the price of tuition in reading and writing was fixed at 50 denarius per month; in arithmetic at 75; in stenography at 75; in Greek and Latin grammar at 200; in mathematics at 200; in rhetoric at 250. The denarius, however, had depreciated so much in value that it is difficult to determine with any certainty precisely what its purchasing power was at that time, especially as the estimates of Mommsen 63 and Hultsch 64 are at such wide variance. Mommsen sets its value at about three cents; Hultsch,65 on the contrary, thinks it could not have been worth but little more than one-half a cent. According to Hultsch, then, a schoolmaster who had thirty pupils received an income of about $7.50 per month. From the time of Alexander Severus 66 a regular salary, fixed by the government, was paid out of the fiscus to grammarians. In the various State papers,67 issued by the emperors from time to time, we find the salary of grammarians fixed and regulated. According to the directions of Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian, the grammarians, who were employed in Gaul, were to receive twelve annonae,68 which equals in our money very nearly $178. There is a rescript of Justinian, of the year 534, to the Prefect of Africa, ordering the payment of seventy solidi to each two grammarians as a special privilege.69

From the preceding sketch we see that the schoolmaster's income varied at different times" in different places," depending probably on the demand for such instruction, on the circumstances of the times, and other special causes. But at all times their services were lightly valued, and their social position far from enviable. Then, again, we know that the salary sometimes was not paid promptly,73 and sometimes the promised honorarium was forgotten, or the pupil was transferred to another school 74 just before it became due. Sometimes the grammarian was compelled to discount a considerable per centage from his regular fee in order to get his pay.75 Even the

68 Röm. Münzwesens p. 80, and Anm. 23.

64 Griech und Röm. Metrologie p. 252f, and Anm. 23

65 Hultsch bases his estimate more on the wages of manual laborers. The maximum wages of agricultural laborers, per day, was twenty-five denarii, and board. Most mechanics received fifty; a camel-driver was paid twenty. Mommsen places more weight on the price of food; butcher's meat, for example, which in the second century of the empire cost in Rome about two denarii a pound, was now fixed at a maximum of eight denarii.

6 Ael. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. c. 44. Grammaticis . . . salaria instituit.

67 Cod. Theod. xiii 3, 11.

68 An annonae equals five solidi; the value of a solidus was nearly $3.

69 Cod. Just. i. 27. 70 Suet. Ill. Gr. c. 3. 71 Juv. Sat. vii. 215. 12 Aug. Conf. v.22.

78 Cod. Theod. xiii. 3, 1. Mercedes et etiam salaria reddi praecipimus.

14 Aug. Conf. v. 22: Sed subito ne reddant magistro mercedem; transferunt se ad alium. Juv. Sat. vii. 218f.

75

presents given to the schoolmaster were, in some instances, taken back again, and occasionally he was compelled to enforce payment of the school-fees before the Courts of the Tribunes.77

80

The study of rhetoric,78 like that of grammar, was not introduced into Rome until comparatively a late period.79 At first the opposition against the rhetoricians, on the part of the conservative Roman, was stronger even than against the grammarians. Cato saw a close connection between the study of rhetoric and the trade of the demagogue, and, hence, he poured forth all the vials of his indignant ridicule over the folly of learning orations as Isocrates had taught, and never being able to speak. The Cassandra, however, uttered his warnings in vain. Rhetoric, notwithstanding the decree of the Senate banishing the rhetoricians from Italy, and the edict of the censor prohibiting young men from resorting to their schools, was soon considered by the educated class a useful and honorable study. Oratory was now indispensable to every citizen who aspired to the honors of public life,83 and hence it was not long before rhetoric became a regular part of the education of the Romans.

In regard to salary, the instructors of rhetoric were much more favored than the grammarians. Juvenal mentions 2,000 sesterces 4 as a very great honorarium for a teacher of rhetoric. In the time of the republic we have no definite information concerning their pay; but we know that the schools of Greek and Latin rhetoricians 85 were very popular, and largely attended by the youth and even by those of maturer age, 86 who devoted themselves to Greek and Latin declamation with great enthusiasm. Public favor was soon so attracted to this study that in Rome a very large number of professors and learned men, who were held in high esteem, some of them being raised to the rank of senator and the highest offices of the State,were employed in giving instruction.87 The rhetoricians were the first, and for a long time the only teachers at Rome, who received a fixed salary 88 from the imperial treasury. This seems to have been the case also in other parts of the empire; at least we know that

76 Cod. Just. xi. 19, 15. 77 Tribuni Aerarii; Juv. vii. 217, 228.

78 Suet. de Clar. Orat. c. I.

79 In B.C. 159.

80 Cic. De Clar. Orat. ii. c. 3; rhetores; Seneca (ep. 89) calls them professores eloquentiæ. 81 B.C. 162. 82 B.C. 92. 88 Suet. I. c. 84 Juv. vii. 217.

