The letters were written in lines horizontal and vertical, so that they fell beneath one another. No stops or accents were inserted, and no spaces were left between words. The writing-master probably ruled both the horizontal and the vertical lines on the tablet for his pupil. On the Vase of Douris,[232] an under-master is represented as writing with his pen on a wax tablet, while a boy stands in front of him. He is probably meant either to be writing a copy or else correcting his pupil’s exercise. Over his head hangs a ruler, for marking out the guiding lines on the tablet. Behind the boy sits a bearded man with a staff, who is probably the paidagogos. The boys in the class are clearly coming up one by one to receive their copies or have their exercises corrected, while the rest are doing their writing. It will be noticed that there is no desk or table: the Hellenes wrote with their tablets on their knees. As soon as the boy had acquired a certain facility in writing, he entered the dictation class. The master read out something, and the boys wrote it down.[233] At first, of course, very simple words would be dictated, and there would not be much to write. But, later on, the boys would write at his dictation passages of the poets and other authors. For this purpose, ink and parchment may sometimes have been employed: Aischines seems to have “ground ink”[234] for a writing-school. Various “elaborations in the way of speed and beauty” of writing seem to have been customary in the case of more advanced pupils.[235] Possibly they learnt to make flourishes and ornamental letters. Speed would naturally be taught, for it was usual to take notes at the lectures of Sophists and Philosophers, and speed is required for this purpose. This must have involved the use of the cursive letters, which otherwise were not needed, for the Hellene had not very much writing to do, unless he became a clerk to a public body.