(i) Status of Children
When born the PATERFAMILIAS (head of the household) would decide whether to accept the child or not.
- If the child was not accepted it could be exposed to die or sold into slavery
If accepted the child was well cared for by the parents, in a good moral and religious climate at home. The father was stern. Obedience was important. - Respect for the child was seen in the garment worn
TOGA PRAETEXTA, along white garment with purple stripe, similar to that worn by priests
TOGA VIRILIS replaced the Toga Praetexta at puberty. - The importance of the garment was seen in
the ritual associated with the replacement of one garment by the other
the importance of the stages in life which it marked; the TOGA VIRILIS denoted citizenship. - CATO is an example of the Roman's great love for children
present at the washing of his child after birth
taught him to read
did not want him reprimanded by a slave
wrote history stories in large print for him
taught him games and how to fight.
(ii) Primary, Secondary and Higher Education
(i) Old Roman Education (Earliest times to 250 B.C.)
- In this period there were no schools
- Education took place at home.
- Aim - good morals - patriotism - preparation for adult life.
- Up to age 7 years, in the care of the mother.
- From 7 years on, boys received a stern training under their father
- religion - approval of the Gods sought for everything - the father acted as family priest, conducting the rituals.
- Respect for ancestral custom - stories of forefathers
- Moral education - gravitas - pietas - justice and moderation
- Practical Duties - farming, the market
- Reading and Writing - just sufficient for home and state
- The 12 Tables of the Law were taught.
- Girls were trained, by their mother, in household duties.
Therefore early Roman education was very religious in orientation and also very utilitarian.
Schools were not necessary for this type of education and when some were set up at the end of the period they supplemented the subjects taught at home.
Transition Period (250 - 100 B.C.)
- Contact with Greece through
- the Greek colonies
- influx of Greek slaves
- Romans visiting Greece - This resulted in the introduction of literary subjects
- Andronicus translated Homer into Latin.
- Schools of GRAMMATICUS or LITTERATUS were introduced; Homer was the favourite author
- With the birth of Latin literature, schools multiplied and the old tradition of home education was replaced by the school.
The Roman Schools (100 B.C. to 100 A.D.)
- The Greek School was now accepted.
- Hellenised Roman education.
3 stages
Primary (The LUDI LITTERARII)
- 7 - 12 years
- reading, writing and elementary arithmetic.
Secondary (Grammar School)
- 12 - 16 years
- grammar and literature with correct pronunciation and intelligent expression
- method used included reproduction of stories in their own words
- not every child passed from primary to secondary level.
Higher Education (School of Rhetoric)
- ability in public speaking for public life
- sometimes travelled abroad to complete their education.
(iii) Schools, Teachers and Pedagogues
Schools could be in any building. They were often in a porch closed off by a piece of cloth.
Benches were used. Flogging was allowed. ORBILIUS known as "the flogger", taught Horace. The cane and whip were used.
- the pupil sometimes taken up on the shoulders of a companion to be whipped by the master. This is depicted in a mural in Pompeii.
- mentioned by Ausonius in relation to his young grandson going to school; also mentioned by St. Augustine in his Confessions.
Quintilian was against this type of punishment.
The School Day started at dawn, without breakfast, and ended with a bath. There was no gymnasium as in the Greek schools. Holidays were from the end of July to mid-October and also on festival days. Sometimes tutors were employed at home.
Teachers were paid low fees. They were of poor quality. There was no need for evidence of good character. Only the wealthy could demand higher standards
- the primary teacher was called the LUDI MAGISTER
- the secondary teacher, the GRAMMATICUS.
Pedagogues were usually Greek slaves. They supervised the manners and morals of the child. They reported to the parents on the child's school progress. They accompanied the child to school and carried his school satchel. They taught him Greek.
(iv) Teaching and Writing Materials
- work tablets
- books were cheap and plentiful; slaves were copyists
- the pupil said the letters first and then wrote them down with the teacher guiding his hand over the tablet
- later, he formed sentences with stylus on wax or reed pen and ink on papyrus
- counting on the abacus
- tables recited in unison
- teaching based on memory and repetition.
