Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/240

 who wrote extracts to dictation chosen from various illustrative authors. The sophist or rhetorician addressed his class on some stated theme, and spoke alternately on both sides of the question. The management of the voice and the use of appropriate gesture were systematically taught. Finally the pupils were set to compose speeches of their own and to debate among themselves on suitable subjects.

III. The four divisions of the Quadrivium were grouped together as the mathematical arts; and six years were allotted to their study. 1. In geometry the discipline did not include the learning of theorems and problems as set forth in the Elements of Euclid, but merely an acquaintance with the definitions and with the ordinary plane and solid figures. The teaching in this section, however, was mainly of geography. It was asserted doubtfully that the earth was a globe and that there was an inferior hemisphere of which nothing certain could be predicated. *