations of religion, the fibres of Paganism had so intertwined themselves round all that they held dear, that when the final struggle came at last, they rallied as volun- teers in a forlorn hope, for the defence of the Hellenic creed, whose theologians had been Hesiod Christian Influences on Schools of Athens. 1 2 1 and Homer. ' For,' says Libanius, ' religion and cul- iif. 43 ture are close friends, or even near of kin, both for Philosophers and Sophists, and for all who are initi- ated into the rites of Hermes and the Muses.' Some things there were perhaps in the old poems^ which, written as they had been for a people's child- hood, were scarcely suited for robuster thought ; passages too gross and sensual not to shock at times a reverent fancy ; but there were canons of interpreta- tion ready, which found an allegory in each romance, resolved persons and places into mere abstractions, and shifted the reasoner at will into the realms of trans- cendental dreamland. The philosophers took kindly as were to these principles of Hermeneutic, and on the basis sophers of of this new concordat enrolled themselves in the K unap . service of Religion, and were of all men most devout. Chr y san Thus one of whom Eunapius tells us was a High Priest of Lydia, another lived in the temples to a great old age, and others are spoken of as busy with sacrifice and divination, and as staunch defenders of the faith. So familiar were they with the unseen and who often claimed supernatural, that they often claimed and were mysterious powers over believed to have a mysterious hold upon the spirit the s P irit world, and the writer just referred to tells us strange tales of power to foresee the far-off both in time and space, and to make unearthly beings answer to their 122 University Life in Ancient Athens. The call. It is no wonder if the Christians took them at Christians took them their word, and believed that they were leagued with at their word and powers of darkness ; their religion seemed but tried to put r them down. an unclean demon-worship, its ritual only sorcery or magic. And so the cry grew louder to sweep away the accursed thing, and Christian Emperors soon began to discourage if not to suppress the older faith. Eunap. Thus Eunapius thinks that possibly ^Edesius con- Edes. cealed his gift of inspiration, because of the hard times. 'For Constantine then reigned, who threw down the most famous temples, and raised Christian Churches in their stead. Whence it came to pass that the wisest philosophers took refuge in mysterious silence and reserve becoming to their priestly office. So much so that the writer of these lives, though a pupil of Chrysanthius, was scarce thought worthy of admission to the truth until his twentieth year, so hard a matter was it for the doctrines of lamblichus to be introduced and gradually spread among us, for after he was taken from us the men of note were scattered here and there, and none were left of any worth or reputation.' The dis- The same discouragement was felt ere long, though extended to a less extent perhaps, by the schools of rhetoric and phiioso- the Sophists. Christians still flocked indeed to Athens, pliers to the schools of where the Pagan sentiment was intensely strong, rhetoric. and where all the greater schoolmen known, save Christian Influences on Schools of A thens. \ 2 3 Proseresius, still clung to the older faith of Hellas. But the language of Gregory implies that the feel- ings of fear and antipathy were strong in pious minds, for men, he says 'are more prone there to idol worship than in all the rest of Greece, and it is not Basil easy to avoid being carried into error in the company of those who are its champions and panegyrists.' He is thankful that he did not suffer from these spiritual dangers, which were fatal, as he owns, to others ; but his friend Basil found the spirit of the place so uncongenial, that he was not easily induced to stay where there was much that seemed to him so vain and worldly. Yet before long Libanius complained that the The com- plaints of Imperial Court looked with an evil eye upon the Libaniusof the dis- Schools, and that the malign influence was spreading courage ' mentfeltby fast. An enemy had taunted him with his failure as students. a teacher, and asked how many of his scholars had risen in the world. In his reply the orator dilates upon the unfriendly bearing of the Christian rulers. Constantius never summoned them to Court, or said a kindly word, or heard them lecture ; but allowed a wretched set of barbarous eunuchs to govern in his name, and they conspired to drive away the men of education, and promote the enemies of heaven and starveling upstarts to the posts of honour. The students naturally asked, what is the use. of all our 1 24 University Life in Ancient Athens. reacting if it will not raise us in the world. Parents preferred to put their sons to Law, and sent them to the University of Berytus, as literary skill was prized so little. Even after spending years among the Schools of Athens, where philosophy and rhetoric had engaged their thoughts, men were glad to take a place as Emperor's messenger, or to wear the livery of his household servants. If such discouragements were felt at Athens, still more were they to be feared in places near the Court, where all its sympathies Brighter were