Part 212

"The primitive Chaldeans were pre-eminently a literary people, and it is by their literary relics, by the scattered contents of their libraries, that we can know and judge them. As befitted the inventors of a system of writing, like the Chinese they set the highest value on education, even though examinations may have been unknown among them. Education, however, was widely diffused. … Assur-bani-pal's library was open to the use and enjoyment of all his subjects, and the syllabaries, grammars, lexicons, and reading-books that it contained, show the extent to which not only their own language was studied by the Assyrians, but the dead language of ancient Accad as well. It became as fashionable to compose in this extinct tongue as it is now-a-days to display one's proficiency in Latin prose, and 'dog-Accadian' was perpetrated with as little remorse as 'dog-Latin' at the present time. One of the Babylonian cylinders found by General di Cesnola in the temple-treasure of Kurium, which probably belongs to the period of Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty, has a legend which endeavours to imitate the inscriptions of the early Accadian princes; but the very first word, by an unhappy error, betrays the insufficient knowledge of the old language possessed by its composer. Besides a knowledge of Accadian, the educated Assyrian was required to have also a knowledge of Aramaic, which had now become the 'lingua franca' of trade and diplomacy; and we find the Rabshakeh (Rab-sakki), or prime minister, who was sent against Hezekiah by Sennacherib, acquainted with Hebrew as well. {675} The grammatical and lexical works in the library of Nineveh are especially interesting, as being the earliest attempts of the kind of which we know, and it is curious to find the Hamiltonian method of learning languages forestalled by the scribes of Assur-bani-pal. In this case, as in all others, the first enquiries into the nature of speech, and the first grammars and dictionaries, were due to the necessity of comparing two languages together; it was the Accadian which forced the Semitic Assyrian or Babylonian to study his own tongue. And already in these first efforts the main principles of Semitic grammar are laid down clearly and definitely."

_A. H. Sayce, Babylonian Literature, pages 71-72._

"The Babylonians were the Chinese of the ancient world. They were essentially a reading and writing people. … The books were for the most part written upon clay with a wooden reed or metal stylus, for clay was cheap and plentiful, and easily impressed with the wedge-shaped lines of which the characters were composed. But besides clay, papyrus and possibly also parchment were employed as writing materials. … The use of clay for writing purposes extended, along with Babylonian culture, to the neighbouring populations of the East. … It is astonishing how much matter can be compressed into the compass of a single tablet: The cuneiform system of writing allowed the use of many abbreviations—thanks to its 'ideographic' nature—and the characters were frequently of a very minute size. Indeed, so minute is the writing on many of the Assyrian (as distinguished from the Babylonian) tablets that it is clear not only that the Assyrian scribes and readers must have been decidedly short-sighted, but also that they must have made use of magnifying glasses. We need not be surprised, therefore, to learn that Sir A. H. Layard discovered a crystal lens, which had been turned on a lathe, upon the site of the great library of Nineveh. … To learn the cuneiform syllabary was a task of much time and labour. The student was accordingly provided with various means of assistance. The characters of the syllabary were classified and named; they were further arranged according to a certain order, which partly depended on the number of wedges or lines of which each was composed. Moreover, what we may term dictionaries were compiled. … To learn the signs, however, with their multitudinous phonetic values and ideographic significations, was not the whole of the labour which the Babylonian boy had to accomplish. The cuneiform system of writing, along with the culture which had produced it, had been the invention of the non-Semitic Accado-Sumerian race, from whom it had been borrowed by the Semites. In Semitic hands the syllabary underwent further modifications and additions, but it bore upon it to the last the stamp of its alien origin. On this account alone, therefore, the Babylonian student who wished to acquire a knowledge of reading and writing was obliged to learn the extinct language of the older population of the country. There was, however, another reason which even more imperatively obliged him to study the earlier tongue. A large proportion of the ancient literature, more especially that which related to religious subjects, was written in Accado-Sumerian. Even the law-cases of earlier times, which formed precedents for the law of a later age, were in the same language. In fact, Accado-Sumerian stood in much the same relation to the Semitic Babylonians that Latin has stood to the modern inhabitants of Europe. … Besides learning the syllabary, therefore, the Babylonian boy had to learn the extinct of Accad and Sumer. … The study of foreign tongues naturally brought with it an inquisitiveness about the languages of other people, as well as a passion for etymology. … But there were other things besides languages which the young student in the schools of Babylonia and Assyria was called upon to learn. Geography, history, the names and nature of plants, birds, animals, and stones, as well as the elements of law and religion, were all objects of instruction. The British Museum possesses what may be called the historical exercise of some Babylonian lad in the age of Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus, consisting of a list of the kings belonging to one of the early dynasties, which he had been required to learn by heart. … A considerable proportion of the inhabitants of Babylonia could read and write. The contract tablets are written in a variety of running hands, some of which are as bad as the worst that passes through the modern post. Every legal document required the signatures of a number of witnesses, and most of these were able to write their own names. … In Assyria, however, education was by no means so widely spread. Apart from the upper and professional classes, including the men of business, it was confined to a special body of men—the public scribes. … There was none of that jealous exclusion of women in ancient Babylonia which characterizes the East of today, and it is probable that boys and girls pursued their studies at the same schools. The education of a child must have begun early."

