woven

22502777901

WELLOOURE Lichiaty

General Collections

AN INTRODUCTION TO

GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

BY

SIR EDWARD MAUNDE THOMPSON ΘΟΕ, 11.5.0:

HON. D.C.L., OXFORD AND DURHAM; HON. LL.D., ST. ANDREWS HON, LITT.D., MANCHESTER; HON. FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD; FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, AND OF THE ROYAL PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES; SOMETIME DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM ᾿

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1912

HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK, TORONTO MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY

IN MEMORIAM EDWARDI AVGVSTI BOND WILLELMI WATTENBACH

LEOPOLDI VICTORIS DELISLE MAGISTRORVM AMICORVM PIO ANIMO DEDICAT DISCIPVLVS

PREFACE

Wuen, twenty years ago, at the invitation of Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Company, I contributed to their International Scientific Series a Handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography, 1 hardly dared to hope that such a work would appeal to more than a limited number of students. Yet, even at that time, the study of Palaeography had begun to take a wider range; and the ever-growing output of photographic reproductions and especially the interest aroused by the recovery of valuable relics of Greek Literature which so frequently were coming to light among the newly-found papyri from Egypt combined to give it a greater stimulus. For this reason, and rather because it happened to be the only book of its kind in the English language than for any particular merit of its own, the Handbook attained a larger circulation than had been anticipated, and served more effectually the purpose, for which it was written, of a general guide to the subject.

A certain inconvenience, however, embarrassed the useful- ness which might be claimed for the book, almost from the first. The small form of the volume and the moderate price of the Series prohibited illustration on more than a limited scale ; and although the facsimiles, as issued, may have proved sufficient as an accompaniment of the text, their value as palaeographical specimens, representing as they did only very small sections of the pages of the MSS. from which they were selected, could not count for much. Moreover, the letter-press being stereotyped, the introduction of new matter in any satis- factory degree was attended with difficulties. Therefore, when, in 1906, a third edition of the Handbook was called for, it was suggested to the publishers that the time had arrived for a fuller treatment of the subject both in text and in illustration. They were, however, of opinion that the Handbook, as it stood, still had its value; at the same time they very handsomely

vi PREFACE

gave me authority to make use of it as a basis for a larger work. I here desire to record my grateful thanks for this concession.

This, then, is the origin of the present Introduction. It is an enlarged edition of the Handbook, following the same lines, but being in many parts rewritten as well as revised, and, it is hoped, giving a fairly complete account of the history and progress of Greek and Latin Palaeography, especially in its literary aspect, from the earliest periods represented by sur- viving MSS. down to the close of the fifteenth century; and embodying details of the more recent discoveries and the results of modern research. A further advantage is the im- proved scale of the facsimiles, which the larger format of the Introduction has rendered possible. For this and for other facilities I am indebted to the liberality of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, to whom their ready acceptance of responsi- bility for the publication of this work has placed me under peculiar obligations.

The section of this Introduction which in the future may need modification, as the result of further discoveries, is that which deals with the Literary and Cursive hands of the Greek papyri. In the case of the Literary hands, it will be seen that we are still far from being in a position to speak, in all instances, with approximate certainty as to the periods of the MSS. already before us. Fresh discoveries may require us to qualify our present views. As regards the Cursive hands, our position is stronger ; but there are still very wide chronological gaps to be filled before the palaeographer can have an unbroken series of dated documents at his disposal. As an aid to the better understanding of this difficult section, and to assist in the deciphering of passages in which the facsimiles, from the condition of the originals, may have proved obscure, the Table of Literary Alphabets, showing the forms of letters employed in the several MSS. will, it is hoped, be found useful ; and, not less so, the Table of Cursive Alphabets, in the compilation of which upwards of two hundred dated papyri have been analyzed.

The Faesimiles throughout have been selected with care. It

PREFACE vil

will be observed that a large proportion of them has been reproduced from the plates of the Palaeographical Society. This has been done purposely. The series of Facsimiles pub- lished by the Society, both in the old issues and in the one still in progress, have been chosen with a view to palaeographical instruction, and therefore offer the best field in which to gather illustrations for such an Introduction as the present one ; and, in addition, they are probably more accessible than any other series of reproductions to English students, for whom this work is more especially designed. My best thanks are due to the Society for permission to make use of their plates.

Others also I have to thank for similar favours ; and I gladly acknowledge my obligations to Monsieur Henri Omont, the Keeper of the MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale ; to Professor W. M. Lindsay, of St. Andrews ; to Professor Franz Steffens, of Freiburg (Switzerland) ; and to Professor V. Gardthausen, of Leipzig.

On the indulgence of many of my former colleagues in the British Museum I fear I have trespassed too freely ; but their patience has been inexhaustible. To my successor in the office of Director and Principal Librarian, Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, I am specially indebted for much valuable advice and assistance and for his trouble in kindly reading the proofs of the portion of this book relating to Greek Palaeography. To Sir George F. Warner, late Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts, to Mr. J. P. Gilson, the present Keeper, and to Mr. H. Idris Bell and Mr. G. T. Longley, of that Department; to Mr. G. K. Fortescue, Keeper of the Printed Books; to Dr. L. D. Barnett, Keeper of the Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts ; to Mr. H. A. Grueber, Keeper of the Coins and Medals; and to Mr. A. Hamilton Smith, Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities, I return my best thanks for all their kindly aid.

In conclusion, I gratefully acknowledge the care bestowed by the Delegates of the Clarendon Press on the production of this volume.

EMT: MAYFIELD, SUSSEX, July 1, 1912.

TABLE OF CHAPTERS

CHAPTER I History of the Greek and Latin Alphabets

CHAPTER II

Materials used to receive writing: Leaves—Bark—Linen—Clay and Pottery — Wall-spaces— Precious Metals— Lead— Bronze—Wood— Waxed and other Tablets—Greek Waxed Tablets—Latin Waxed Tablets

CHAPTER III

Materials used to receive writing (continued): Papyrus—Skins—Parchment and Vellum—Paper .

CHAPTER IV

Writing implements: The Stilus, Pen, ete.—Inks

Various implements

CHAPTER V Forms of Books: The Roll—The Codex—The Text—Punctuation—Accents, etc.— Palimpsests

CHAPTER VI Stichometry and Colometry—Tachygraphy—Cry ptography

CHAPTER VII

Abbreviations and Contractions—Numerals

CHAPTER VIII Greek Palaeography : Papyri—Antiquity of Greek writing—Divisions of Greek Palaeography . CHAPTER Ix Greek Palaeography (continued): The Literary hand or Book-hand in Papyri—Literary Alphabets CHAPTER X Greek Palaeography (continued): Cursive Script in Papyri—Cursive Alphabets—Comparison of Literary and Cursive Alphabets

PAGE

39

44

75

93

104

TABLE OF CHAPTERS CHAPTER XI Greek Palaeography (continwed) : The Uncial Book-hand in Vellum Codices CHAPTER XII Greek Palaeography (continued): The Minuscule Book-hand in the Middle Ages—Greek writing in Western Europe . CHAPTER XIII Latin Palaeography : The Majuscule Book-hand—Square Capitals—Rustic Capitals—U ncials CHAPTER XIV

Latin Palaeography (continued): The Mixed Uncial and Minuscule Book- hand—The Half-uncial Book-hand

CHAPTER XV Latin Palaeography (continued): The Roman Cursive Script—Cursive Alphabets

CHAPTER XVI Latin Palaeography (continwed): National Minuscule Book-hands—Visi- gothic—Lombardic—Merovingian — Franco-Lombardic — Pre-Carolin- gian—The Carolingian Reform .

CHAPTER XVII

Latin Palaeography (continwed): The Irish Half-uncial and Minuscule Book-hand—The Early English Book-hand

CHAPTER XVIII

Latin Palaeography (continwed): The Minuscule Book-hand in the Middle Ages—The English Vernacular Book-hand in the Middle Ages .

CHAPTER XIX Latin Palaeography (continued): Official and Legal Cursive Scripts (National hands)—The Papal. Chancery—The Imperial Chancery— English Charter hand—English Chancery hand—English Court hand .

TABLES OF ALPHABETS

The Greek and Latin Alphabets Greek Literary Alphabets Greek Cursive Alphabets

Latin Cursive Alphabets

310

340

403

491

A, 2

LIST OF FACSIMILES

(Greek Literary Papyri)

1. Trmornevs, Persae; 4th cent. B.c. [Berlin Museums]

oo bo

- Θ ο ὦ -1 σ5 σι μα

— μὶ

. Prato, Phaedo; 3rd cent. Β. 6. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 488 | . DriavecticAL TREATISE; before 160 8. Ο. [ Paris, Musée du Louvre

Pap. grec. 2]

ὃ Hyprriprs, Athenogenes ; and cent. B.C. " [Paris, Musée du Louvre] . ; Merroponvs ; 150 cent. B.c. [Naples, Museo Nazionale] .

A BACCHYLIDES ; Ist cent. B.c. [ Brit. Mus., Pap. 733]

. Petirion; about 10 Β. 6. [Brit. Mus., Pap. Bos ἜῈ ;

. Homer, Odyssey iii; about A.D. 1. | Brit. Mus., Pap. 271

. Hyperipes, Luxenippus; 1st cent. : :

. Homer, Iliad xviii(Harris Homer) ; 1st cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 107] . ARISTOTLE, Constitution of Athens; about a.p. 90. (Brit. Mus.,

Brit. Mus. Pap. 115

Pap. 131]

. Homer, Jliad xiii; 1st or 2nd cena [Brit. J Mus., Pap. 732] . COMMENTARY ON THE THEAETETUS OF PLATO; 2nd cent. [Bertin

Museums, Pap. 9782]

. JuLius AFRICANUS; 8rd cent. [Egypt Explor. Fund, Ox. “Pap. 412 . Homer, {τα v; 3rd cent. [Bodleian Library, Gr. class. A. 8 (P)] .

. DEED OF SALE; A.p. 88. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 141] .

. Homer, Iliad xxiv (Bankes Homer); 2nd cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 114] . Homer, Iliad ii (Hawara Homer) ; 2nd cent. [Bodleian puis τ

Griclass ak. ΠΡ] (Greek Cursive Papyri)

. OrriciaL Lurrer; 242 8.c. [Bodleian Library, Gr. class. C. 21 I . Petirion ; 223 8.0. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 106] .

. Tax Recerpr; 210-209 58. Ο. [Brit. Mus., Demot. Pap. 10463]

. Petition; 163 3.c. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 24 :

. Petition; 162 8.06. [ : . SALE or Lanp; 123 8. 6. a Mus., Pap. 879 (i)]

. SALE OF LanpD; 101 8.06.

. MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT; 15-5 B.C. [Berlin Museums, Bap 66 R]. : LeAsn;.A.D. 17. | Brit. Mus., Pap. 795]. :

. SALE or Lanp; A.D. 69-79. ‘[Brit. Mus., Pap. 140]

. Bartirr’s Accounts; a,D. 78-9. | Brit. Mus., Pap. 151]:

. ARISTOTLE ; about Α. Ὁ. 90. | Brit. Mus. as 131s

. Sate oF an Ass; A.D. 142. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 303]

. Dretoma; A.D. 194. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1178].

. Taxation ΒΕΤΟΒΚΝ; A.D. 221. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 353]

. Sate; a.v. 226-7. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1158]

. Minirary Accounts; a.p. 295. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 748].

. Lerrer ; about Α.Ὁ. 850. [ Brit. Mus., Pap. 234]

. Receipt; a.p. 441. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 7452] .

Brit. Mus., Pap. 21

Brit. Mus., Pap. 882] .

LIST OF FACSIMILES

No. 38. AGREEMENT FOR LEASE; A.D. 5 [Berlin Museums, Pap. 2558] . 39. ConTRAcT FoR LEASE; A.D. hee μεῖς Mus., Pap. 113]. 40. LEASE; A.D, 633. (Brit. } Mus., Pap. 1012]

. Pusnic Accounts ; A.D. 700-705. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1448) . Pustic Novice; 8th cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 32]

(Greek Unciuls)

. Homer, liad; 3rd cent. (1). [Milan, Ambrosian Library, Ε΄. 205. inf. | . Brsre (Codex Vaticanus); 4th cent. [Rome, Vatican Library, Cod.

Vat. 1209]

. Brere (Codex Stnaiticus) ; late 4th cent. [Leipzig, Royal Library,

Cod. Frid.-Aug. |

. Braue (Codex Alexandrinus) ; 5th cent. [ Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1 Ὁ.

v-viii |

. DioscoripEs; early 6th cent. [Vienna, Imperial Library, Cod. Graec. 5] . ΜΑΤΗΒΜΑΤΙΟΑΙ, TREATISE; 7th cent. {Milan, Ambrosian aan

L. 99. sup. |

. PSALTER; A.D. 862. [Library of Bp. Uspensky] : . ΟΌΒΡΕΙΒ; A.D. 949. [Rome, Vatican Library, MS. Grace 354 | . EVANGELIARIUM; A.D. 995. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5598] .

(Greek Minuscules)

. TuEoLoeicaL Works; 8th cent. [Rome, Vatican Library, Colonna

MS. 39]

. Evcenip; a.p. 888. [Bodleian Library, D’Orville MS. χ. 1].

. Prato, Dialogues; A.D. 896. [Bodleian Library, Clarke MS. 39]

. GosPess ; early 10th cent. { Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11300]

. Luctan; about a.p. 915. [Brit. Mus. , Harley MS. 5694] : ; ᾿ ΤΗΠΟΥΡΙΡΕΒ: ; 10th cent. [ Florence, Laurentian Library, Plut. lxix. 2] . Prurarcu; 10th cent. [Florence, Laurentian Library, MS. 206]

. PSALTER ; ‘about A. Ὁ. 950. [Bodleian Library, Gk. Mise. 5]

. St. Maximus; a.p. 970. [Mount Athos, Laura, MS. B. 37].

. St. Curysostom; A.v. 976. [Bodleian Library, Laud MS. Gk. 75). . GosPELs ; A.D. 1023. [Milan, Ambrosian Library, B. 56. sup. |

. M. Psrtius; a.p. 1040. [Heidelberg, University Library, Cod.

Palat. celxxxi|

. DEMOSTHENES ; early 11th cent. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Plat.

ix. 9]

. CANONS; A.D. 1042. [Bodleian Li ‘brary, ἘΠ; ΜΒ. 196] . Homer, Lliad (Townley Homer); a.p. 1059. [Brit. Mus., Burney

MS. 86]

. EpistLEs, etc.; A.D. 1111. ([Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 28816] : : peers: A.D. 1128-9. [Rome, Vatican Library, Cod. Urbino-Vat.

Gr.

: Ce ae ae A.D, 1184. [Brit. Mus, Burney MS. 44] . CoMMENTARY ON PorpuyRy; A.D. 1223, [ Paris, Bibl. Nat, MS.

grec. 2089]

. CoMMENTARY ON THE Ocroxcnus; Kes 1252. [Brit. Mus., Add.

MS. 27359]

. Hesiop; A.D. 1280. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Plut. xxxii. ii. 16] . GosPELs ; A.D. 1282. [Monastery of Serres, Macedonia, MS. Tr. 10] . GospELs; A.D. 1314-15. [Brit. Mus., Add. "MS. 37002].

5. Heropotus; A.p. 1318. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Plut. ἘΞ 6]

ΧΙ No. 76.

78.

84.

LIST OF FACSIMILES

St. ATHANASIUS; A.D. 1321. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5579]

. Lives ΟΕ THE Fatuers; A. pv. 1362. [ Brit. Mus., Burney MS. 50] .

PoLyBIUS; A.D. 1416. ‘TBrit. 1 Mus., Add. MS. 11728]

. Tue ῬΒΟΡΗΒΊΒ; a.p. 1437. | Brit. “Mus. , Add. MS. 21259] . Menanum; A.p, 1460, [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. ae τ : . Homer, Odyssey ; A.D. 1479. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5658].

(Latin Capitais)

. Vrain; 4th or 5th cent. [St. Gall, Cod, 1394] . . . . Poem ox THE BATTLE oF Acrium; before A.D. 79. [ Naples, Museo

Nazionale | : VirGin; 5th cent. ἢ [Rome, Vatican Library, Cod. Palat. 1631]

. Virein; 4th cent.? [ Rome, Vatican Library, Cod. Vat. 3225] ; . Viner : before aA.p. 494. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Plut.

2.6.0.4) alk ae

(Latin Uncials)

. CicERo, De pega 4th cent. [Rome, Vatican ee Cod. Vat.

5757 |

. Gospets; 4th cent. [Vercelli, Chapter Library] :

: Livy; 5th cent. [ Vienna, Imperial Library, Cod. Lat. 15]

. GospEts; 5th or 6th cent. [St. Gall, Cod. 1394]

. New TEsTAMENT; about Α. Ὁ. 546. [Fulda Library |

. St. AucusTine; A. p. 669. [Library of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan]

. BIBLE (Codex Amiatinus) ; about A.D. 700. [ Florence, Laurentian

Library, Cod. Amiat. 1]

. GOSPELS ; A.D. 739-60. [Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5463]

(Latin Mixed Uncials and Minuscules, and Half-uncials)

. Epitome or Livy; 8rd cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1532] . CHRoNoLoGICAL ΝΟΤΕΒ; 6th cent. [Bodleian Library, MS. Auct. T.

2. 26]

. Panpects; 6th or 7th cent. [Florence, iautenGen ‘Library] .

. Sr. Hitary; before Δ. Ὁ. 509-10. [Rome, Archives of St. Peter’ ae

. St. Aucustine; 6th cent. [Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 13367 |

. BrBLicaAL ComMENTARY; before A. ἢ. 569. [Monte Cassino, Cod. 150]

(Roman Cursive)

. Forms or Letters; before Α. Ὁ. 79. : : : ‘ : ς . Pomprtan Waxrp ΤΆΒΙΤ; a.p. 59. [Naples, Museo Nazionale,

no. exliii}.

. Dactan WaxeEpD TABLET; A.D. 167. [Budapest Museum]. 2 105. Forms or Lerrrrs; 2nd cent. ὰ : : ς Ser On tas . SPEECHES; A.D. 41-54. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 8507 | . SALE OF A SLAVE; a.v. 166. [Brit. Mus., Pap. sil 8. LeTTeR; ἃ. 9. 107. [Brit. Mus. Pap. 730] . . PETITION; A.D. 247. [Bodleian Library, Lat. ἰδέα, Di 12 (P)] . Lerrer; 4th cent. [Strassburg, Pap. lat. Argent. 1] : . ImpertaAn Rescripr; 5th cent. [Leyden Museum J. . Ravenna DEED oF Say; a.p. 572. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 5412] . . Forms or Lerrers; a.p. 572 . 4, Sr. Maximus; 7th cent. (Milan, Aeabicontan Library, G; 98. P. inf).

LIST OF FACSIMILES xiii (Latin Minuscules: National Book-hands)

No. PAGE 115. Sv. AveustinE; 8th cent. [The Escurial, MS. R. ii. 18]. 343 116. OrationaLy Gornicum; 9th cent. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 30852] . 344 117. MartyroLocy; A.p. 919. [| Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 25600 | 345 118. Brarus; a.p. 1109. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11695] : 347 119. SACRAMENTARIUM; about Α. Ὁ. 800. [St. Gall, Cod. 348] 349 120. Atcuin; A.D. 812. [Monte Cassino, Cod. iii]. 351 121. Srarrus ; end of 10th cent. [Eton College, MS. Bl. 6. 5). 352 122. Lecrronary ; A.D. 1058-87. [Monte Cassino, Cod. xcix | 353 123. CommentARY oN Monastic Rutes; A.D. 1264-82. [Monte Cassino,

Cod. 440-59] ae 354 124. Lectionary; late 7th cent. [Paris, Bibl. ΕΠ fonds lat. 9427] 356 125. Sv. Gregory; 8th cent. { Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 31031] + 357 126. Homiries; 7th or 8th cent. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5041] . 359 127. Lux Sarica; ἃ. Ὁ. 794. [St. Gall, Cod. 731]. 360 128. Homizies; 8th cent. { Brussels, Royal Library, MS. 9850- ze 361 129. St. Cyprian; 8th cent. [Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS.

Lat. 15] , . 364 180. Euayprrus ; early Sth cent, [Library of ‘Mons. Tales Desnoyers] 365 131. Sr. Jerome; a.p. 744. [Epinal, MS. 68] é ὃ ἀπ 500 132, 138. Suxpicius Severus; 9th cent. [Quedlinburg]} : . 368, 369 (Latin Half-uncials and Minuscules : The Irish Book-hand) 134. Gosrrezs; late 7th cent. [Dublin, Trinity College, MS. A. 4.15] . 373 135. GosrEts (Book of Kells); end of 7th cent. [ Dublin, Trinity College] 375 136. GospeLs oF Macrecou; about A.p. 800. | Bodleian Library, Auct. ore. 377 137. New TESTAMENT (Book of Armagh) ; A.p. 807. [Dublin, Trinity College] 378 138. Priscian ; A.D. 838. [Leyden, University Library, Cod. Lat. 67 | 381 139. Gospets ΟἹ MA&LBRIGTE; A.D. 1138. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 1802] 382 (Latin Half-uncials and Minuscules: The Early English Book-hand) 140. Liypisrarne Gosrets (Durham Book); about a.p. 700. [ Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Nero 1). ᾽ν}. 387 141. CANTERBURY GospELs ; late 8th cent. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1 E. vi] 388 142. Bepa; 8th cent. [Cambridge, University Library, MS. Kk. v.16] . 389 143. Bepa; a.p. 811-14. [ Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Vespas. B. vi] . 390 144. Pascnan Computations ; 9th cent. [ Bodleian Library, Digby MS. 63] 391 145. AncLo-Saxon CHRONICLE : ; about A.p. 891. Papas Corpus Christi College, MS. 173] . 392 146. AncLo-Saxon Porms (Lweter Book) : about A.D. 950. [Exeter Chapter Library, MS. 3501] 395 147. Psattrer; about A. Ὁ. 969. [Salisbury, Chapter Library, MS. 150] . 396 148. SHerporne PontiricaL; about a. Ὁ. 992-5. [ Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 943] Ae Mee te ea τῷ ER νὸ νύν S87 149. Aneio-Saxon Curonicxy ; about A.D. 1001. [{Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 173]. . 399 150. Aiurric; early 11th cent. [Cambridge University Librany, MS. Hh. 1. 10] 400 151. AncLo-Saxon Curowicur; about Α. Ὁ. 1045. (Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Tiberius B. i] 401

XiV

LIST OF FACSIMILES

(Latin Minuscules: The Book-hand in the Middle Ages)

. Sr. Avaustine; before Δ. Ὁ, 814. [ Lyons, Cathedral Library, MS.

610).

. PAscHASIUS; A.D. 819. [Brussels, Raval Library, } MS. 8216- 18] 4. ΤΉΠΟΠΟΘΙΟΑΙ, Tracts ; A.D, 821. [Munich, Royal Library, MS. Lat.

14468 |

. St. AUGUSTINE; A. Ὁ. ). 823. [Munich, Royal Library, ‘MS. Lat. 14437] . CONSTITUTIONS OF CHARLEMAGNE; A.D. 825. [St. Gall, Cod. 733] .

158. Gosprts or Nevers; about a. pv. 840. [ Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 2790] ea TN jd:

. GOSPELS OF Lorna ; about A. Ὁ. 850. [Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. lat.

266].

. Bepa; before a. Ὁ. 848, [Brit. Mus, Cotton MS. , Vespas, B; vi] Ξ Canons ; about A.D. 888. [St. Gall, Cod. 672]. ;

. ALcuIn : early 10th cent. :

. ΟὌΒΡΕΙΒ or Kine ΔΟΤΗΈΙΒΤΑΝ; ra 10th cent. [Brit. Mus., Royal

Brit. Mus. , Royal MS. 8 E. xv]

MS. 1 A. xviii] : ‘ 165. Rapanus Mavrus; τ: ἌΣ τὴς 948. | Brit. Mus., Add. MS.

ΒΒ ΡΟ τ sede;

. AMALARIUS; A.D. 952. [Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. a . Mino; A.D. 1022-41. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 5 A. xi] . . Marryrouoey ; a. p. 1040-69. [Avignon, Mets Calvet, MS. 98].

}OSPELS OF THE CounTEss Gopa ; middle of 11th cent. (Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1 D. iii] : : :

. BrBtE; A.D. 1094--7. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 28106 | . ALDHELM; 10th cent. [Lambeth Library, MS. 200] : : . BENEDICTIONAL oF St, AUTHELWOLD; A.D. 963-84. [Library of the

Duke of Devonshire].

. GREGORY THE GREAT; ἐπ 11th ‘cont. {Bodleian Library, Bod].

MS. 708] .

