Too obvious, I think. There were always a small number of women who had mastered Greek and Latin--Thomas More taught his daughter Margaret those languages, and

Too obvious, I think. There were always a small number of women who had mastered Greek and Latin--Thomas More taught his daughter Margaret those languages, and one of her or anyway his female descendants, translated his Latin works in to English. In Samuel Johnson's time, a woman brought out a well regarded translation of Tacitus. Originally the purpose of Latin and Greek in the European curriculum was to prepare students for the professions, including the clerical, which were closed to women. So why would the schoolmasters teach them Latin and Greek.