No discipline or control

exerted by

authorities

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

University the Masters; no power seemingly of legislation or of at Athens, penalty; it was left to the several teachers to use

or by city police,

or delegates.

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 students 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 decaying 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 interpose between the citizen and scholar, to insist that

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.

different

at Rome.

xiv. 9.

But the State was not always so easy going in Very the matter. It is curious to turn from Athens and provisions contrast the edict of Valentinian at Rome. It ran as follows:- All who come to Rome to study must Cod. Theod. 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 learning, 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

The

students at lecture.

their twentieth year.' Such rigour may perhaps have suited the stern 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 young men went, as we have seen, to the 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 behaviour

But their behaviour was not always so flattering to very bad at the teacher. Libanius paints a most unfavourable pic

times, as

illustrated ture of the manners of his pupils, and though the scene

in that case was at Antioch, we may well believe that
the like went on at Athens. I 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 Some try to interrupt Others vacantly cast up

strokes of brilliancy or wit.
those who do feel stirred.
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

Each

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 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