. GosPELs; A.D. 1008-23. [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. B. 10. . BENEDICTIONAL; A.D. 1030-40. [ Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 987 | . Lire oF ὅτ. AveustTINE; A.D. 1100-25. [Brit. Mus. ., Cotton Ms.,

Vespas. B. xx

. Miracizs or St. Epmunp; before a.p. 1135. [Library of Sir George

Holford |

. Bepa; a.p. 1147-- 76. [Brit. 2 Mus., Royal MS. 3-A. xii A : Leviticus ; A.D, 1170. || Brit, Mus. , Harley MS. 3038

. PETRUS LOMBARDUS; Ἂς Ὁ. 1160: [Library of Mr. Dyson Perrins] .

. Homriies; early 12th cent. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 7183]

2. Perrus Comestor; Α. Ὁ. 1191-2. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 7 F- iii]. . Petrus Comxstor; before A.p. 1215. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 4 D.

vii |

. Mrssau; A, D. 1218. [Brit. Mus., Ada. MS. 17742]

. PonTIFICAL; about Α. Ὁ. 1222. [ Metz, Salis MS. 23]

. ΒΙΒΙΕΗ 5 Al ν. 1225-52. | Brit. Mus., Burney MS. 3 |

LECTIONARY ; A.D. 1269. [Brit. } Mus., Egerton MS. 25

. Perrus Comusror ; A.D. 1283-1300. [Brit. J Mus., Reval us. 3D. vi] . Coronation OatTH; A.D. 1308. [ Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 2901] Ε- . JACOBUS DE VORAGINE; A.D. 1312. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11882]. . BREVIARY; A.D. 1322-7. [Brit. Mus., Stowe MS. 12] :

. MANDEVILLE; A.D. 1371. [Paris, Bibl. Nat., Nouv. acq. franc.

4515 |

| No. 193.

| 194. 195.

196. 197. 198. 199. 200.

(Latin Minuscules : 201. 202.

203. . Toe AncREN RIWLE; on: 13th cent. [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS.,

LIST OF FACSIMILES

CHRONICLE; about A.p. 1388. | Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 3634].

HoracE; A. dD. 1391. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11964 | : 3 ᾿

TITCHFIELD ABBEY COLLE CTIONS ; A.p. 1400-8. [Library of the Duke of Portland].

Romances (Z'albot Book); a. v. 1445. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 15 E. ἢ

ΜΊΒΒΑΙ, ; before A.p. 1440. [Brit. Mus., Arundel MS. 284]

Sr. AUGUSTINE EB; A.D. 1463.: [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 17284

ARISTOTLE; A.D. 1461. [Library of Mr. Dyson Perrins] .

Saunust; A. Ὁ. 1466. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 16422]

EneuisH Laws (Zeaxtus Roffensis); before A. Ὁ. 1125. Lape Chapter Library].

THE ORMULUM; early 13th cent. [Bodleian Librany, Junius MS. 1}.

Homies ; early 13th cent. [ Brit. Mus., Stowe MS. 240]

Titus D. xviii].

. Tor AYENBITE OF Iewer : ἊΝ 8. 1340. [ Brit. Mus., Avandel MS. 57] . Wycuirrite Bist; late 14th cent. [ Brit. Mus., da MS. 15580}. . Prers Prowman; about a. Ὁ. 1380. [ Brit. Mus., Cotton MS. , Vespas.

Bs xvi |

, Wyourrrrre Bree ; about Ap. 1382. [Bodleian Library, Bodl. MS,

959].

. WYCLIFFITE Brews ; belie A.D. 1397. “[Brit. Mus., Egerton MS.

617, 618].

. CHAUCER ; about A.D. 1400. ‘[Brit. Mus. . Harley MS. 7334]

. TrEvisa; beginning of 15th cent. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 24194] . OccLtEvE; early 15th cent. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 4866]

. OsBeRN BOKENHAM; A.D. 1447. [ Brit. "Mus., Arundel MS. 327]

(Latin Minuscules: Official and Legal Cursive Scripts)

. ΒΕΝΕΡΙΟΤΙΟ CEREI; 7th cent. [The Escurial, Cam. de las es . DEED OF BEnEvENTo ; A.D. 810. [Monte Cassino, Xxxiv]|

. But or Joun VIII; Α. Ὁ. 876. [ Paris, Bibl. Nat. ἢ

. But oF ΡΑΒΟΗΑΙ; ae A.D. 1102. [Milan, State Archives]

| JUDGEMENT OF THIERRY III; a. Ὁ. 679-80. [Paris, Archives Nation-

ales, K. 2, no. 13]

. Drrtoma oF CHARLEMAGNE}; A.D. 797. (Pais, Archives Nationales,

K. 7, no. 15]

. Dirtoma or Louis THE Gurwar: A.D. 856, [St. Gall, Chapter

Archives, F. F. i. H. 106].

. Mercian CHARTER; A.D. 812. [Canterbury, Chapter Archives, C. 1] _ CuartEeR or ETHELBERHT OF Kunt; A.D. 858. ae Mus., Cotton

MS., Aug. ii. 66 |

. GRANT BY W ERFRITH, ἢ πι- ΟΕ Worouster ; iN, Ὁ), 904. [Brit.

Mus., Add. Ch. 19791]

. Grant py Winriam ITs, AyD: 1087 () [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Aug.

Ἢ 53 |

. Grant By Henry I; A.D. 1120-30. [Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 33629]. . GRANT BY SrEPHEN ; Aci Do L139, Len: Mus., Cotton MS., Nero (Ὁ.

iii. 172]

XV

PAGE 462 409

465 466 468 469 470 471

The English Vernacular Book-hand in the Middle Ages)

473 474 477

478 479 480

481

483

484 486 487 488 489

LIST OF FACSIMILES

. Grant BY Henry II; a.p. 1156. ee Chapter ss

xliv |

. Grant By Ricnarp L; a.p. 1189. “[Brit. Mus., Egerton ‘Ch. 372] 9. CHARTER OF THE HOsPrTALLERS : A.D. 1205. [Brit. Mus., Harley

Ch, 44 E. 21]

. CHARTER OF JOHN; A. Ὁ. 1204. [Wilton, Corporation Records] . Grant By Henry IIT; a.p. 1227. [Eton College] . : : . ΝΟΤΙΕΊΟΑΤΙΟΝ oF Henry III; Α.Ὁ. 1234. | Brit. Mus., Add. Ch.

28402]

. LETTERS PATENT or Henry Ill; ap. 1270. (Brit. Mus., Add. Ch.

19828]

. Licence By Epwarp | be τ 1303. " [Brit. Mus., Harley Ch. 43 Ὁ. 91 . DrEp or JOHN DE Sr. JouN ; A. Ὁ. 1306. [ Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 23834 . Inspextmus oF Epwarp IIL; A.D. 1331. [ Brit. Mus., Harley Ch.

83 C. 13).

. LETTERS OF THE BLACK PRINCE ; up. 1360. [Brit Mus: Add. Ch.

11308]

. DEED OF Srarprsoxas ἢ Priory; AUD: 1379. [ΒΗ ΠΝ Add. Ch.

20620]

. Grant By RIcHARD ie A.D. 1395. (Brit. Mus., Harley Ch. 43 E. 33] . PurpcE or PLatE; a. p. 1415. [ Brit. Mus. Harley Ch. 43 I. 25]

. Parpon BY Hnyry VI; a.v. 1446. [Brit. Mug Add Ch. 22640] . 2. Lease; A.D. 1457. [Brit. Mus., Harley Ch. 44 B. 47] : . Treaty Bonn; A.D. 1496. (Brit, Mus., Add. Ch. 989]

. CONVEYANCE; A.D. 1594, [| Brit. Mus., "Add. Ch. 24798 |

. CONVEYANCE; A.D. 1612. :

. EXEMPLIFICATION; A.D. 1539. [ Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 26969]

. Grant or WARDSHIP; 4.Ὁ. 1618. [Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 28271] . Frat Concorp; a.p. 1530. [| Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 23639]

. EXEMPLIFICATION; A.D. 1678. [ Brit. Mus. , Add. Ch. 25968]. 250.

Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 24000]

ΕἾΝΑΙ, Concorp; A. Ὁ. 1673. [ Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 25871]

PAGE

516 518

525 524 526

528

AN INTRODUCTION TO GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS

AutuHouGH the task which lies before us of investigating the growth - and changes of Greek and Latin palaeography does not require us to deal with any form of writing till long after the alphabets of Greece and Rome -had assumed their final shapes, yet a brief sketch of the developement of those alphabets, as far as it is known, forms a natural introduction to the subject.

The alphabet which we use at the present day is directly derived from the Roman alphabet; the. Roman, from a local form of the Greek ; the Greek, from the Phoenician. Whence the Phoenician alphabet was derived we are not even yet in a position to declare. The ingenious theory set forth, in 1859, by the French Egyptologist de Rougé of its descent from the ancient cursive form of Egyptian hieratic writing, which had much to recommend it, and which for a time received acceptance, must now be put aside, in accordance with recent research. Until the alphabetic systems of Crete and Cyprus and other quarters of the Mediterranean shall have been solved, we must be content to remain in ignorance of the actual materials out of which the Phoenicians constructed their letters.

To trace the connexion of the Greek alphabet with the Phoenician, or, as it may be more properly styled, the Semitic, alphabet is not difficult. ΠΑ comparison of the early forms of the letters sufficiently demonstrates their common origin ; and, still further, the names of the letters and their order in the two alphabets are the same. The names of the Semitic letters are Semitic words, each describing the letter from its resemblance to some particular object, as aleph an ox, beth a house, and so on. When the Greeks took over the Semitic letters, they also took over their Semitic names.

This Semitic alphabet appears to have been employed in the cities and colonies of the Phoenicians and among the Jews and Moabites and

1184 B

2 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

other neighbouring tribes; and its most ancient form as known to us is preserved in a series of inscriptions which date back to the tenth cen- tury B.c. The most important of them is that engraved upon the slab known as the Moabite stone, which records the wars of Mesha, king of Moab, about 890 B.c., against Israel and Edom, and which was discovered in 1868 near the site of Dibon, the ancient capital of Moab. From these inscriptions of the oldest type we can construct the primitive Phoenician alphabet of twenty-two letters, in a form, however, which must have passed through many stages of modification.

The Greek Alphabet

The Greeks learned the art of writing from the Phoenicians at least as early as the ninth century B.c.; and it is not improbable that they had acquired it even one or two centuries earlier. Trading stations and colonies of the Phoenicians, pressed at home by the advancing conquests of the Hebrews, were established in remote times in the islands and mainlands of Greece and Asia Minor; and their alphabet of two-and- twenty letters was adopted by the Greeks among whom they settled or with whom they had commercial dealings. It is not, however, to be supposed that the Greeks received the alphabet from the Phoenicians at one single place from whence it was passed on throughout Hellas; but rather at several points of contact from whence it was locally diffused among neighbouring cities and their colonies. Hence we are prepared to find that, while the Greek alphabet is essentially one and the same in all parts of Hellas, as springing from one stock, it exhibits certain local peculiarities, partly no doubt inherent from its very first adoption at

different centres, partly derived from local influences or from linguistic —

or other causes. While, then, the primitive alphabet of Hellas has been described by the general title of Cadmean, it must not be assumed that that title applies to an alphabet of one uniform pattern for all Greece. —

Among the two-and-twenty signs adopted from the Phoenician, four, viz. aleph, he, yod, and ayin (*, 4, 4, ©), were made to represent the vowel- sounds a,e,7,0, both long and short, the signs for 6 and o being also employed for the diphthongs e2 and ow. The last sound continued to be expressed by the omikron alone to a comparatively late period in the history of the alphabet. The fifth vowel-sound ἐν was provided for by a new letter, wpsilon, which may have been a modification or ‘differentiation ’ of the Phoenician waw (1). This new letter must have been added almost imme- diately after the introduction of the Semitic signs, for there is no local Greek alphabet which is without it. Next was felt the necessity for distinguishing long and short e, and in Ionia, the aspirate gradually falling into disuse, the sign H, eta, was adopted to represent long e, probably

I THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS +3

before the end of the seventh century B.c. About the same time the long o began to be distinguished by various signs, that used by the Tonians, the omega, Q, being perhaps a differentiation of the omikron. The age of the double letters Φ, X. and Y, as they appear in the Tonian alphabet, must, as is evident from their position, be older than or at least coaeval with omega.

With regard to the sibilants, their history is involved in obscurity. The original Semitic names appear to have become confused in the course of transmission to the Greeks and to have been applied by them to wrong signs. The name zeta seems to correspond to the name tsade, but the letter appears to be taken from the letter zwyin (I). Xi, which seems to be the same word as shin, represents the letter samekh ( + ). San, which is probably derived from zayin, represents tsude (hb). Sigma, which may be identified with swmekh, represents shin (W). But all these sibilants were not used simultaneously for any one dialect or locality. In the well-known passage of Herodotus (i. 189), where he is speaking of the terminations of Persian names, we are told that they ‘all end in the same letter, which the Dorians call sav and the Ionians sigma’. There can be little doubt that the Dorian san was originally the M-shaped sibilant which is found in the older Dorian inscriptions, as in Thera, Melos, Crete, Corinth, and Argos! This sibilant is now known to have been derived from the Phoenician letter tsade. In a Greek abecedarium scratched upon a small vase discovered at Formello, near Veii, this letter is seen to occupy the eighteenth place, corre- sponding to the position of tsude in the Phoenician alphabet. In the damaged Greek alphabet similarly scrawled on the Galassi vase, which was found at Cervetri in 1836, it is formed more closely on the pattern of the Phoenician letter. In the primitive Greek alphabet, therefore, sun existed (representing tsade) as well as sigma (representing shin), but as both appear to have had nearly the same sibilant sound, the one or the other became superfluous. In the Ionian alphabet sigma was preferred.

But the disuse of the letter sa» must date far back, for its loss affected the numerical value of the Greek letters. When this value was being fixed the exclusion of san was overlooked, and the numbers were calcu- lated as though that letter had not existed. ‘The preceding letter pi stands for 80; the koppa for 90, the numerical value of the Phoenician tsade and properly also that of sun. Ata later period the obsolete letter was readopted as the numerical sign for 900, and became the modern samp (1.e. san+pi), so called from its partial resemblance, in its late form, to the letter pi.

Δ It has also been identified with a T-shaped sign which was used for a special sound on coins of Mesembria, and at Halicarnassus in the fifth century 8.6,

. Bee

/

4 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

With regard to the local alphabets of Greece, different states and different islands either adopted or developed distinctive signs. Certain letters underwent gradual changes, as eta from closed B to open H, and theta from the crossed ® to the dotted circle O, which forms were common to all the varieties of the alphabet. The most ancient forms of the alphabet are found in Melos, Thera, and Crete, which moreover did not admit the double letters. While some states retained the digamma or the koppa, others lost them; while some developed particular differentia- tions to express certain sounds, others were content to express two sounds by one letter. The forms ΠῚ for beta and B for epsilon are peculiar to Corinth and her colonies; the Argive alphabet is distinguished by its rectangular /wmbda F; and that letter appears in the Boeotian, Chalci- dian, and Athenian alphabets in a primitive form L.!

But while there are these local differences among the various alphabets of ancient Greece, a broad division has been laid down by Kirchhoff? who arranges them in two groups, the eastern and the western. The eastern group embraces the alphabet which has already been referred to as the Ionian, common to the cities on the western coast of Asia Minor and the neighbouring islands, and the alphabets of Megara, Argos, and Corinth and her colonies ; and, in a modified degree, those of Attica, Naxos, Thasos, and some other islands. The western group includes the alphabets of Thessaly, Euboea, Phocis, Locris, and Boeotia, and of all the Peloponnese (excepting the states specified under the other group), and also those of the Achaean and Chalcidian colonies of Italy and Sicily.

In the eastern group the letter = has the sound of «; and the letters X, ¥ the sounds of kh and ps. (In Attica, Naxos, etc., the letters = and Y were wanting, and the sounds ἃ; and ps were expressed by XZ, =.) In the western group the letter = is wanting, and X, Y have the values of « and kh; while the sound ps was expressed by ΠΣ or ΦΣ, or rarely by a special sign x. In a word, the special test-letters are :—

Rastern: X=—hy Y= ps. Western: X=a. Y=kh.

How this distinction came about is not known, although several expiana- tions have been hazarded. It is unnecessary in this place to do more than state the fact.

As the Semitic languages were written from right to left, so in the earliest Greek inscriptions we find the same order followed. Next came the method of writing called boustrophedon, in which the written lines run alternately from right to left and from left to right, or vice versa,

1 © asa form of phi is found on coins of Phocis of 600 8, ο. ; anda slight modification of the Corinthian beta was used in the coinage of Byzantium, 350 B.c.— brit. Mus. Cat. of Greek Coins: Phocis, 14-19 ; Thrace, etc., 93-4.

2 Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Alphabets, 4th ed., 1887.

I THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS 5

as the plough forms the furrows. Lastly, writing from left to right became universal. In the most ancient tomb-inscriptions of Melos and Thera we have the earliest form of writing. Boustrophedon was commonly used in the sixth century B.c. However, the famous Greek inscription at Abu Simbel—the earliest to which a date can be given— cut on one of the legs of the colossal statues which guard the entrance of the great temple, and recording the exploration of the Nile up to the second cataract by certain Greek, Ionian, and Carian mercenaries in the service of Psammetichus, runs from left to right. The king here mentioned may be the first (654-617 B.c.) or, more probably, the second (594-589 B.c.) of that name. The date of the writing may therefore be roughly placed about 600 8.6. The fact that, besides this inscription, the work of two of the soldiers, the names of several of their comrades are also cut on the rock, proves how well established was the art of writing among the Greeks even at that early period.

The Latin Alphabet

Like the local alphabets of Greece, the Italic alphabets varied from one another by the adoption or rejection of different signs, according to the requirements of language. Thus the Latin and Faliscan, the Etruscan, the Umbrian, and the Oscan alphabets are sufficiently dis- tinguished in this way ; but at the same time the common origin of all can be traced to a primitive or so-called Pelasgian alphabet of the Chalcidian type. The period of the introduction of writing into Italy from the great trading and colonizing city of Chalcis must be carried back to the time when the Greeks wrote from right to left. Two Latin inscriptions! have been found thus written ; and in the other Italic scripts this ancient system was also followed. The inscription on the rectangular pillar found in 1899 near the Forum, of a date not later than the fifth century B. c., is arranged boustrophedon.2, We may assume, then, that the Greek alphabet was made known to the native tribes of Italy as early as the eighth or ninth century B.c., and not improbably through the ancient Chalcidian colony of Cumae, which tradition named as the earliest Greek settlement in the land. The eventual prevalence of the Latin alphabet naturally followed the political supremacy of Rome.

The Latin alphabet possesses twenty of the letters of the Greek western alphabet, and, in addition, three adopted signs. Taking the Formello and Galassi abecedaria * as representing the primitive alphabet

1 The earliest, on a fibula from Praeneste assigned to the sixth century Β. ο. (C. I. L. xiv. 4123); the other, the Duenos inscription on a vase of the fourth century Β. ο. found near the Quirinal in 1880 (C. 1. L. i. 871). Both are given in Sandys, Compan. Lat. Studies, 731, 733.

2 Sandys, op. cit. 732. 3 See E. S. Roberts, Gk. Epigraphy, i. 17.

6 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

of Italy, it will be seen that the Latins rejected the letter san and the double letters theta, phi, and chi (¥), and disregarded the earlier sign for a. In Quintilian’s time letter X was the ‘ ultima nostrarum’ and closed the alphabet, The letter zeta representing the soft s sound was so used at first by the Latins; but, this sound in course of time changing to an r sound, the letter z ceased to be used. But at a later period it was restored to the alphabet for the purpose of transliteration of Greek words. As however its original place had been meanwhile filled by the new letter G, it was sent down to the end of the alphabet. With regard to the creation of G, till the middle of the third century B.c. its want was not felt, as C was employed to represent both the hard ὁ and g sounds,’ a survival of this use being seen in the abbreviations C. and Cn, for Gaius and Gnaeus; but gradually the new letter was developed from C and was placed in the alphabet in the position vacated by zeta. The digamma had become the Latin F, and the upsilon had been transliterated as the Latin V; but in the time of Cicero upsilon, as a foreign letter, was required for literary purposes, and thus became again incorporated in the Latin alphabet—this time without change of form, Y. Its position shows that it was admitted before Z.

1 The sound represented by C in Latin no doubt also gradually, but at a very early period, became indistinguishable from that represented by K. Hence the letter K fell into general disuse in writing, and only survived as an archaic form in certain words, such as kalendae.

~l

THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS

\ ae GREEK. | LATIN. Cadmean. SSIS a Pelas : ἘΞ es Local forms. Eastern. Western. Local forms. gian Latin. Zo] 5

ΒΕ: ne] [τὰ » δ» w >

DK VK dD |AAAa M Melos, etc. B B B B B B B b

ξ Paros, Siphnos, Thasos, etc.

“L, Corinth. Chalcis, Corinth, ζ ε = ei etc. Ν [5 A r Γ (Cnet, Elis, ocris, etc. AD |APD B Corinth, etc. Ε Ε Ε Ε

gamma | “ ζ (a ce delta «Δ Do ihd epsilon ..| 4 Ell te digamma| 4 3

S

zeta eH Ws

Sta: -" Η theta ..} (ᾧ

iota... ὸ

kappa .. >] lambda | “4

Va ΒΞ

ΕἸ anew [Gi letter

formed from C.]

H ἢ

Melos, Corinth, etc.

Θ τ ς Crete, Thera, | | K

L Attica, Ε Argos.

® © ΞΡ A τη

/\ ips ἣν Ile Gholets Bocotia, mu M /

nu..

Ζ Zz ἘΞ

ΕΓΖ: Ξ

Ὁσζον ΗΙ Later Argos. ΞΕ (See below.]

[xo, Attica, Naxos, Siphnos, Thasos, etc. ]

(9) Paros, Siphnos, etc. © | © O ς Melos.

Halicarnassus, ἃ Teos, Mesembria.

omikron

Piiiea’ Te

san (ss)

koppa ..

== a Ὁ

rho

PRR |PRR M Crete, Thera, Melos, $ ς bs $ M Phocis, etc.

MW wa Ww

sigma .. ‘ g Argos, Corinth, etc.

aM = O Al ees Hnmwb7

iv wOee ©. Ges

(en ee upsilon.. ΥΎ V Y Pres [See above] | XK -{- Oo | OF Rep ΔΙ

ox <=

[bo, Attica, Naxos, NP Y Ozol. Locris, Siphnos, Thasos, etc.] Arcadia. omega .. felos, Paros, i O§ Siphnos, etc. Q j Adopted [O used generally for Bees oe period as Tonia’} baie ae foreign

letters.

CHAPTER II

MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING

OF the various materials which have been used within the memory of man to receive writing, there are three, viz. papyrus, vellum, and paper, which, from their greater abundance and convenience, have, each one in its turn, displaced all others. But of the other materials several, including some which at first sight seem of a most unpromising character, have been largely used. For such a purpose as writing, men naturally make use of the material which can be most readily procured, and is, at the same time, the most suitable. If the ordinary material fail, they must extemporize a substitute. If something more durable is wanted, metal or stone may take the place of vellum or paper. But with inscriptions on these harder materials we have, in the present work, but little todo. Such inscriptions generally fall under the head of epigraphy. Here we have chiefly to consider the softer materials on which hand- writing, as distinguished from monumental engraving, has been wont to be inscribed. Still, as will be seen in what follows, there are certain exceptions; and to some extent we shall have to inquire into the employment of metals, clay, potsherds, and wood, as well as of leaves, bark, linen, wax, papyrus, vellum, and paper, as materials for writing. We will first dispose of those substances which were of more limited use.

Leaves

It is natural to suppose that, in a primitive state of society, leaves of plants and trees, strong enough for the purpose, would be adopted as a ready-made material provided by nature for such an operation as writing. In various parts of India and the East the leaves of palm- trees have been in use for centuries and continue to be employed for this _ purpose; and they form an excellent and enduring substance. Manu- scripts written on palm-leaves have been found in Nepal which date back many hundreds of years. In Europe leaves of plants are not generally of the tough character of those which grow in the tropics; but it is not impossible that they were used in ancient Greece and Italy, and that the

1 Ulpian, Digest. xxxii. 52, de Legat. 8, thus classifies books: ‘ Librorum appellatione continentur omnia volumina, sive in charta, sive in membrana sint, sive in quavis alia materia ; sed et si in philyra aut in tilia, ut nonnulli conficiunt, aut in quo alio corio, idem erit dicendum. Quod si in codicibus sint membraneis vel chartaceis, vel etiam eboreis, vel alterius materiae, vel in ceratis codicillis, an debeantur videamus.’

MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING 9

references by classical writers to their employment are not merely fanciful. There is evidence of the custom of πεταλισμός, or voting for ostracism with olive-leaves, at Syracuse, and of the similar practice at Athens under the name of ἐκφυλλοφορία.: Pliny, Nut. Hist. xiii. 11, writes: ‘Antea non fuisse chartarum usum: in palmarum foliis primo ᾿ seriptitatum, deinde quarundam arborum libris.’

Bark

Better adapted for writing purposes than leaves was the bark of trees, liber, which we have just seen named by Pliny, and the general use of which caused its name to be attached to the book (i.e. the roll) which was made from it. The inner bark of the lime-tree, φιλύρα, tiliu, was chosen as most suitable. Pliny, Vat. Hist. xvi. 14, describing this tree, says: ‘Inter corticem et lignum tenues tunicae sunt multiplici membrana, e quibus vincula tiliae vocantur tenuissimae earum philyrae.’ It was these delicate shreds, philyrae, of this inner skin or bark which formed the writing material. In the enumeration of different kinds of books by Martianus Capella, ii. 136, those consisting of lime-bark are quoted, though as rare: ‘Rari vero in philyrae cortice subnotati.’ Ulpian also, Digest. xxxii. 52, mentions ‘ volumina... in philyra aut in tila.’ But not only was the bark of the lime-tree used, but tablets also appear to have been made from its wood—the ‘tiliae pugillares’ of Symmachus, iy. 34; also referred to by Dio Cassius, lxxii. 8, in the passage: δώδεκα γραμματεῖα, old ye ἐκ φιλύρας ποιεῖται. It seems that rolls made from lime-bark were co-existent at Rome with those made from papyrus, after the introduction of the latter material; but the home-made bark must soon have disappeared before the imported Egyptian papyrus, which had so many advantages both in quantity and quality to recommend it. It has rather been the fashion with some writers to deride the tradition of the employment of bark as a writing material in Europe. They suggest that it has arisen from papyrus being ignorantly mistaken for bark. An occasional mistake of the kind may well have happened. But the references of early writers to the employment of bark is not to be lightly disregarded.

* The olive-leaf, used in this ceremony, is also mentioned, φύλλον ἐλαίας, as the material on which to inscribe a charm.—Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. Mus. i, Pap. cxxi. 213; and a bay-leaf is enjoined for the same purpose in Papyrus 2207 in the Bibliotheque Nationale.

* See a reference to a copy of Aratus on malva-bark. quoted from Isidore, Orig. vi. 12, by Ellis, Comm. on Catullus, 2nd ed., 1889, p. lix. The employment of birch-bark as a writing material in India is, of course, well known. It dates back to a very early time, specimens of the fourth century being extant. In Kashmir it was largely used down to the time of Akbar’s conquest in the seventeenth century, and there are still a considerable number of MSS. of the material in that country. Several are in the British Museum, one of them being of the year 1268.

10 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Linen

Linen cloth, which is found in use among the ancient Egyptians to receive writing, appears also as the material for certain rituals in Roman history. Livy, x. 38, refers to a book of this character, ‘liber vetus linteus, among the Samnites; and again, iv. 7, he mentions the ‘lintei libri’ in the temple of the goddess Moneta; and Flavius Vopiscus in his Life of the Emperor Aurelian refers to ‘libri lintei’ in the Ulpian Library in Rome.! Pliny, Vat. Hist. xiii. 11, names ‘ volumina lintea’ as in use at an early period for private documents, public acts being recorded on lead. Martianus Capella, iii. 136, also refers to ‘carbasina volumina’ ; and in the Codew Theodos. vi. 27. 1, ‘mappae linteae’ occur. The largest extant example of Etruscan writing, now preserved in the Museum at Agram, is inscribed on linen.”

Clay and Pottery

Clay was a most common writing material among the Babylonians and Assyrians. The excavations made of late years on the ancient sites of their great cities have brought to light a whole literature impressed on sun-dried or fire-burnt bricks and tablets. Clay tablets have also been found in the excavations at Knossos in Crete, ascribed to the period about 1500 B.c. Potsherds came ready to the hand in Egypt, where earthenware vessels were the most common kind of household utensils. They have been found in large numbers, many inscribed in Greek with such ephemeral documents as tax and pay receipts, generally of the period of the Roman occupation.? To such inscribed potsherds has been given the title of ostrakw, a term which will recall the practice of Athenian ostracism in which the votes were recorded on such frag- ments.* That such material was used in Greece only on such passing occasions or from necessity is illustrated by the passage in Diogenes Laertius, vii. 174, which narrates that the Stoic Cleanthes was forced by poverty to write on potsherds and the shoulder-blades of oxen. Tiles also, upon which alphabets or verses were scratched with the stilus

1 The Ulpian Library was the Public Record Office of Rome.—J. W. Clark, The Care of Books, 1901, p. 20.

2 It was found cut into strips and used for binding an Egyptian mummy.—Ed. Krall, in the Denkschriften of the Vienna Academy, vol. xli (1892).

3. See autotypes of some specimens in Pal. Soc. ii. 1, 2.

* Votes for ostracism at Athens were probably recorded on fragments of broken vases which had been used in religious services, and which were given out specially for the occasion. Three such voting ostraka are known: one is described by Benndorf, Griech. und sicilische Vasenbilder, tab, xxix. 10; another, for the ostracism of Xanthippos, the father of Pericles (see Aristotle, Const. Athens, 61), is noticed by Studniezka, Anfenor und archéiische Malerei in Jahrbuch des kais. deutschen arch. Instituts, ii (1857), 161. See also the Brit. Mus. Guide to Greek and Roman Life, 7.

| MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING 11

before baking, served occasionally among both Greeks and Romans for educational purposes.'

Wall-spaces

It is perhaps straining a term to include the walls of buildings under ‘the head of writing materials; but the graffiti or wall-scribblings, discovered in such large numbers at Pompeii? hold so important a place in the history of early Latin palaeography, that it must not be forgotten that in ancient times, as now, a vacant wall was held to be avery convenient place to present public notices and appeals or to scribble idle words.

Precious Metals

The precious metals were naturally but seldom used as writing materials. For such a purpose, however, as working a charm, an occasion when the person specially interested might be supposed not to be too niggard in his outlay in order to attain his ends, we find thin plates or leaves of gold or silver recommended,’ a practice which is paralleled by the crossing of the palm of the hand with a gold or silver coin as enjoined by the gipsy fortune-teller.

Lead

Lead was used at an ancient date. Pliny, Wat. Hist. xiii. 11, refers to‘plumbea volumina’ as early writing material. Pausanias, ix. 31, 4, states that at Helicon he saw a leaden plate (μόλιβδος) on which the Ἔργα of Hesiod were inscribed. At Dodona tablets of lead have been discovered which contain questions put to the oracle, and in some instances the answers. An instance of the employment of lead in correspondence occurs in Parthenius, Hrotica, cap. 9; the story being that, when the island of Naxos was invaded by the Milesians in 501 B.c., the priestess Polycrite, being in a temple outside the capital city, sent word to her brothers, by means of a letter written upon lead and concealed in a loaf, how they might make a night attack. Lenormant,

| Rhein. Museum, xxii. 276, has described the numerous small leaden pieces on which are written names of persons, being apparently sortes 'iudiciariae, or lots for selection of judges, of ancient date. Dirae, or ᾿ solemn dedications of offending persons to the infernal deities by, or on behalf of, those whom they had injured or offended, were inscribed 1 Faesimiles in C. 1. L. iii. 962. The ostrakon no. 18711 in the British Museum 15

inscribed with 11. 107-18, 128-39 of the Phoenissae of Euripides : see Classical Review, xviii. 2. The Berlin ostrakon 4758 contains 11. 616-24 of the Hippolytus of Euripides.

ΒΟΟΣ, ἵν.

5. Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. Mus. i. 102, 122; also papyri in the Bibl. Nationale, 258, 2705, 2228.

* Carapancs, Dodone et ses Ruines (1878), p. 68, pl. xxxiv-xl; C. I. L. i. 818, 819.

12 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

on this metal. These maledictory inscriptions, called also defixiones or κατάδεσμοι and καταδέσεις, appear to have been extensively employed. An instance is recorded by Tacitus, Annal. ii. 69, in his account of the last illness and death of Germanicus, in whose house were found, hidden in the floor and walls, remains of human bodies and ‘carmina et devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis tabulis insculptum’. Many have been found at Athens and other places in Greece and Asia Minor, and some in Italy ; others again in a burial-ground near Roman Carthage." Several were discovered at Cnidus which have been assigned to the period between the third and first centuries B.c.;? and recently a collection was found near Paphos in Cyprus, buried in what appears to have been a malefactors’ common grave. These Cnidian and Cyprian examples are now in the British Museum. Charms and incantations were also inscribed on thin leaves of lead.4 Montfaucon, Palaeogr. Graeca, 16, 181, mentions and gives an engraving of a leaden book, apparently connected with magic. A leaden roll has been found in Rhodes, inscribed with the greater part of Psalm Ixxx in Greek, of the third or fourth century ; which may have been used as a charm.’ There are two inscribed leaden tablets found at Bath; the one containing a curse in Latin on some person who had earried off a girl named Vilbia, written in reversed characters ; the other being a Latin letter of the fourth century.® Of later date isa tablet found in a grave in Dalmatia, containing a charm against evil spirits, in Latin, inscribed in cursive letters of the sixth century.’ Several specimens which have been recovered from mediaeval graves prove that the custom of burying leaden inscribed plates with the dead was not uncommon in the middle ages.§ The employment of this metal for such purposes may have been recommended by its supposed durability. But lead is in fact highly sensitive to chemical action, and is liable to rapid disintegration under certain conditions. For the ancient dirae it was probably used because it was common and cheap.

Bronze

Bronze was used both by Greeks and Romans as a material on which to engrave votive inscriptions, laws, treaties, and other solemn docu-

1 Bulletin de Corwesp. Hellénique, 1888, p. 294.

2 Newton, Discov. at Halicarnassus (1863), ii, 719-45 ; and Collitz and Bechtel, Griech. Dialekt-Inschriften, iii. 238.

3 Soc. Biblical Archaeology, Proceedings, xiii (1891), pt. iv.

4 Leemans, Papyri Graeci Mus. Lugdun. 1885 ; Wessely, Griech. Zauber Papyri, 1888 ; Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. Mus. i. 74, ete. Tin plates were also used, Cat. Gk. Pap. i. 91, ete.

5 Sitewngsberichte of the Roy. Prussian Academy, 1898, p. 582.

6 Hermes, xv; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xlii. 410; E. W. B. Nicholson, Vinisius to Nigra, 1904. For further notices of inscriptions on lead see Gardthausen, Griech. Pal. 2nd ed., 1911, pp. 26-8.

7 ¢. 1. L. iii, 961. 8 Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 48-51.

IL MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING 13

ments. These, however, do not come under present consideration, being strictly epigraphical monuments. The only class which we need notice is that of the Roman military diplomas, those portable tubulae honestae missionis, as they have been called, which were given to veteran soldiers and conferred upon them rights of citizenship and marriage. Upwards of one hundred such documents, or portions of them, issued under the emperors, have been recovered!’ They are interesting both palaeo- graphically, as giving a series of specimens of the Roman rustic capital letters,” and also for the form which they took, exactly following that observed in the legal documents preserved in waxed tablets (see below). They were, in fact, codices in metal. The diploma consisted of two squared plates of the metal, hinged with rings. The authentic deed was engraved on the inner side of the two plates, and was repeated on the outside of the first plate. Through two holes a threefold wire was passed and bound round the plates, being sealed on the outside of the second plate with the seals of the seven witnesses, whose names were also engraved thereon. The seals were protected by a strip of metal, attached, which was sometimes convex to afford better cover. In case of the outer eopy being called in question, reference was made to the deed inside by breaking the seals, without the necessity of going to the official copy kept in the temple of Augustus at Rome.

The repetition of the deed in one and the same diploma is paralleled in some of the Assyrian tablets, which, after being inscribed, received an outer casing of clay on which the covered writing was repeated.

Wood

Wooden tablets were used in very remote times. In many cases they were probably coated, if not with wax, with some kind of composition, the writing being scratched upon them with a dry point; in some }instances we know that ink was inscribed upon the bare wood. The ancient Egyptians also used tablets covered with a glazed composition capable of receiving ink.* Wooden tablets inscribed with the names of the dead are found with mummies. They were also used for memoranda and accounts, and in the Egyptian schools; specimens of tablets inscribed with receipts, alphabets, and verses having survived to the present day.4 One of the earliest specimens of Greek writing is a document inscribed

Ὁ 0. I. Το iii. 848 sqq. publishes fifty-eight of them. For facsimiles see, 6. g., J. Arneth, . Zuilf rimische Militiir-Diplome, Vienna, 1848 ; New Pal. Soc. 131.

* See facsimile specimens of the characters employed in the diplomas in Hiibner, | Exempla Script. Epigr. 285-300.

3 Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, ii. 183.

* Reuvens, Lettres, iii. 111 ; Transac. Roy. Soc. Lit., 2nd series, x, pt. 1; Leemans, Mon. . Egypt. i, tab. 286; Rhein. Museum, xv (1860), 157. Several specimens of Egyptian inscribed | tablets are in the British Museum.

14 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP, —

in ink on a small wooden tablet now in the British Museum (5849, C.); ὲ

it refers to a money transaction of the thirty-first year of Ptolemy Phila- delphus (254 or 253 1. 6.).1} In the British Museum there is also a small wooden board (Add. MS. 33293), painted white and inseribed in ink with thirteen lines from the Iliad (111. 278-85), the words being marked off and the syllables indicated by accents, no doubt for teaching young Greek scholars. It was found in Egypt, and is probably of the third century. Of the same period are a board (Add. MS. 37516) and a book of eight wooden leaves (Add. MS. 57533), inscribed with school exercises in Greek.? At Vienna is a board with lines from the //ekale of Calli- machus and the Phoenissue of Euripides, of the fourth century.’ There is also a miscellaneous set of broken tablets (Add. MS. 33369) inscribed on a ground of drab paint, with records relating to the recovery of debts, ete., at Panopolis, the modern Ekhmim, in the Thebaid; probably of the seventh century. In early Greek history it is stated that the laws of Solon were written on revolving wooden tablets, ἄξονες and κύρβεις ; and there is an actual record of the employment of wooden boards or tablets in the inventory of the expenses of rebuilding the Erechtheum at Athens, 407 B.c. The price of two boards, on which rough accounts were first entered, is set down at two drachmas, or 93d. each: σανίδες evo ἐς ἃς τὸν λόγον ἀναγράφομεν. And again a second entry of four boards at the same price occurs. In some of the waxed tablets lately recovered at Pompeii the pages which have been left in the plain wood are inscribed in ink.® Wooden tablets were used in schools during the middle ages.° In England the custom of using wooden tallies, inscribed as well as notched, in the public accounts lasted down to a recent date.

Waxed and other Tablets

But we may assume that as a general rule tablets were coated with wax’ from the very earliest times in Greece and Rome. Such waxed tablets were single, double, triple, or of several pieces or leaves. In Greek a tablet was called πίναξ, πινακίς, δέλτος, δελτίον, δελτίδιον, TUKTLOr, πυξίον, πυξίδιον, γραμματεῖον ®; in Latin, cera, tabula, tabella. The wooden

1 See Revue Egyptologique, ii, Append., 51 ; Pal. Soc. ii. 142.

2 Described by Kenyon in Journ. Hellenic Studies, xxix (1909), 28.

3 Pap, Erzh. Rainer, vi (1897) ; Wattenbach, Schrift. 91.

4 Rangabé, Antig. Hellén. 56; Egger, Note sur le prix de papier, etc., in Mém. d’Hist. Ancienne (1863).

5 Pal. Soc. 1. 159. ὃ Wattenbach, Schri/tw. 93 sqq.

7 κηρός, cera, or μάλθη, μάλθα. Poilux, Onomast. x. 57, in his chapter περὶ βιβλίων names the composition ὁ δὲ ἐνὼν τῇ πινακίδι κηρός, ἢ μάλθη, ἢ μάλθα. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν γὰρ κηρὸν εἴρηκε, Kparivos δὲ ἐν τῇ Πυτίνῃ μάλθην ἔφη. Μάλθα appears to have been wax mixed with tar. Cf. Avistoph. Fragm. 206 τὴν μάλθαν ἐκ τῶν γραμματείων ἤσθιον.

8 See Pollux, Onomasticon, x. 57.

acme li en at cat ea ath etn

πη πὰ eee ge ea. ee a ee ewe a nnn. a “ΜΝ ΜΝ ΜΝ ΝΜ

ΤΙ WAXED TABLETS 15

surface was sunk to a slight depth, leaving a raised frame at the edges, after the fashion of a child's school-slate of the present day, and a thin coating of wax, usually black, was laid over it. Tablets were used for literary composition,' school exercises, accounts, or rough memoranda. They were sometimes fitted with slings for suspension.? Two or more put together, and held together by rings or thongs acting as hinges, formed a caudex or codex. Thus Seneca, De Brev. Vit. 18 ‘Plurium tabularum contextus caudex apud antiquos vocabatur; unde publicae tabulae codices dicuntur ’.

When the codex consisted of two leaves it was called δίθυροι, δίπτυχα, diptycha, duplices ; of three, τρίπτυχα, triptycha, triplices; and of more, πευτάπτυχα, pentaptycha, quinquiplices or quincuplices, πολύπτυχα, poly- ptycha, multiplices.? In Homer we have an instance of the use of a tablet in the death-message of King Proetus, ‘ graving in a folded tablet many deadly things. * And Herodotus tells us (vil. 239) how Demaratus conveyed to the Lacedaemonians secret intelligence of Xerxes’ intended invasion of Greece, by means of a message written on the wooden surface of a tablet (δελτίον δίπτυχον) from which the wax had been previously scraped but was afterwards renewed to cover the writing. On Greek vases of the fifth and fourth centuries B.c., tablets, generally triptychs, are represented, both open in the hands of the goddess Athena or others, and closed and bound round with strings, hanging from the wall by slings or handles.° |

Tablets in the codex form would be employed not only as mere note- books, but especially in all cases where the writing was to be protected from injury either for the moment or for a long period. Hence they were used for legal documents, conveyances and wills, and for correspondence. When used for wills, each page was technically called cera, as in Gaius, ii. 104 ‘Haec, ita ut in his tabulis cerisque scripta sunt, ita do lego’.® They were closed against inspection by a triple thread, λίνον, dinum, and by the seals of the witnesses, as will presently be more fully explained.

1 Catullus, 1. 2 ‘multum lusimus in meis tabellis’. Quintilian, Instit. orator. x. 3. 31, recommends the use of waxed tablets: ‘Scribi optime ceris, in quibus facillima est ratio.’

* Horace, Sat. i. 6. 74 ‘ Laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto ’.

8 Martial, xiv. 4. 6.

4 Iliad vi. 169 γράψας ἐν πίνακι πτυκτῷ θυμοφθόρα πολλά.

5 See Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, iii. 239; iv. 244, 287, 288, 289, 296; Luynes, Vases, 35.

® Cf. Horace, Sat. ii. 5.51:

Qui testamentum tradet tibi cunque legendum Abnuere et tabulas a te removere memento ; Sic tamen, ut limis rapias quid prima secundo Cera velit versu.

16 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

As to correspondence, small tablets, codicilli! or pugillares? were employed for short letters ; longer letters, epistolae, were written on papyrus. Thus Seneca, ΜΡ. 55. 11, makes the distinction: ‘ Adeo tecum sum, ut dubitem an incipiam non epistulas sed codicillos tibi scribere.’ The tablets were sent by messengers, tabellarii, as explained by Festus*: ‘Tabellis pro chartis utebantur antiqui, quibus ultro citro, sive privatim sive publice opus erat, certiores absentes faciebant. Unde adhuc tabellarii dicuntur, et tabellae missae ab imperatoribus.’* The answer to the letter might be inscribed on the same set of tablets and returned. Love-letters appear to have been sometimes written on very small tablets.° Martial, xiv. 6, 8, 9, calls such tablets Vitelliani. Tablets containing letters were fastened with a thread, which was sealed.° The materials for letter- writing are enumerated in the passage of Plautus, Bacchides, iv. 714 ‘Eefer cito . . . stilum, ceram et tabellas, linum’; and the process of sealing in line 748: ‘cedo tu ceram ac linum actutum. age obliga, opsigna cito. In Cicero, Catil. 111. 5, we have the opening of a letter: ‘Tabellas proferri iussimus. . . . Primo ostendimus Cethego signum; cognovit; nos linum incidimus; legimus. . . . Introductus est Statilius; cognovit et signum et manum suam.’

The custom of writing letters on tablets survived for some centuries after classical times. In the fifth century St. Augustine in his epistle to Romanianus (Migne, Putrolog. Lat. xxxiii. 80) makes reference to his tablets in these words: ‘ Non haec epistola sic inopiam chartae indicat, ut membranas saltem abundare testetur. Tabellas eburneas quas habeo avunculo tuo cum litteris misi. Tu enim huic pelliculae facilius ignosces, quia, differri non potuit quod ei scripsi, et tibi non scribere etiam ineptis- simum existimavi. Sed tabellas, si quae ibi nostrae sunt, propter huius- modi necessitates mittas peto. St. Hilary of Arles likewise has the following passage in his Life of Honoratus (Migne, Patro/. Lat. 1. 1261) : ‘Beatus Eucherius cum ab eremo in tabulis, ut assolet, cera illitis, in proxima ab ipso degens insula, litteras eius suscepisset: “ Mel,” inquit, “suum ceris reddidisti.”’ Both these passages prove that the custom was general at the period. Even as late as the year 1148 a letter ‘in tabella’ was written by a monk of Fulda.’

1 Cicero, Epp. Q. F. ii. 11.1; Fam. iv. 12. 2, and vi. 18.1. See also Catullus, xlii. 11.

2 Catullus uses the word pugillaria, xlii. 5.

3 De Verborum Signif., ed. Miiller, p. 359.

4 Compare St. Jerome, Zp. viii ‘Nam et rudes illi Italiae homines, ante chartae et membranarum usum, aut in dedolatis e ligno codicillis aut in corticibus arborum mutuo epistolarum alloquia missitabant. Unde et portitores eorum tabellarios et scriptores a libris arborum librarios vocavere’.

5 See the drawing in Museo Borbonico, i. 2.

6 Clay, cretula, was originally used: γῆ σημαντρίς, Herod. ii. 38 ; ῥύπος, Aristoph. Lysis. 1200, Pollux, Onomast. x. 58.

7 Wattenbach, Schriftw. 53.

‘Ir WAXED TABLETS 17

It will be noticed that St. Augustine refers to his tablets as being of ‘ivory. The ancient tablets were ordinarily of common wood, such as | beech, or fir, or box, the ‘vulgaris buxus’ of Propertius (iii. 23); but (they were also made of more expensive material. Two of Martial’s _apophoreta are ‘pugillares citrei’ and ‘pugillares eborei’. Propertius (i. c.) refers to golden fittings : ‘Non illas fixum caras effecerat aurum.’ The large consular diptychs, as we know from existing specimens, were of ivory, often elaborately carved.

The employment of waxed tablets lasted for certain purposes through the middle ages in countries of Western Europe. Specimens inscribed with money accounts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have survived to the present day in France;1 and municipal accounts on tablets of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are still preserved in some of the German towns. They also exist in Italy,? dating from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. They were used in England and also in Ireland.* It is said that quite recently sales in the fish-market of Rouen were noted on waxed tablets.*

Greek Waxed Tablets

Ancient Greek waxed tablets have survived in not many instances. In the British Museum are some which have been found in Egypt. The most perfect is a book (Add. MS. 33270), perhaps of the third century, measuring nearly 9 by 7 inches, which consists of seven leaves coated on both sides with black wax and two covers waxed on the inner side, inscribed with documents in shorthand, presumably in Greek, and with shorthand signs written repeatedly, as if for practice, and with notes in Greek; in one of the covers a groove is hollowed for the reception of the writing implements. Another smaller book, of about 7 by 4 inches, formed of six leaves (Add. MS. 33368), is inscribed, probably by some schoolboy of the third century, with grammatical exercises and other notes in Greek, and also with a rough drawing, perhaps meant for a caricature of the schoolmaster. here are also two tablets inscribed with verses in Greek uncial writing, possibly some

1 See Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, xxi (1855), 284, xxii (1865), 480 ; Mém. de U' Acad. Viii (2nd series), 5386; Bibl. Ecole des Chartes, xi. 393. A ‘Mémoire touchant l’usage d’écrire sur des tablettes de cire’, by the Abbé Lebeuf, is printed in Mém. del’ Acad. xx (1758), 267. A tabiet of accounts, of about the year 1800, from Citeaux Abbey, is in the British Museum, Add. MS. 33215; printed by H. Omont in Bull. Soc. Nat. des Antig. de France, 1889, p. 283. Four tablets, of the fourteenth century, found at Beauvais, are in the Bibliothéque Nationale.—Acad. des Inscriptions, Comptes rendus, 1887, p 141.

