<P> While the Romans adopted many aspects of Greek education, two areas in particular were viewed as trifle: music and athletics . Music to the Greeks was fundamental to their educational system and tied directly to the Greek paideia . Mousike encompassed all those areas supervised by the Muses, comparable to today's liberal arts . The area that many Romans considered unimportant equates to our modern definition of music . To the Greeks, the ability to play an instrument was the mark of a civilized, educated man, and through an education in all areas of mousike it was thought that the soul could become more moderate and cultivated . The Romans did not share this view and considered the study of music as a path to moral corruption . However, they did adopt one area of mousike: Greek literature . </P> <P> Athletics, to the Greeks, was the means to obtaining a healthy and beautiful body, which was an end in and of itself and further promoted their love of competition . The Romans, though, did not share this stance either, believing that athletics was only the means to maintaining good soldiers . </P> <P> This illustrates one of the central differences between the two cultures and their view on education: that to the Greeks beauty or an activity could be an end in itself, and the practice of that activity was beneficial accordingly . The Romans, on the other hand, tended to be more practically minded when it came to what they taught their children . To them, it would appear, an area of study was good only as far as it served a better purpose or end determined outside of itself . Also, prior to the war, they had focused more on government and politics rather than army and military . </P> <P> At the foundation of ancient Greek education was an effective system of formal education, but in contrast, the Romans lacked such a system until the 3rd century BC . Instead, at the foundation of ancient Roman education was, above all else, the home and family, from which children derived their so - called "moral education". </P>

What skill was seen as critical to a roman education