fully known. He owns indeed that a transient times came in with gleam of sunshine rested on the fortunes of the Julian's accession Schools when they enjoyed a period of Eoyal favour. throne. Julian, the so-called Apostate, had wearied early of his pious exercises with the Christian priests, and pored by stealth over the lectures of Libanius. Allowed at length to come to Athens, he drank deeply at the sources of the old Hellenic culture, and long before he dropped the mask, had lost, if indeed he ever had, affection for the faith which was full to his mind of memories of controversial quibbles and of harsh constraint. One of his first acts when he claimed the sovereign power was to send his manifesto to the old seat of learning, to show that he was not a vulgar adventurer prompted by ambition, but a scholar who could do justice to the goodness of his cause, and deserve the sympathy of the world of letters. Christian Influences on Schools of A thens. 125 The Sages and tlie Sophists gladly welcomed the Lib. Hi. young prince, whose sumpter mules were laden, not with costly furniture and viands, but with a pre- cious freight of books. They hailed the dawn of a new era when philosophy had once more mounted on the throne, and another Antonine was ready with en- lightened patronage of men of worth. The new ruler was not slow to do his part. Libanius, whom he so much admired in earlier years, was treated by who showed J special him with a cordial respect : honours were showered on favour to the the graver thinkers, the theologians of the philo- Sophists, sophic creed which he espoused ; the greatest of them, whom Eunapius mentions, were invited to his Court, and kept ever in his company to while away the tedium of the Persian campaign. Prompted or encouraged by their councils, he but denied forgot his usual toleration, and denied the Christians leave to teach in the leave to teach in the schools of rhetoric and liberal schools, study, affecting to regard them as mere ignorant fana- tics, sworn foes of all the older culture, iconoclasts in arts and letters. One only of the Athenian Pro- fessors, the celebrated Proaeresius, was exempted from this penal clause, but he was too generous to stand alone, and though he probably had little in him of the martyr's stuff, forbore to lecture when his friends were silenced. For a few short months the schoolmen's pent-up 1 26 University Life in Ancient At fans. The bitterness found vent, and they triumphed as if their triumph of the rivals' downfall were complete. But wiser eyes had Sophists was short- seen already that the adverse currents were too lived, strong, and the reaction could not last. Thus Chry- santhius of Lydia, when sent for to the Court, whether warned by mysterious portents, as Eunapius believed, or possibly by natural insight, declined all the brilliant offers made by Julian, answering like Balaam, that his (rod refused him leave to come. Eunap. < Thereupon the Emperor wrote to him again, and as the wiser sent letters not to himself only, but to his wife, that foresaw. haply she might influence her husband. A second time Chrysanthius had recourse to divination, but again no favouring signs appeared. This happened several times, for still the Emperor was earnest in his wish to see him.' He read the future clearly, though he could not have foreseen that Julian's death was sadly near, and with it the funeral knell of the last hopes of Pagan Greece. Athens found ere long that the privilege of Im- The death perial favour had been a source of weakness rather of Julian was than of strength. It had made men feel how intensely followed by edicts auti-christian was the spirit of her schools, and how against Paganism, great was the possible danger of a like revival. First came the legal prohibition, in the name of Valens, against any magic sacrifice or rites, and terms so vague and so elastic might be stretched to cover any Christian Influences on Schools of Athens. 127 of the forms of divination, any of the mysteries of theurgy, in which the later systems of philosophy abounded. Two of the favourites of Julian suffered Prisons Maxim us. probably on this account, though Eunapius tells us only of their imprisonment and pains, and is silent as to the exact nature of the charges. Others withdrew themselves from public sight, and, in the words of their biographer, 'grieved themselves to early death.' They might save themselves from actual danger, but they could not screen from desecration all that they held dear. Bands of rioters broke loose, en- and riotous movements couraged by their spiritual heads, while the civil against the power quietly stood by and made no sign. The temples were destroyed, the shrines defiled. How sorely the blow was felt by pious minds we may gather from the language of Eunapius, when he speaks of the governors of Egypt who levelled the great temple of Serapis to the ground, and carried all away save the foundations, which were too massive for them to remove. ' Thus these warlike and courageous cham- Eunap. ^Edes. pions, after causing general ruin, and stretching forth their hands, not stained with blood indeed, but befouled with avarice, boasted that they had overcome Th bitter resentment the Gods, and taking credit for their impiety and ofEunapius sacrilege, let loose against the holy places the so- called