2 See Milani, Sei Tavolette cerate, in Pubbl. del R. Istituto di Studi Superiori, 1877.

* A mediaeval waxed tablet, belonging to the Royal Irish Academy, is exhibited in he National Museum, Dublin.

4 Wattenbach, Schriftw. 89. 1184 Cc

18 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

literary sketch or a school exercise.'_ Two others of a similar nature have been more recently acquired, the one containing a writing exercise, the other a multiplication table. The Bodleian Library has also purchased a waxed tablet (Gr. Inser. 4) on which is a writing exercise. Others are at Paris; some containing scribbled alphabets and a contractor’s accounts, which were found at Memphis.? Seven tablets of the third century, inscribed with fables of Babrius (a school exercise), are at Leyden.? In New York is a set of five tabléts, on which are verses, in the style of Menander, set as a copy by a writing-master and copied by a pupil.* Other specimens of a similar character are at Marseilles, the date of which can be fixed at the end of the third or beginning of the fourth century ;° and the last leaf of a document found at Verespatak is at Karlsburg.® At Geneva there is a tablet of the sixth century containing accounts, and verses of Psalm xci, probably a charm.’

Latin Waxed Tablets

Extant Latin tablets are more numerous, but have only been found in comparatively recent years.’ Twenty-five, containing deeds ranging in date from A.D. 131 to 167, were recovered, between the years 1786 and 1855, from the ancient mining works in the neighbourhood of Alburnus Major, the modern Verespatak, in Dacia. In 1840 Massmann published the few which had at that time been discovered, in his Libellus Aurarius, but the admission into his book of two undoubtedly spurious documents cast suspicion on the rest, which were accordingly denounced until the finding of other tablets proved their genuineness. The whole collection is given in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarwm, vol. 111.

During the excavations at Pompeii in July, 1875, a box containing 127 waxed tablets, of the years A.D. 15, 27, 53-62, was discovered in the house. of L. Caecilius Jucundus. They proved to be perscriptiones and other deeds connected with auctions and tax-receipts.®

1 See Verhandl. der Philologen-Versamml. 2u Wiirzburg, 1869, p. 239.

2 Revue Archéol. viii. 461, 470. 3 Journ, Hellen, Studies, xiii (1893), 293. 4 Proceedings of the American Acad. of Arts and Sciences, 111. 371. 5 Annuaire de la Soc. Franc. de Numism. et @ Archéol. iii. 1xxi-lxxvii. 6° OC. 0. ΤΩ iii. 933%

7 J. Nicole, Textes grecs inédits de Geneve, 1909.

8 In addition to the two collections described in the text, a waxed diptych, recording the manumission of a female slave, a.p. 221, which was found in Egypt and was recently in possession of the late Lord Amherst of Hackney, has been described by S. de Ricci in Proceedings Soc. Bibl. Archaeology, xxvi (1904); and a leaf of a diptych, containing a veteran’s discharge, A.D. 94, also from Egypt, is noticed in The Year's Work in Classical Studies (Classical Association), 1911, p. 91.

9 Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, ser. ii, vol. iii, pt. 3 (1875-6), pp. 150-230 ; Hermes, xii (1877), 88-141; and Overbeck, Pompeit, 4th ed. by Mau (1884), 489 sqq. The whole collection has been edited by Zangemeister in the C. 1. L. iv, Supplementum (1898). See

Pal. Soc. i. 159.

Bei WAXED TABLETS 19

The recovery of so many specimens of Latin tablets has afforded sufficient means of understanding the mechanical arrangement of such documents among the Romans. Like the military tabulae honestae missionis, they contained the deed under seal and the duplicate copy open to inspection. But most of them consist of three leaves: they are triptychs, the third leaf being of great service in giving cover to the seals. The Pompeian and Dacian tablets differ from one another in some particulars; but the general arrangement was as follows. The triptych »was made from one block of wood, cloven into the three required pieces or leaves, which were held together by strings or wires passing through ‘two holes near the edge ad serving for hinges. In the Pompeian tablets, one side of each leaf (that is, pages 2, 3, and 5) was sunk within a frame, the hollowed space being coated with wax, while the outside of the triptych (that is, pages 1 and 6) was left plain. On page 4a vertical groove was cut down the centre to receive the witnesses’ seals, and the surface of the page was generally left plain; but in some instances it was waxed on the right, in some on both the right and the left, of the groove. On pages 2 and 3 was inscribed the authentic deed, and the first two leaves were then bound round with a string of three twisted threads, which passed along the groove and was held in place by two notches cut in the edges of the leaves at top and bottom. The witnesses’ seals were then sunk in the groove, thus further securing the string, and their names were written on the right, either in ink or with the stilus. An abstract or copy of the deed was inscribed on page 5, and was thus left open to inspection. The Dacian tablets differed in this respect, that page 4 was also waxed, and that the copy of the deed was commenced on that page in the space on the left of the groove, the space on the right being filled, as usual, with the witnesses’ names. Further, the string was passed, as an additional security, through two holes, at top and bottom of the groove, in accordance with a senatws consultwm of A.D. 61, instead of being merely wound round the leaves as in the case of the Pompeian tablets.'

1 The practice of closing the authentic deed and leaving the copy only open to inspection is paralleled by the Babylonian and Assyrian usage of enclosing the tablet n which a contract or other deed was inscribed within a casing or shell of clay, on which ἢ abstract or copy of the document was also written for public inspection. A similar sage obtained among the Greeks in Egypt, and by inference, as it may be presumed, in ellas itself. Deeds of the early Ptolemaic period have survived, written on papyrus in uplicate, the upper deed (the original) being rolled up, folded in two, and sealed, the ower copy being left open.—O. Rubensohn, Llephantine Papyri (in Aegypt. Urkunden aus den ‘gl. Museen in Berlin), 1907. In the British Museum papyri Nos. 879, 881-8, 1204, 1206-9, econd and first centuries .c., the dockets written in the margins have been similarly ‘olled up and sealed.

Cc 2

20 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY The following diagram shows the arrangement of a Dacian triptych :

2

ο

Deed | begins

ο ο

: 5 =

| Copy of deed ends |

It will be noticed that, although the string which closed the deed {as indicated by dotted lines) passed through the holes of only two of the leaves, yet the third leaf (pages 5 and 6) is also perforated with corresponding holes. This seems to show that the holes were first pierced in the solid block, before it was cloven into three, in order that they might afterwards adjust themselves accurately.' In one instance the fastening threads and seals still remain.”

In the Pompeian series were found about a dozen diptychs. These were waxed only on the inner pages, 2 and 3, and no groove was cut for the seals, which were therefore impressed on the flat surface. It is interesting to find that tablets of this series have dockets on the edges, proving that they were dropped vertically into the box in which they were kept.

1 See C. I. L, ili. 922. * Ibid. 938.

CHAPTER III.

MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING (continwed)

We now have to examine the history of the more common writing- materials of the ancient world and of the middle ages, viz. papyrus, vellum, and paper.

Papyrus

The papyrus plant, Cyperus Papyrus, which supplied the substance for the great writing material of the ancient world, was widely cultivated in the Delta of Egypt. From this part of the country it has now vanished, but it still grows in Nubia and Abyssinia. Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. iv. 10, states that it also grew in Syria; and Pliny adds that it was native to the Niger and Euphrates. Its Greek name πάπυρος, whence Latin papyrus, was probably derived from one of its ancient Egyptian names. Herodotus, our most ancient authority for any details of the purposes for which the plant was employed, always calls it βύβλος (also written βίβλος). Theophrastus describes the plant as one which grows in the shallows to the height of six feet, with a triangular and tapering stem crowned with a tufted head; the root striking out at right angles to the stem and being of the thickness of a man’s wrist. The tufted heads were used for garlands in the temples of the gods; of the wood of the root were made various utensils; and of the stem, the pith of which was also used as food, a variety of articles, including writing material, were manufactured: caulking yarn, ships’ rigging, light skiffs, shoes, ete. The cable with which Ulysses bound the doors of the hall when he slew the suitors was ὅπλον βύβλι"ον (Odyss, xxi. 390),

As a writing material papyrus was employed in Egypt from the earliest times. Papyrus rolls are represented on the sculptured walls of Egyptian temples; and rolls themselves exist of immense antiquity. A papyrus containing accounts of King Assa, about 3500 B.c.,is extant; } ᾿ another famous roll is the Papyrus Prisse, at Paris, which contains the copy of a work composed in the reign of a king of the fifth dynasty and is itself of about the year 2500 B.c. or earlier. The dry atmosphere of Egypt has been specially favourable to the preservation of these fragile documents. Buried with the dead, they have lain in the tombs or swathed in the folds of the mummy-cloths for centuries, untouched by / decay, and in many instances remain as fresh as on the day when they ᾿ Were written.

1 Petrie, Hist. Egypt, i. 81.

zo

2 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Among the Greeks the papyrus material manufactured for writing

purposes was called χάρτης (Latin charta) as well as by the names of the plant itself. Herodotus, v. 58, refers to the early use of papyrus rolls among the Ionian Greeks, to which they attached the name of διφθέραι, ‘skins, the writing material to which they had before been accustomed. Their neighbours, the Assyrians, were also acquainted with it.! They called it ‘the reed of Egypt’. There is a recorded instance of papyrus being sent from Egypt to Phoenicia in the eleventh century B.c.? An inscription relating to the expenses of the rebuilding of the Erechtheum at Athens in the year 407 8. σ. shows that papyrus was used for the fair copy of the rough accounts, which were first inscribed on tablets. Two rolls, χάρται δύο, cost at the rate of a drachma and two obols each, or a little over a shilling of our money. There can hardly be a doubt, then, that this writing material was also used in Athens for literary purposes as early as the fifth century 8. c.

The period of its first importation into Italy is not known. The story of its introduction by Ptolemy, at the suggestion of Aristarchus, is of suspicious authenticity. But there can be little hesitation in assuming that it was employed as the vehicle for Latin literature almost from the first. We know that papyrus was plentiful in Rome under the Empire, and that it had at that period become so indispensable that a temporary failure of the supply in the reign of Tiberius threatened a general interruption of the business of daily life.® Pliny also, Nat. Hist. xiii. 11, refers to its high social value in the words: ‘ papyri natura dicetur, cum chartae usu maxime humanitas vitae constet, certe memoria,’ and again he describes it as a thing ‘ qua constat immortalitas hominum ’.

It is probable that papyrus was imported into Italy already manufactured; for it is doubtful whether the plant grew in that country. Strabo, indeed, says that it was found in Lake Trasimene and other lakes of Etruria; but the accuracy of this statement has been disputed. Still, it is a fact that there was a manufacture of this writing material carried on in Rome, the charta Fanniana being an instance ; but it has been asserted that this industry was confined to the remaking of imported material. The more brittle condition of the Latin papyri, as compared with the Greek papyri, found at Herculaneum, has been ascribed to the detrimental effect of this remanufacture.

1 In the Assyrian wall-sculptures in the British Museum there are two scenes (nos, 3 and 84) in which two couples of scribes are represented taking notes. In each ease one of the scribes is using a folding tablet (the hinges of one being distinctly represented), and the other a seroll. The scroll may be either papyrus or leather.

2 Zeitsch. fiir dgypt. Sprache, xxxviii (1900), 1.

3 See above, p. 14. * See below, p. 29.

5 Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiii, 13 ‘Sterilitatem sentit hoe quoque, factumque iam Tiberio principe inopia chartae, ut e senatu darentur arbitri dispensandis; alias in tumultu vita erat’.

ΠῚ PAPYRUS 23

At a later period the Syrian variety of the plant was grown in Sicily, where it was probably introduced during the Arab occupation. It was seen there by the Arab traveller, Ibn-Haukal, A. Ὁ. 972-3, in the neigh- bourhood of Palermo, where it throve in great luxuriance in the shallows of the Papireto, a stream to which it gave its name. Paper was made from this source for the use of the Emir; but in the thirteenth century the plant began to fail, and it was finally extinguished by the draining of the stream in 1591. It is still, however, to be seen growing in the neighbourhood of Syracuse, but was probably transplanted thither at a later time, for no mention of it in that place occurs earlier than 1674, Some attempts have been made in recent years to manufacture a writing material on the pattern of the ancient chart from this Sicilian plant.!

The manufacture of. the writing material, as practised in Egypt, is described by Pliny, Vut. Hist. xiii. 12. His description applies specially to the system of his own day; but no doubt it was essentially the same as had been followed for centuries. His text is far from clear, and there are consequently many divergences of opinion on different points. The stem of the plant, after removal of the rind, was cut longitudinally into thin strips (philyrae, scissurae) with a sharp cutting instrument described as a needle (acus). The old idea that the strips were peeled off the inner core of the stem is now abandoned, as it has been shown that the plant, like other reeds, contains a cellular pith within the rind, which was all used in the manufacture. The central strips were naturally the best, being the broadest. The strips thus cut were laid vertically upon a board, side by side, to the required width, thus forming a layer, scheda, across which another layer of shorter strips was laid at right angles.”_ The upper surface thus formed became the recto, the under surface the verso, of the finished sheet ; and the recto received a polish. Pliny applies to the process the phraseology of net or basket making. The two layers formed a ‘net’, plagula, or ‘ wicker’, crates, which was thus ‘ woven’, texitur. In this process Nile water was used for moistening the whole. The special men- tion of this particular water has caused some to believe that there were adhesive properties in it which acted as a paste or glue on the material ; others, more reasonably, have thought that water, whether from the Nile or any other source, solved the glutinous matter in the strips and thus caused them to adhere. It seems, however, more probable that paste

1 See G. Cosentino, La Carta di Papiro, in Archivio Storico Siciliano, N.S. xiv. 134-64.

2. Birt, Antikes Buchwesen, 229 (followed by Traube and others), applies the word scheda or scida toa strip. But Pliny distinctly uses the word philyrae for the strips, although he elsewhere describes the inner bark of the lime tree by this name; and scheda for a layer, i.e. a sheet of strips. Another name for the strips was inae. Birt (with others) also describes the plagula or sheet of papyrus by the Greek word σελίς, which, however, is rather a page or column of writing. In his more recent work, Die Buchrolle in der Kunst (1907), he suggests fissurae as an emendation of philyrae.

24 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

was actually used.'| The sheets were finally hammered and dried in the sun.2 Rough or uneven places were rubbed down with ivory or a smooth shell. Moisture lurking between the layers was to be detected by strokes of the mallet. Spots, stains, and spongy strips (taeniae), in which the ink would run, were defects which also had to be encountered.

The sheets were connected together with paste to form a roll, and in this process received the name of κολλήματα ; but not more than twenty was the prescribed number. There are, however, rolls of more than twenty sheets, so that, if Pliny’s reading vicinae is correct, the number was not constant in all times. Moreover, an author need not be limited in the length of his book, and could increase the roll by adding more sheets ; but, of course, he would avoid making it inconveniently bulky. A length of papyrus, however, as sold by the stationers, called a scapus, consisted apparently of twenty κολλήματα, plagulae or schedae.? The workman who fastened the sheets together was the κολλητής or glutinator. The outside of the roll was naturally that part which was more exposed to risk of damage and to general wear and tear. The best sheets were therefore reserved for this position, those which lay nearer the centre or end of the rolled-up roll not being necessarily so good. Besides, the end of a roll was not wanted in case of a short text, and might be cut away. A protecting strip of papyrus was often pasted along the margin at the beginning or end of a roll, in order to give additional strength to the material and prevent it tearing.®

The first sheet of a papyrus roll was called the πρωτόκολλον, a term which still survives in diplomacy; the last sheet was called the écyaro- κόλλιον. Among the Romans the protocol-sheet was inscribed with the name of the Comes largitionum, who bad the control of the manufacture, and with the date and name of the place where it was made. Such certificates, styled ‘protocols’, were in vogue both in the Roman and Byzantine periods in Egypt. They were in ordinary practice cut away; but this curtailment was forbidden in legal documents by the

1 Birt, 231, points out, in regard to Pliny’s words, ‘turbidus liquor vim glutinis praebet,’ that ‘glutinis’ is not a genitive but a dative, Pliny never using the word ‘oluten’, but ‘ glutinum’.

2 It appears that after being inscribed the papyrus received a second hammering, if a passage in Ulpian, ‘libri perscripti, nondum malleati’ (Dig. xxxii. 52. 5), may bear that meaning.—Birt, Buchrolle. But this practice would apply only to rolls intended for the market, which would need a finishing touch.

8. Martial, xiv. 209 :

Levis ab aequorea cortex Mareotica concha Fiat ; inoffensa currit harundo via.

4 Pliny, Epist. viii. 15 ‘quae (chartae) si scabrae bibulaeve sint’, &e.

5 Wattenbach, Buchw. 99; Kenyon, Palaeogr. of Gk. Papyri, 18.

6 Wilcken, in Hermes, xxiii. 466. See the Harris Homer, Brit. Mus. Papyrus evii. A Greek document of Δ. Ὁ. 209 is similarly protected with a strip of vellum.—Royal Prussian Academy, Siftzwngsber. 1910, p. 710.

11 PAPYRUS 25

laws of Justinian,' After their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, the Arabs continued the manufacture of papyrus and also affixed protocols to their rolls. No Roman protocol has hitherto come to light. The few extant specimens of the Byzantine period are written in a curious, apparently imitative, script formed of rows of close-set perpendicular strokes. This script may possibly be an attempt of scribes to copy older, Roman, protocols, the meaning of which had been forgotten. The normal protocol of the Arab period consists of bilingual inscriptions in Greek and Arabic, accompanied with sections or blocks of the above-mentioned imitative script ranged to right and left, as if ornaments to fill spaces in the lines.”

With regard to the height of papyrus rolls, those which date from the earliest period of Egyptian history are short, of about 6 inches ; later they increase to 9, 11, and even above 15 inches, The height of the early Greek papyri of Homer and Hyperides in the British Museum runs generally from 9 to 12 inches; the papyrus of Bacchylides measures under 10 inches.

From Pliny we learn that there were various qualities of writing material made from papyrus and that they differed from one another in size. It has however been found that extant specimens do not tally with the figures that he gives; but an ingenious explanation has been proposed,* that he refers to the breadth not to the height of the in- dividual sheets, κολλήματα, which make up the roll. The best kind, formed from the broadest strips of the plant, was originally the charta hieratica, a name which was afterwards altered to Augusta out of flattery to the Emperor Augustus. The charta Livia, or second quality, was named after his wife. The hieratica thus descended to the third rank. The Augusta and Livia were 18 digits, or about 94 inches, wide ; the hieratica 11 digits or 8 inches. The charta amphitheatrica, of 9 digits or 64 inches, took its title from the principal place of its manufacture, the amphitheatre of Alexandria. The chartu Fanniana was apparently a variety which was remade at Rome, in the workshops of a certain Fannius, from the amphitheatrica, the width being increased by about an inch through pressure. The Saiticw was a common variety, named after the city of Sais, being of about 8 digits or 53 inches.

1 ‘Tabelliones non scribant instrumenta in aliis chartis quam in his quae protocolla habent, ut tamen protocollum tale sit, quod habeat nomen gloriosissimi comitis largitionum et tempus quo charta facta est.,’—Novell. xliv. 2.

* Professor von Karabacek has attempted to prove that the enigmatic writing contains ' traces of Latin: Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy, 1908. His views are disputed by C. H. Becker, Zeitsch. fiir Assyriologie, xx. 97, xxii. 166; and by H. I. Bell, Archiv fiir Papyrusforschung, v. 143. Several specimens of Byzantine and Arab protocols are in the British Museum. See Cat. Gk. Pap. in Brit. Mus. iv ; New Pal. Soc. 177.

3 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 251 sqq.

26 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Finally, there were the Taeniotica—which was said to have taken its name from the place where it was made, a tongue of land (ταινία) near Alexandria—and the common packing-paper, charta emporetica, neither of which was more than 5 inches wide. Mention is made by Isidore, Etymol. vi. 10, of a quality of papyrus called Corneliana, which was first made under C. Cornelius Gallus when prefect of Egypt. But the name may have disappeared from the vocabulary when Gallus fell into disgrace.1 Another kind was manufactured in the reign of Claudius, and on that account was named Claudia. It was a made-up material, combining the Awgustu and Livia, to provide a stout substance. Finally, there was a large-sized quality, of a cubit or nearly 18 inches in width, called macrocollon. Cicero made use of it (Κρ. ad Attic. xiii. 25; xvi. 3). An examination of existing specimens seems to show that the κολλήματα range chiefly between 8 and 12 inches in width, the larger number being of 10 inches. Of smaller sizes, a certain proportion are between 5 and 6 inches.?

Varro, repeated by Pliny, xiii. 11, makes the extraordinary statement that papyrus writing material was first made in Alexander’s time. He may have been misled from having found no reference to its use in pre-Alexandrine authors; or he may have meant to say that its first free manufacture was only of that date, as it was previously a govern- ment monopoly.

Papyrus continued to be the ordinary writing material in Egypt to a comparatively late period;* it was eventually superseded by the excellent paper of the Arabs. In Latin literature it was gradually displaced in the early centuries of our era by the growing employment of vellum, which, by the fourth century had practically superseded it. But it still lingered in Europe under various conditions. Long after vellum had become the principal writing material, especially for literary purposes, papyrus continued in use, particularly for ordinary documents, such as letters. St. Jerome, Zp. vii, mentions vellum as a material for letters, ‘if papyrus fails’; and St. Augustine, Hp. xv, apologizes for using vellum instead of papyrus. A fragmentary epistle in Greek, sent apparently by the Emperor, Michael II or Theophilus, to Louis le Débonnaire between 824 and 839, is preserved at Paris A few fragments of Greek literary papyri written in Europe in the early middle ages, containing Biblical matter and portions of Graeco-Latin glossaries, have also survived.

1 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 250.

2 W. Schubart, Das Buch bei den Griechen und Rimern.

8. The middle of the tenth century is the period when it has been calculated the manu- facture of papyrus in Egypt ceased.—Karabacek, Das arabische Papier, in Mittheilungen aus

4H. Omont in Rev. Archéologique, xix (1892), 384.

| |

{II SKINS 27

For purely Latin literature papyrus was also occasionally used in the West during the middle ages. Examples, made up in codex form, some- times with a few vellum leaves incorporated to give stability, are found in different libraries of Europe. They are: The Homilies of St. Avitus, of the sixth century, at Paris; Sermons and Epistles of St. Augustine, of the sixth or seventh century, at Parisand Geneva; works of Hilary, of the sixth century, at Vienna; fragments of the Digests, of the sixth century, at Pommersfeld ; the Antiquities of Josephus, of the seventh century, at Milan; an Isidore, of the seventh century, at St. Gall. At Munich, also, is the register of the Church of Ravenna, written on this material in the tenth century. Many papyrus documents in Latin, dating from the fifth to the tenth century, have survived from the archives of Ravenna; and there are extant fragments of two imperial rescripts written in Egypt, apparently in the fifth century, in the Roman chancery hand which is otherwise unknown. In the papal chancery, following the usage of the imperial court of Byzantium, papyrus appears to have been employed down to the middle of the eleventh century. Twenty-three papal bulls on this material have survived, ranging from A.D. 849 to 1022.1. In France papyrus was in common use in the sixth century. Under the Merovingian kings it was used for official docu- ments; several papyrus deeds of their period, dated from 625 to 673, being still preserved in the French archives.

Skins

The skins of animals are of such adurable nature that it is no matter for surprise to find that they have been appropriated as writing material by the ancient nations of the world. They were in use among the Egyptians as early as the time of Cheops, in the fourth dynasty, documents written on skins at that period being referred to or copied in papyri of later date.* Actual specimens of skin rolls from Egypt still exist which date back to some 1500 years B.c. But the country which not only manufactured but also exported in abundance the writing material made from the papyrus plant hardly needed to make use of

_ other material, and skin-rolls written in Egypt must, at all times,

have been rare. In Western Asia the practice of writing on skins was doubtless both ancient and widespread. The Jews made use of them for their sacred books, and, probably also for their other literature; to the present day they employ them for their synagogue-rolls. It may be presumed that their neighbours the Phoenicians also availed themselves

of the same kind of writing material. The Persians inscribed their

1 H. Omont, Bulles Pontif. sur papyrus, in Bibl. Ecole des Chartes, 1xv (1904), 575. 2 Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. v. 5. 5. Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt., ed. Birch, ii. 182.

