CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS WRITTEN WITH PEN AND INK.
To return now to classical forms of manuscripts, it appears to have been a
long time before the _book_ or _codex_ form of manuscript was extended from
the wood and ivory tablets to writings on parchment or paper.
_The roll form of MS._
_The codex form._
It seems probable that throughout the Greek period manuscripts on paper or
vellum were usually, if not always, in the shape of a long roll; and that
it was not till about the beginning of the Roman Empire that leaves of
parchment or paper were sometimes cut up into pages and bound together in
the form of the older tablets. During the first two or three centuries of
the Empire, manuscripts were produced in both of these forms--the _codex_
and the _volumen_; but the _roll_ form was by far the commoner, almost till
the transference of the seat of government to Byzantium.
The roll form of book is the one shown in many of the wall paintings of
Pompeii; but on some sarcophagi reliefs of the second century A.D. books
both of the _roll_ and the _codex_ shape are represented[9].
_Writing with a pen._
Having given some account of the various classical forms of manuscript in
which the writing is incised with a sharp _stilus_, we will now pass on to
the other chief forms of manuscript which were written with a pen and with
ink or other pigment.
_Books of the dead._
_Manuscripts on papyrus_; the oldest existing examples of this class are
the so-called _Rituals of the Dead_ found in the tombs of Egypt, especially
in those of the Theban dynasties; the oldest of these date as far back as
the sixteenth or fifteenth century B.C.[10]
They are executed with a reed pen in hieroglyphic writing on long rolls of
papyrus, and are copiously illuminated with painted miniatures illustrating
the subject of the text, drawn with much spirit and coloured in a very
finely decorative way. Immense numbers of these Egyptian illuminated
manuscripts still exist in a more or less fragmentary condition. One of the
most perfect of these is the _Book of the Dead of Ani_, a royal scribe,
dating from the fourteenth century B.C., now in the British Museum. An
excellent facsimile of the whole of this fine illuminated manuscript has
been edited by Dr Budge and published by the Trustees of the British Museum
in 1890.
_Egyptian psalter._
Manuscripts of this important class are not very accurately described as
_Rituals of the Dead_; as Dr Budge points out they really consist of
collections of _psalms_ or _sacred hymns_ which vary considerably in
different manuscripts.
They appear to have been written in large numbers and kept in stock by the
Egyptian undertakers ready for purchasers. Blank spaces were left for the
name and titles of the dead person for whom they were bought.
Thus we find that the names are often filled in carelessly by another hand
than that of the writer of the manuscript, and some examples exist in which
the spaces for the name are still left blank.
Another of the finest and most complete of the funereal _papyri_ is
preserved in the Museum in Turin; see Pierret, _Le livre des Morts des
anciens Egyptiens_, Paris, 1882.
_Use of papyrus._
_Existing Greek MSS._
Papyrus seems to have been used for manuscripts more than any other
substance both by the Greeks from the sixth century B.C. and by the Romans
down to the time of the later Empire. Some very valuable Greek manuscripts
on papyrus are preserved in the British Museum; among them the most
important for their early date are some fragments of Homer's _Iliad_ of the
third or second century B.C. Another papyrus manuscript in the same
collection dating from the first century B.C. contains four _Orations_ of
the Athenian Orator Hyperides, a contemporary and rival of Demosthenes. In
the last few years the important discovery has been made that in certain
late tombs in Egypt, dating from the Roman period, the mummied bodies are
packed in their coffins with large quantities of what was considered waste
paper. This packing in some cases has been found to consist of papyrus
manuscripts, some of which are of great importance. In this way the newly
discovered treatise by Aristotle on the _Political Constitution of Athens_,
and the _Mimes_ of Herondas were saved from destruction by being used as
inner wrappings for a coffin of about the year 100 A.D.[11]
Other important manuscripts may yet be found, now that careful search is
being made in this direction.
_Herculaneum library._
Unfortunately the large library of manuscripts, consisting of nearly 1800
papyrus rolls, which was discovered about the middle of the last century in
the lava-buried town of Herculaneum, has not as yet been found to contain
any works of much value or interest. These rolls are all charred by the
heat of the lava, which overwhelmed the town, and the work of unrolling and
deciphering the brittle carbonized paper necessarily goes on very slowly.
The owner of this library appears to have been an enthusiastic student of
the Epicurean philosophy in its later development, and his books are mainly
dull, pedantic treatises on the various sciences such as mathematics, music
and the like, treated from the Epicurean point of view, or rather from that
of the Graeco-Roman followers of Epicurus.