_A. H. Sayce, Social Life among the Babylonians, chapter 3._

EDUCATION: China.

"It is not, perhaps, generally known that Peking contains an ancient university; for, though certain buildings connected with it have been frequently described, the institution itself has been but little noticed. It gives, indeed, so few signs of life that it is not surprising it should be overlooked. … If a local situation be deemed an essential element of identity, this old university must yield the palm of age to many in Europe, for in its present site it dates, at most, only from the Yuen, or Mongol, dynasty, in the beginning of the fourteenth century. But as an imperial institution, having a fixed organization and definite objects, it carries its history, or at least its pedigree, back to a period far anterior to the founding of the Great Wall. Among the Regulations of the House of Chow, which flourished a thousand years before the Christian era, we meet with it already in full-blown vigor, and under the identical name which it now bears, that of Kwotszekien, or 'School for the Sons of the Empire.' It was in its glory before the light of science dawned on Greece, and when Pythagoras and Plato were pumping their secrets from the priests of Heliopolis. And it still exists, but it is only an embodiment of 'life in death:' its halls are tombs, and its officers living mummies. In the 13th Book of the Chowle (see Rites de Tcheou, traduction par Édouard Biot), we find the functions of the heads of the Kwotszekien laid down with a good deal of minuteness. {676} The presidents were to admonish the Emperor of that which is good and just, and to instruct the Sons of the State in the 'three constant virtues' and the 'three practical duties'—in other words, to give a course of lectures on moral philosophy. The vice-presidents were to reprove the Emperor for his faults (i. e., to perform the duty of official censors) and to discipline the Sons of the State in the sciences and arts—viz., in arithmetic, writing, music, archery, horsemanship and ritual ceremonies. … The old curriculum is religiously adhered to, but greater latitude is given, as we shall have occasion to observe, to the term 'Sons of the State.' In the days of Chow, this meant the heir-apparent, princes of the blood, and children of the nobility. Under the Tatsing dynasty it signifies men of defective scholarship throughout the provinces, who purchase literary degrees, and more specifically certain indigent students of Peking, who are aided by the imperial bounty. The Kwotszekien is located in the northeastern angle of the Tartar city, with a temple of Confucius attached, which is one of the finest in the Empire. The main edifice (that of the temple) consists of a single story of imposing height, with a porcelain roof of tent-like curvature. … It contains no seats, as all comers are expected to stand or kneel in presence of the Great Teacher. Neither does it boast anything in the way of artistic decoration, nor exhibit any trace of that neatness and taste which we look for in a sacred place. Perhaps its vast area is designedly left to dust and emptiness, in order that nothing may intervene to disturb the mind in the contemplation of a great name which receives the homage of a nation. … In an adjacent block or square stands a pavilion known as the 'Imperial Lecture-room,' because it is incumbent on each occupant of the Dragon throne to go there at least once in his life-time to hear a discourse on the nature and responsibilities of his office. … A canal spanned by marble bridges encircles the pavilion, and arches of glittering porcelain, in excellent repair, adorn the grounds. But neither these nor the pavilion itself constitutes the chief attraction of the place. Under a long corridor which encloses the entire space may be seen as many as one hundred and eighty-two columns of massive granite, each inscribed with a portion of the canonical books. These are the 'Stone Classics'—the entire 'Thirteen,' which formed the staple of a Chinese education, being here enshrined in a material supposed to be imperishable. Among all the Universities in the world, the Kwotszekien is unique in the possession of such a library. This is not, indeed, the only stone library extant—another of equal extent being found at Singanfu, the ancient capital of the Tangs. But, that too, was the property of the Kwotszekien ten centuries ago, when Singan was the seat of empire. The 'School for the Sons of the Empire' must needs follow the migrations of the court; and that library, costly as it was, being too heavy for transportation, it was thought best to supply its place by the new edition which we have been describing. … In front of the temple stands a forest of columns of scarcely inferior interest. They are three hundred and twenty in number, and contain the university roll of honor, a complete list of all who since the founding of the institution have attained to the dignity of the doctorate. Allow to each an average of two hundred names, and we have an army of doctors sixty thousand strong! (By the doctorate I mean the third or highest degree.) All these received their investiture at the Kwotszekien, and, throwing themselves at the feet of its president, enrolled themselves among the 'Sons of the Empire.' They were not, however—at least the most of them were not—in any proper sense alumni of the Kwotszekien, having pursued their studies in private, and won their honors by public competition in the halls of the Civil-service Examining Board. … There is an immense area occupied by lecture-rooms, examination-halls and lodging-apartments. But the visitor is liable to imagine that these, too, are consecrated to a monumental use—so rarely is a student or a professor to be seen among them. Ordinarily they are as desolate as the halls of Baalbec or Palmyra. In fact, this great school for the 'Sons of the Empire' has long ceased to be a seat of instruction, and degenerated into a mere appendage of the civil-service competitive examinations on which it hangs as a dead weight, corrupting and debasing instead of advancing the standard of national education."