28 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

history upon skins.!. We can hardly doubt that such inaterial must also have been employed both in Greece and in Rome in ancient times, before the introduction of papyrus; we learn, at all events, that the Ionian Greeks wrote on skins, διφθέραι, from the words of Herodotus, v. 58, who adds that in his day many foreign nations also made use of them.

The method of preparing skins to serve as writing material in those distant ages is unknown to us, but, judging from early Hebrew rolls, it probably extended only to a general system of tanning and a more careful treatment of the surface which was to receive the writing. It was probably at no time the custom to write on the back as well as on the face of a roll.

Parchment and Vellum

The introduction of parchment, or vellum as it is now more generally termed, that is to say, skins prepared in such a way that they could be written upon on both sides, cannot properly be called an invention ; it was rather an extension of, or improvement upon, the old practice. The common story, as told by Pliny, Vat. Hist. xiii. 11, on the authority of Varro, runs that Eumenes IT of Pergamum (197-158 B.c.), wishing to extend the library in his capital, was opposed by the jealousy of the Ptolemies, who forbade the export of papyrus, hoping thus to check the growth of a rival library. The Pergamene king, thus thwarted, was foreed to fall back again upon skins; and thus came about the manu- facture of vellum: ‘ Mox aemulatione circa bibliothecas regum Ptolemaei et Eumenis, supprimente chartas Ptolemaeo, idem Varro membranas Pergami tradit repertas.’? Whatever may be the historical value of this tradition, at least it points to the fact that Pergamum was the chief centre of the vellum trade: the centre, we may conclude, of the revival of an old trade and improved manufacture. The name διφθέραι, membranae,® which had been applied to the earlier skins, was extended also to the new manufacture, which, however, afterwards became known as περγαμηνή, churta Pergamena. The title Pergamena first occurs in the edict of Diocletian, A.p. 301, de pretiis rerum, vil. 38; next in the passage in St. Jerome’s epistle, quoted in the footnote. The word σωμάτιον, Which afterwards designated a vellum MS. as opposed to

1 Diodorus, ii. 32 ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν διφθέρων, ἐν ais of Πέρσαι τὰς παλαιὰς πράξεις εἶχον συντεταγμένας.

2 St. Jerome, Lp. vii, also refers to the place of its origin: ‘Chartam defuisse non puto, Aegypto ministrante commercia. Et si alicubi Ptolemaeus maria clausisset, tamen rex Attalus membranas a Pergamo miserat, ut penuria chartae pellibus pensaretur. Unde et Pergamenarum nomen ad hune usque diem, tradente sibi invicem posteritate, servatum est.’

3 The Latin membranae was also Graecized as μεμβράναι, being so used in 2 Tim. iv. 13 μάλιστα τὰς μεμβράνας, but whether the Apostle referred to vellum MSS., or possibly to Hebrew texts written on skins prepared in the old way, we cannot say.

11 PARCHMENT AND VELLUM 29

a papyrus roll, had reference originally to the contents, such a MS. being capable of containing an entire work or corpus.'

The animals whose skins were found appropriate for the new manufacture were generally sheep, goats, and calves. Others, such as

swine and asses, provided material for particular purposes; and even

rarer creatures, such as antelopes, are said to have been selected for

more delicate and costly volumes. It is only reasonable to assume

that any skin of suitable quality would be brought under manufacture. But, in the course of time, a distinction arose between the coarser and finer qualities of prepared skins; and, while parchment made from

_ ordinary skins of sheep and goats continued to bear the name, the finer - material produced from the calf or kid, or even from the newly-born or

still-born calf or lamb, came to be generally known as vellum. The

material of the skin manuscripts of the middle ages being generally of the finer kind, it has come to be the practice to describe them as of

vellum, although in some instances they may be really composed of parchment. The modern process of manufacture, washing, liming, scraping, stretching, rubbing with chalk and pumice, probably differs but little in principle from the ancient system.

As to the early use of vellum among the Greeks and Romans, little

_ evidence is to be obtained from the results of excavations. No specimens

have been recovered at Herculaneum or Pompeii, and very few of early date in Egypt. There can, however, be little doubt that it was imported into Rome under the Republic. The general account of its introduction thither—evidently suggested by Varro’s earlier story of the first use of it—is that Ptolemy, at the suggestion of Aristarchus the grammarian, having sent papyrus to Rome, Crates the grammarian, out of rivalry, induced Attalus of Pergamum to send vellum.? References to the pages of certain municipal deeds seem to imply that the latter were inscribed in books, that is, in vellum MSS., not on papyrus rolls.? When Cicero, Epp. ad Attic. xiii. 24, uses the word διφθέραι, he also seems to refer to vellum. The advantages of the vellum book over the papyrus roll are obvious: it was in the more convenient form of the codex; it could be rewritten ; and the leaves could receive writing on both sides. Martial enumerates, among his Apophoreta, vellum MSS. of Homer (xiv. 184), Virgil (186), Cicero (188), Livy (190), and Ovid (192).4 Vellum tablets began to take the place of the tabulae ceratae, as appears in Martial, xiv. 7 ‘ Esse puta ceras, licet haec membrana vocetur: Delebis, quotiens

1 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 41.

2 Boissonade, Anecd. i. 420.

5 Mommsen, Inscr. Neapol. 6828; Annali dell’ Inst. (1858), xxx. 192; Marquardt, Privat- leben der Romer, 796.

4 Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 21, mentions a curiosity : ‘In nuce inclusam Iliadem Homeri carmen in membrana scriptum tradit Cicero.’

30 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

scripta novare voles.’ The same writer also recommends the convenience of vellum to the traveller who desires to carry with him the poet’s works in a compact form.’ Quintilian, x. 3,31, recommends the use of vellum for drafts of their compositions by persons of weak sight: the ink on vellum was more easily read than the scratches of the stilus on wax.? Horace refers to it in Sat. ii. 3 ‘Sic raro seribis ut toto non quater anno Membranam poscas’; and in other places.

From the dearth of classical specimens and from the scanty number of early mediaeval MSS. of secular authors which have come down to us, it seems that vellum was not a common writing material under the first Roman emperors. There are no records to show its relative value in comparison with papyrus; but there may be some reason for the view that vellum was in Martial’s time of comparatively little worth, and was chiefly used as a poor material for rough drafts and common work.* Perhaps, too, imperfection of manufacture may have retarded its more general introduction. A few stray leaves of vellum codices of the first centuries of our era have been found in Egypt. A leaf of a MS. of Demosthenes, De falsa legautione, written in a rough hand of the second century, is in the British Museum, Add. MS. 34473 (New Pal. Soc. 2).4 On the other hand a leaf from a MS. of Euripides’ Cretans, now in Berlin,’ is written on thin velium in a very neat delicate script, and was assigned to the first century ; but on further consideration it has now been placed in the second century. Other fragments are of the third century. Papyrus had been so long the recognized material for literary use that the slow progress of vellum as its rival may be partly ascribed to natural conservatism and the jealousy of the book trade. It was par- ticularly the influence of the Christian Church that eventually carried vellum into the front rank of writing materials and in the end displaced papyrus. As papyrus had been the principal material for receiving the thoughts of the pagan world, vellum was to be the great medium for conveying to mankind the literature of the new religion.

Independently of the adoption of vellum as a literary vehicle, which’ will be considered when we have to describe the change in the form of the ancient book from the roll to the codex, its mere durability recom- mended it to an extent that fragile papyrus could in no way pretend

1 Qui tecum cupis esse meos ubicumque libellos Et comites longae quaeris habere viae, Hos eme quos artat brevibus membrana tabellis : Scrinia da magnis, me manus una capit.—Zpigr. i. 8. 2 So also Martial, xiv. 5 ‘Languida ne tristes obscurent lumina cerae, Nigra tibi niveum littera pingat ebur’. 8 See Birt, Ant. Buchwesen. He has rather overstated his case; and his views have not passed without challenge. 4 Kenyon, Palacogr. of Gk. Papyri, 1138. 5 Berliner Klassikertexte, v. 2, p. 73, Taf. iv; Schubart, Papyri Graecae Berolinenses (1911), 30a.

IIL PARCHMENT AND VELLUM 31

to. When Constantine required copies of the Scriptures for his new |

_ churches, he ordered fifty MSS. on vellum, πεντήκοντα σωμάτια ἐν διφθέραις,

to be prepared. And St. Jerome, ΜΡ. exli, refers to the replacement of damaged volumes in the library of Pamphilus at Caesarea by MSS. on vellum: ‘Quam [bibliothecam] ex parte corruptam Acacius dehine et Euzoius, eiusdem ecclesiae sacerdotes, in membranis instaurare conati sunt.’

The large number of mediaeval MSS. that have been transmitted enables us to form some opinion on the character and appearance of vellum at different periods and in different countries. It may be stated

generally that in the most ancient MSS. a thin, delicate material may

usually be looked for, firm and crisp, with a smooth and glossy surface, This is generally the character at least of the vellum of the fifth and sixth centuries. Later than this period, as a rule, it does not appear to have been so carefully prepared; probably, as the demand increased,

a greater amount of inferior material came into the market.? But the

manufacture would naturally vary in different countries. In Ireland and England the early MSS. are generally on stouter vellum than their contemporaries abroad. In Italy a highly polished surface seems at most

_ periods to have been in favour ; hence in the MSS. of that country and neighbouring districts, as the South of France, and again in Greece, the

hard material resisted absorption, and it is often found that both ink and paint have flaked off. In contrast to this are the instances of soft vellum, used in England and France and in Northern Europe generally, from

the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, for MSS. of the better class.

Uterine vellum, taken from the unborn young, or the skins of new-born animals were used for special purposes. A good example of this very delicate material is found in Add. MS. 23935 in the British Museum, a volume of no abnormal bulk, but containing in as many as 579 leaves a corpus of church service books, written in France in the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries. In the fifteenth century the Italian vellum of the

Renaissance is often of extreme whiteness and purity. Vellum was also of great service in the ornamentation of books. Its smooth surfaces showed off colours in all their brilliancy. Martial’s

vellum MS. of Virgil (xiv. 186) is adorned with the portrait of the author :

quo Persius (111. 10), “Iam liber et positis bicolor membrana capillis”’.

‘Ipsius voltus prima tabella gerit.’ Isidore, Orig. vi. 11. 4, describing this material, uses the words: ‘Membrana autem aut candida aut lutea aut purpurea sunt. Candida naturaliter existunt. Luteum membranum bicolor est, quod a confectore una tingitur parte, id est, crocatur. De

4. |

' Eusebius, Vit. Constant. iv. 36.

2 Instances, in MSS. of the seventh and tenth centuries, of vellum which was too thin or badly prepared, and therefore left blank by the scribes, are noticed in Cat. of Anc. MSS. in the Brit. Museum, pt. ii. 51; and in Delisle, Mélanges, 101.

32. GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

This quotation from Persius refers to the vellum wrapper which the Romans were in the habit of attaching to the papyrus roll: the φαινόλης, paenula, literally a travelling cloak. A vellum wrapper was more suitable than one of papyrus to resist constant handling. It was coloured of some brilliant hue, generally scarlet or purple, as in Lucian! : πορφυρᾶ δι᾿ ἔκτοσθεν ἡ διφθέρα. Ovid finds a bright colour unsuited to his melan- choly book, 7 δέ. 1.1. ὅ ‘Nec te purpureo velent vaccinia fuco’. Martial’s libellus (viii. 72) is ‘nondum murice cultus’; and again he has the pas- sages, 111. 2 ‘et te purpura delicata velet’; and x. 93 ‘carmina, purpurea sed modo culta toga’, the toga being another expression for the wrapper. In Tibullus iii. 1. 9, the colour is orange: ‘Lutea sed niveum involvat membrana libellum.’ The strip of vellum, σίλλυβος (or σίττυβος), titulus, index, which was attached to the papyrus roll and was inscribed with the title of the work therein contained, was also coloured, as appears from the passages in Martial, iii. 2 ‘Et cocco rubeat superbus index’, and in Ovid, Trist. i. 1.7 ‘nee titulus minio nec cedro charta notetur’.

We do not know how soon was introduced the extravagant practice of producing sumptuous volumes written in gold or silver upon purple- stained vellum. It was a MS. of this description which Julius Capito- linus, early in the fourth century, puts into the possession of the younger Maximin: ‘Cum grammatico daretur, quaedam parens sua libros Homericos omnes purpureos dedit, aureis litteris seriptos.’ Against luxury of this nature St. Jerome directed the often-quoted words in his preface to the Book of Job: ‘Habeant qui volunt veteres libros vel in membranis purpureis auro argentoque descriptos vel uncialibus, ut vulgo aiunt, litteris, onera magis exarata quam codices’; and again in his /p. xviii, to Eustochium: ‘Inficiuntur membranae colore purpureo, aurum liquescit in litteras, gemmis codices vestiuntur, et nudus ante fores earum [i.e. wealthy ladies] Christus emoritur.’

The art of staining or dyeing vellum with purple or similar colour was practised chiefly in Constantinople, and also in Rome; but MSS. of this material, either entirely or in part, seem to have been produced in most of the civilized countries of Europe at least from the sixth century, if we may judge from surviving examples which, though not numerous, still exist in fairnumbers. Of these the best known are: Portion of the Book of Genesis, in Greek, in the Imperial Library at Vienna, written in — silver letters and illustrated with a series of coloured drawings of the — greatest interest for the history of the art of the period; of the sixth century.” A MS. of the Gospels, in Greek, in silver, the bulk of which — was found, in 1896, at Sarumsahly in Cappadocia and is now in 7

1 Περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μισθῷ συνόντων, 41. : 2 See a facsimile of one of the pages in Pal. Soc. i. 178; and of one of the paintings in — Labarte, Hist. des arts industr. du Moyen Age (1864), album ii, pl. 77. Ed. by von Harteland

Wickhoff, 1895.

1Π PARCHMENT AND VELLUM 33

St. Petersburg (Cod. N), and leaves of which have been long preserved in the British Museum, at Vienna, Rome, and in large numbers at Patmos ; also of the sixth century.’ The Codex Rossanensis, discovered at Rossano in South Italy, which contains the Gospels in Greek, of the sixth century, also written in silver and having a series of drawings illustrative of the Life of Christ.2_ A portion of the Gospels in Greek, from Sinope, in gold, with drawings, of the sixth or seventh century, now in Paris.* The Gospels of Berat in Albania, containing St. Matthew and St. Mark, written in silver in the sixth century.t The Greek Psalter of Ziirich, of the seventh century, in silver letters.» The famous Codex Argenteus of Upsala,

containing the Gothic Gospels of Ulfilas’ translation, of the sixth century.° _ The Codex Veronensis of the old Latin Gospels (), written in silver uncials, of the fourth or fifth century." The Latin Evangeliarium of Vienna, originally from Naples, of the sixth century, in silver letters; a single leaf of the MS. being in Trinity College, Dublin. The Latin Psalter of St. Germain (who died A.p. 576) at Paris, also in silver letters.’ The Metz Evangeliarium at Paris, of the same style and period. The Latin Gospels of the Hamilton collection, now in the library of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, which has been assigned to the eighth century.’” Of later date _are the MSS. which were produced in the Carolingian period, when a fresh impetus was given to this kind of ornamental luxury. Such are: The Latin Gospels at Paris, said to have been written for Charlemagne by Godescale, in letters of gold.1t. A similar MS. at Vienna.!?_ And lastly may be mentioned the Latin Psalter in the Douce collection in the Bodleian Library, written in golden Carolingian minuscules and ornamented with miniatures.!? Other specimens of purple MSS. are cited in different » palaeographical works and catalogues. In imitation of the practice of ithe emperors of the Eastern Empire, imperial and other important ‘charters of Germany and Italy were occasionally issued, as duplicates, jin gold writing on purple vellum, in the tenth to twelfth centuries.

1 Kd. H.S. Cronin, 1899. * Edited, with outline tracings of the drawings, by von Gebhardt and Harnack, )Evangeliorum Codex Graecus purpureus Rossanensis, 1880; and in photographie facsimile by _ A. Haseloff, 1898 ; also in colours by A. Munoz, 1907. _ 8 Ed. H. Omont, 1901. 4 Ed. Batiffol, 1886.

5 Ed. Tischendorf, Mon. Sacr. Ined. Nova Coll. iv. ὁ See Pal. Soc. i. 118.

7 See the Turin Monumenta palaeographica sacra, pl. ii.

8 Ed. Tischendorf, 1847. A facsimile of the Dublin leaf is in Par Palimpsest. Dublin, ed. » Abbott, 1880. ® Silvestre, Univ. Palaeogr. (English ed.), pl. 110. 10 Ed. H.C. Hoskier, 1910. Westwood, Pal. Sacr. Pict., ‘Evangelistarium of Charlemagne.’ 12 Denkschriften der kais. Akad. der Wissensch. xiii. 85. 13 Douce MS. 59. 14 See references in Wattenbach, Schriftw. 132; and in Gardthausen, Griech. Pal. i. 102. 15 Tb. 137. The Egerton Charter 620, in the British Museum, being a grant from

1184 D

34 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

The practice of inserting single leaves of purple-stained vellum for the ornamentation of MSS. was not uncommon in the eighth and ninth cen- turies. A beautiful example is seen in the fragmentary Latin Gospels from Canterbury (Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1. E. vi), a large folio volume, in which there still remain some leaves dyed of a rich deep rose colour and decorated with ornamental initials and paintings, the remnant of a larger number; of the latter part of the eighth century.! But more generally, for such partial decoration, the surface of the vellum was coloured, sometimes on only one side of the leaf, or even on only a part of it, particularly in MSS. of French or German origin of the tenth and eleventh centuries.2— At the period of the Renaissance there was some attempt at reviving this style of book ornamentation, and single leaves of stained vellum are occasionally found in MSS. of the fifteenth century. Other colours, besides purple, were also employed ; and instances occur in MSS. of this late time of leaves painted black to receive gold or silver writing. Such examples are, however, to be considered merely as curiosities.

A still more sumptuous mode of decoration than even that by purple- staining seems to have been occasionally followed. This consisted in gilding the entire surface of the vellum. But the expense must have been too great to allow of more than very few leaves being so treated in any MS., however important. Fragments of two leaves thus gilt, and adorned with painted designs, are preserved in the British Museum, Add. MS.5111. They originally formed part of tables of the Eusebian Canons and preliminary matter for a copy of the Greek Gospels, of the sixth century.?

Paper

Paper, manufactured from fibrous substances, appears to have been known to the Chinese at a most remote period.* Its introduction into Europe is due to the agency of the Arabs, who are said to have first learnt its use at Samarkand in the middle of the eighth century. Its manufacture spread through their empire; and it received one of its mediaeval titles, charta Damascena, from the fact of Damascus being one of the centres of paper commerce. A comparatively large number

Conrad III, King of the Romans, to the abbey of Corbey in Westphalia, a.p. 1147, is an example.

1 Cat. of Ancient MSS. in the Brit. Mus., pt. ii (1884), 20 ; Westwood, Pal. Sacer. Pict., and Facs. of Miniatures and Ornaments of A.-Saxon and Irish MSS., pll. 14, 15.

2 An instance of this superficial colouring occurs in a page of the Cotton MS. Vesp. A. viii, the foundation charter of Newminster, Winchester, a.p. 966. The Harley MS. 2821, written in Germany in the eleventh century, contains many leaves of this kind.

3 Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. i (1881), 21.

4 Specimens of Chinese paper found in the ruined cities of Eastern Turkestan date back to the fourth century.

Ill PAPER oD

of early Arabic MSS. on paper still exist, dating from the ninth century ; the earliest is of the year 866."

This oriental paper, introduced into the West at a time when papyrus was not yet forgotten, received the same names, charta and papyrus. It was also known in the middle ages as charta bombycina, gossypind, cut- tunea, Damascena, and xylina, and in Greek as fvAo0xapriov or Evddrevxtov. In recent times it has also been generally styled cotton-paper, that is, paper made from the wool of the cotton plant. It is usually stout, of a yellowish tinge, and with a glossy surface. This last quality seems to have gained for it one of its titles, charta serica. Imported through Greece into Europe, it is referred to by Theophilus, a writer of the twelfth century (Schedula diversarum artiwm*) as Greek parchment, pergamena Graeca; and he adds, ‘quae fit ex lana ligni. But it does not appear to have been used to any great extent even in Greece before the middle of the thirteenth century, if one may judge from the survival of so few early Greek MSS. on that material.®

Paper-making in Europe was first established by the Moors in Spain and by the Arabs in Sicily; and their paper was at first still the same oriental paper above described. In Spain it was called pergameno de panno, cloth parchment, a title which distinguished it from the perga- meno cde cuero, or vellum; and it is so described in the laws of Alphonso, of 1263. On the expulsion of the Moors, an inferior quality was produced by the less skilled Christians. From Sicily the manufacture passed over into Italy.

Here we must pause a moment to revert to the question of the - material of which oriental paper was made. As already stated, its early _ European names point to the general idea that it was made of cotton. But recent investigations have thrown doubts on the accuracy of this view; and a careful analysis of many early samples has proved that, although cotton was occasionally used, no paper that has been examined is entirely made of that substance, in most instances hemp or flax being substantially the material. It seems that in the new manufacture the Arabs and skilled Persian workmen whom they employed at once resorted to flax, which grows abundantly in Khorassan, afterwards also making use of rags supplemented, as the trade grew, with any appro-

1 See facsimiles of several in the Oriental Series of the Palaeographical Society.

* Ed. R. Hendrie, 1847, p. 28.

5 The Greek Vatican MS. 2200, on oriental paper, is of the eighth century (see below, Facs. 52). The earliest MSS. of the kind at Mount Sinai date back to the tenth cen- tury; the oldest dated MS. in the British Museum is of a.p. 1252 (see below, Facs. 71); that at Paris, of a. p. 1255; and that at Milan, of a.pv. 1259.—Gardthausen, Griech. Pal. i. 117.

* C. M. Briquet, Recherches sur les Premiers Papiers du X® au XIV® Siécle, in the Mémoires dé la Soc. Nat. des Antiquaives de France, tome xlvi; and a review of the same by C. Paoli, Carta di Cotone e Carta di Lino, in the Archivio Storico Italiano, 1885, p. 230. Karabacek, Das

D2

36 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

priate vegetable fibre ; and that cotton, if used at all, was used very sparingly. An ingenious solution of the question has been recently offered, that the term χάρτης βομβύκινος, charta bombycina, is nothing more than an erroneous reading of χάρτης βαμβύκινος, charta bambycina, that is, paper made in the Syrian town of Bambyce, Βαμβύκη, the Arab Mambidsch.' The question of material is not, however, of any particular importance for our present purpose; and it is only the distinction which has been made between oriental paper and European paper, as being the one of cotton and the other of linen rag, that requires it to be noticed. A more satisfactory means of distinguishing the two kinds of paper is afforded by the employment of water-marks in European paper, a practice which was unknown to the oriental manufacturer.

Several examples survive of the use of oriental paper, or paper made in the oriental fashion, for Western- European documents and MSS. The oldest recorded document was a deed of Count Roger of Sicily of the year 1102; the most ancient extant document is an order of the Countess Adelaide, widow of Roger and regent for her son Roger II, in Greek and Arabic, A.D. 1109, now at Palermo.? At Genoa there are extant letters of Greek emperors, of 1188-1202. The oldest known imperial deed on paper is a charter of Frederic II to the nuns of Goess, in Styria, of 1228.3 The same emperor, however, forbade, in 1281, the use of paper for public deeds ; but there are transcripts of imperial acts on paper, of about A.D. 1241, at Naples. A Visigothic paper MS. of the twelfth century, from Silos, near Burgos, is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris (Nouv. Acq. Lat. 1296) ;* a paper notarial register at Genoa dates from 1154; in the British Museum there is a paper MS. (Arundel 268), written in Italy, of the first half of the thirteenth century ; and at Munich the autograph MS. of Albert de Beham, 1238-55, is also on the same kind of paper. In several cities and towns of Italy there exist registers on paper dating back to the thirteenth century.’ In the Public Record Office there is a letter on paper from Raymond, son of Raymond, Duke of Narbonne and Count of Toulouse, to Henry III of England, 1216-22; and letters addressed from Castile to Edward I of England, in 1279 and following years, are on the same material. A register of the hustings court of Lyme Regis, now in the British Museum, which begins with entries of the year 1309, is on paper which was probably imported from Spain or Bordeaux, such as that employed for the Bordeaux customs register of the beginning of the reign of Edward II now in the Record Office.®

1 Karabacek, Newe Quellen zur Papiergeschichte in Mittheilunaen, iv. 117.

2 G. La Mantia, Il primo documento in carta, 1908; Bibl. Ec. des Chartes (1910), 238.

8 J. G. Schwandner, Charta Linea, 1788. 4 Delisle, Mélanges, 109.

5 Cited by Professor Paoli, La Storia della Carta secondo gli ultimi studi, in Nuova Antologia,

xviii (1888), 297. ® See also Rogers, Hist. Agricult. and Prices, i. 644.