(v) Curriculum and Study of Rhetoric
The purpose of Rhetoric was to develop oratorical ability necessary for lawyers, leaders of the assemblies and senators
Method:
(i) Preliminary exercises (PROGYMNASMATA)
- narrative based on fables or history - arguments for or against proposals - discussion of laws - explanation of pithy sayings.
(2) Formal rhetoric - 5 elements
- "inventio", finding of suitable matter
- "dispositio", arrangement of the matter
- "elocutio", appropriate diction
- "memoria", remembering the matter, arrangement and diction
- "pronuntiatio", tone and gesture.
(3) Final stage "declamatio'~ practice in delivering speeches
(vi) Important Writers on Roman Education
Cato (234 - 149 B.C.)
- "The orator is the good man skilled in speech"
- favoured a return to the simpler Roman society of the previous century
- critical of Hellenistic ideas and moral laxity
- features in Plutarch's "Lives" where there is a description of his role as a father.
Cicero (106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)
- greatest orator of his day
- influenced by ISOCRATES
- introduced Greek philosophical theories to the Romans
- developed Latin prose to perfection
- saw the family as the source of all fruitful education and parental example as the foundation of manly character
- added the concept of "HUMANITAS" (human kindliness and moral refinement) to the old Roman virtues of "Pietas" and "Gravitas"
- he influenced Quintilian.
Quintilian (35 A.D. - 100 A.D.)
- first professor of rhetoric at Rome
- the orator must be a good man
- the master should be a moral man
- the nurse should be of good character and have excellent speech
- young child should enjoy learning and be rewarded; he condemned flogging
- right and wrong should be taught at a very early age
- deportment of the teacher ~ neither too severe nor too familiar
- refrain from sarcasm
- praised music but did not place it on the curriculum
- disregarded gymnastics.
Seneca (4 B.C. - 65 A.D.)
- Stoic
- " A good judge condemns wrong deeds but does not hate the wrong-doer"
- Disagreed with corporal punishment
- Against gymnastics but approved of walking
(vii) Primary Sources
Horace: "Epistles" Book 2.1.70 (on Orbilius);
Horace: "Satires" Book 1.1.25; Book 1.6.72
Martial: "Epigrams" Book 9.68
Catullus: "The Poems"; (Penguin Classics)
Juvenal: "Satire" 7, Schools and Schoolmasters. See also Jo-Ann Shelton: "As the Romans Did" for references to Pliny, Quintilian, Tacitus and Seneca.
Cicero: "To Family and Friends", "De Republica" I, XXII, 3 6
Cato: "De Re Rustica"
Plutarch's "Lives" (Marcus Cato)
Petronius: "Satyricon"
(viii) Influence on European Culture
Literature
- Cicero influenced St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, Petrarch, Erasmus, Burke, Churchill, Gibbon, Mirabeau.
- Quintilian influenced the Renaissance scholars.
- Seneca influenced the late Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, Chaucer, Dante, Petrarch, Erasmus, Bacon.
Art
- Rubens: " A Dying Seneca".
- Steen: "The Village School" (National Gallery, Ireland).
(ix) Additional Reading Material for Teachers
"Roman Education", Robin Barrow
"Greek and Roman Education", Inside the Ancient World Series - (Macmillan)
"Roman Education", J.A. Harrison (Ancient World in Action Series, 1978 - Bell and Hymon, London).
"As the Romans Did", Jo-Ann Shelton (O.U.P.)
(x) Suggested Activities for Students
Draw a picture of Cato caring for his son.
Prepare a speech on any topic related to school life.
What is the difference between school in ancient Rome and school today? Have a debate.
(xi) Greek and Roman Education Compared
- Greek education placed great emphasis on the whole man
- It encouraged the study of subjects for their own sake
- Gymnastics and music were an important part of the curriculum
- Roman education emphasised the importance of the family in the formation of the child
- It was a utilitarian education which placed no emphasis on the whole man
- Gymnastics and music were unimportant
- Its main emphasis was on rhetoric and with a decline in morals, the moral value of rhetoric was lost.