_Papyrus rolls._
All these manuscripts appear to be of about the same date, not many years
older, that is, than the year 79 A.D., when the eruption of Vesuvius
overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii in the same catastrophe. They are
written in fine bold uncial characters without illumination or ornament of
any kind on rolls of papyrus nine or ten inches in breadth. In their
present burnt and shrunken condition the rolls average about two inches in
diameter, but they were probably larger than that in their original state;
see _Palaeo. Soc._ Pl. 151, 152; the other published 'facsimiles' of the
Herculaneum manuscripts are not perfectly trustworthy.
_Herodotus on MSS._
In the time of Herodotus (c. 460 B.C.) _papyrus paper_ ([Greek: biblia] or
[Greek: chartai])[12] appears to have been used by the Greeks almost to the
exclusion of parchment or other kinds of skin. In his interesting section
on the introduction of the art of writing into Greece by the Phoenicians,
Herodotus (v. 58) remarks that the Ionians in old times used to call
_papyrus rolls_ [Greek: diphtherai] or "_parchment_," because they had once
been in the habit of using skins of sheep or goats for manuscripts, at a
time when _papyrus_ paper was not to be had; and, Herodotus goes on to say,
"Barbarians even now are accustomed to write their manuscripts on
parchment."
_Use of parchment._
_Manuscripts on parchment_; this old use of parchment for manuscripts was
again introduced among the Greeks by Eumenes II., king of Pergamus from 197
to 159 B.C. At this time men had forgotten that parchment had ever been
used for books, and so Varro, quoted by Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ XIII. 70),
tells us that Eumenes _invented_ this use of parchment; the real fact being
that he re-introduced an old custom, and stimulated the careful preparation
of parchment for the sake of the great library which he was anxious to make
the most important collection of manuscripts in the world.
_Pergamena._
Varro tells us that he was driven to this use of parchment by the jealousy
of the Egyptian King Ptolemy Epiphanes, whose enormous library at
Alexandria was the only existing rival to the Pergamene collection. One of
the Greek names for parchment, _Pergamena_, was derived from the fact of
its being so largely made for the Pergamene Kings Eumenes and Attalus, both
of whom were not only great patrons of literature and collectors of ancient
manuscripts, but were also enthusiastic buyers of pictures, statues, rich
textiles and works of art of every class. The other word for parchment used
for manuscripts is _membrana_.
_Linen MSS._
_Manuscripts on linen_; in ancient Egypt hieroglyphic manuscripts with
sacred hymns and portions of the so-called _Ritual of the Dead_ were
frequently written with a reed pen on fine linen. These manuscripts, which
are often found among the mummy wrappings of burials under the Theban
Dynasties, are usually illustrated with pen drawings in outline, not
painted miniatures like those on the papyrus rolls. These drawings are
executed with much spirit and with a beautiful, clean, certain touch.
_Early MSS. in Italy._
The early Italian races, Latins, Samnites and others, appear to have used
linen very frequently for their manuscript records and sacred books. Among
the public records mentioned by Livy as having once been preserved with the
Archives in the Capitoline Temple of Juno Moneta were some of these early
linen manuscripts (_libri lintei_); see Liv. IV. 7, 13, 20. Livy also (X.
38) describes an ancient manuscript, containing an account of the ritual
customs of the Samnites, as a _liber vetus linteus_. In historic times,
however, _papyrus_ and _parchment_ appear to have superseded _linen_ in
ancient Rome.
_Inscribed potsherds._
_Ostraka Manuscripts._ For ephemeral purposes, such as tradesmen's accounts
and other business matters, writing was often done with a pen and ink on
broken fragments of pottery ([Greek: ostraka]). An enormous number of these
inscribed potsherds, mostly dating from the Ptolemaic period, have been
found in Egypt, and especially on the little island of Elephantine in the
Nile a short distance below the first cataract.
Among the Greeks too, writing on potsherds was very common; especially when
the Athenian tribes met in the Agora to record their votes for the exile of
some unpopular citizen, whence is derived the term _ostracism_ ([Greek:
ostrakismos]).
The word _liber_ as meaning a _book_ is supposed to be derived from a
primitive custom of writing on the smooth inner bark of some tree, such as
the birch, which supplies a fine silky substance, not at all unsuited for
manuscripts.
_MSS. on leaves._
The large broad leaves of some varieties of the palm tree have also been
used for manuscript purposes, more especially among the inhabitants of
India and Ceylon. In early times the questions asked of the Oracle of the
Pythian Apollo at Delphi were said to have been written on leaves of the
laurel plant. Pali manuscripts in Ceylon are even now frequently written on
palm-leaves; and we have the evidence of Pliny that this custom once
existed among some of the ancient classical races: see _Hist. Nat._ XIII.
