Imatges de pàgina
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great

Sophists of

the age,

Three Professors of this age stand out in marked The three prominence beyond the rest, and nearly all the Academic history of Athens connects itself for many years with one or other of their names. Julian, the earliest in date, came from Cappadocia, the country which produced some of the greatest Churchmen of the times. Proæresius, his pupil and successor in his Chair, was an Armenian by birth, and came with many of his countrymen in early life to the famous seat of learning. Hellenic letters had not long found their way into Armenia, but now they were welcomed with enthusiasm, and young men of the slenderest means set out boldly on the journey, and crowded to the schools of Athens. Gregory Nazianzen, who knew them well, gives them a bad character for truth and frankness, but notices their subtlety in dialectic. Himerius, the last great name among the Sophists, was a native of Bithynia.

in race.

It will be seen that all these eminent teachers rather Asiatic were Asiatic rather than Hellenic, and the other evi- than Hellenic dences of the times point to the same fact, that the old historic races were little represented at the University, and that Greek culture was then travelling further eastward, nearer to the sources of the influence, which probably in distant ages first stirred to vigorous life the civilisation of old Greece. We may find in the pages of Eunapius materials for the

personal history of all the three, though the details are somewhat fantastic and uncritical, and the style is full of tawdry affectations. One of them, Himerius, has also left us specimens of his orations, and there are many writings still remaining of Libanius, who, though he filled a public Chair elsewhere, had passed his student life at Athens, and represented the general spirit of her schools. Together they provide us with evidence enough of the methods and educational value of their professional teaching, and of their general mode of dealing with the young minds brought under their influence.

The general character

of their

influence.

The personal ties between

teacher and student

were very close,

We notice first that the personal tie was very close between the student and the lecturer, who took to some extent the place of tutor. The University was not an organized whole, which could exert a discipline through officials of its own; but each newcomer put himself at once upon a lecturer's list, and looked to him exclusively for guidance in his course of study.

The teacher not only marked out the student's line of reading, and admitted him to all his courses of instruction, but watched over his progress, applied encouragement or blame, visited him if he was sick, corresponded in many cases with his parents, till the bond of mutual confidence was very close and real. Indeed, the indignity was keenly felt in the case of any

disruption of the tie, or desertion of the tutor by the

pupil. Libanius draws a lively picture of the distress occasioned in such cases. The poor Professor finds no relish in his food or books, he cannot sleep of nights for thinking of the slight; his Chair in the lecture hall reminds him of it, and he looks with suspicious eyes upon the audience that still remains. Even more poignant is the wound if he meets his old pupil coming from another course, and sees or fancies that he is eyeing him with a bold or sneering look, or if the father storms, instead of paying what is due, and says that his son has made no progress, and ought to have left him long ago. Such apostasy

-so strong is the expression of Libanius-was rare in the good old days when men used to shun the ungrateful student who treated his teacher with so little grace; but it was getting sadly common, and some were even bold enough to go the whole round of lecturers, and see which they liked best. So the tutors could not hold their own, or tighten the reins of discipline, or punish the unruly scholars; a word, a blow, was quite enough to frighten them away for ever, and swell the numbers of a rival's class. Even the pedagogues, or private tutors, conspired often to make matters worse; they took offence if their favour was not courted by fair words or fees or by good cheer, and they carried their

and desertion keenly felt by the

lecturer. ii. 423.

The evils of rivalry

i. 313.

young charges off to a more obsequious or liberal Sophist.

So Libanius proposes to restore by mutual consent the good old custom. He would introduce a general pledge, that no teacher should accept the runaway pupil of another, but that they should drop their bitter rivalries in the sense of common good. He sees indeed the danger of this system of protection, this enforcement of the rules of a trade union of Professors, but he relies on their enthusiasm for learning, and their desire of applause to spur on the least industrious or brilliant teachers.

One of the worst features of the system seemingly was the frequent bickering and strife among these jealous rivals. Libanius, indeed, takes credit to himself for patience, when he hears of the bearded men who go to listen to another lecturer; but he fumes as much as anyone when a youth deserts his class, and he is full of bitterness against his colleagues. Sometimes it would seem that such collision was by special avoided by special unions or systems of gradation, in which one took higher rank than all the rest.

avoided sometimes

unions,

ii. 312.

We are hearing in our own days of plans of organizing study, by which provision may be made for each department by Professors with the help of deputies or readers, but it is not easy to determine the relations in such cases. The picture given in Libanius

is curious, but not attractive. In one such group, in which a Professor from Ascalon was Coryphæus of the Choir,'' when the head appeared, the others rose in haste, and hurried to escort him to his Chair, and waited for his nod before they took their seats; they dared not look him in the face, but bowed their head to show their reverence, and all the time that he was present, they dared not think of anything save what he said.' This was not all. When the

other lecturers were paid, his servant came to claim his toll for all that they received. Three such ' choirs' we read of in Libanius, but we know little of the nature of their harmony, nor, indeed, whether it was by arrangement of their own, or as an institution of the State that they existed. The Professors had to entertain each other, we are told, at dinner at stated times, as a sort of Tutors' Club, in forms prescribed by custom, if not by law, besides all that was left to the free hospitality of each.

Libanius himself was quite a professional magnate, and took high rank in the scholastic world, mingling on equal terms with civic dignitaries and imperial ministers, nor scrupling now and then to pour out the vials of his wrath upon them when he felt himself slighted or aggrieved. But he was a servant of the State himself, and could be called to account for his official work. It is curious to read

in which
the position
of the sub-
professors
is not

attractive.

Libanius

was high in

rank as a Professor,

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