85 After rhetoric became popular at Rome, it was customary for the student to practice first in Greek, and then in Latin declamation. Suet. De Clar. Rhet. c. 1; Ael. Lamp. vita Alex. Sev. c. 3; Script. Hist. Aug. vol. 1

88 Cic. De Orat. i. 31 f. 87 Suet. De Clar. Rhet. c. I.

88 Salarium.

Suet. Vespas. : primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit ; ef. Tact. Dial. c. 9.

Antoninus Pius bestowed a regular salary upon rhetoricians throughout all the provinces.

The first to obtain such a position at Rome was Quintilian, who received from the imperial exchequer an annual salary of 100,000 sesterces,91 or, in our money, $5,439, paid in quarterly instalments. He became rich, and, as we have already stated, was invested by Domitian with the consulship. Quintilian was the great schoolmaster, the wise educator, the systematic and careful instructor; how thoroughly he understood his task is abundantly shown by his great work on education. This treatise was written after his retirement from the active duties of his profession, and contains, therefore, his best thoughts on most of the questions which refer to the education of the perfect man. His attitude toward his pupils is shown in these words: "Let him, therefore, before everything else, adopt the parent's mind toward his pupils." The good fortune of Quintilian awakened the envy of his less favored associates, for his income, — although small when we consider the unsparing profusion and boundless extravagance of the rich in all luxuries pertaining to the table, the pleasures of the race-course, and the amphitheatre,was boundless wealth in comparison with the poverty of the crowd of half-starved grammarians who thronged the capital, and whose miseries Juvenal so forcibly depicts.92 Rhetoricians were also appointed to important and lucrative official positions. Pliny 93 asked Tacitus to select young men who had distinguished themselves in rhetorical studies for positions as teachers in Comum. The rhetorician, Antonius Aquila, was recommended by Aufidius Victorius at the solicitation of Fronto 4 for a public position in Gaul. Lucian 95 boasted of being one of those teachers of Greek declamation who held public positions in Gaul with a high salary. In fact, Gaul was at this time one of the most favored seats of learning throughout the empire. There had been for many years excellent schools at Marseilles,9% Trier, Bordeaux, whose fame Ausonius, a celebrated teacher of rhetoric and grammar, has preserved in a series. of epigrams. Autun 97 is mentioned by Tacitus as noted for its famous schools of rhetoric, and we learn from Eumenius (A. D. 297), the royal archivist,98 that in his time its fame had in no wise dimin

90 Jul. Cap. Anton. Pius. c. 2: rhetoribus et philosophis per omnes provincias et honores et salaria detulit.

91 This was four times as much as a military tribune received; the salary of a Roman senator was 500,000 sesterces.— Suet. vaspas. c. 17.

92 vii. 186. 93 Ep. iv. 13. 94 Ad. Amicos I. II. 95 Apol xii. 11, 4.

96 Noted as a seat of learning in Cicero's time: pro Flacco c. 26. 9 An. iii. 43.

98 Sacrae memoriæ magister.

ished. Chlorus, who wished to favor Autun, and preserve the reputation of its celebrated schools, appointed Eumenius teacher of rhetoric, with a salary of 300,000 sesterces from the imperial exchequer, and as much more from the city treasury, thinking that many young men would be attracted to the city by the fame of so celebrated a teacher. Eumenius," however, like many a modern prototype, was not avaricious; he begged permission from the emperor to devote half of his salary to restoring the high-school buildings. that had been injured and destroyed.100 Gratian also cared for edu

cation in Gaul. He directed that an annual salary of 24 annonæ be paid to rhetoricians. In Trier, in order to attract the most famous teachers, he fixed the salary at 30 annona.101