69, "Ante non fuisse chartarum usum, in palmarum foliis primo scriptitatum;
deinde quarundam arborum libris. Postea publica monumenta plumbeis
voluminibus, mox et privata linteis confici coepta aut ceris. Pugillarium
enim usum fuisse etiam ante Trojana tempora invenimus apud Homerum." In
this passage Pliny gives a list of all the chief materials that had been
used for manuscripts in ancient times, the _leaves_ and _bark of trees_,
_plates of lead_, _linen cloth_ and _waxed tablets_, he then goes on to
describe at considerable length the methods of making paper from the pith
of the papyrus plant; see page 22.
_Greek libraries._
_Ancient libraries_; among the Greeks and Romans of the historic period
books do not appear to have been either rare or costly as they were during
the greater part of the mediaeval period.
In the time of Alexander, the latter part of the fourth century B.C., large
libraries had already been formed by wealthy lovers of literature, and in
the second century B.C. the rival libraries of Ptolemy Epiphanes at
Alexandria and of King Eumenes II. at Pergamus were said to have contained
between them nearly a million volumes.
_Roman libraries._
Among the Romans of the Empire books were no less common. The owner of the
above mentioned library at Herculaneum, consisting of nearly 1800 rolls or
volumes, does not appear to have been a man of exceptional wealth; his
house was small and his surroundings simple in character.
_The great libraries of Rome._
As early as the reign of Augustus, Rome possessed several large public
libraries (_bibliothecae_). The first of these was instituted in 37 B.C. by
Asinius Pollio both for Greek and Latin manuscripts. The second was the
_Bibliotheca Octaviae_ founded by Augustus in the Campus Martius in honour
of his sister. The third was the magnificent double _library of Apollo
Palatinus_, which Augustus built on the Palatine Hill. The fourth, also on
the Palatine, the _Bibliotheca Tiberiana_ was founded by Tiberius. The
fifth was built by Vespasian as part of the group of buildings in his new
_Forum Pacis_. The sixth and largest of all was the double library, for
Greek and Latin books built by Trajan in his Forum close to the _Basilica
Ulpia_. To some extent a classification of subjects was adopted in these
great public libraries, one being mainly legal, another for ancient
history, a third for state papers and modern records, but this
classification appears to have been only partially adhered to.
_Parish libraries._
In addition to these state libraries, Rome also possessed a large number of
smaller "parish libraries" in the separate _vici_, and the total number,
given in the _Regionary catalogues_ as existing in the time of Constantine,
is enormous; see Séraud, _Les livres dans l'antiquité_.
_Library fittings._
With regard to the arrangement and fittings of Roman libraries, the usual
method appears to have been this. Cupboards (_armaria_), fitted with
shelves to receive the rolls or _codices_ and closed by doors, were placed
against the walls all round the room. These _armaria_ were usually rather
low, not more than from four to five feet in height, and on them were
placed busts of famous authors; while the wall-space above the bookcases
was decorated with similar portrait reliefs or paintings designed to fill
panels or circular medallions.
_Library decorations._
Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ XXXV. 9), speaks of it being a new fashion in his time
to adorn the walls of libraries with ideal portraits of ancient writers,
such as Homer, executed in gold, silver or bronze relief.
The public library of Asinius Pollio was, Pliny says, decorated with
portraits, but whether the great libraries of Pergamus and Alexandria were
ornamented in this way, Pliny is unable to say. Magnificent medallion
portraits in gold and silver were fixed round the walls of the two great
libraries of Apollo on the Palatine Hill, and probably in the other still
larger public libraries which were founded by subsequent Emperors.
_Recent discovery._
_Authors' busts._
The ordinary private libraries of Rome were decorated in a similar way, but
with reliefs of less costly materials. A very interesting example of this
has recently been discovered and then destroyed on the Esquiline hill in
Rome. The house in which this library was discovered was one of no very
exceptional size or splendour. The _bibliotheca_ itself consisted of a
handsome room; the lower part of its walls, against which the _armaria_
fitted, was left quite plain. Above that the walls were divided into square
panels by small fluted pilasters, and in the centre of each space there
was, or had been, a medallion relief-portrait about two feet in diameter
enclosed in a moulded frame. All this was executed in fine, hard
marble-dust stucco (_opus albarium_ or _marmoreum_).
The names of the authors whose portraits had filled the medallions were
written in red upon the frames. Only one was legible--APOLLONIVS THYAN....
No doubt the works of Apollonius of Thyana were kept in the _armarium_
below the bust.