ΠῚ PAPER 37

The earliest reference to the material of paper made in Kurope appears to be that in the tract of Peter, Abbot of Cluny (A.D. 1122-50), Adversus Tudaeos, cap. 5,in which among the various kinds of books he mentions those made ex rasuris veterum pannorum.! There appears certainly to have been an extensive manufacture in Italy in the first half of the thirteenth century. There is evidence of a paper trade at Genoa as early as 1235.2. At Fabriano, in the marquisate of Ancona, the industry was established before the year 1276, and probably much earlier. The jurist Bartolo, in his treatise De insigniis et armis, mentions the excel- lent paper made there in the fourteenth century. Other centres of early manufacture were Colle, Florence, Bologna, Parma, Milan, Padua, Treviso, Venice, Pignerol, and Casella in Piedmont, and other places. From the northern towns of Italy a trade was carried on with Germany, where also factories were rapidly founded in the fourteenth century. France borrowed the art of paper-making from Spain, whence it was introduced, it is said, as early as 1189, into the district of Hérault. The North of Europe, at first supplied from the South, gradually took up the manu- facture. England drew her supplies, no doubt, at first from such trading ports as Bordeaux and Genoa; but even in the fourteenth century it is not improbable that she had a rough home-manufacture of her own, although it appears that the first English mill was set up in Hertford by John Tate not earlier than the second half of the fifteenth century.®

Paper was in fairly general use throughout Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century ; at that time it began to rival vellum as a material for books ; in the course of the fifteenth century it gradually superseded it. MSS. of this later period are sometimes composed of both vellum and paper, a sheet of vellum forming the outer, or outer and inmost, leaves of a quire, the rest being of paper: a revival of the old practice observed in certain papyrus books in which vellum leaves protected and gave support to the leaves of papyrus.

A knowledge of the appearance of paper and of water-marks of different periods is of great assistance in assigning dates to undated paper MSS. In the fourteenth century European paper is usually stout, and was made in frames composed of thick wires which have left

1 ‘Quales quotidie in usu legendi habemus, utique ex pellura arietum, hircorum, vel Vitulorum, sive ex biblis vel iuncis orientalium paludum, aut ex rasuris veterum pan- horum, seu ex qualibet alia forte viliore materia compactos.’

2 Briquet, Papiers et Filigranes des Archives de Génes, 1888, p. 36.

5. In Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI, tv. vii, Jack Cade charges Lord Say with the crime of building a paper-mill. Blotting-paper was in use in England in the fifteenth century ; it is mentioned by William Horman, in his Vulgaria, 1519, p. 80 Ὁ, as serving ‘to drye weete wryttynge’. It is remarkable how persistent has been the use of sand as an ink absorbent, eyen down to the present day in foreign countries. In England, too, in spite of the more convenient blotting-paper, it prevailed within present memory. As late as the year 1838 sand was used to dry writing in the Reading-room of the British Museum.

38 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

strongly defined impressions. In the next century the texture becomes finer. The earliest known water-mark, the age of which can be approxi- mately fixed, is one on a paper of Bologna, used in the year 1285; and there are many others, from that and other Italian towns, which fall within the thirteenth century.! At first the marks are simple, and being impressed from thick wires are well defined. In process of time they become finer and more elaborate, and, particularly in Italian paper, they are enclosed within circles. Their variety is almost endless: animals, heads, birds, fishes, flowers, fruits, domestic and warlike implements, letters, armorial bearings, and other devices are used ; some being peculiar to a country or district, others apparently becoming favourites and lasting for comparatively long periods, but constantly changing in details. For example, the glove, a common mark of the sixteenth century developes a number of small modifications in its progress; and of the pot or tankard, which runs through the latter part of the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth century, there is an extraordinary number of different varieties. The names of makers were inserted as water-marks quite at the beginning of the fourteenth century ; but this practice was very soon abandoned, and was not revived until the sixteenth century. The insertion of the name of place of manufacture and of the date of manufacture is a modern usage.

1 See C. M. Briquet,.Les Filigranes : Dictionnaire historique des marques du Papier, 1907 : a most exhaustive and valuable work on the subject.

Ee ee τὰ

CHAPTER IV

WRITING IMPLEMENTS, Eve.

The Stilus, Pen, etc.

Or writing implements the στῦλος, γραφεῖον, γραφίς, γραφίδιον, stilus, graphiwm, made of iron, bronze, or other metal, ivory, or bone, was adapted for writing on waxed tablets, the letters being scratched with the sharp point. The butt-end was fashioned into a knob or flat head, wherewith the writing could be obliterated by smoothing the wax, for correction or erasure: hence the phrase vertere stilwm,' ‘to correct.’ Among the Roman antiquities found in Britain, now deposited in the British Museum, there are several specimens of the stilus, in ivory, bronze, etc.2, Many of them are furnished with a sharp projection, at right angles to the shaft, near the head, for the purpose of ruling lines on the wax. The passage in Ovid, Metwm. ix. 521, thus describes the action of the writer :—

Dextra tenet ferrum, vacuam tenet altera ceram.

Incipit, et dubitat, scribit damnatque tabellas,

Et notat et delet, mutat, culpatque probatque. Here the stilus is simply ferrwm. In another place, Amor. 1. 11. 238, Ovid gives its title of graphiwm: ‘ Quid digitos opus est graphio lassare tenendo?’

This riddle on the stilus also occurs :—

De summo planus, sed non ego planus in imo.

Versor utrimque manu; diversa et munera fungor:

Altera pars revocat quidquid pars altera fecit.® The case in which such implements were kept was the γραφιοθήκη, graphiarium ; ‘as in Martial, xiv. 21 ‘armata suo graphiaria ferro’.

For writing on papyrus the reed, κάλαμος, δόναξ, γραφεύς, σχοῖνος, calanvus, canna, was in use. The Egyptians employed the reed, frayed at the end in fashion of a paint-brush; and the Greeks in Egypt no doubt imitated that method in the earliest times, adopting the pen-shaped reed perhaps in the third century B.c.? Suitable reeds came chiefly from

1 Horace, Sat. i. 10. 72 ‘Saepe stilum vertas’; Vulgate, 4 Reg. xxii. 13 ‘ Et delebo

Terusalem sicut deleri solent tabulae; et delens vertam et ducam crebrius stilum super faciem eius’.

* See British Museum Guide to Greek and Roman Life, 185, 186,

5 Riese, Anthol. Lat. i, no. 286.

4 Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 36 ‘Chartisque serviunt calami’.

® See Schubart, Das Buch bei den Griechen und Rimern. Some specimens of ancient reeds cut like a pen (Ausonius, ‘fissipes calamus’) are in the British Museum.

40 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Egypt, as referred to by Martial, xiv. 38 ‘Dat chartis habiles calamos Memphitica tellus’; or from Cnidus, as in Ausonius, /’p. vii ‘Nee iam fissipedis per calami vias Grassetur Cnidiae sulcus arundinis’. The case in which reeds were kept was the καλαμοθήκη, καλαμίς, calamariwm, theca calamaria; as in Martial, xiv. 19 ‘Sortitus thecam, calamis armare memento’. In Diocletian's edict, De pretiis rerwm venaliwm, the reed- case appears as made of leather.

Reeds seem to have continued in use to some extent through the middle ages. In Italy they appear to have survived into the fifteenth century.!

A score of Roman bronze pens, shaped like our ordinary quill-pens, are in existence in various museums of Europe or in private hands. Three are in the British Museum: one, found in the Tiber, has not a slit in the nib as most specimens have, but a groove ; the second is of a very unusual form, having a rather short tube or barrel with a slit nib at each end (another example of the same type is at Aosta in Italy); the third, which was found in London, has a stumpy slit nib. Two broken specimens, which have lost their nibs, are also in the British Museum. A bone pen, shaped in the same manner, is figured in the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (of the French School at Athens), xii. 60.

The κονδίλιον, peniculus, penicillus, was the brush with which writing in gold was applied.?

The quill-pen, penna, is first mentioned by an anonymous historian who tells us that, in order to enable the unlettered Ostrogoth Theodoric to write, he was provided with a stencil plate, through which he drew with a pen the strokes forming the four letters of the subscription Legi: ‘ut, posita lamina super chartam, per eam penna duceret et subscriptio eius tantum videretur.’® Isidore, Orig. vi. 13, describes the pen thus : ‘Instrumenta sunt scribendi calamus et penna. Ex his enim verba paginis infiguntur ; sed calamus arboris est, penna avis, cuius acumen dividitur in duo, in toto corpore unitate servata.’ But, although no earlier mention of the quill-pen than these has been found, it can scarcely be supposed that, as soon as vellum came into general use, so obviously convenient an implement, always ready to hand, could have been long overlooked, particularly in places where reeds of a kind suitable for writing could not be πᾶ. The hard surface of the new material could bear the flexible

1 For detailed information see Wattenbach, Schriftw. 186.

2 Theophilus, De diversis artibus, iii. 96, mentions the reed for this purpose : ‘ Atque rogo pariter, calamo cum ceperit aurum, Illum commoyeat, pulchre si scribere quaerit.’

5. In the Lacerpta printed at the end of Gronovius's edition of Ammianus Marcellinus, 1099, p. 512.

4 Rich, Dict, Antiq., s.v. ‘ Penna’, represents Victory, both in Trajan's column and in the column of Marcus Aurelius, as inscribing the emperors’ successes on a shield with apen. But in both instances thejimplement appears to be a sfilus and not a quill-pen.

IV WRITING IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 41

pressure of the pen which in heavy strokes might have proved too much for the more fragile papyrus.

Inks, etc.

Black ink, the ordinary writing fluid of centuries, μέλαν, or more exactly γραφικὸν μέλαν, μελάνιον, atramentum, or atramentum librariwm to distinguish it from blacking used for other purposes, later ἔγκαυστον, -encaustum, incaustum, differs in tint at various periods and in different countries. In Greek papyri of the earlier periods it is of good quality and often of a strong black; in the Byzantine period it deteriorates. In early codices it is either pure black or slightly brown; in the middle sages it varies a good deal according to age and locality. In Italy and ) Southern Europe it is generally blacker than in the North, in France and Flanders it is generally darker than in England; a Spanish MS. of ithe fourteenth or fifteenth century may usually be recognized by the j peculiar blackness of the ink. Deterioration is observable in the course ‘of time. The ink of the fifteenth century particularly is often of τῷ faded, grey colour.

The ancients used the liquid of the cuttle-fish, as in the lines of Persius, 111, 12 :—

Tune queritur crassus calamo quod pendeat humor, Nigra quod infusa vanescat sepia lympha, Dilutas queritur geminet quod fistula guttas.

Pliny, Vat. Hist. xxxv. 6, mentions soot and gum as the ingredients of writing ink. Other later authors add gall-apples.!. Metallic infusions seem also to have been used at an early period. In the middle ages vitriol was an ordinary ingredient. Theophilus, De diversis artibus, gives a recipe (i. 40) for the manufacture of ink from thorn wood boiled down and mingled with wine and vitriol.

Red, either in the form of a pigment or fluid ink, is of very ancient and common use. It is seen in the early Egyptian papyri; and it appears in the earliest extant vellum MSS., either in titles or the first lines of columns or chapters. The Greek term was μελάνιον κόκ- xwov; Latin miniwm, rubrica. A volume written entirely in red ink, of the ninth or tenth century, is in the British Museum, Harley MS. 2795; and red ink is not infrequently used for sections of the texts of mediaeval volumes. The purple ink, κιννάβαρις, sacrum incaustum, reserved at Byzantium for the exclusive use of the emperors, seems to have been originally of a distinct kind. Later the same term, κιυννάβαρι», appears as a synonymous term with mzniwm. Inks of other colours are

1 Martianus Capella, iii. 225.

42 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP,

also found in MSS. of the middle ages: green, yellow, and others, but generally only for ornamental purposes, although volumes written entirely in such coloured inks are still extant.

The ink-pot, peravddyor, μελανδόχη, μελανδοχεῖον, atramentariwm, used by the ancients, was generally, as appears from surviving examples, a small cylindrical jar or metal box, the cover often pierced with a hole to admit the insertion of the reed.!' In paintings on the walls of Pompeii double ink-pots, with hinged covers, are depicted, the two receptacles being probably for black and red ink.2- Throughout the middle ages the ink-horn was in common use.

Gold was used as a writing fluid at a very early period. Ina papyrus at Leyden, of the third or fourth century, there is a recipe for its manu- facture. Something has already been said on its use in connexion with purple-stained vellum. Ordinary white vellum MSS. were also written in gold, particularly in the ninth and tenth centuries, in the reigns of the Carolingian monarchs. In most of the large national libraries examples are to be found.* The practice passed from the Continent to England, and was followed to some considerable extent in this country, not only for partial decoration, but also for entire texts. A MS. was written in gold, on purple vellum, by order of Wilfrid of York, late in the seventh century, for the monastery of Ripon; but the way in which this volume is referred to, ‘Inauditum ante seculis nostris quoddam miraculum, proves that such sumptuous MSS. were not known in England before that time. St. Boniface, writing in a.D. 735 to Eadburg, Abbess of St. Mildred’s, Thanet, asks her to get transcribed for him in gold the Epistles of St. Peter.© But the existing English examples are of later date. Gold writing as a practice died out in the thirteenth century, although a few isolated instances of later date are found.

Writing in silver appears to have ceased contemporaneously with the disuse of stained vellum. This metal would not show to advantage on a white ground.

Brit. Mus. Guide Gk. and Rom. Life, fig. 196. Museo Borbonico, i, pl. 12.

Ὁ Leemans, Papyri Graeci Mus. Lugd. Bat., ii (1885), 218.

4 Such MSS. in the British Museum are Harl. MS. 2788, the ‘ Codex Aureus’, a copy of the Gospels, in uncial letters, of the ninth century; Harl. MS. 2797, also a copy of the Gospels, in minuscule writing, late in the ninth century, from the monastery of St. Gene- viéve, Paris. The Cottonian MS., Tiberius A. ii, which was sent as a present to King 4Ethelstan by the Emperor Otho, also contains some leaves written in gold.

5 *Sic et adhuc deprecor ... ut mihi cum auro conscribas epistolas domini mei Sancti Petri apostoli, ad honorem et reverentiam sanctarum scripturarum ante oculos carnalium in praedicando, et quia dicta eius qui me in hoc iter direxit maxime semper in praesentia cupiam habere.’—Jaffé, Monwnenta Moguntina, iii. 99.

6 The foundation charter of Newminster, Winchester, granted by King Edgar in 966, in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A. viii, is written in gold. The Benedictional of thelwold, Bishop of Winchester, a. Ὁ. 965-84, also contains a page in gold.

A 9 2

IV WRITING IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 43

Various Implements

For ruling papyri, a circular plate of lead, κυκλοτερὴς μόλιβος, γυρὸς μόλιβδος, τροχόεις μόλιβδος, Tpoxadds μόλιβδος, κυκλομόλιβδος, Was used. Ink was removed with the sponge. Papyrus would scarcely bear scraping with the knife. If the ink was still wet, or lately applied, its removal was of course easy. Martial, iv. 10, sends a sponge with his newly-written book of poems, which might thus be wiped out at _asingle stroke.! Augustus effaced his half-completed tragedy of Ajax, with the remark: ‘Aiacem suum in spongiam incubuisse.? With vellum MSS. the knife or eraser, vasorium or novacula, came into use. While wet the ink could still be sponged away ; but when it was hard and dry, and for erasure of single letters and words without obliterating also the surrounding text, it was scraped off.

The penknife was the σμίλη, γλύφανον, γλυπτήρ, or γλυφίς, scalprum librarium, the mediaeval scalpellum, cultellus, or artavus; the ruler was the κανών, canon, norma, regula, linearium ; the pricker, whether a compass or other tool, for marking with prick-holes the intervals of the ruled lines was διαβάτης, circinus, or punctorium; the implement for ruling the lines was the παράγραφος, praeductale; and lastly, the office of the modern pencil was performed by the pointed piece of lead, the plummet, μόλυβδος, plumbum, stilus plumbeus, or plumbunr sub arundine fixum.®

u Dum novus est rasa nee adhuc mihi fronte libellus,

Pagina dum tangi non bene sicca timet,

I, puer, et caro perfer leve munus amico, Qui meruit nugas primus habere meas.

Curre, sed instructus: comitetur Punica librum Spongia ; muneribus convenit illa meis.

Non possunt nostros multae, Faustine, liturae Emendare iocos; una litura potest.

* Suetonius, 4ug. 85.

5. Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 232. The various implements are mostly referred to in the Anthologia Palatina; see Wattenbach, op. cit., 203; R. Ellis, Comm. on Catullus. They are frequently depicted in the miniatures of illuminated MSS., particularly in those repre- senting the author or scribe at work. Beissel, Vaticanische Miniaturen (1893), pl. xi, taken from a Greek MS. of the Gospels, shows one of the Evangelists with his table » covered with all kinds of writing implements. In pl. xii of Codex purpur. Rossanensis (sixth

_ century), ed. Haseloff, 1898, an ink-pot and writing reeds are arranged upon the table in » front of Pilate’s judgement-seat.

CHAPTER V FORMS OF BOOKS, eErc.

The Roll

THe form of the book of the ancient Greek and Roman world was the roll, composed of one continuous length of material, commonly papyrus, and inscribed only on one side. The roll had already had a career of thousands of years in Egypt before the dawn of Greek and Roman literature. For Greek literature it was probably at once adopted. Actual examples of early Greek papyrus rolls are in existence, dating from the fourth century B.c. In letters Rome followed the example of Greece, and adopted the roll. And in both Greek and Roman literature the roll was the constant form of the book down to the opening centuries of the Christian era; being not entirely superseded by the incoming codex until the fourth century.

Among the Greeks the ordinary terms for a written book (that is, a roll) were βίβλος (another form of βύβλος, papyrus) and its diminutive βιβλίον. The corresponding Latin terms were liber and its diminutive libellus. The latter, as a literary title, specially referred to a book of poems, a sense in which it is constantly used by the Roman poets.* It came at length to be used as an equivalent of /ibev and to express a book in general.

The roll, rolled-up, was a volumen. The Greeks do not appear to have had any parallel expression at an early date; the word κύλινδρος being comparatively late. Another term was ἐνείλημα or ἐξείλημα ; more rare were εἰλητάριον, εἵλητον. A mediaeval Latin term is rotulus.

A roll of uninscribed material was χάρτης, charta, a term easily transferred to a written book.? Again, a Greek term was τόμος (origin- ally a cutting of papyrus), applicable to a roll containing a portion or division of a large work which extended to more than one roll.* Neither this term nor βιβλίον, nor liber nor libellus, could be applied in the singular number to more than a single roll or volume. A work consisting of many volumes, or several divisions, must be described by

1 βιβλίον also meant a letter, and is used in this sense by Herodotus. Suidas in his Lexicon explains βιβλίον as ἐπιστολή. A later term for a book was βιβλόριον.

2 ‘Quoi dono lepidum novum libellum.’—Catullus, i. 1.

8 ¢Qmne aevum tribus explicare chartis.’—Catullus, i. 6.

4 The third roll of Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens (Brit. Mus.) is marked [. TOMOC.

THE ROLL 45

the plural forms βιβλία, τόμοι, Libri, ete. On the other hand, the several books of a work, if written on one roll, counted only for one βιβλίον or liber. Thus Ulpian, Digest. xxxii. 52, lays down: ‘Si cui centum libri sint legati, centum volumina ei dabimus, non centum quae quis ingenio suo metitus est ... ut puta, cum haberet Homerum totum in uno volumine, non quadraginta octo libros computamus, sed unum Homeri volumen pro libro accipiendum est.’ To distinguish a work contained in the compass of a single roll, there was also the title μονόβιβλος or μονόβιβλον.

For subdivisions such terms as λόγος, σύγγραμμα, σύνταγμα also were used.

The word τεῦχος, too, appears to have meant a single roll; but it was also employed in the sense of a literary work in several volumes. At first it seems to have been applied to the chest or vessel in which the several rolls of such work were kept, and came in course of time to refer to the contents.?, Xenophon, Anad. vii. 6. 14, mentions books ἐν ξυλίνοις τεύχεσι. In like manner the terms pandectes and bibliotheca, originally referring to a work in several rolls kept together in their chest, were afterwards used specially to mean a MS. of the entire Bible.® Bibliotheca continued to bear this meaning down to the close of the fourteenth century, if not later.*

There can be no doubt that the convenience of subdividing the lengthy works of authors into rolls of moderate size must have been appreciated in the earliest period of the publication of Greek literature. Of course in writing out the text of a work the scribe might go on adding any number of fresh κολλήματα or sheets to the normal roll, thus extending it to an indefinite length. But proverbially a great book was a great evil; and the inconvenience of having to unroll a bulky volume, not only for the purpose of perusing it, but also even for verifying a reference, would have proved too exasperating. At the other extreme, a roll might be of the most slender proportions, in fact no stouter than a rolling-stick.° Although the authors themselves may not originally have divided their writings into separate portions to suit the ordinary length of a conveniently-sized roll, yet the practice of the scribe would eventually react on the author. Thus we find the works of Homer

1 The first book of Propertius was known to Martial as ‘monobiblos Properti’; and the title survives in the MSS.—Ellis, Comm. on Catullus (1889), 4. 2 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 89. 5 Bibliotheca was used in this sense by St. Jerome. Others, as Cassiodorus, Bede, Aleuin, preferred Pandectes. 4 See examples in Wattenbach, Schriftw. 152-7, 5 Martial, ii. 6 :-— Quid prodest mihi tam macer libellus, Nullo crassior ut sit umbilico ?

46 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

divided into books of a length which could be contained in an ordinary roll; and we know that in course of time authors did regularly adapt the divisions of their works to the customary length of the βιβλία and volumina. From twenty to thirty feet was probably the normal full length of a roll, the higher limit being rarely, if ever, exceeded.

As only one side, the inner side, of the roll was used to receive the text, that surface was the more carefully prepared. It was the recto side of the material, in which the fibres of the papyrus lay horizontally, and parallel to the length of the roll, so that the pen would run the more smoothly ; moreover, the joints of the several sheets composing the roll. were carefully flattened, in order that they too might cause no obstruction to the writer.

The text was written in columns, σελίδες, paginae, sufficient margins being left at head and foot; and it was a practice to leave blank the beginning of the roll, that portion being most liable to wear through handling. The term σελίς (originally the gangway between the rowing benches of a ship) was first applied to the space between two columns, and then to the column itself.2 Other terms were the dimi- nutive σελίδιον and καταβατόν. The lines of writing (στίχοι, versus) ran parallel with the length of the roll;* and lead, we are told, was used for drawing the ruled lines. Such ruling, however, was certainly not always, and perhaps not generally, employed, for the horizontal fibre of the papyrus itself was a sufficient guide for the lines of writing; and the fact that the marginal line of the columns frequently trends away out of the perpendicular proves that in such instances there were no ruled lines to bound the columns laterally. There was no regulation for the breadth of the columns: this was a matter left to the taste of the scribe; and consequently it is found to vary considerably. But they were generally narrow in texts written for the market by skilled scribes. In literary papyri of good quality the columns are from two to three and a half inches in breadth. Those in the papyrus of Hyperides, zn Philippidem (Brit. Mus., Pap. 184), of the first century B.c., measure only an inch and three-quarters. Occasionally we find the letters made smaller at the end of a line in order to accommodate words to the restricted space. An example of writing in broad columns is seen in the papyrus of Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens; but this was written for private use and not for sale. And, again, the columns of the earliest

1 Kenyon, Palaeogr. of Greek Papyri, 17.

2 In the Aphrodito papyri (Brit. Mus. Cat. Gk. Pupyri, iv, no. 1420, ete.) the word «Aus, meaning a page, occurs. It seems to be a corruption of σελίς,

3 Before the time of Julius Caesar official dispatches appear to have been written ‘transversa charta’, that is, with the lines parallel with the height of the roll. He wrote in the book style, the lines parallel with the length of the roll. Suetonius, Jul. Caes. 56.

4 Kenyon, Palaeogr. of Gk. Papyri, 22.

Vv THE ROLL 47

Greek literary papyrus in existence, the Persae of Timotheus, of the fourth century B.c., are very broad; but perhaps at that remote period conventional rules in such details had not been established.

If the title of the work was given, it was ordinarily entered at the end of the text; but, as this was obviously an inconvenient practice, it was sometimes written at the head. It seems also that it was in some - instances inscribed on the outside of the roll (ἐπίγραμμα). But no doubt the reader relied chiefly on the pendent ticket, the σίλλυβος or σίττυβος, the titulus or index, described below, for information as to the contents of a roll.