monks, who were men indeed in outward shape, but of swinish life and manners, who openly 128 University Life in Ancient AtJiens. committed abominations without number. They thought it an act of piety to spurn reverence for the Divine. For anyone who liked to put a black coat upon his back, and a sour look upon his face, could lord it like a tyrant. ... So they settled these monks about Canopus, and degraded men to worship slaves and reprobates instead of the Gods of a rea- sonable service. For they gathered up the heads of those who had been put to death as malefactors for their many crimes, and pointed to them as their Gods, and rolled themselves in the dirt beside their tombs. At least they called them martyrs, and ministers or ambassadors in their prayers to Heaven, though they were but sorry slaves and whipping- stocks, who carried on their bodies the scars of blows which they had richly merited.' and Libanius also, in another country, vents his in- Libanius. ii. 164. dignation in no measured terms. 'This black- coated gentry, who are more ravenous than elephants, and drink so often as to weary out the patience of the congregations who have to chaunt meantime at every draught, though they disguise their habits by the artificial pallor of their faces these in defiance of existing laws hurry to attack the temples, some with staves and stones and steel, others even with fisti- cuffs and kicks. They fall an easy prey, the roofs are stripped, the walls hurled down, the statues Christian Influences on Schools of A thens 129 dragged away, the altars overthrown. The priests must hold their peace or die. When one is ruined they hurry to a second or a third, and pile fresh trophies in defiance of the law. Such acts of daring occur even in the cities, but far more in the country. ... So they sweep like winter-torrents through the land, making havoc of it for the temples' sake.' He goes on to describe the consternation of the country folks, robbed of the objects of their reverence, and of all their hopes of divine favour and protection. 'If the poor wretches thus despoiled betake them- selves with their complaints to the pastor in the city, for pastor they call some worthless guide, he only praises the ill-doers, and drives away the sufferers with the taunt that they are lucky in not having been treated even worse. . . . Yet they are the working bees who suffer, while the others are the drones.' These blows were fatal, not to the temples only, Th but also to the schools of Athens, which were linked Athens so closely to the associations of religion. Two other from the downfall of influences also largely tended to complete their Paganism, as also downfall. One was the ascendancy which legal from the greater studies now were gaining, and the consequent at- popularity traction of the Universities of Eome and Berytus, in Latin studies. which they mainly flourished. Libanius often vents his spleen at such unbecoming rivalry. 'In old days,' he says, ' the experts in the law stood in court K 130 University Life in Ancient Athens. Lib. 1 186. humbly looking to the orator, and waiting till he said " read the clauses for me ; " now even the scri- veners fill the highest posts.' Still more potent was the change of fashion by which the Roman tongue and Roman letters were brought once more into special favour. Even the influence of the court at Constantinople was used in that direction, and Latin was still the language of the ruling powers. Lib. i. us. The same writer tells us of his fears that' his fa- vourite studies would be soon suppressed by law ; and though this indeed was not the case, yet they had been effectually degraded by the prizes and encouragements awarded to their rival. Soon the Greek Church, which he thought his most formid- able foe, would have to gather what was falling from the Sophists' hands, and preserve the heritage of the old Hellenic culture. The old The complaints become more numerous as time attracted goes on ; the schools of rhetoric are fast declining, , as and the schoolmen's trade is nearly gone. For a few "vnesms tells us ; years, in the case of Athens, the ' magni nominis umbra ' powerfully affects the imagination of the learned, and towards the close even of the fourth century Synesius satirically notes the airs assumed by those who had made a pilgrimage to the old city* 4 They are only mortals after all, and like ourselves ; they do not understand Plato or Aristotle better than Christian Influences on Softools of Athens. \ 3 1 we do, yet they think of themselves as demigods among a set of mules, so proud are they of having looked on the Academy and Lyceum, and the Porch where Zenon reasoned.' He came, indeed, himself to Ep. 136. Athens, but only to be more convinced that such a pilgrimage was idle folly. * There is nothing here but he speaks with of note,' he wrote, 'except the local names which are contempt of the studies renowned. As the skin of the beast that has been carried on there. killed and eaten is the sign of its past life, so now that philosophy is dead and gone there is nothing left for me but to roam about and gaze with curious eyes on the Academy, the Lyceum, and the painted Porch, which gave its name to the system of Chry- sippus, but which is no more painted, now that the Governor has carried off the pictures, in which the Thasian