The library at Herculaneum, which contained the famous papyrus rolls, was a
much smaller room. Besides the bookcases all round the walls, it had also
an isolated _armarium_ in the centre of the room; and this, no doubt, was a
usual arrangement.
The room at Herculaneum was so small that there can only have been just
enough space to walk between the central bookcase and the _armaria_ ranged
all round against the wall.
_Closed bookcases._
As the Comm. Lanciani has pointed out (_Ancient Rome_, p. 195), it is
interesting to note that the ancient Roman method of arranging books in
low, closed cupboards is still preserved in the great library of the
Vatican in Rome; which is unlike most existing libraries in the fact that
on first entering no one would guess that it was a library, not a single
book being visible.
Of the ancient _armaria_ themselves no example now exists. They were of
wood, and therefore, of course, perishable. But we may, I think, argue from
analogy, that the doors of the cupboards were richly ornamented with
painted decorations, thus forming an elaborate dado or _podium_ below the
row of portrait reliefs which occupied the upper part of the walls.
_Booksellers' quarter._
The principal quarter in Rome for the shops of booksellers (_bibliopolae_
or _librarii_) appears to have been the _Argiletum_, which (in Imperial
times) was an important street running into the Forum Romanum between the
Curia and the Basilica Aemilia; see Mart. I. 3, 117[13].
For ancient manuscripts or autograph works of famous authors large prices
were often paid. Aristotle is said to have given three talents (about £750)
for an autograph manuscript of Speusippus, and a manuscript of Virgil's
second book of the _Aeneid_, thought to be the author's own copy, sold for
twenty _aurei_, more than £20 in modern value; see Aul. Gell. III. 17, and
II. 3.
_Cost of new books._
_Slave scribes._
But ordinary copies of newly published works, even by popular authors,
appear to have been but little more expensive than books of this class are
at the present day. The publisher and bookseller Tryphon could sell
Martial's first book of _Epigrams_ at a profit for two _denarii_--barely
two shillings in modern value; see Mart. XIII. 3. It may seem strange that
written manuscripts should not have been much more costly than printed
books, but when one considers how they were produced the reason is evident.
Atticus, the Sosii and other chief publishers of Rome owned a large number
of slaves who were trained to be neat and rapid scribes. Fifty or a hundred
of these slaves could write from the dictation of one reader, and thus a
small edition of a new volume of Horace's _Odes_ or Martial's _Epigrams_
could be produced with great rapidity and at very small cost[14].
Little capital would be required for the education of the slave-scribes,
and when once they were taught, the cost of their labour would be little
more than the small amount of food which was necessary to keep them alive
and in working order.
Cicero (_Att._ II. 4) speaks of the publisher Atticus selling manuscripts
produced in this way by slave labour on a large scale.
_Librarii._
The name _librarius_ was given not only to the booksellers, but also to
slave librarians, and to scribes, the latter being sometimes distinguished
by the name _scriptores librarii_. _Librarii antiquarii_ were writers who
were specially skilled in copying ancient manuscripts. The word _scriba_
commonly denotes a _secretary_ rather than what we should now call a
_scribe_.
In Athens a class of booksellers, [Greek: bibliographoi], appears to have
existed as early as the fifth century B.C.; see Poll. VII. 211. The name
[Greek: bibliopôlai] was subsequently used, and adopted by the Romans.
THE TECHNIQUE OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS[15].
_Parchment and vellum._
_Erasures._
_Parchment._ With regard to the preparation of parchment and other kinds of
skin for writing on (_Pergamena_ and _Membrana_) there is little to be
said. The skins of many different animals have been used for this purpose
both in classical and mediaeval times, especially skins of calves, sheep,
goats and pigs. Unlike manuscripts on papyrus, parchment or vellum[16]
manuscripts were usually covered with writing on both sides, since the ink
does not show through from one side to the other, as it is liable to do on
the more absorbent and spongy papyrus paper. For this reason complete or
partial erasures were much easier to execute on vellum than on papyrus. The
writing was first sponged so as to remove the surface ink, and the traces
that still remained were got rid of by rubbing the surface of the vellum
with pumice stone. In some cases the manuscript was erased from the whole
of a vellum codex or roll, and the cleaned surface then used to receive
fresh writing.
_Palimpsests._
_Palimpsests_; manuscripts of this class, on twice-used vellum, were called
_palimpsests_ ([Greek: palimpsêstos]); see Cic. _Fam._ vii. 18. Several
important texts, such as the legal work of Gaius, have been recovered by
laboriously deciphering the not wholly obliterated writing on these
palimpsests. During the early mediaeval period, when classical learning was
little valued, many a dull treatise of the schoolmen or other theological
work of small interest was written over the obliterated text of some much
earlier and more valuable classical author.
