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afterwards in several other cities。 The state; however; seems

never to have encouraged them further than by assigning some of

them a particular place to teach in; which was sometimes done;

too; by private donors。 The state seems to have assigned the

Academy to Plato; the Lyceum to Aristotle; and the Portico to

Zeno of Citta; the founder of the Stoics。 But Epicurus bequeathed

his gardens to his own school。 Till about the time of Marcus

Antonius; however; no teacher appears to have had any salary from

the public; or to have had any other emoluments but what arose

from the honoraries or fees of his scholars。 The bounty which

that philosophical emperor; as we learn from Lucian; bestowed

upon one of the teachers of philosophy; probably lasted no longer

than his own life。 There was nothing equivalent to the privileges

of graduation; and to have attended any of those schools was not

necessary; in order to be permitted to practise any particular

trade or profession。 If the opinion of their own utility could

not draw scholars to them; the law neither forced anybody to go

to them nor rewarded anybody for having gone to them。 The

teachers had no jurisdiction over their pupils; nor any other

authority besides that natural authority; which superior virtue

and abilities never fail to procure from young people towards

those who are entrusted with any part of their education。

     At Rome; the study of the civil law made a part of the

education; not of the greater part of the citizens; but of some

particular families。 The young people; however; who wished to

acquire knowledge in the law; had no public school to go to; and

had no other method of studying it than by frequenting the

company of such of their relations and friends as were supposed

to understand it。 It is perhaps worth while to remark; that

though the Laws of the Twelve Tables were; many of them; copied

from those of some ancient Greek republics; yet law never seems

to have grown up to be a science in any republic of ancient

Greece。 In Rome it became a science very early; and gave a

considerable degree of illustration to those citizens who had the

reputation of understanding it。 In the republics of ancient

Greece; particularly in Athens; the ordinary courts of justice

consisted of numerous; and therefore disorderly; bodies of

people; who frequently decided almost at random; or as clamour;

faction; and party spirit happened to determine。 The ignominy of

an unjust decision; when it was to be divided among five hundred;

a thousand; or fifteen hundred people (for some of their courts

were so very numerous); could not fall very heavy upon any

individual。 At Rome; on the contrary; the principal courts of

justice consisted either of a single judge or of a small number

of judges; whose characters; especially as they deliberated

always in public; could not fail to be very much affected by any

rash or unjust decision。 In doubtful cases such courts; from

their anxiety to avoid blame; would naturally endeavour to

shelter themselves under the example or precedent of the judges

who had sat before them; either in the same or in some other

court。 This attention to practice and precedent necessarily

formed the Roman law into that regular and orderly system in

which it has been delivered down to us; and the like attention

has had the like effects upon the laws of every other country

where such attention has taken place。 The superiority of

character in the Romans over that of the Greeks; so much remarked

by Polybius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus; was probably more

owing to the better constitution of their courts of justice than

to any of the circumstances to which those authors ascribe it。

The Romans are said to have been particularly distinguished for

their superior respect to an oath。 But the people who were

accustomed to make oath only before some diligent and

well…informed court of justice would naturally be much more

attentive to what they swore than they who were accustomed to do

the same thing before mobbish and disorderly assemblies。

     The abilities; both civil and military; of the Greeks and

Romans will readily be allowed to have been at least equal to

those of any modern nation。 Our prejudice is perhaps rather to

overrate them。 But except in what related to military exercises;

the state seems to have been at no pains to form those great

abilities; for I cannot be induced to believe that the musical

education of the Greeks could be of much consequence in forming

them。 Masters; however; had been found; it seems; for instructing

the better sort of people among those nations in every art and

science in which the circumstances of their society rendered it

necessary or convenient for them to be instructed。 The demand for

such instruction produced what it always produces… the talent for

giving it; and the emulation which an unrestrained competition

never fails to excite; appears to have brought that talent to a

very high degree of perfection。 In the attention which the

ancient philosophers excited; in the empire which they acquired

over the opinions and principles of their auditors; in the

faculty which they possessed of giving a certain tone and

character to the conduct and conversation of those auditors; they

appear to have been much superior to any modern teachers。 In

modern times; the diligence of public teachers is more or less

corrupted by the circumstances which render them more or less

independent of their success and reputation in their particular

professions。 Their salaries; too; put the private teacher; who

would pretend to come into competition with them; in the same

state with a merchant who attempts to trade without a bounty in

competition with those who trade with a considerable one。 If he

sells his goods at nearly the same price; he cannot have the same

profit; and at least; if not bankruptcy and ruin; will infallibly

be his lot。 If he attempts to sell them much dearer; he is likely

to have so few customers that his circumstances will not be much

mended。 The privileges of graduation; besides; are in many

countries necessary; or at least extremely convenient; to most

men of learned professions; that is; to the far greater part of

those who have occasion for a learned education。 But those

privileges can be obtained only by attending the lectures of the

public teachers。 The most careful attendance upon the ablest

instructions of any private teacher cannot always give any title

to demand them。 It is from these different causes that the

private teacher of any of the sciences which are commonly taught

in universities is in modern times generally considered as in the

very lowest order of men of letters。 A man of real abilities can

scarce find out a more humiliating or a more unprofitable

employment to turn them to。 The endowment of schools and colleges

have; in this manner; not only corrupted the diligence of public

teachers; but have rendered it almost impossible to have any good

private ones。

     Were there no public institutions for education; no system;

no science would be taught for which there was not some demand;

or which the circumstances of the times did not render it either

necessary; or convenient; or at least fashionable; to learn。 A

private teacher could never find his account in teaching either

an exploded and antiquated system of a science acknowledged to be

useful; or a science universally believed to be a mere useless

and pedantic heap of sophistry and nonsense。 Such systems; such

sciences; can subsist nowhere; but in those incorporated

societies for education whose prosperity and revenue are in a

great measure independent of their reputation and altogether

independent of their industry。 Were there no public institutions

for education; a gentleman; after going through with application

and abilities the most complete course of education which the

circumstances of the times were supposed to afford; could not

come into the world completely ignorant of everything which is

the common subject of conversation among gentlemen and men of the

world。

     There are no public institutions for the education of women;

and there is accordingly nothing useless; absurd; or fantastical

in the common course of their education。 They are taught what

their parents or guardians judge it necessary or useful for them

to learn; and they are taught nothing else。 Every part of their

education tends evidently to some useful purpose; either to

improve the natural attractions of their person; or to form their

mind to reserve; to modesty; to chastity; and to economy; to

render them both likely to become the mistresses of a family; and

to behave properly when they have become such。 In every part of

her life a woman feels some conveniency or advantage from every

part of her education。 It seldom happens that a man; in any part

of his life; derives any conveniency or advantage from some of

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