The references by classical authors to the style in which their written _ works were presented to the literary world imply a good deal of elaborate treatment by scribe and binder, if we may so call the workman who gave the mechanical finish to the roll. But the details so supplied would refer more especially to the more expensive productions of the book- trade. A large proportion of working copies must have been dealt with in a more simple manner. First, the roll was rolled on a stick, ὀμφαλός or wmbilicus, to which the last sheet of the papyrus, ἐσχατο- κόλλιον, Was supposed to be attached. But, as a matter of fact, no rolling- sticks have been found with extant papyri; and it has been therefore suggested that they were not attached to the material but were rolled in loose, and hence were liable to drop out. Many of the rolls found at Herculaneum had a mere central core of papyrus. A knob or button, usually of bone or wood, was affixed to each end of the stick, the name of which, ὀμφαλός, umbilicus, appears to have been also extended to these ornamental additions. Porphyrion, commenting on Horace, Hod. xiv. 8, says: ‘In fine libri umbilici ex ligno aut osse solent poni.’ Or, instead of the simple knob or button, there was a tip, κέρας, cornu, of ivory or some such ornamental material; and either might be plain or coloured.t!| The edges, frontes, of the roll were cut down and smoothed with pumice,? and sometimes coloured. The wrapper of an ordinary roll might be of common papyrus, charta envporetica ; in case of a more valuable work, a vellum cover, διφθέρα, toga, which might be stained with colour, was used as a protection—the φαινόλης or φαιλόνης, paenula (the travelling cloak), as it was commonly called.* Lucian, Adv. indoctuwm, 7, refers to

1 Tibullus, iii. 1.13 ‘Atque inter geminas pingantur cornua frontes’; Martial, iii. 2. 9 ‘picti umbilici’; v. 6. 15 ‘nigri umbilici’; Statius, Silv. iv. 9. 8 ‘binis decoratus umbilicis’, The explanation given above of the κέρατα or cornwa seems to he the most obvious ; but Birt, Buchrolle, 235, and Schubart, Das Buch bei den Griechen u. Rimern, 93, offer other interpretations. See illustrations in Gardthausen, Griech. Pal. i. 145, 149.

* Ovid, Trist. i. 1. 11 ‘Nee fragili geminae poliantur pumice frontes’; Catullus, i. 2 * Arido modo pumice expolitum’; xxii, 8 ‘pumice omnia aequata’.

5 The ‘cloak’ (φελόνης) which St. Paul left at Troas (2 Tim. iv. 13), and which

Timothy was to bring together with the books and parchments, may have been in fact a book-cover. See Birt, Buchw. 65.

48 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP,

an ornamental work thus: ὁπόταν τὸ μὲν βιβλίον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ἔχῃς πάγκαλον, πορφυρᾶν μὲν ἔχον τὴν διφθέραν, χρυσοῦν δὲ τὸν ὀμφαλόν; and Martial, i. 66, has the lines :—

Sed pumicata fronte si quis est nondum

Nee umbilicis cultus atque membrana, Mercare; tales habeo.

As a special protection, a wooden case, nuanuale, to prevent the owner's toga or cloak fraying the edges of the roll, is mentioned by Martial, xiv. 84:—

Ne toga barbatos faciat vel paenula libros, Haec abies chartis tempora longa dabit.

The roll was sometimes bound round with thongs as fastenings : the ‘lora rubra’ of Catullus, xxii. 7.

For preservation against moths, etc., cedar oil was rubbed on the papyrus.t| A good poem was worthy of this protection : ‘cedro digna locutus’ (Persius, 1. 42); ‘cedro nunc licet ambules perunctus’ (Martial, 111. 2.7). But it imparted a yellow tint : ‘quod neque sum cedro flavus’ (Ovid, Trist, 111. 1. 13).

The chest or box in which the rolls were kept was the κιβωτός, κιβώ- τιον, ScriniuUmM, capsa ; κίστη, cista; τεῦχος. It might be either square or circular. The scriniwm was a larger capsa.2 To tie bundles of rolls together was a destructive process, as the papyrus was injured ; so Petronius, Satyricon, cii, ‘Chartae alligatae mutant figuram’.® Ex- tensive works were arranged in their capsae in decades, triads, or other sets, as we know from the examples of the works of Livy, Dio Cassius, Varro, and others.

For convenience of reference when the roll was placed in a box or on a shelf, a label, usually of vellum, σίλλυβος or cittuBos,* πιττάκιον, γλῶσσα, γλωσσάριον, titulus, index, was attached to the edge of the roll and

inscribed with the title of the work,° and, for distinction, might also be Ὁ

coloured. Cicero, writing to Atticus, iv. 4, gives both Greek and Latin names: ‘ Etiam velim mihi mittas de tuis librariolis duos aliquos, quibus

1 ‘Ex cedro oleum, quod cedrium dicitur, nascitur, quo reliquae res cum sunt unctae, uti etiam libri, a tineis et carie non laeduntur.’—Vitruvius, ii. 9. 13.

2 Horace, Sat. i. 1.120; Martial, i. 3. 4, ete.

8 And yet there are frequent representations in sculptures of rolls tied in bundles and Jying or standing on the top of the capsa, as if just taken out of it.—Birt, Buchrolle.

4 Marquardt, Privatl. der Rimer, 794.

5 An engraving, from a sculpture, in Brower and Masen, Antigg. et annal. Trevirenses, 1670, i. 105, in Schwarz, De ornamentis librorum (1756), tab. ii, and in Gardthausen, Gr. Pal. i. 149, represents rolls placed on shelves, like bottles in ἃ wine-bin, with the tituli depending in front; a capsa, with rolls enclosed, appears on the title-page of Marini, Papiri Diplom., and in Museo Borbonico, tav. xii. In Seeck, Notitia Dignitatum, 1876, are representations of rolls, etc., in charge of various officials.

a απ αἷσι σοι

Υ THE ROLL 49

Tyrannio utatur glutinatoribus, ad cetera administris, iisque imperes ut sumant membranulam ex qua indices fiant, quos vos Graeci, ut opinor, σιλλύβους appellatis.” Among the papyri from Oxyrhynchus a few titwli have been found. One of them, of papyrus (Ow. Pap. 301; Brit. Mus., Pap. decci), measuring 5 x 1 inches, is inscribed CWdPONOC MIMOI CYNAIKEIOI.?

In the perusal of a work the reader held the roll upright and unrolled it gradually with the right hand; with the left hand he rolled up in the reverse direction what he had read.* To unroll a book was ἐξειλεῖν, ἀνειλεῖν, ἀνελίσσειν OY ἀνελίττειν, ἀνατυλίσσειν OY ἀνατυλίττειν, evolvere, revolvere, explicare; as to roll it up was εἴλειν or εἰλεῖν, ἑλίσσειν, volvere,* plicare. The book read to the end was ‘explicitus usque ad sua cornua’ (Martial, xi. 107).5 From the term ‘ explicitus’ came the mediaeval ‘ explicit’, formed, no doubt, as a pendant to ‘ incipit’.°

By the time the reader had read the entire roll, it had become reversed, the beginning being now in the centre and the end being outside; therefore, before putting it away, it must be rolled back into

1 Another reading of the word in this passage is σιττύβας ; and it has been suggested that σιττύβα may be more correct than σίττυβος.

? Others are: 0. P. 381 (B. M., Pap. 810), of papyrus, a.p. 76; 0, P. 958, of vellum, a. ἢ. 80; 0. P. 957, of leather, αν. 122-3; 0. P. 987, of vellum, fifth or sixth century.

It may be convenient to quote here the two following passages in full, as referring to so _ many details dealt with in the text :—

Vade, sed incultus, qualem decet exsulis esse ; Infelix, habitum temporis huius habe.

Nec te purpureo velent vaccinia fuco ; Non est conveniens Juctibus ille color.

Nec titulus minio, nee cedro charta notetur ; Candida nec nigra cornua fronte geras,

Felices ornent haee instrumenta libellos ; Fortunae memorem te decet esse meae.

Nec fragili geminae poliantur pumice frontes, Hirsutus passis ut videare comis.

Neve liturarum pudeat. Qui viderit illas, De lacrimis factas sentiet esse meis,—Ovid, Trisf. i. 1. 3-14.

Τίνα yap ἐλπίδα καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχων és τὰ βιβλία καὶ ἀνατυλίττεις (unroll) ἀεί, καὶ διακολλᾷς (glue together sheets of papyrus), καὶ περικόπτεις (trim the edges), καὶ ἀλείφεις τῷ κρόκῳ καὶ τῇ κέδρῳ, καὶ διφθέρας (vellum wrappers) περιβάλλεις, καὶ ὀμφαλοὺς (rolling-sticks) ἐντίθης, ὡς 16 τι ἀπολαύσων αὐτῶν ;—Lucian, Adv. indoct. 16.

* See an engraving, from a sculptured sarcophagus, in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dict, des Antiquités, 8.v. ‘ Bibliotheca’, in which a man is represented reading from an open roll.

* As volvere might mean to turn a thing in either direction, it was also used in the sense of unrolling: ‘volvendi sunt libri’, Cic. Brut. 87. 298.

5 To finish writing a roll was to come down to the wmbilicus; Horace, Epod. xiv. 8 :—

Deus nam me vetat Inceptos, olim promissum carmen, iambos Ad umbilicum adducere ;

and Martial, iv. 89 :—

Ohe, iam satis est, ohe libelle, Iam pervenimus usque ad umbilicos,

6 ‘Solemus completis opusculis, ad distinctionem rei alterius sequentis, medium inter ‘ponere Explicit aut Feliciter aut aliud eiusmodi,’—St. Jerome Ad Marcellam,

1184 E

50 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

its proper form, a process which the idle man would shirk and the methodical reader wouid accomplish by holding the revolving material steady under his chin while his two hands were employed in winding up the roll. Hence Martial, i. 66, refers to ‘ virginis...chartae, quae trita duro non inhorruit mento’; and again, x. 93, he has: ‘Sic nova nec mento sordida charta iuvat.’

The inconvenience of writing on the back of the roll is obvious, and this practice was probably never followed in the case of works intended for sale.'’ Authors’ copies, however, being for their own use, were often opisthograph, as in Juvenal, Sat. i. 4:—

Impune diem consumpserit ingens

Telephus, aut summi plena iam margine libri Scriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes ?

The younger Pliny also, £pist. 111. 5.17, in reference to his uncle’s numerous works, uses the words: ‘Commentarios clx. mihi reliquit, opisthographos quidem et minutissime scriptos.’

In the same manner worthless scribbling is referred to by Martial, vill. 62, as written on the back of the charta :—

Seribit in aversa Picens epigrammata charta, Et dolet averso quod facit illa deo.

Rough draughts or temporary pieces, or children’s or scholars’ exercises, might also be so written. Martial, iv. 86, threatens his /ibel/ws with the fate of waste paper to be utilized for such purposes, if his verses fail to please :—

Si damnaverit, ad salariorum

Curras scrinia protinus licebit, Inversa pueris arande charta.

A most important instance of a scholar’s exercise, written on the back of a papyrus, is found in the early copy of the Epitaphios of Hyperides in the British Museum; and still more noteworthy is Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens inscribed, for private use, on the reverse of rolls containing farm accounts.

After the establishment of the codex in general use, the roll form was almost entirely abandoned for literary purposes in the middle ages. It survived, however, for some of the Greek liturgies,? for mortuary rolls, for poems occasionally, for pedigrees, for certain brief chronicles in which historical genealogies form a principal feature, and in a few other instances, as in the ‘ Exultet’ rolls of Italy, in which it was found convenient. But in all these the writing was parallel with the height,

1 A Greek magical text (Pap. exxi) in the British Museum is written on both recto and

verso of the roll; but such a work would not be for the market. 2 Κοντάκια, so called from the κοντοί, or sticks, on which they were rolled.

2 .

EE ee ee eee ee

— συ δι

Vv THE CODEX 51

not with the length, of the roll. For records, however, the roll form has been continued throughout the middle ages to our own days, particularly in England, where not only public documents relating to the business of the country, but also proceedings of private manorial courts and bailiffs’ accounts, have been almost invariably entered on rolls.

The Codex

The earliest form of the book, in our modern sense of the word, that is, as a collection of leaves of vellum, paper, or other material, bound together, existed, as we have seen, in the case of waxed tablets, when two or more were fastened together and made a caudex or cocea. Hence vellum books, following the same arrangement, were also called codices. Similarly, by usage, the title /iber, which had been transferred from the original bark roll to the papyrus roll, was also passed on to the vellum book. So too the Greek terms βίβλος, βιβλίον and other words, which had been employed to designate the earlier rolls, were transferred in the same way. The vellum codex came into general use when it was found how conveniently it could contain a large work in a much smaller space than could the papyrus roll. In the words of Isidore, Origg. vi. 18. 1 ‘Codex multorum librorum est, liber unius voluminis’. The fact, also, that vellum was a tough material capable of being inscribed on both sides; that ink, particularly if recently applied, could be easily removed from it, and that the surface could be readily made available for a second writing, no doubt contributed largely to the adoption of the codex. Further, its advantage over the roll for convenience of reference is obvious, and this must have recommended it to the jurists and others, the dispatch of whose business depended so much on ready methods of consulting authorities and precedents. If Ulpian, at the beginning of the third century, includes the vellum codex as claiming a place among legally recognized libri, we may conclude that, by that time, it was well known, and, we may infer, was also employed by law writers and compilers. The title which it received of σωμάτιον, a corpus, expressive of the possible bulk of the contents of such a book, is suggestive of large compilations; and conversely its original name codea was adopted at a later time for the great digests of Theodosius and Justinian.

As we have already seen, vellum MSS. existed in the classical period at Rome. Their rarity may be partly accounted for, if the view is correct that such codices were of a cheap quality, and that the vellum as used in Rome at that period was of inferior manufacture, only adapted for rough and ready use, and not a material which would be employed in the production of fine books.!. Perhaps a retarding cause of greater

1 See above, p. 30. E2

52 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

effect was the fact that the papyrus roll was still the recognized vehicle for literature, and that the conservative jealousy of the book-trade, as well as the habits of writers, would be slow to welcome a new material to rival that which had held the field for so many generations. However, the vellum codex had made its appearance, and it was now to be seen which form, the roll or the codex, was eventually to prevail. We know that in the end the codex was victorious, but we also know that the struggle was not a short one, and that it was not until the fourth century that the vellum codex became the fully recognized form of the book of the future.

Some of the contributory causes of this result may be briefly noticed. In the first place the supply of papyrus, although still comparatively plentiful in Rome, began to be insufficient to meet the ever increasing demand. We have already (p. 22) noticed the record of a temporary scarcity in the reign of Tiberius. The growing impulse given to general education and the wider diffusion of literature in the provinces required an increase of the material for the multiplication of books; and this necessity favoured the employment of vellum, not so much as a rival to papyrus as an auxiliary. In Domitian’s time the more popular works began to appear in codex form, for school use and for travellers, on vellum, as a more enduring material. It has also been suggested that the division of the Empire in 4.p. 395 between Arcadius and Honorius may have been one of the final causes of the decrease of the papyrus supply in Rome, as Egypt fell to the Eastern Empire.1 And, while the older literary material was thus beginning to prove inadequate to the demand, the encouragement consequently given to the employment of vellum undoubtedly tended to improve its manufacture. However rough and badly prepared skins may have been in the early decades of the Empire, at least by the time the codex had superseded the roll the vellum employed had become of excellent quality. The material of the great early Biblical codices of the fourth and fifth centuries is particularly fine and well prepared. It may, therefore, be assumed that the manufacture was from the first in a constantly progressive state of improvement as the demand for vellum increased.

Moreover, the Bible, the book which before all others became the great work of reference in the hands of the early Christians, could only be con- sulted with convenience and dispatch in the new form. From the writings of St. Jerome and others it is evident that Bibles in codex form existed at a very early date. When once this form of multiplying texts was adopted by the Church, its rapid diffusion became a matter of certainty through the medium of monastic institutions. The form adopted for the Bible would naturally become the model for theological books of all kinds. Thus the vellum codex, as already observed, was destined to be the

1 See Birt, Buchrolle, passim.

1

1

v THE CODEX 53

recipient of Christian literature, as the papyrus roll had been that of the pagan world. Recent excavations in Egypt have given confirmation to this view of the early adoption of the codex form by the Christians. Among the masses of papyrus documents that have been brought to light, there have been found certain fragments of both Old and New Testaments, the earliest being of the guard century, which are in the codex form, that is, they are leaves or portions of leaves from books, not fragments of rolls. So, too, ‘The Sayings of Our Lord’ and other relics of Christian writings, of the same period, prove to be written in the same form. On the other hand, the papyri of non-Christian writings are in nearly all instances in the roll form. From this it appears that, while the roll still maintained its place for general literature, the requirements of the Egyptian Christians caused them to adopt the codex as the most convenient shape for their books, even though made up of papyrus, the traditional material for the roll. It has already been noticed (p. 29) that only a few leaves of vellum codices have hitherto been found in Egypt. This is only what might be expected. Egypt was the land of papyrus; if vellum had been more commonly in use there, no doubt many of the extant fragments of Christian writings would have been committed to that ἘΠ ΕΟ as more suited to the codex form. But, in default of vellum, the less convenient though more available papyrus had to be pressed into the service.

Still, however, for the older literature the papyrus roll continued generally to hold its ground in Rome.’ But it seems that even in this department the codex began from the first to make inroads. For, in the case at least of the great authors, such as Homer in Greek and Cicero in Latin, there is evidence that even in the earliest centuries of our era the codex form was not unknown.? By St. Jerome’s days vellum MSS. of the classics appear to have been in ordinary use, for his library of vellum codices included works of profane literature. In the end, the codex form became so general that even outside Egypt papyrus, when it was used for literature, was put together in leaves and quires in the same way as véllum.

Gatherings or Quires

The earliest extant MSS. on vellum are usually of the broad quarto size, in which the width equals, or nearly equals, the height. The quires consist, in most instances, of eight leaves, that is, of four folded sheets, τετράς OY τετράδιον, quaternio (a term which eventually losing its strict meaning came to indicate a quire, without regard to the number of leaves composing it), and this number continued in general favour

1 Birt, Buchw. 109. 2 Thid. 113. 5 ΤΌΙΩ͂. 115.

54 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

throughout the middle ages. Quires of three sheets or six leaves, of five sheets or ten leaves, and of six sheets or twelve leaves, are also met with. For example, the famous Codex Vaticanus of the Greek Bible is made up of ten-leaved quires ; as is also the Bembine Terence. Each quire was ordinarily numbered or signed, to use the technical word, either at the beginning, in the upper margin, or more generally at the end, in the lower inner corner. In the Codex Alexandrinus the signatures are at the heads of the quires. The numbers were frequently, in Latin MSS., accompanied with the letter Q (for quaternio). The practice of numbering the leaves of the quires, c.g. Ai, A ii, A ili, ete., dates from the fourteenth century. The several leaves of early MSS. are also occasionally numbered. Catch-words, reclamvantes, to connect the quires, first appear, but rarely, in the eleventh century ; from the twelfth century they become common.

In putting together the sheets for the quire, care was generally taken to lay them in such a way that hair-side faced hair-side, and flesh- (or inner) side faced flesh-side. Thus, when the book was opened, the two pages before the reader had the same appearance, either the yellow tinge of the hair-side or the whiter surface of the flesh-side. In Greek MSS. the arrangement of the sheets was afterwards reduced to a system: the first or lowest sheet being laid with the flesh-side downwards, so that when the sheets were folded that side always formed the first page of the quire. In the Codex Alexandrinus, however, the first page of a quire is the hair-side of the skin. In Latin MSS. also the hair-side appears to have generally begun the quire.”

To the folded sheet was given the title diploma ; a barbarous mediaeval name for it was arcus. The leaf was χαρτίον, φύλλον, folium.

Ruling

In the earlier centuries of the middle ages, the ruled lines of vellum MSS. were drawn with a hard-pointed instrument, a blunt bodkin or stilus, on one side of the leaf, the lines being impressed with sufticient force to cause them to stand out in relief on the other side. The ruling

1 ©. R. Gregory, Les Cahiers des MSS. Grecs in the Compies Rendus of the Acad. des Inscriptions, 1885, p. 261.

2 There are interesting instances of the distribution of the quires of a MS. for the purpose of being copied. The Paris uncial MS. of Livy (Bibl. Nat. 5730) was, between A.D. 804 and 834, given out among seven monks of Tours who produced a copy (now Vatican MS. Reg. 762), each scribe attaching his name to the portion which he wrote (Rev. de Philologie, xiv. 1890 ; Sitzb. der Miinchener Akad, iii. 425), In the same way a MS. of Rabanus Maurus, Pembroke College, Cambridge, No. 308, a.p. 845-882, has the scribes’ names. The Laurentian MS. 74. 10 (Galen, etc., fourteenth century) is an instance of a Greek MS. written by sixteen scribes (Gardthausen, Gr. Pal. i. 177)

Ey

or a 9S

v THE TEXT

was almost invariably on the hair- (or outer) side of the skin. Marginal lines were drawn to bound the text laterally. The distances of the horizontal lines from one another were marked off with pricks of the circinus in vertical order down the page. In earlier MSS. these prickings are often found near the middle of the leaf, or at least within the space occupied by the text, and the lines are drawn right across the sheet and not confined within the vertical boundaries. It was afterwards the custom to prick off the spaces close to the margin and to keep the ruled lines within limits; and eventually the prickings often disappeared when the edges were shorn by the binder. Each sheet should be ruled sepa- rately ; but two or more sheets were not infrequently laid and ruled together, the lines being so deeply drawn on the upper sheet that the lower sheets also received the impressions. In the case of purple-stained MSS., in order to ensure more perfect uniformity in the height of the letters, double lines were used; and also occasionally for other ordinary uncial codices. In rare instances lines are found ruled on both sides of the leaf, as in some parts of the Codex Alexandrinus. In this MS. also, and in some other early codices, ruling was not drawn for every line of writing, but was occasionally spaced so that some lines of the text lay in the spaces while others stood on the ruled lines. Ruling with the lead point or plummet first appeared in the eleventh, and came into ordinary use in the twelfth, century. Coloured inks were also used for ornamental ruling in the fifteenth century.

Arrangement of the Text

The text, which in early MSS. was written continuously without separation of words, might be written across the face of the page; and in some cases, as in poetical works, no other arrangement could well be followed. But, continuing the system observed in the papyrus rolls, the arrangement in columns was usual. The superior convenience of the column over the long line is obvious, particularly when a small character was the type of writing. The number of columns in a page was ordinarily two; but three and even four were also allowed. The Codex Sinaiticus of the Greek Bible has four columns in a page, so that the open book presents a series of eight columns to the reader, which, it has been observed, would forcibly recall the long row of paginae of the papyrus roll. The Codex Vaticanus has three columns in a page in the portion containing the Old Testament ; and other early MSS. or fragments of MSS. exhibit the same arrangement, e.g. the Vatican fragments of Sallust, the Latin Pentateuch of Lyons, and others in the libraries

1 The phrase of Eusebius, Vita Const. iv. 87, ἐν πολυτελῶς ἠσκημένοι; τεύχεσι τρισσὰ Kal τετρασσά, probably refers to the number of columns. See Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 181.

56 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

of Rome, Milan, ete.’ But the tri-columnar system appears to have been generally abandoned after the sixth century. The Utrecht Psalter, written at the beginning of the ninth century, in triple columns, is not an instance which counts for later usage, the MS. being only an exact copy of an older codex.? Usually the later examples are the result of necessity, as in the case of Psalters in parallel versions or languages.* A late instance, however, of a text arranged in this fashion, without any compelling causes, occurs in the version of the Latin Bible by Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans, written in the ninth century, Add. MS. 24142, in the British Museum, and in its companion codices at Paris and Puy.*

The line of writing was στίχος, versus; γραμμή, linea, riga; the individual letters, γράμματα, granmata, elementa, characteres, figwrae.

The first lines of the main divisions of the text, as for example the several books of the Bible, were often written in red for distinction.

At first, in uncial Latin MSS., there was no enlargement of letters in any part of the text to mark the beginnings of sections or chapters ; yet, in some of the earliest examples, the first letter of the page, without regard to its position in relation to the text, is made larger than the rest.

Rubrics and titles and colophons (that is, titles, etc., entered at the ends of books) were at first written in the same style as the text ; afterwards it was found convenient, for distinction, to employ different characters. Thus in later uncial Latin MSS. titles might be in capitals or rustic capitals; in minuscule MSS. they might be written in capitals or uncials. The eonvenience of having the title at the beginning of a MS., instead of only in colophon-form at the end, was soon recognized ; but the use of the colophon still continued, the designation of a work being frequently recorded in both title and colophon down to the latest period.

