but was sharply called to

account for

sional work.

ii. 266.

his answer to one critic who accused him of neg

lect of duty. The lecturer and his class had been his profes- listening one morning to an essay written by a promising young pupil, for each in turn wrote out and read some sort of exercise in public, as a kind of Terminal Collections.' On such occasions there was no other lecture given in the course of the forenoon, and the Professor was chatting with his friends, when up came a private tutor, protesting, in the interest of his, young charge, against the many holidays which were allowed. Here was a day wasted in listening to a theme from a young prentice hand; at other times they had to sit in idleness while the Sophists showed their vanity in speeches of parade, and then the teacher often missed his lectures on the plea that he was ill, or had to attend on the funeral of some acquaintance; and even when the class was kept to study, they spent so much time over the old classics, that they never seemed to be getting forward with the real work of education.' It is needless to inquire into the justice of these personal attacks, or follow the accused in his defence; it is enough to see that in the Universities of old such charges might be made, and must be met.

Lib. i. 237.

The holidays at any rate were getting fewer. At Antioch, we read, the fasts and feasts, or Saints' days,

as we may call them, were still marked upon the calendar, but respect for them was growing feeble.

The Professor sent, it seems, on one of them, to bid his class attend his lecture, but they all declined to come on the plea of tender conscience, or some mysterious presentiment of evil that might follow. One pupil only appeared upon the scene, and brought an essay with him for correction, which they began to read together. They had not gone on long, however, when a mass of stone and rubbish came tumbling from the roof, nearly burying the student and Professor, and bearing witness to the anger of the slighted Saint, to whom the lecturer addresses a sort of elaborate apology, by writing for the public a history of the event. Such penal consequences have not followed yet perhaps from the like violation of old customs in our midst.

The

Sophists'

pride in the

number of their pupils.

It was with natural pride that the great Sophists pointed to the proof of their world-wide reputation in the numbers who streamed to them from every land. Libanius, in one of his orations, replying to an imaginary critic, says that he is too modest to aver that he has filled the three continents and all the islands, as far as the pillars of Hercules, with rhetoricians, but that he certainly has spiritual children for so he likes to call them-in Thrace, Constantinople, and Bithynia, in the Hellespont, iii. 444.

The language of Himerius to the freshmen

was

6

Ionia, and Caria; some few even among the Paphlagonians and Cappadocians. Far more there were in Galatia and in Armenia, and most of all in Cilicia 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. Phonicia besides, and Palestine, and Arabia owe me some gratitude.'

Among the remaining speeches of Himerius are several addressed to the freshmen who had lately joined his classes. He is careful in every case to note their birth-place, and to add some flattering words of reference to the historic glories or the present 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 priest of the Eleusinian rites. They are grave priest at the mysteries, of which he holds the keys, and the process of initiation has begun. Before the ceremony

as solemn

as that of a

mysteries. Him. ed. Wernsdorf.

xxii. 7.

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

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 language of the mysteries. The adept already familiar xv. 3. 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.'

Libanius.

ii. 316.

The course

consisted, first, of

study of the

Then began in the forenoon a systematic course of study, for later in the day private lectures only were given for older men who had a taste for learning. The students read and commented classics, young together on the writings of the classics, on the older authors, that is, whose style seemed purest or sentiments the noblest. Thus, in Libanius we have a iii. 438. scholar complaining to himself, 'What shall I gain from all this ceaseless work, in which I have to read right through so many poets, and so many rheto

G

Libanius, ii.

293.

Themistius, 289a.

Libanius, ii.

273.

but only of

the Greek

language,

together with rules'

of rhetoric.

ricians, and writers of every style of composition?' The lecturers discoursed on the beauties, or on the characteristic features, of the authors; while the students, assisted sometimes by the slaves who wrote short-hand, took down the notes of what they heard, to reproduce it on occasion. It would seem that 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 often wearisomely long, if we may trust a critic, who talks of their wasting as much time in dissecting one poor book as the Greek warriors spent at Troy.' Their studies in philology extended only to one 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 like Polemon and Aristides. Meantime they laid to 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 anapæst or spondee at the close of every