almost as the counterpart of a modern University, by Theodosius II, in 425. The teaching staff of this college consisted, under their official titles, of three Orators and ten Grammarians for the Latin language; of five Sophists and ten Grammarians for the Greek tongue; of one Philosopher; and of two Jurists, thirty-one members in all.[1] To insure the success of this foundation, the decree for its establishment was accompanied by an injunction against the public lecturing of professors other than those appointed to hold forth within its walls.[2] A body of scriveners, technically named antiquarians, was also maintained for the multiplication of copies of manuscripts in the public libraries of the capital, which were rich in literature.[3]
In addition to these teachers, who were settled in various localities, the itinerant professor, who travelled from place to place delivering public harangues and taking pupils for a short course of instruction, was a feature in the life of the period. With considerable vanity they distinguished themselves by wearing a long beard, carrying a staff, and enfolding themselves in a cloak of an unusual tint.[4] Rhetoricians affected a garb of scarlet or white, philosophers of gray, and physicians of blue.[5] When addressing an audience, they usually presented themselves crowned with flowers, reeking
- ↑ Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 3; Cod., XI, xviii.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 2. Constantius seems to have founded the first great library (c. 351), and another was originated by Julian; Themistius, Or., iv; see p. 88. Themistius says that he spent twenty years in studying the "old treasures" of literature at CP.; Or., xxxiii (p. 359, Dind.).
- ↑ Themistius, Or., xxiii; xxviii, etc. Chrysostom, Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. xvii, 2 (in Migne, ii, 173).
- ↑ See p. 58; Themistius, Or., xxiv; cf. Cresollius, Theatr. Vet. Rhet., Paris, 1620, a huge repertory of details relating to this class.
