Therefore, grammar also held a central place in Roman schools. Dykema
(1961) noted that Romans, like the Greeks, believed that knowledge of gram-
matical terms was fundamental to correct language use.
Indeed, the influence of Greece ran throughout Roman education. Stu-
dents studied both Greek and Latin poets, following the Greek tradition of
basing grammar study on literary texts. The most influential grammars of the
Roman period were written by Donatus(Ars grammatica)in the 4thcentury
AD and Priscian(Institutiones grammaticae)in the 6thcentury AD. These
writers were so popular that their texts became the basis for grammar study
throughout the Middle Ages.
One of the foremost teachers during the Roman period was Quintilian (circa
35–95 AD), who wroteThe Education of the Orator (Institutio de oratoria),a
collection of 12 books on education from childhood through adulthood.
Quintilian described an educational program that was clearly Greek in almost
every respect, with grammar instruction in the early years, followed by logic
and rhetoric. This three-part taxonomy came to be called thetrivium.Educa-
tion was not compulsory, but, as in Greece, nearly every child, regardless of sta-
tus, attended school. In an age without electricity, all work, including school
work, began at dawn and ended around 2 p.m. We know from Quintilian that
students were expected to devote considerable time to homework, or “private
study” (1974, I.ii.12). The length of the school year is uncertain, but we do
know that classes began toward the end of March and may have ended around
the time of the Saturnalia religious festival on December 17.
From ages 6 to 12, students studied the alphabet, reading, writing, and arith-
metic.^3 Secondary education was from ages 12 to 16 and was not nearly as uni-
versal as primary education owing to the higher cost and the need for children
without means to go to work. At the elementary level, students began studying
Greek, and this study intensified at the secondary level. Educated people in
Rome were expected to be bilingual. The emphasis on grammar—both Latin
and Greek—increased as a result, and Quintilian reported that the secondary
teacher should be prepared to address the parts of speech, declensions, conju-
gations, inflections, pronunciation, and syllables (I.iv). Quintilian was a strong
advocate for correctness in language, and he argued that the study of grammar
would enable students to produce error-free speech and writing. He described
the ideal student as one “who is spurred on by praise, delighted by success, and
ready to weep over failure” (1974. I.ii.7)—an indication that teachers’ views
have changed little in the last 2,000 years.6 CHAPTER 1(^3) Rome, unlike Greece, allowed girls to attend grammar school, but they generally did not continue
formal education beyond age 12 or 13. Some women from wealthy families apparently did study with pri-
vate tutors, however, and became quite well educated.