Polygnotus stored his art. In our own days Egypt fosters the germs of life, which she has ga- thered from Hypatia. Athens was once the home of sages; now-a-days its only credit comes from the keepers of its beehives. So is it with the learned pair of Plutarch's school, who win their youthful hearers, not by the reputation of their lectures, but by the attractions of the wine-jars of Hymettus.' Yet to the fancy of the pious Pagans the powers To pious of Heaven still watched with favouring care over the still seemed to watch old city which had worshipped them so fondly and so over the long. In the earthquake which shook all Greece, in x 2 132 University Life in Ancient Athens. the reign of Valens, Athens alone escaped by special grace, if Zosimus be trusted. A still more marked deliverance is recorded by the same historian, when Alaric led his northmen to the south, and swept over Aianc the undefended country. He made his way through her, the narrow passage of Thermopylae, betrayed to him Maximi ky the governor Gerontius, or, as Eunapius will have it, by the monks, and appeared before the walls of Athens, which were likely to fall an easy prey. But Providence then stayed his hand by marvellous portents. He saw Athena, the tutelary goddess, walking in armour on the walls, as if ready to beat off assailants. 6 He saw Achilles in heroic posture, as Homer showed him to the Trojans when he fought against them so furiously to avenge the slaughter of Zosimus v. Patroclus.' So Alaric forbore to press the siege, and 6. offered favourable terms ; and, thanks to the protec- tion of the gods, Athens escaped almost unscathed. Her schools However that might be, we hear no more of schools of rhetoric disap- of rhetoric and Sophists at the ancient University ; peared, the studious youth repaired to it no longer, though .a few philosophers, driven perhaps from Alexandria ami only a bv religfious riots, sought for awhile a haven of few Neopla- J tonic phiio- refuge in the quiet scenes that once were thronged eophers remained with strangers. there; They were members of that school of Plutarch which Synesius spoke of mockingly, though, Christian Christian Influence on Schools on A thens. 133 as he was, he had much in common with the Neopla- tonic speculations. The last survivor of the systems, which, born of the Socratic thought, had gone out into the world to seek their fortunes, it made its way back to the old home to die. It lingered on a century or more with few adherents, and with little stir, devot- ing all its industry and erudition to the effort to har- monise the leading principles of the great historic systems', and reconcile the claims of faith and reason in a vast scheme of theosophy to which Greece supplied the method, while the inspiration was borrowed from the East. At last came the fatal edict of Justinian, which Till the edict of forbade anyone to teach philosophy, or expound the Justinian J led to their law, at Athens. departure. Nor was this all. Procopius, a contemporary writer, speaks of the sweeping measure by which the Emperor withheld all the grants of public money made by former rulers to the interests of learning, and goes on to accuse him even of confiscating all the endowments for like objects, due to the liberality of private citizens in view of the common weal. This probably included in its range the little revenues of the Socratic schools, which were at once reduced to poverty and silence. ' So seven sages,' as Agathias tells us, J the flower . 30. of the philosophy of those times, abandoned at once 1 34 University Life in Ancient Athens. the Roman world, where, by reason of the recent edicts, they could no longer enjoy their civil free- dom save by compliance with the established faith. They be- They resolved to live under the rule of Persia, selves to*" which they thought, like others of their day, to be a Platonic union of philosophy and kingly power, while the people were temperate and just. But they but only to found things far other than they hoped. There were ue cusa- 9 ^ e ^ f am il iar vices, or even worse, in common life : arrogance among the nobles ; and in the Monarch Chosroes, notwithstanding some slight hankering for philosophy, a total want of higher culture, and a bigoted adherence to the national customs. They soon became home-sick again, though Chosroes liked them and much wished them to remain/ They gained at least something by their visit, for in the treaty made between the Persian and the Roman empires favourable terms were introduced to enable such of the philosophers as chose to return in safety and live undisturbed. Damascius and Sim- plicius at least went back, not indeed to teach in public, but to cling as before to the oH Hellenic rites, and possibly to enjoy a few years longer the endowments of their school. Spottisvcoode $ Co., Printers, New-street Square, London. c TK HOME USE CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT MAIN LIBRARY This book is due on the last date stamped below. 1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405. 6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk. Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. ALL BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL 7 DAYS AFTER DATE CHECKED Ol * SEP 18 1992 ______ ADTO DISC. . 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