[46] Timon, 50, 51.
[47] Profiteri, professio, are the Latin translations of ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι, ἐπαγγελία: the latter words are found as early as Aristotle in connection with the idea of teaching, τὰ δὲ πολιτικὰ ἐπαγγέλλονται μὲν διδάσκειν οἱ σοφισταὶ πράττει δ’ αὐτῶν οὐδείς, Arist. Eth. N. 10. 10, p. 1180 b, and apparently τοὺς ἐπαγγελλομέvους is used absolutely for “professors” in Soph. Elench. 13, p. 172 a. The first use of profiteri in an absolute sense in Latin is probably in Pliny, e.g. Ep. 4. 11. 1, “audistine V. Licinianum in Sicilia profiteri,” “is teaching rhetoric.”
[48] See [note on p. 33]: an early use of prælegere in this sense is Quintil. 1. 8. 13.
[49] Facultas is the translation of δύναμις in its meaning of an art or a branch of knowledge, which is found in Epictetus and elsewhere, e.g. Diss. 1. 8. tit., 8, 15, chiefly of logic or rhetoric: a writer of the end of the third century draws a distinction between δυνάμεις and τέχναι, and classes rhetoric under the former: Menander, Περὶ ἐπιδεικτικῶν, in Walz, Rhett. Gr. vol. ix. 196.
[50] Instances of this practice are: (1) grammaticus, in Hispania Tarraconensis, Corpus Inscr. Lat. ii. 2892, 5079; magister artis grammaticæ, at Saguntum, ibid. 3872; magister grammaticus Græcus, at Cordova, ibid. 2236; grammaticus Græcus, at Trier, Corpus Inscr. Rhenan. 801: (2) philosophus, in Greece, Corpus Inscr. Græc. 1253; in Asia Minor, ibid. 3163 (dated A.D. 211), 3198, 3865, add. 4366 t 2; in Egypt, ibid. 4817; sometimes with the name of the school added, e.g. at Chæronea, φιλόσοφον Πλατωνικόν, ibid. 1628; at Brundisium, philosophus Epicureus, ibid. 5783.
[51] Marcus Aurelius himself nominated Theodotus to be “Regius Professor of Rhetoric,” but he entrusted the nomination of the Professors of Philosophy to Herodes Atticus, Philostrat. V. S. 2. 3, p. 245; and Commodus nominated Polydeuces, ibid. 2. 12, p. 258.
[52] Lucian, Eunuchus, 3, after mentioning the endowment of the chairs, says, ἔδει δὲ ἀποθανόντος ἀυτῶν τινος ἄλλον ἀντικαθίστασθαι δοκιμασθέντα ψήφῳ τῶν ἀρίστων, which last words have been variously understood: see the treatises mentioned above, [note 1, p. 38], especially Ahrens, p. 74, Zumpt, p. 28. In the case of Libanius, there was a ψήφισμα (Liban. de fort. sua, vol. i. p. 59), which points to an assimilation of Athenian usage in his time to that which is mentioned in the following note.
[53] This was fixed by a law of Julian in 362, which, however, states it as a concession on the part of the Emperor: “quia singulis civitatibus adesse ipse non possum, jubeo quisquis docere vult non repente nec temere prosiliat ad hoc munus sed judicio ordinis probatus decretum curialium mereatur, optimorum conspirante consilio,” Cod. Theodos. 13. 3. 5; but the nomination was still sometimes left to the Emperor or his chief officer, the prefect of the city. This has an especial interest in connection with the history of St. Augustine: a request was sent from Milan to the prefect of the city at Rome for the nomination of a magister rhetoricæ: St. Augustine was sent, and so came under the influence of St. Ambrose, S. Aug. Confess. 5. 13.
[54] This is mentioned in a law of Gordian: “grammaticos seu oratores decreto ordinis probatos, si non se utiles studentibus præbeant, denuo ab eodem ordine reprobari posse incognitum non est,” Cod. Justin. 10. 52. 2. A professor was sometimes removed for other reasons besides incompetency, e.g. Prohæresius was removed by Julian for being a Christian, Eunap. Prohæres. p. 92.
[55] Alexander of Aphrodisias, de Fato, 1, says that he obtained his professorship on the testimony, ὑπὸ τῆς μαρτυρίας, of Severus and Caracalla.