_W. A. P. Martin, The Chinese, their Education, Philosophy and Letters, pages 85-90._

EDUCATION: Persia.

"All the best authorities are agreed that great pains were taken by the Persians—or, at any rate, by those of the leading clans—in the education of their sons. During the first five years of his life the boy remained wholly with the women, and was scarcely, if at all, seen by his father. After that time his training commenced. He was expected to rise before dawn, and to appear at a certain spot, where he was exercised with other boys of his age in running, slinging stones, shooting with the bow, and throwing the javelin. At seven he was taught to ride, and soon afterward he was allowed to begin to hunt. The riding included, not only the ordinary management of the horse, but the power of jumping on and off his back when he was at speed, and of shooting with the bow and throwing the javelin with unerring aim, while the horse was still at full gallop. The hunting was conducted by state-officers, who aimed at forming by its means in the youths committed to their charge all the qualities needed in war. The boys were made to bear extremes of heat and cold, to perform long marches, to cross rivers without wetting their weapons, to sleep in the open air at night, to be content with a single meal in two days, and to support themselves occasionally on the wild products of the country, acorns, wild pears and the fruit of the terebinth tree. On days when there was no hunting they passed their mornings in athletic exercises, and contests with the bow or the javelin, after which they dined simply on the plain food mentioned above as that of the men in the early times, and then employed themselves during the afternoon in occupations regarded as not illiberal—for instance, in the pursuits of agriculture, planting, digging for roots, and the like, or in the construction of arms and hunting implements, such as nets and springes. Hardy and temperate habits being secured by this training, the point of morals on which their preceptors mainly insisted was the rigid observance of truth. Of intellectual education they had but little. It seems to have been no part of the regular training of a Persian youth that he should learn to read. {677} He was given religious notions and a certain amount of moral knowledge by means of legendary poems, in which the deeds of gods and heroes were set before him by his teachers, who recited or sung them in his presence, and afterwards required him to repeat what he had heard, or, at any rate, to give some account of it. This education continued for fifteen years, commencing when the boy was five, and terminating when he reached the age of twenty. The effect of this training was to render the Persian an excellent soldier and a most accomplished horseman. … At fifteen years of age the Persian was considered to have attained to manhood, and was enrolled in the ranks of the army, continuing liable to military service from that time till he reached the age of fifty. Those of the highest rank became the body-guard of the king, and these formed the garrison of the capital. … Others, though liable to military service, did not adopt arms as their profession, but attached themselves to the Court and looked to civil employment, as satraps, secretaries, attendants, ushers, judges, inspectors, messengers. … For trade and commerce the Persians were wont to express extreme contempt."

