Roman secondary education aimed principally at training future lawyers and politicians. Under the late Republic and the Empire, the main instrument was an import from Greece -- declamation, the making of practice-speeches on imaginary subjects. There were two types of such speeches: controversiae on law-court themes, suasoriae on delibertaive topics. On both types a prime source of our knowledge is the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Spaniard from...

Information about women is scattered throughout the fragmented mosaic of ancient history. The vivid poetry of Sappho survived antiquity on remnants of damaged papyrus, riddled with gaps. The inscription on a beautiful fourth century B.C.E. grave praises the virtues of Mnesarete, an Athenian woman who died young, but we do not know if the grave's marble stele shows Mnesarete, or simply a ready-made design chosen by her family. We read that on one occasion...