Running titles or head-lines appear in even some of the earliest MSS., in the same characters as the text, but of smaller size.

As already noticed, the text of early MSS. was, with rare excep- tions, written continuously without separation of the words.’ In the

1 It may also be noted that the most ancient duted MS. in existence, the Syriac MS. of A.D. 411, containing the Recognitions of Clement of Rome (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 12150), is written in triple columns.

2 The later copies of this Psalter also maintain the same arrangement.

’ A Psalter in four parallel columns (the Greek and the three Latin versions), A. Ὁ. 1105, is in the Bibl. Nationale, MS. Lat. 2195. See Pal. Soc. i. 156,

4 Kenyon, Facs. Bibl. MSS. in Brit. Mus., pl. xv; Delisle, Les Bibles de Théodulfe, Bibl. Ecole des Chartes, xi. The Royal MS, 1. D. ii in the British Museum, containing a portion of the Greek Septuagint, has four of its quires written in triple columns, which it is suggested may have been copied from ar uncial archetype thus arranged; Facs. Bibl. MSS. in Brit. Mus., pl. viii.

5 The astronomical treatise known as the Εὐδόξου τέχνη, of the second century B.c., at

Paris, and the grammatical work bearing the name of Tryphon (Brit. Mus., Pap. exxvi), of about 800 B.c., have at least partial separation of words.

Υ THE TEXT 57

case of documents of ordinary life, written cursively, the distinction of words was, from the earliest times, more frequently, though still only partially, observed. But in literary works non-separation was the rule. Yet very occasionally a dot high in the line of writing or a low-placed comma was used as a mark of separation where ambiguity might arise, even in the early papyri and MSS. During the period of the vellum uncial codices, down to the sixth century, continuity of text prevailed ; in the seventh century there is some tendency to separation, but without system. In early Latin minuscule MSS. partial separation was practised in an uncertain and hesitating manner down to the time of the Carolin- gian reform. In early Irish and English MSS. separation is more con- sistently followed. In Latin MSS. of the ninth and tenth centuries the longer words tended to separation. But even when the scribes had begun to break up their lines into words it still continued to be the fashion to attach short words, e.g. prepositions, to those which imme- diately followed them. It was hardly before the eleventh century that a perfect system of separately-written words was established in Latin MSS. In Greek MSS. it may be said that the system was at no time perfectly followed, for, even when the words were distinguished, there was always a tendency to separate them inaccurately.

In order to save space, and to get as much as possible into a line, or to avoid division of a word, the letters were often written smaller towards the end of the line; and in Latin MSS., with the same object, two or more letters were linked or combined in a monogrammatic form.

When, for want of room, a word had to be divided at the end of a line and the terminating portion carried over to the beginning of the following line, such division was subject to certain rules. In Greek the division was usually made after a vowel, as ἔτι μος ; even monosyllables might be so treated, as οὐκ. But in words containing double consonants the division would follow the first of them, as γράμ)μα;; and when the first of two or more consonants coming together was a liquid or nasal the division was made in the same way, as ἔχοντες, ὀφθαλμός. In the _¢ase of words compounded with a preposition, the division usually followed the preposition, as προσεῖπον ; but not infrequently, even in such instances, the normal practice of dividing after a vowel prevailed, as προϊσεῖπον. In papyri these rules are seldom infringed.

In Latin MSS., while the observance of the true syllabic division was maintained according to ancient usage, and, when two consonants came together, they were properly assigned to their several syllables, as dic-tus, prop-ter, pris-cus, hos-pes, hos-tis, yet in some early instances

the scribes followed the Greek system and divided after a vowel, as di-ctus, ho-stis, etc.; and in some MSS. we find the older style altered

1 Kenyon, Palaeogr. Gk. Papyvi, 51.

58 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

to suit the later, as in the Fulda MS. of the Gospels, corrected in the sixth century by Victor of Capua,' and the Harley Gospels of about the year 600.”

The coupling stroke or hyphen, to indicate connexion of the two parts of the divided word, appears to have been unknown in the early centuries. A point performs this duty in early instances. In the eleventh century the hyphen at the end of the line shows itself on a few occasions ; in the twelfth century it becomes more systematic, and sometimes is also repeated at the beginning of the next line.

Paragraphs

The inconvenience which we experience in reading a continuously written text could not have been so greatly felt by the scholars of the old Greek world; otherwise separation of words and a perfect system of punctuation would have been established long before was actually the case. Still the distinction of paragraphs was found a necessity at an ancient period—a natural system of subdividing the subject-matter of a work as an assistance to the reader. Further, these paragraphs were separated from one another by the short dividing stroke, the παράγραφος, Which was inserted between them at the beginnings of lines; but, it should be remembered, the stroke belonged to the concluding paragraph, and marked its termination, and did not form an initial sign for the new paragraph which followed. The paragraph mark was not, however, uniformly the horizontal stroke; the wedge > (διπλῆ), the mark which is also often found at the end of a work, 7 (κορωνίς), and similar forms were employed. This system of distinguishing paragraphs appears in use in the early papyri; and analogously the dividing stroke marks off the speeches of the different characters in the surviving papyrus fragments of the tragedians, as, for example, in the very ancient remains of the Antiope of Euripides; and it is used to indicate the end of strophe, antistrophe, and epode in the papyrus of Bacchylides, of the first century B.C., in the British Museum.

But to write every paragraph distinct by itself would have entailed a certain loss of space.* If the last line were short, there would remain a long space after it unoccupied by writing. In early specimens

1 Zangemeister and Wattenbach, Lx. Codd. Lat., xxxiv. See below, Faces. 91.

2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. ii. 14.

8 It is remarkable that in the oldest Greek classical papyrus, the Persae of Timotheus, of the fourth century B.c., the text is written in distinct paragraphs, each commencing a newline. This fact, in addition to the employment of broad columns noticed above (p. 46), lends support to the suggestion that the conventional rules which afterwards obtained in the setting of texts in papyri had not been definitely established at the time when the Perswe was written.

Vv THE TEXT 59

therefore we find this space occupied by the first words of the next paragraph, a slight break being left to mark its commencement, thus :-—

ECOMEOA ΟΥ̓ΓΑΡΔΗ TIOYOAYMTTIAAIMEN

The next step was to draw back the first letter of the first full line of the new paragraph, and leave it slightly projecting into the margin; and lastly to enlarge it. The letter made thus prominent being a sufficient indication of the commencement of the new paragraph, the stroke or wedge between the lines was no longer necessary and ordinarily disappeared. Thus the two lines given above would, in this last stage _ of development, be written thus :—

ECOMEOA OYFAPAH TIoYOAYMTIAAIMEN

Of course, if the paragraph commenced at the beginning of a line, the large letter took its natural place as the initial; but, arranged as above, any letter, even one in the middle of a word, might be enlarged.

This last system is found in action in the Codex Alexandrinus, of the fifth century, and continued to be practised throughout the middle ages. But it should be noted that, although rendered unnecessary by the introduction of the large initial, the paragraph mark also appears in this MS., but generally in anomalous positions, particularly, as if an initial sign, above the first letter of the different books—an indication that the scribes of the day had already begun to forget the meaning and proper use of the mark.

In Latin literature no such exact system of marking off paragraphs, as that just described, was practised in the middle ages, nor, as far as we know, in earlier times. But, as in Greek MSS., so in some of the more ancient Latin MSS.,a short space in the line was left to indicate the conclusion of a passage or paragraph, but without the accompanying dividing stroke or the enlarged letter at the beginning of the first full line, which thé Greek scribes employed. Yet, at an early period, the paragraph mark was used to separate paragraphs or divisions of the text (as, for example, in the poem on the Battle of Actium) when the new paragraph began a line. Its eventual conversion from a mere sign of separation between two paragraphs, or, rather, of the conclusion of the preceding paragraph, into a sign distinguishing the head of the new paragraph was a natural, though incorrect, development. Our modern 4 is directly derived from the simple ancient form T.

60 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Punctuation.—Greek

We next have to consider punctuation, in the modern sense : that is, by points and other similar signs. Dots or points, single, double, or treble, are seen in ancient inscriptions, marking off the several words ; but these are marks of separation rather than of punctuation, unless, perhaps, we are to except those which happen to stand at the conclusions of sentences. The earliest instance of their employment in a Greek MS. occurs in the very ancient fragment of the fourth century B.c., known as the Artemisia papyrus, at Vienna, wherein the double point (:) occasionally closes a sentence. Again, in the fragments of the Phaedo of Plato, found at Gurob, the same double point appears as a mark of punctuation, in conjunction with the paragraph mark noticed above; and, it is to be observed, in the same MS. a short stroke or dash in the line of writing is frequently used where there is a change of speaker. The double point also, in addition to the παράγραφος, occasionally marks the close of the paragraphs in the Paris Papyrus 49, a letter of about 160 B.c. But such isolated instances merely show that there was a knowledge of the value of such marks of punctuation, which, however, in practice were not systematically employed.

A more regular system was developed in the schools of Alexandria, its invention being ascribed to Aristophanes of Byzantium (260 B.c.). This was the use of the full point with certain values in certain positions (θέσεις) : the high point (στιγμὴ τελεία), equivalent to a full stop; the point on the line (ὑποστιγμή), a shorter pause, equivalent to our semicolon ; and the point in a middle position (στιγμὴ μέση), an ordinary pause, equivalent to our comma. But this system does not appear in practice in extant papyri. The single point placed high is the more usual mark of punctuation. It occurs almost regularly in the papyrus of Bacchylides. Inthe Codex Alexandrinus the middle and high points are pretty generally used. But the middle point eventually disappeared ; and about the ninth century the comma was introduced. It also became a common practice to mark the conclusion of a paragraph or chapter with a more emphatic sign, such as two or more dots with or without a horizontal dash, : :- .*. The mark of interrogation also first appears about the eighth or ninth century.

Punctuation.— Latin

The punctuation of Latin MSS. followed in some respects the systems of the Greeks. From the Latin grammarians we know that they adopted the Greek system of punctuation by points (θέσεις, positurae), to which they gave the titles of ‘distinctio finalis’, ‘subdistinctio’, and

Vv THE TEXT 61

‘distinctio media’; but in practice we find that the seribes used the points without consistently observing their values.!

The early codices appear to have been originally devoid of punctua- tion. In the ancient MSS. of Virgil in the Vatican Library points are to be seen, but they are probably due to a second hand. In uncial MSS. it is not uncommon to find the point, more often in the middle position, used as an ordinary stop; and, at the end of a paragraph or chapter, a colon, or colon and dash, or a number of points, occasionally indicate a final stop. In the seventh century the high point is used with the force of a comma, the semicolon with its modern value, and a point and virgule, "7, or other combinations of points, as a full stop. In the Carolingian period and the next centuries we have the inverted semi- colon, holding a position between our comma and semicolon, and the comma itself. The origin of the inverted semicolon is uncertain. It appears first with some regularity in MSS. of the eighth century ; but it is noticeable that a mark which resembles it occurs in the Actium poem, being there formed by the addition of an oblique stroke to an ordinary point. Along with these later signs also appears the mark of interrogation in common use.

Breathings and Accents and other Signs.— Greek

Breathings and accents, like the Greek system of punctuation by points noticed above, are also attributed to Aristophanes of Byzantium, as part of the δέκα προσῳδίαι, of which he is called the inventor.

The rough (+) and the smooth (4) breathings (mrevpara) at first represented the left and the right half of the letter H, which itself was originally the aspirate. They were soon worn down to τ and 4, in which shapes they are found in early MSS.; and eventually these square forms became the rounded ‘ and ’, the period at which they definitely arrived at this last stage being the twelfth century. Only occasionally are marks of breathing found in the more ancient MSS., and then it is generally the rough breathing that is distinguished.

The accents (révor) are: the grave ἡ (βαρύς), or ordinary tone; the acute’ (ὀξύς), marking a rise in the voice; and the circumflex “ (ὀξυβαρύς or περισπώμενος), combining the other two, and indicating a rise and fall or slide of the voice.

In the papyrus period, accentuation is not found at all in non- literary documents, and in literary works its use is only occasional, apparently if it was thought necessary as an aid to reading. The earliest example of a more systematic use of accents is in the papyrus of

1 In the poem on the Battle of Actium, found at Herculaneum, points are used to- mark off the words, as in inscriptions.

62 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Bacchylides, of the first century B.c.; and they also appear with some frequency in the Aleman fragment in the Louvre, of about the same date.!| The accents which appear in the earlier papyri of Homer (Harris, Bankes, ete.) in the British Museum are not by the first hand; but in one of the third century they are original. The earlier MSS. of Hyperides are devoid of them. It would appear, then, that the third century is the period when accentuation was becoming more general. But on the introduction of vellum codices the practice was again suspended, and was not systematically resumed before the seventh century.

Originally, in theory, all syllables which were not marked with the acute accent or circumflex received the grave accent, as Θὲόδὼρὸς ; and several examples of this practice occur in the papyrus of Bacchylides, and in the Harris Homer. In the same MSS., and occasionally in the Bankes Homer, we also see instances of the practice of indicating normally oxytone words (in which the acute accent should mark the last syllable) by placing a grave accent on the penultimate, as λων. In later MSS. a double accent marks emphatically μὲν and δὲ.

The rest of the ten signs attributed to Aristophanes of Byzantium, to assist in the correct reading of texts, are as follows :—

The χρόνοι, or marks to distinguish a long (~) and a short (~) syllable, instances of their employment occurring in the Harris Homer and in some other early documents on papyrus.

The διαστολή or ὑποδιαστολή, a virgule or comma inserted between words where the distinction might be ambiguous, as ἐστυνοὺυς, not €OTLY,OUS.

The hyphen (ὑφέν), ἃ curve or line drawn under the letters to indicate connexion, as, for example, to indicate compound words. In the Harris Homer the hyphen, in the form of a long straight line, is used for this purpose.

The apostrophe (ἀπόστροφος), which, besides marking elision, was used for other purposes, and whose form varied from a curve to a straight accent or even a mere dot. It was very generally placed in early MSS. after a foreign name, or a name not having a Greek termination, as, for example, ᾿Αβρααμ᾽, and after a word ending in a hard consonant, as x, x, €, w, and also in ρ. When a double consonant occurred in the middle of a word, an apostrophe was placed above the first or between the two letters. In a papyrus of a.p. 542 (Pal. Soc. ii. 123) a dot represents the apostrophe in this position; and in a MS. of the eighth or ninth century (Pal. Soc, ii. 126) a double apostrophe is employed. The apostrophe is also used to distinguish two concurrent vowels, as tmaria’avtwr. In some

1 The occurrence of frequent accentuation in these two MSS. ‘suggests the possibility that lyric poets were considered to require more aids to the reader than other authors *.— Kenyon, Bacchylides, xx.

Vv THE TEXT 63

instances it is even placed between two different consonants, as e.g. apt’ nos, in the Vienna MS. of Dioscorides.

In addition to the marks and signs already noticed, there are some others which occur in Greek MSS.

Marks of diaeresis, placed over 1 and v when at the beginning of a word or when they do not form a diphthong with a foregoing vowel, occur in papyri, being either a single or double dot or short stroke, or, sometimes, a short accent; in later MSS. usually a double dot.

Quotations are indicated by marks in the margin, the most common being the arrow-head, > or < ; the cross, horizontal stroke, or waved stroke being also used. More rarely, quoted passages are indented or set out, that is, written within or without the marginal line of the text.

To distinguish words consisting of a single letter, a short acute accent or similar mark is found in use, as, in the Codex Alexandrinus, to mark ἡ in its various meanings as a word. Apparently from ignorance or con- fusion the scribes of this MS. even placed a mark on ἡ when merely a letter in a word. The article 6 is found similarly distinguished in a papyrus of a.p. 595 (Pal. Soc. ii. 124).

To fill small spaces left vacant at the end of a line, an arrow-head or tick was employed; as, for example, in the papyrus of Hyperides (Lyco- phron) and in the Codex Sinaiticus.

Arbitrary signs, or signs composed of dots or strokes, are used as reference marks to marginal scholia, or to indicate insertion of omitted words or passages. In the papyrus of Hyperides (Lycophron) the place for insertion of an omitted line is marked, and has the word ἄνω, while the line itself, written in the margin above, has κάτω. In the papyrus of Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens a letter or word inserted between the lines has sometimes a dot on each side.

In the same manner various signs are employed to indicate transposi- tion, such as numerical letters, or (as in the papyrus of Aristotle) slanting strokes and dots (/*) placed above the words.

To distinguish words or other combinations of letters from the rest of the text, a line was drawn above them; thus the grammatical forms in the papyrus attributed to Tryphon, in the British Museum, and the reference letters in the Oxford Euclid of A.D. 888 are so marked. Proper names also are sometimes thus distinguished (see Facs, 57, 74).

Besides actually striking out a letter or word or passage with a pen- stroke, the ancient scribes indicated erasure by including the word or passage between inverted commas or brackets or dots, one at the beginning and one at the end ; sometimes by accents above, as e.g. τωΐ (to erase the v), t4 and ἤαντά (to cover the whole word), as seen in the Codex Alex- andrinus ; sometimes by a line above, as kai; sometimes by a dot above, rarely below, each letter.

64 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Accents and other Signs.—Latin

Accents were seldom used by Latin seribes. In early MSS. written in Ireland and England, in particular, an acute accent marks a mono- syllabic word, as the exclamation 6, or a preposition, as ὦ; and it is sometimes employed to emphasize a syllable. Apparently from the ninth to the eleventh century the practice obtained among correctors, perhaps from mere affectation of learning, of expressing the aspirate by the Greek half-eta symbol (+) instead of writing the letter h in the ordinary way, as dnnibal Very rarely the deletion of h is indicated by the smooth breathing (:).

As in Greek MSS., quotations are indicated by marks in the margin or by indentation; and arbitrary signs are used to fix the place of insertion of omissions. Common reference marks are id, hs = hic deest, hoc supra or hic scribas, ete. Transposition of words might be indicated in various ways, as by letters or numbers, and very commonly by oblique strokes above the line, as *nea mater = mater mea.

Finally, for correction, the simple method of striking out with the pen and interlining or adding in the margin was followed, as well as that of marking words or letters for deletion with dots above or below them.

Besides the above, other marks and signs are found in both Greek and Latin MSS., such as the private marks of correctors or readers. There are also critical symbols, such as the diplé and the asterisk employed by Aristarchus in the text of Homer, and the obelus and asterisk used by St. Jerome to distinguish certain passages in versions of the Latin Psalter. But the consideration of these is beyond the scope of the present work.

PALIMPSESTS

A palimpsest MS. is one from which the first writing has been removed by seraping or rubbing or washing in order to make the leaves ready to receive fresh writing. Sometimes this process was repeated, and the leaves finally received a third text, the MS. being in such a case doubly palimpsest. This method of obtaining writing material was prac- tised in early times. The term ‘palimpsest’ is used by Catullus xxii. 5, apparently with reference to papyrus ; also by Cicero ;? and by Plutarch, who narrates * that Plato compared Dionysius to a βιβλίον παλίμψηστον, his tyrannical nature, δυσέκπλυτος, showing through like the imperfectly

1 Many instances occur in the Harley MS. 2736, Cicero De Oratore, of the ninth century ; others in Harley MS. 2904, f. 210 b, Winchester Psalter, tenth century ; in the Sherborne Pontifical, Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 943, circ. a.p. 995; in Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 30861, early eleventh century (New Pal. Soc. 111,112, 211) ; and in Royal MSS.

8 C. iii, 15 B. xix. See also Bodley MS. Lat. Liturg. 6. 2, and Cambr. Trin. Coll. MS. B, 10. 4. 2 Ad Fam. vii. 18. 3 Cwm princip. philosoph., ad fin.

v PALIMPSESTS 65

erased writing of a palimpsest MS., that is, a papyrus roll from which the first writing had been washed. The word, however, literally indi- cating, as it does, the action of scraping or rubbing (πάλιν ψάω), could originally have only been strictly applied to material strong enough to bear such treatment, as vellum or waxed tablets. Papyrus could be washed (and then, probably, only when the ink was fresh and had not had time to harden), not scraped or rubbed; and the application of the term indifferently to a twice-written papyrus or waxed tablet or vellum codex proves that the term had become so current as to have passed beyond its strict meaning. Specimens of rewritten papyri, even in fragments, are rarely met with.

If the first writing were thoroughly removed from the surface of vellum, none of it, of course, could ever be recovered. But, as a matter of fact, it seems to have been often very imperfectly effaced ; and even if, to all appearance, the vellum was restored to its original condition of an unwritten surface, yet slight traces of the text might remain which chemical reagents, or even the action of the atmosphere, might again intensify and make legible. Thus many capital and uncial texts have been recovered from palimpsest MSS. Of modern chemical reagents used in the restoration of such texts the most harmless is probably hydro-sulphuret of ammonia.

Great destruction of vellum MSS. of the early centuries of our era must have followed the decline of the Roman Empire. Political and social changes would interfere with the market, and writing material would become scarce and might be supplied from MSS. which had become useless and were considered idle encumbrances of the shelves. In the case of Greek codices, so great was their consumption that a synodal decree of the year 691 forbade the destruction of MSS. of the Scriptures or of the Fathers, imperfect or injured volumes excepted. It has been remarked that no entire work has in any instance been found in the original text of a palimpsest, but that portions of different MSS. were taken to make up a volume for a second text. This fact, however, does not necessarily prove that only imperfect volumes were put under requisition ; it is quite as probable that scribes supplied their wants indiscriminately from any old MSS. that happened to be at hand.

The most valuable Latin palimpsest texts are found generally in volumes rewritten in the seventh to the ninth centuries. In many instances the works of classical writers have been obliterated to make room for patristic literature or grammatical works. On the other hand, there are instances of classical texts having been written over Biblical MSS. ; but these are of late date.

The texts recovered from palimpsest volumes are numerous; a few of the most important may be enumerated :—In the great Syriac collection

1184 F

66 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

of MSS. which were obtained from the monastery in the Nitrian Desert of Egypt and are now in the British Museum, many important texts have been recovered. A volume containing a work of Severus of Antioch, of the beginning of the ninth century, is written on palimpsest leaves taken from MSS. of the J/iad of Homer and the Gospel of St. Luke of the sixth century (Cat. Anc. MSS. i, pls. 9, 10) and of the Elements of Euclid of the seventh or cighth century. Another volume of the same collection is doubly palimpsest : a Syriac text of St. Chrysostom, of the ninth or tenth century, covering a Latin grammatical work of the sixth century, which again has displaced the annals of the Latin historian Licinianus of the fifth century (Cat. Anc. MSS. ii, pls. 1, 2). At Paris is the Codex Ephraemi, containing portions of the Old and New Testaments in Greek, of the fifth century, which are rewritten with works of Ephraem Syrus in a hand of the twelfth century ; and some fragments of the Phaethon of Euripides are found in the Codex Claromontanus. In the Vatican are portions of the De Republica of Cicero, of the fourth century, under the work of St. Augustine on the Psalms of the seventh century ; and an Arian fragment of the fifth century. At Verona is the famous palimpsest which contains the MS. of Gaius of the fifth century, as well as the Fasti Consulares of A.D. 486. At Milan are the fragments of Plautus, in rustic capitals of the fourth or fifth century, covered by a Biblical text of the ninth century. Facsimiles of many of these MSS. are given by Zange- meister and Wattenbach in their Hxempla Codicum Latinorum.'

1 See also Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 299-317.

CHAPTER VI

STICHOMETRY AND COLOMETRY

Ir was the custom of the Greeks and Romans to compute the length of their literary works by measured lines. In poetry the unit was of course the verse ; in prose works an artificial unit had to be found, for no two scribes would naturally write lines of the same length. On the authority of Galen (De Placit. Hipp. et Plat. viii. 1) we learn that the unit of measurement among the Greeks was the average Homeric line consisting of about sixteen syllables. Such a standard line was called by the earlier writers ἔπος, afterwards στίχος (lit. a row).

Records of measurements are found in two forms: in references to the extent of the works of particular authors made by later writers; and in the entries of the figures themselves in MSS. These latter entries may actually give the extent of the MSS. in which they are found ; but more frequently they transmit the measurements of the archetypes. They are, however, of comparatively rare occurrence.

The quotations found in Greek writers are fairly numerous, and were no doubt mainly derived from the catalogues of libraries, where details of this nature were collected. Such a catalogue was contained in the famous πίνακες of the Alexandrian libraries published by Callimachus about the middle of the third century 8.6.

The earliest instances of the entry of the actual number of lines occur in papyri. A fragment of Euripides,! of a period earlier than the year 161 B.c., has at the end the words CTIXOI MA. In the Herculanean papyri are