Wealthier families had private tutors in their homes. These tutors may have been educated slaves, having obtained a good education in their homelands before having been captured during war times and sold as slaves.
- Most families could not afford a private tutor, those from the middle-class may have sent their children to 'schools'. These 'schools' varied in the type of structure; Teachers might rent a room to hold their classes in or they set up a teaching place in the extended area of a shop, which the Roman historian, Suetonius (69 to c. 130/140 CE) refers to as a pergula (Gram.18.1).
- It was not uncommon for poorer teachers to hold classes for their students in outdoor public places – the trivium – the corner of the street, or in the piazzas. Classes began at dawn and continued until noon. The Roman poet, Martial (38/41-103 CE), complained about being woken at dawn by the booming voice of a teacher and his outdoor class, "Before the crested rooster has crowed you shatter the silence with your harsh words..." (Ep. 9.68).
- There were three levels of education; the lowest level where the teacher was called a magister or litterator , he taught reading, writing and maths. At this level children also had to memorise texts on laws, legends and poetry.
- The second level of education was taught by a grammaticus and was usually attended by children aged ten or eleven. The children of the poorer classes who may have been fortunate to have received a very basic education would leave at this point to begin work. The children who carried on their education with their grammaticus learned to refine their style of writing and speech, analyze poetry and learn Greek. After studying with a rhetor in Rome, some young men from well-to-do families went abroad to further their studies.
Vegetius writing in the late fourth century AD remarks on the need for some of the legionaries to be able to read and write. The army may have required a higher level of basic literacy due to the tasks that some would have to carry out. Vegetius refers to to the first cohort in a legion which surpasses the others in number and quality, including literacy(6).
Vegetius, Handbook of Military Matters 1.2.6,19,20
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-sOkC3FmoLlr4C6zz/mode/2up
LINKS for "EDUCATION"
Quintilian Institutio Oratoria. English translation by H.E. Butler. Vol. I. Books I-III
https://archive.org/details/english-translation-of-quintilianus-by-butler.-volume-i.-books-i-iii.-loeb./page/n3/mode/2up
