matter of private enterprise. Schools were
kept by private teachers, the government supervision extending only to
the moral not to the scientific qualification of the schoolmaster.
Grammar, music and gymnastics, to which Aristotle adds drawing, as a
means of aesthetic cultivation, were the common subjects of education
at schools and gymnasia; also reading, writing and arithmetic. The
method of teaching how to write consisted in the master's forming the
letters, which the pupils had to imitate on their tablets, sometimes
with the master's assistance. The writing materials were small tablets
covered with wax, into which the letters were scratched by means of a
pencil made of metal or ivory. It was pointed at one end, and
flattened or bent at the other, so as to extinguish the writing, if
required, and, at the same time, to smooth the surface again for other
letters. A young girl, in a charming Pompeian wall-painting, has in
her hand a double tablet, while with her other hand she holds a pencil
to her chin, as if pondering over a letter. Her nurse looking over her
shoulder tries to decipher the contents of the love-letter. Besides
these tablets, Herodotus mentions the use of paper made of the bark of
the Egyptian papyrus-plant. The stalk (three or four feet in length)
was cut longitudinally, after which the outer bark was first taken
off; the remaining layers of bark, about twenty in number, were
carefully severed with a pin; and, afterwards, the single stripes
plaited crosswise; by means of pressing and perforating the whole with
lime-water, the necessary consistency of the material was obtained.
The lower layers of bark yielded the best writing-paper, while the
outer layers were made into packing-paper (_emporetica_); the
uppermost bark was used for making ropes. A case of this kind full of
parchment rolls, with a cover to it, stands by the side of Klio in a
wall-painting of Herculaneum. In her left hand the muse holds a
half-opened roll on which are inscribed the words "Klio teaches
history." The ink was made of a black coloring substance; it was kept
in an inkstand made of metal, with a cover to it. Double inkstands,
frequently seen on monuments, were most likely destined for the
keeping of black and red inks, the latter of which was frequently
used. To write on paper or parchment, the ancients used the Memphic,
Gnidic, or Anaitic reeds, pointed and split like our pens. As we
mentioned before, it was the custom of adul