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and later upon parchment with pen and ink. It was, moreover, necessary for the pupils in singing to be taught the rhythm and melody, and to understand the poem so as to bring out its meaning. Hence the explanations and interpretations given by the teachers brought in all the learning of the times, and the moral and intellectual value of the studies must have been much greater than would be suggested by the meagerness of the course. Some moral training and discipline were also given the boy by a slave called the paedagogus, who conducted him The paedato school and carried his lyre and other appurtenances. This functionary was often advanced in years or incapacitated for other duties by physical disability.

Training for the Youth.-At fifteen the Athenian

gogus.

nasia, and

in military

boy might take physical training of a more advanced Advanced physical traincharacter at one of the exercising grounds just outside ing in gymAthens, which were known as gymnasia. He was now ephebic course permitted to go wherever he wished and become acquainted with public life through first-hand contact. When eighteen the youth took the oath of loyalty to Athens, and for two years as an ephebus or cadet continued his education with a course in military duties. The first year he spent in the neighborhood of Athens and formed part of the city garrison, but in the second year he was transferred to some fortress on the frontier. At twenty the young man became a citizen, but even then his training continued through the drama, architecture, sculpture, and art that were all about him.

little training.

Effect of the Old Athenian Education.-Little attention was, however, given by the Athenians to the educa- Women given tion of woman. It was felt that her duties demanded no knowledge beyond ordinary skill in household affairs.

With this exception, the Athenian education was superior to the Spartan in allowing greater opportunity for individual development and in furnishing a more rounded training. Nevertheless, until about the middle of the fifth century B. C., while differing considerably in degree Athenian edu- from Sparta, Athens may be grouped with that country

Resemblance

of old

cation to Spartan.

as adhering to the 'old' education, where the individual was subordinated to the good of the social whole.

Causes and Character of the New Athenian Education. This characterization is, of course, in contrast to Greek education in the 'new' period, which is represented by Athens alone. This later type of education was probably somewhat the result of the gradual rise of democratic ideals in Athens, but a more immediate set of factors grew out of the Persian wars (492-479 B. C.). This extended conflict with a powerful Oriental people, possessing a well-organized but widely different body of traditions tended to broaden the views of the Athenians greatly, and the ensuing political and commercial intercourse with a variety of dependent states and nations in the Delian League, together with social contact with the foreigners from every land that were thronging the dividualism in streets of Athens, led even more directly to a reconstruc

Extreme in

new Athenian

education.

tion of practices and beliefs. A rapid transition in the old traditions took place and society seems for a time to have been sadly disorganized. The old was shattered, and while new ideals were being constructed, a groping ensued. Although the latitude given the individual was destined, as always, to produce progress in the long run, and was of great ultimate service to the world, more immediately a low ebb in morals at Athens resulted. Individualism ran riot. Education reflected the condi

tions of the period. Its ideals became more and more individualistic. The times demanded a training that would promote the happiness of the individual with little consideration for the welfare of the state as a whole. The old education seemed narrow and barren of content; and there arose a desire for all sorts of knowledge that might contribute to one's advancement, whether it increased his social usefulness or not. Skill in debate and public speaking was especially sought, because of the unusual opportunity for personal achievement in politics.

matical and

tleties, in the

place of the old

education.

The Sophists and Their Training. To meet these Study of gramnew demands, a set of teachers known as the sophists rhetorical subcame into prominence. They professed to train young men for a political career, and some of them even claimed to teach any subject whatsoever, or how to defend either side of an argument. These pretensions, together with their charging a fee for their services, contrary to Athenian custom, seriously offended the more conservative of the citizens of Athens. But many of the first sophists afforded an honest and careful training. The effect of their teaching was especially felt by the adolescents in the gymnasium stage of education, since they were ambitious to distinguish themselves politically. The physical training that had hitherto dominated the gymnasium course gave way to a study of grammatical and rhetorical subtleties, and whenever a sophist appeared in the street, market-place, or house, the young men crowded about him to borrow from his store of experience and wisdom, and acquire his method of argument. To a less degree the same influence was felt in the lower schools and by the cadets and younger citizens. The exercises of the palaestra were no longer as rigorous,

Reaction from the old sub

the individual to the state.

and existed for the sake of individual health and pleasure rather than for the making of citizens. The literary work of the didascaleum came to include, besides the Homeric epics, a wide range of didactic, reflective, and lyric poetry, with a superabundance of discussions. In music the old patriotic and religious songs sung to the simple Doric airs and accompanied upon the sevenstringed lyre, were replaced by rhythms of great difficulty, like the Lydian and Phrygian, and by complicated instruments of all sorts.

Their Extreme Individualism.-All this inroad upon ordination of the time honored curriculum shows how fully the sophists embodied the individualism of the times. Although they held no body of doctrine common to them all, they were generally at one in their position of extreme individualism. They often went so far as to insist that there could not safely be any universal criteria in knowledge or morals; that no satisfactory interpretation of life could be made for all, but that every fact and situation should be subject to the judgment of the individual. No doubt the formula attributed to Protagoras, “Man (i. e. the individual) is the measure of all things, both of the seen and the unseen," would have expressed the attitude common to most of them. They but carried to its legitimate conclusion the complete reaction from the old ideal of subordination of the individual to the state. The Reactionaries and the Mediators.-Meanwhile, the conservative element was making its usual attempt to adjust the unsettled conditions by suggesting a return to the old. Various schemes had been advanced, even of Pythagoras before the sophists had come into prominence. Of and Aristophthese the most complete plan was that of Pythagoras

The attitude

anes;

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