Some teachers of rhetoric, like Quintilian,102 were also advocates, and in this way very considerably increased their income. Martial 103 mentions 2,000 sesterces as an advocate's fee, of which only half was to be paid if the client lost his case. Many, however, received very much more; the celebrated sophist, Polemo, was paid two talent 104 for conducting a case in Sardis, which involved the whole property of a rich Lydian. According to the Theodosian code 105 the salary of a rhetorician was fixed at 24 annonæ, double that of a grammarian. In Constantinople equally good arrangements were made for higher instruction. Theodosius II. (A. D. 425) appointed rhetoricians, Greek and Latin grammarians, philosophers, and jurists to give instruction in their several departments, and assigned each a salary, and gave up the porticos of the palace to the teachers and pupils. 106 Private instruction was still permitted so long as the teachers kept within the narrow limits prescribed by the government; all who exceeded these limits were banished at once from the city. 107 The oversight of the students on the part of the government was even stricter. An order of Valentinian I. 108 (A. D. 370), in reference to the students at Rome, has been preserved. It directs that all students from the provinces, who come to Rome to study, must bring with them a pass from the highest provincial magistrate, which they must present at once to the magister census on their arrival in Rome, and at the same time declare what studies they wish

99 Orat. pro Instaurandis scholis c. 3 and 20. 100 Pro Instaur. Schol. c. 16. 101 Theod. Cod. xiii. 43. 102 Martial ii. 64. 108 viii. 17. 104 Nearly $2,357

105 Cod. Theod. xiii. 3. 11: quorum (praeceptorum) oratoribus viginti quattuor annonarum e fisco emolumenta donentur, grammaticis vel Latino vel Graeco xii. annorarum deductior paullo numerus ex more praestetur, ut singulis urbibus, quae metropoles nuncupantur, nobilium professorum electio celebretur, nec vero judicemus, liberum ut sit cuique civitati, suos doctores et magistros placito sibi juvare compendio xx. grammatico Latino. Graeco etiam, si qui dignus reperiri potuerit, duodecim praebeantur annonae. 106 Cod. Theod. xv. 1, 53. 107 Cod. Theod. xiv 9, 3. 108 Cod. Theod. xiv. 9, 1.

to pursue, and where their residence will be. During their stay in the city the government saw to it that they gave proper attention to their studies, that they avoided the clubs, did not visit the theatre too often, and were not out on sprees late at night. If the student's conduct was satisfactory he could remain until he was twenty years of age; but if he neglected his studies, the city official had authority to whip him publicly, and then send him home.

Greek philosophy made its appearance at Rome about the same time with rhetoric. At first it met with a more determined opposition than rhetoric, because it ran counter to the primitive faith and deep-seated convictions of the Roman people. Cato and the conservative party advocated measures of repression. As early as B. C. 162 a decree of the Senate was passed, banishing philosophers from Italy; but the appearance at Rome seven years later of the three leaders of the most celebrated schools of philosophy, rekindled the interest in the study and rendered the action of the Senate of no avail. Every year Greek philosophy, favored by such eminent men as Scipio, Lælius, Stilo, Balbus, Scaevola, and particularly Æmilius Paullus, the conqueror of the Greek nation, who had been the disciple of such men as Polybius, Panætius, Phædrus, Zeno, and Diocles, grew more popular and gained a strong hold on the imagination as well as the intellects of all thinking men.

No sooner had educated Romans become acquainted with the religion and philosophy of Greece than they became painfully aware how insufficient the popular creed and primitive faith were to meet the demands of the age and the cravings of the human soul. Henceforth the ancient ritual lost its hold on the mind, and men turned more and more to philosophy. At last a compromise was effected with the Stoic philosophy, for this seemed most capable of all the systems in vogue of giving expression to the unsympathizing and severe earnestness that so eminently characterized the Roman people. Philosophy gradually penetrated into all the grades of society, and soon gained a place in the regular course of instruction. It became customary for young men of rank, after completing their grammatical and rhetorical studies, to enter the school of the philosopher either at Rome, or, if they wished to obtain a more polished education, to take up their residence at Athens, which was then the great university of the Roman empire. Thither Cicero,109 Bibulus, Messala, Atticus, Ovid, Horace, and many others went to perfect themselves in rhetoric and philosophy. Vergil tells us with how

110

109 Brut. 91: Plut. c. 4. 110 Cic. ad. Att. xii. 111 Trist. I. 2, 77. 112 Ep. ii, 2, 40.