h is pedagogically false, as Quintilian pointed
out. She also taught them poems from the great masters. In taking pains
with pronunciation she prepared the way for later training in oratory,
which was the most important study in Roman education.

Only when Rome had begun to decay did mothers commit the training of
their children to nurses and slaves. When Rome was at her best, the
child grew up in an atmosphere of love under direct care of the mother,
who shaped his morals and guided his religious life as well as his early
mental development. Around the mother centered all that was ennobling
and elevating in the first seven years of the child's life. The father
had but little to do with this period, and did not interfere with the
mother's work. His duty lay in public life; hers lay within the home,
and well did she meet her responsibilities until the time of her
debasement with all the other elements of Roman society.

=Elementary Education.=--At six or seven years of age the child was sent
to school in charge of a slave, who carried his books and protected him
from harm. This was in imitation of the practice in Athens, where the
pedagogue performed a like office. But the duties of the Roman slave do
not seem to have been as responsible as those of the Athenian pedagogue.
As we have seen, in Rome the mothers looked after the morals of their
children with great care, and the attendant of the child to school was
regarded as but little else than a servant. In some of the wealthier and
more aristocratic families, however, in addition to the slave who
performed the menial duties mentioned, there was also a pedagogue who
attended the youth to school and to the theater, superintended his
games, and, in short, accompanied him wherever he went. This pedagogue
was intrusted with full power to discipline and to direct the morals of
his charge. In some cases several boys were placed in the care of the
same pedagogue. On the other hand, it often happened that a boy had a
whole retinue of slaves, each having his special duty to perform.

The schools were in charge of _literators_, usually men of little
culture and no social standing. These institutions were public, though
supported by private means. The discipline was severe, strict obedience
being exacted by the teacher, who made use of the rod when he thought it
necessary. The subjects taught were reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Great care was taken with pronunciation, just as h