The name is absent

226 History of Universities

lectures read by their masters out of Latin translations of
Aristotle, on all subjects in succession of the Trivium and
Quadrivium, and on Ethics, Physics, and Metaphysics, the
master moving on every few months to a new subject. After
each lecture it was customary for the auditors to get together
for an informal quiz among themselves, to make sure that
they had got it all. The normal length of a lecture, even in
the thirteenth century, was one hour. The University of
Perpignan, to be sure, required that lectures last three hours ;
it is not surprising to learn that this University died an early
death.

Medieval students had plenty of “extra-curricular activ-
ities” such as drinking, brawling, and wenching; but they
were not distracted by the constant flitting from one subject
to another that our modern system requires. Ordinarily
they concentrated on one subject before moving on to an-
other ; and if two or three overlapped, the lectures were on
different days. After advanced Latin Grammar you began
Rhetoric, and then took up Logic, the most important sub-
ject in the Arts course; for Logic was supposed to enable
you to reach the truth on any subject ; it was the handmaid
of all the Arts, and of Philosophy. In about a year’s time,
or as soon as he had learned enough Logic (in his master’s
opinion) to debate, the freshman became sophister. This
was a sort of intermediate degree, which gave one the right
and duty to take part in the public disputations. As about
two years more were necessary before they commenced B.A.,
the sophisters were divided into junior sophisters and senior
sophisters; these words crossed the ocean with freshman,
and became by ellipsis the juniors and seniors of American
colleges. The English universities normally required about
two years’ residence before the student became a junior
sophister, and for the second year, they coined the word

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