CHAPTER I.

RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS.--A.D. 60 TO 543. PAGE

St. Mark at Alexandria. The canonical life of the clergy gives rise to the foundation of the Episcopal schools. The school of the Patriarchium at Rome. Decrees of early Councils regarding the education of the clergy. Catechetical schools. The public schools of the Empire, and their distinctive character. The Christian method of education, as explained by St. Basil and St. Augustine. The Monks of the desert, and the first germ of monastic schools. The rules of St. Pachomius, St. Cæsarius, and St. Leander of Seville. Domestic education among the early Christians. The destruction of the Imperial schools on the fall of the Empire. General decay of letters. Some degree of learning survives in the ecclesiastical schools. The schools of Gaul in the fifth century. Boëthius and Cassiodorus. The academy of Toulouse. The seminaries of Tours and Lerins. 1