_Papyrus MSS._
In some cases it appears that papyrus manuscripts were made into
palimpsests, but probably not very often, as it would be difficult to erase
the ink on a roll of papyrus without seriously injuring the surface of the
paper.
Moreover as papyrus manuscripts were only written on one side of the paper,
the back was free to receive new writing without any necessity to rub out
the original text. The recently discovered treatise by Aristotle on the
_Political Constitution of Athens_ has some monetary accounts written on
the back of the papyrus by some unphilosophical man of business not many
years later than the date of the original treatise.
_Papyrus paper._
_Papyrus paper._ The ancient methods employed in the preparation of papyrus
paper (_charta_) can be clearly made out by the evidence of existing
examples aided by the minute but not wholly accurate description given by
Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ XIII. 71 to 83.
_Papyrus plant._
The papyrus plant, the _Cyperus Papyrus_ of Linnaeus, (Greek [Greek:
byblos]) is a very tall, handsome variety of reed which grows in marshes
and shallows along the sides of streams of water. The plant has at the top
a very graceful tufted bunch of foliage; its stem averages from three to
four inches in diameter, and the total height of the plant is from ten to
twelve feet.
It grows in many places in Syria, in the Euphrates valley and in Nubia. In
Egypt itself it is now extinct, but it was abundant there in ancient times,
especially in the Delta of the Nile.
The only spot in Europe where the papyrus plant grows in a wild state is
near Syracuse in the little river Anapus, where it was probably introduced
by the Arab conquerors in the eighth or ninth century A.D.
It grows here in great abundance and sometimes nearly blocks up the stream
so that a boat can scarcely get along.
The stem of the papyrus consists of a soft, white, spongy or cellular pith
surrounded by a thin, smooth, green rind. Papyrus paper ([Greek: biblia] or
[Greek: chartês]) was wholly made from the cellular pith. The method of
manufacture was as follows.
_Process of manufacture._
The long stem of the plant was first cut up into convenient pieces of a
foot or more in length; the pith in each piece was then very carefully and
evenly cut with a sharp knife into thin slices. These slices were then laid
side by side, their edges touching but not overlapping, on the smooth
surface of a wooden table which was slightly inclined to let the
superfluous sap run off, as it was squeezed out of the slices of pith by
gentle blows from a smooth wooden mallet. When by repeated beating the
layer of pith had been hammered down to a thinner substance, and a great
deal of the sap had drained off, some fine paste made of wheat-flour was
carefully brushed over the whole surface of the pith. A second layer of
slices of pith, previously prepared by beating, was then laid crosswise on
the first layer made adhesive by the paste, so that the slices in the
second layer were at right angles to those of the first. The beating
process was then repeated, the workmen being careful to get rid of all
lumps or inequalities, and the beating was continued till the various
slices of pith in the two layers were thoroughly united and amalgamated
together.
_Use of many layers._
_Sizes of papyrus._
For the best sort of papyrus these processes were repeated a third and
sometimes even a fourth time, the separate slices in each layer being cut
much thinner than in the coarser sorts of paper which consisted of two
layers only. The next process was to dry and press the paper; after which
its surface was carefully smoothed and polished with an ivory
burnisher[17]; its rough edges were trimmed, and it was then ready to be
made up into sheets or rolls. There was nothing in the method of
manufacture to limit strictly the size of the papyrus sheets ([Greek:
selides], _paginae_) either in breadth or length; the workmen could lay
side by side as many slices of the pith as he liked, and slices of great
length might have been cut out of the long stem of the _papyrus_.
Practically, however, it was found convenient to make the paper in rather
small sheets; twelve to sixteen inches are the usual widths of papyrus
manuscripts.
_Union of the sheets._
_Long rolls._
The reason of this obviously was that it would have been impossible to cut
slices of great length to the requisite thinness and evenness of substance,
and so papyrus manuscripts are always made up of a large number of separate
sheets carefully pasted together. This was very skilfully done by workmen
who (in Pliny's time) were called _glutinatores_; cf. Cic. _Att._ IV. 4.
The two adjacent edges of the sheets, which were to be joined together by
lapping, were thinned down by careful rubbing to about half their original
substance. The two laps were then brushed over with paste, accurately
applied together, and the union was then completed by beating with the
wooden mallet. When the pasted joint was dry it was rubbed and polished
with the ivory burnisher till scarcely any mark of the joining remained. In
this way long rolls were formed, often fifty feet or more in length; as a
rule, however, excessive length for a single roll was inconvenient. Pliny
mentions 20 sheets as being an ordinary limit. Thus, for example, in such
works as Homer's _Iliad_ or Virgil's _Aeneid_, each _book_ would form a
separate _volumen_ or roll (Greek [Greek: kylindros] or [Greek: tomos]).