_G. Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, volume 3, pages 238-242._

After the death of Cyrus, according to Xenophon, the Persians degenerated, in the education of their youth and otherwise. "To educate the youth at the gates of the palace is still the custom," he says; "but the attainment and practice of horsemanship are extinct, because they do not go where they can gain applause by exhibiting skill in that exercise. Whereas, too, in former times, the boys, hearing causes justly decided there, were considered by that means to learn justice, that custom is altogether altered; for they now see those gain their causes who offer the highest bribes. Formerly, also, boys were taught the virtues of the various productions of the earth, in order that they might use the serviceable, and avoid the noxious; but now they seem to be taught those particulars that they may do as much harm as possible; at least there are nowhere so many killed or injured by poison as in that country."

_Xenophon, Cyropædia and Hellenics; translated by J. S. Watson and H. Dale, pages 284-285._

EDUCATION: Judæa.

"According to the statement of Josephus, Moses had already prescribed 'that boys should learn the most important laws, because that is the best knowledge and the cause of prosperity.' 'He commanded to instruct children in the elements of knowledge (reading and writing), to teach them to walk according to the laws, and to know the deeds of their forefathers. The latter, that they might imitate them; the former, that growing up with the laws they might not transgress them, nor have the excuse of ignorance.' Josephus repeatedly commends the zeal with which the instruction of the young was carried on. 'We take most pains of all with the instruction of children, and esteem the observance of the laws and the piety corresponding with them the most important affair of our whole life.' 'If anyone should question one of us concerning the laws, he would more easily repeat all than his own name. Since we learn them from our first consciousness, we have them, as it were, engraven on our souls; and a transgression is rare, but the averting of punishment impossible.' In like manner does Philo express himself: 'Since the Jews esteem their laws as divine revelations, and are instructed in the knowledge of them from their earliest youth, they bear the image of the law in their souls.' … In view of all this testimony it cannot be doubted, that in the circles of genuine Judaism boys were from their tenderest childhood made acquainted with the demands of the law. That this education in the law was, in the first place, the duty and task of parents is self-evident. But it appears, that even in the age of Christ, care was also taken for the instruction of youth by the erection of schools on the part of the community. … The later tradition that Joshua ben Gamla (Jesus the son of Gamaliel) enacted that teachers of boys … should be appointed in every province and in every town, and that children of the age of six or seven should be brought to them, is by no means incredible. The only Jesus the son of Gamaliel known to history is the high priest of that name, about 63-65 after Christ. … It must therefore be he who is intended in the above notice. As his measures presuppose a somewhat longer existence of boys' schools, we may without hesitation transfer them to the age of Christ, even though not as a general and established institution. The subject of instruction, as already appears from the above passages of Josephus and Philo, was as good as exclusively the law. For only its inculcation in the youthful mind, and not the means of general education, was the aim of all this zeal for the instruction of youth. And indeed the earliest instruction was in the reading and inculcation of the text of scripture. … Habitual practice went hand in hand with theoretical instruction. For though children were not actually bound to fulfil the law, they were yet accustomed to it from their youth up."

_E. Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, volume 2, pages 47-50._