them, it was natural that they turned their attention to language and began ask-
ing questions about its structure. In addition, the rise of democracy and public
debate of civic issues exerted a significant influence on all facets of Greek life,
especially in Athens.^2 Citizens needed to speak persuasively and correctly if
they were to guide the ship of state. Power was linked to speaking ability, which
was the result of study and practice. Thus, the careful study of language, both
grammatical and rhetorical, grew to paramount importance and formed the
basis of Greek education.
During their first 3 years of classes, from about age 6 to 9, students studied
the alphabet, reading, spelling, and the beginnings of writing. At around age 9,
they began studying grammatical terminology and relations: nouns, verbs,
conjunctions, prepositions, and so on. By age 12, students were focusing on lit-
erature, memorizing long passages that celebrated moral virtues, courage,
duty, and friendship, and they were introduced to the fundamentals of rhetoric.
A majority of young boys finished their formal education at age 14 and began
working, either with their fathers or as apprentices. Those from families with
the means went on to secondary education, concentrating on rhetoric, music,
and mathematics. All males were required to complete 2 years of military duty
at age 18, and afterwards it was possible to participate in advanced stud-
ies—what we might think of today as college—with a private tutor. The most
well-known private tutors, calledSophists,focused their teaching on rhetoric,
although their courses of study included other topics.
Even though this book is about grammar, a brief discussion of rhetoric is
necessary here. Rhetoric, like grammar, has many different definitions today,
but in the ancient world it was understood primarily to be the art of persuasive
public speaking. The nature of Greek democracies was such that important de-
cisions, made by a large group of citizens sitting in assembly, often hinged on a
leader’s speaking ability. The court system also demanded speaking skill, for
all persons appearing in court were required to represent themselves. There
were no attorneys. The most famous example of this system at work is the trial
of Socrates, reported by his student Plato, in which we see the philosopher
answering the charges against him and arguing his case.
Rhetoric was a highly organized field of study in the ancient world. It fo-
cused on what are called “the five offices”:invention, arrangement, style, mem-
ory,anddelivery. Inventionmay be best understood as a process of developing4 CHAPTER 1(^2) The two major powers during the classic period of Greek history were Athens and Sparta. Athens and
its allies were democracies, whereas Sparta and its allies were aristocracies. Spartan society was dedicated
wholly to military prowess, and Spartans never developed the love of language that characterized Athens.
In fact, Athenians commonly mocked the Spartans for being inarticulate. Although we have no way of ac-
curately assessing their relative speaking abilities, the Athenian view prevails even today. The termlaconic,
which describes brief, pithy speech, comes fromLacedaemonians,another name for the Spartans.