The invention of papyrus paper dates from an early period in the history of
Egypt. Examples still exist which are as early as 2300 B.C., and its
manufacture was probably known long before that.
_Papyrus used in Greece._
In later times Egyptian papyrus was an important article of export into
many countries. An Attic inscription of the year 407 B.C. tells us what the
cost of paper then was in Athens; two sheets ([Greek: chartai duo]) cost
two drachmae and four obols, equal in modern value to about four shillings;
see _C. I. A._ I. 324. The [Greek: chartai] in this case probably mean, not
a single page, but several sheets pasted together to form a roll.
_Papyrus made in Rome._
_Old MSS. on papyrus._
In Pliny's time paper was made not only in Egypt but also in Rome and at
other places in Italy[18]. The best kind was formerly called _Hieratica_,
because it was used in Egypt for sacred hieroglyphic writing only. In later
times this finest quality, in Rome at least, was called _Augusta_, and the
second quality _Liviana_, from Livia the wife of Augustus. A coarse variety
used for wrapping up parcels and the like was called "shop-paper,"
_emporetica_. Pliny also tells us that paper was manufactured of many
different breadths, varying from about four to eighteen inches. The
commonest width was about twelve inches; see Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ XIII. 71
to 83. In the last of these paragraphs Pliny mentions examples of old
papyrus manuscripts existing in his time, such as manuscripts in the
handwriting of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, which were nearly two centuries
old. Manuscripts written by Cicero, Augustus and Virgil are, he says, still
frequently to be seen.
With regard to the antiquity of paper Pliny's views are far from correct.
He thinks paper was first made in Egypt in the time of Alexander the Great
(_Hist. Nat._ XIII. 79), whereas, as is mentioned above, papyrus paper of
fine quality was certainly made in Egypt nearly 2000 years before the time
of Alexander, and probably much earlier.
_Paper of fine quality._
The best kinds of papyrus paper are close in texture, with a smooth
surface, very pleasant to write upon with a reed pen, and adapted to
receive miniature paintings of great refinement and delicacy of touch. To
prevent the ink spreading or soaking into the paper, it was as a final
process sometimes soaked in size made of fish-bones or gum and water,
exactly as modern linen paper is sized. The colour of the papyrus is a pale
brown, very pleasant to the eye, and excellent as a background to the
painted decorations.
_Fibrous texture._
When it was first made, papyrus paper must have been extremely durable and
tough owing to its compound structure with two or more fibrous layers
placed cross-wise. The parallel fibrous lines of the pith are very visible
on the surface of papyrus paper; and these regular lines served as a guide
to the scribe when writing, so that when papyrus was used it was not
necessary to cover the page with ruled lines to keep the writing even, as
had to be done when the manuscript was on vellum.
In a papyrus manuscript the pages of writing are set side by side, across
the roll, with a small margin between each page or column.
_Greek examples of papyrus rolls._
A small terra-cotta statuette[19] of about the fifth or fourth century B.C.
found at Salamis in Cyprus in 1890, shows a Greek scribe writing on a long
papyrus roll placed on a low table before which he is sitting.
Among Greek vase paintings of the same date a not uncommon subject is the
poetess Sappho reading from a papyrus roll. A fourth century vase with this
subject in the Central Museum in Athens shows Sappho holding a manuscript
on which the following words are inscribed (supplying missing letters and
correcting blunders)
[Greek: THEOI ÊERIÔN EPEÔN ERCHOMAI]
[Greek: ANGELOS NEÔN UMNÔN.]
By the figure of Sappho is inscribed the beginning of her name, [Greek:
SAP] in letters of archaistic form.
_Sappho reading._
A very similar design occurs on a beautiful gem in the British Museum (B.M.
_Cat. of gems_, No. 556), which appears to date from the latter part of the
fifth century B.C. A very graceful female figure, probably meant for
Sappho, is represented seated on a chair with high curved back. She is
reading from a manuscript roll which she holds by the two rolled up ends,
holding one in each hand.
This method of holding a papyrus manuscript is shown very clearly on a vase
in the British Museum on which the same motive is painted. The lady
(Sappho) holds the two rolled up portions of the manuscript, stretching
tight the intermediate portion on which is the column of writing which she
is reading.
_Umbilicus or roller._
As the reader progressed the paper was unrolled from the roll held in the
right hand, and the part just read was rolled up in the left-hand roll.
