Note 17 — Chapter I
Reading edition
Woman Through the Ages, Vol. I, pp. 110, 111, by Emil Reich, London, 1908.
Schoolhouses among the Romans, as well as among the Greeks, were quite different from our modern, well-equipped buildings. Usually, at least, in earlier times, instruction was given in the open air, in some quiet street corner or in tabernæ—sheds or lean-tos—as in certain Mohametan countries to-day. Horace refers to this in Epistola XX, Lib. I, when he writes:
"Ut pueros elementa docentem Occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus."
In such schools the pupils sat on the floor or the bare ground, or, if the lessons were given on the street, they sat on the stones. There were no desks, or, if there were any benches, they had no backs. The pupils were, therefore, perforce obliged to write on their knees.
Cf. Historical Survey of Pre-Christian Education, pp. 278 and 346, by S. S. Laurie, London, 1900.