These Greek representations do not usually show any stick or roller for the
manuscript to be rolled round; but in Roman times a wooden or ivory roller
([Greek: omphalos], _umbilicus_) was used as the core of the roll; and the
end of the long strip of papyrus by the last page or column of text was
pasted on to it. The ends of the _umbilicus_ were often fitted with a round
knob or boss, which was decorated with gilding or colour. The edges of the
papyrus roll were smoothed with pumice-stone (_pumice mundus_), and the
whole manuscript was often provided with a vellum case, which was stained a
bright colour, red, purple or yellow. Tibullus (_El._ III. i. 9) alludes to
these ornamental methods,
_Lutea sed niveum involvat membrana libellum.
Pumex et canas tondeat ante comas;_
_Atque inter geminas pingantur cornua frontes._
The _frontes_ are the edges of the roll, and the _cornua_ are the
projecting portions of the two wooden rollers.
_Inscribed titles._
The title of the manuscript was written on a ticket or slip of vellum,
which hung down from the closed roll like the pendant seal of a mediaeval
document. Thus when a number of manuscripts were piled on the shelf of an
_armarium_ the pendants hanging down from the ends of the rolls indicated
plainly what the books were, without the necessity of pulling them from
their place.
Small numbers of rolls, especially manuscripts which had to be carried
about, were often kept in round drum-like boxes (_capsae_ or _scrinia_),
with loop handles to carry them by.
_Coloured inks._
Much of the beauty of an ancient manuscript depended on the use of red or
purple ink for _headings_, _indices_ and _marginal glosses_. As Pliny says
(_Hist. Nat._ XXXIII. 122) _minium in voluminum quoque scriptura
usurpatur_.
The use of purple ink for the _index_ is mentioned by Martial in his
epigram _Ad librum suum_ (III. 2) where he sums up the various methods of
decoration which in his time were applied to manuscripts,
_Cedro nunc licet ambules perunctus,
Et frontis gemino decens honore
Pictis luxurieris umbilicis;
Et te purpura delicata velet,
Et cocco rubeat superbus index._
_Use of oil._
The oil of cedar wood, mentioned in the first of these lines, was smeared
over the back of papyrus manuscripts to preserve them from book-worms.
The act of unrolling a manuscript to read it was called _explicare_, and
when the reader had come to the end it was _opus explicitum_. In mediaeval
times from the false analogy of the word (_hic_) _incipit_, a verb
_explicit_ was invented, and was often written at the end of _codices_ to
show that the manuscript was complete to the end, though, strictly speaking
the word is only applicable to a _roll_.
_Mediaeval use of papyrus._
The use of papyrus paper for manuscripts to some extent continued till
mediaeval times. Papyrus manuscripts of the sixth and seventh century A.D.
are not uncommon, and, long after vellum had superseded papyrus paper for
the writing of books, short documents, such as letters, Papal deeds and the
like, were still frequently written on papyrus. Papal _Briefs_ on papyrus
still exist which were written as late as the eleventh century.
_Black ink._
_Carbon ink._
The _black ink_ which was used for classical manuscripts was of the kind
now known as "Indian" or more correctly "Chinese ink," which cannot be kept
in a fluid state, but has to be rubbed up with water from day to day as it
is required. One of the menial offices which Aeschines when a boy had to
perform in his father's school was "rubbing the ink," [Greek: to melan
tribôn]; see Demos. _De Corona_, p. 313. This kind of ink ([Greek: melan]
or [Greek: melanion], _atramentum librarium_) simply consists of finely
divided particles of carbon, mixed with gum or with size made by boiling
down shreds of parchment. It was obtained by burning a resinous substance
and collecting the soot on a cold flat surface, from which it could
afterwards be scraped off. The soot had then to be very finely ground,
mixed with a gummy medium and then moulded into shape and dried. The
process is described by Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ XXXV. 41; and better still by
Vitruvius, VII. 10.
_Black pigment._
A variety of this carbon pigment used for pictures on stucco by
wall-painters was called _atramentum tectorium_, modern "lamp-black"; the
only difference between this and writing ink was in the kind of glutinous
medium used with it. Careful scribes probably prepared their own ink, as
the writers of mediaeval manuscripts usually did. The common commercial
black ink of about 300 A.D. was sold at a very cheap rate, as is recorded
in an inscription containing part of Diocletian's famous edict which was
found at Megalopolis and published by Mr Loring (_Jour. Hell. Stud._ Vol.
XI., 1890, p. 318, line 46). Under the heading "Pens and ink," [Greek: Peri
kalamôn kai melaniou], the price of ink, [Greek: melanion], is fixed at 12
small copper coins the pound.
Very great skill is required to prepare carbon ink of the finest quality.
Though it is now largely manufactured in Europe, none but the Chinese can
make ink of the best sort.
In some places sepia ink from the cuttle-fish was used in ancient times;
see Persius, _Sat._ III. 12; and cf. Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ XI. 8, and XXXII.
141.
_Red inks._
The _red ink_ used for ancient manuscripts was of three different kinds,
namely red lead, vermilion or sulphuret of mercury, and red ochre. The
ancient names for these red pigments were used very indiscriminately,
[Greek: miltos], _minium_, _cinnabaris_ and _rubrica_. In some cases
[Greek: miltos] certainly means the costly vermilion; and again the word is
also used both for red lead and for the much cheaper red ochre. The latter
appears to be always meant by the name [Greek: miltos Sinôpis]; see Choisy,
_Inscrip. Lebadeia_, p. 197. The Latin words _minium_ and _rubrica_ are
used in the same vague way; see Vitruv. VII. 9; and Pliny, _Hist. Nat._
XXXV. 31 to 35.
In mediaeval manuscripts red ink (_rubrica_) was largely used not only for
headings and glosses, but also in Service books for the ritual directions,
which have hence taken the name of _rubrics_.
_Purple ink._
The purple ink (_coccus_), which Martial mentions in the passage quoted
above at page 27, was made from the _kermes_ beetle, which lives on the
ilex trees of Greece and Asia Minor. This was one of the most important of
the ancient dyes for woven stuffs and it was also used as a pigment by
painters; see below, page 246.
_Double inkstands._
The inkstands of ancient scribes were commonly made double, to hold
both black and red ink. Many examples of these from Egypt and elsewhere
still exist, and they are shown in many of the Pompeian wall-paintings.
They usually are in the form of two bronze cylinders linked together, each
with a lid which is attached by a little chain. Other inkstands are single,
little round boxes of bronze, in shape like a large pill-box. Another
method, specially common in ancient Egypt, was for the scribe to carry
about his ink, both black and red, in a solid form; he then rubbed up with
water just as much as he needed at the time. The box and palette mentioned
below was made for this use of solid inks, except that the whole thing,
handle and all, is made out of one piece of metal.
_Reed pens._
The pens used by ancient writers of manuscripts were mainly some variety of
reed ([Greek: kalamos], _calamus_ or _canna_), cut diagonally to a point
like a modern quill pen. Great numbers of reed pens have been found in
Egyptian tombs and also in Pompeii; they exactly resemble those still used
in Egypt and in Oriental countries generally.
_Metal pens._
Metal pens were also used by Greek and Roman scribes. Examples both in
silver and bronze have been found in Greece and in Italy, shaped very much
like a modern steel pen[20].
_Scribes' palettes._
In some cases manuscripts were written with a fine brush instead of a pen,
especially the hieroglyphic manuscripts of ancient Egypt. Many combined
scribes' palettes and brush cases have been found in Egyptian tombs. These
are long slips of wood, partly hollowed to hold the brushes, and with two
cup-like sinkings at one end for the writer to rub up his cakes of black
and red ink.
In Egyptian manuscripts red ink is used much more copiously than either in
Greek or Latin manuscripts. Very often the scribe writes his columns
alternately in black and red for the sake of the decorative appearance of
the page.
_Pen-cases._
Egyptian pen-cases in the form of a bronze tube about ¾ inch in diameter
and 10 inches long with a tightly fitting cap have frequently been found.
The British Museum possesses good examples of these, and of the other
writing implements here described.
_Reed pens._
The above-mentioned passage in the _Edict of Diocletian_ (see page 28)
gives the prices of reed pens ([Greek: kalamoi]) of various qualities. The
difference is very great between the best and the inferior kinds of pens;
the best quality appears to have been made from the long single joint of a
reed.
There is no evidence that quill pens were used in classical times, but it
is difficult to believe that so natural an expedient never occurred to any
ancient scribe, especially when the use of vellum for manuscripts came in;
for papyrus paper the softer reed pen would be more convenient than a
quill, and indeed for all the earlier sort of Greek and Latin writing in
large _uncial_ characters. It is only for the smaller _cursive_ writing
that a quill would be as suitable as a reed pen.
The inscription mentioned at p. 24 as giving the cost of paper in Athens in
407 B.C. is part of a record of the expenses of building the Erechtheum. It
also mentions the purchase for 4 drachmae of 4 wooden writing-tablets,
[Greek: chartai eônêthêsan duo, es has ta antigrapha enegrapsamen]
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