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Philodemus, now that his wrinkled brows owing to old age come to the laughter-loving Muses the never-moistened lead which
to hang over his eyes, dedicates to Hermes the round lead that draws that undeviating line on which is based the regularity of
draws dark lines, the pumice, rough whet-stone of hard pens, the script, the ruler which guides the course of this revolving
the knife, flat sharpener of the split reed-pens, the ruler that lead, the porous stone like a sponge, the receptacle of the
takes charge of the straightness of lines, the ink long kept in permanent ink, the pens themselves, too, their tips dyed black,
hollowed caverns and the notched pens blackened at the point. the sponge, flower of the sea, forming the meadows of the liquid
(Transl. W. R. Paton, Loeb) deep, and the knife, brazen artificer of slender pens.
(Transl. W. R. Paton, Loeb)
Anthologia Palatina 6.65:
τὸν τροχόεντα μόλιβδον, ὃς ἀτραπὸν οἶδε χαράσσειν / ὀρθὰ παραξύων Caesar, Gallic War 1.38.4:
ἰθυτενῆ κανόνα, / καὶ χάλυβα σκληρὸν καλαμηφάγον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν Namque omnium rerum quae ad bellum usui erant summa erat in
/ ἡγεμόνα γραμμῆς ἀπλανέος κανόνα, / καὶ λίθον ὀκριόεντα, δόναξ ὅθι eo oppido facultas, idque natura loci sic muniebatur, ut magnam ad
δισσὸν ὀδόντα / θήγεται ἀμβλυνθεὶς ἐκ δολιχογραφίης, / καὶ βυθίην ducendum bellum daret facultatem, propterea quod flumen Dubis ut
Τρίτωνος ἁλιπλάγκτοιο χαμεύνην, / σπόγγον, ἀκεστορίην πλαζομένης circino circumductum paene totum oppidum cingit (…).
γραφίδος, / καὶ κίστην πολύωπα μελανδόκον, εἰν ἑνὶ πάντα / εὐγραφέος For there was in that town an abundant supply of all things
τέχνης ὄργανα ῥυομένην, / Ἑρμῇ Καλλιμένης, τρομερὴν ὑπὸ γήραος needful for war, and the place was so well fortified by Nature as
ὄκνῳ / χεῖρα καθαρμόζων ἐκ δολιχῶν καμάτων. to afford great facilities for the conduct of a campaign. The river
Callimenes, resting from its long labour his sluggish hand that Dubis (Doubs), with a circuit that might have been traced by
trembles with age, dedicates to Hermes his disc of lead that compasses, surrounds well-nigh the whole town.
running correctly close to the straight ruler can deftly mark (Transl. H. J. Edwards, Loeb)
its track, the hard steel that eats the pens, the ruler itself, too, Cassius Dio 67.15.3:
guide of the undeviating line, the rough stone on which the ἤκουσα δὲ ἔγωγε καὶ ἐκεῖνο, ὅτι πάντας ἅμα αὐτοὺς ὁ Δομιτιανὸς
double-tooth of the pen is sharpened when blunted by long use, ὑποπτεύσας ἀποκτεῖναι ἠθέλησε, καί σφων τὰ ὀνόματα ἐς σανίδιον
the sponge, wandering Triton’s couch in the deep, healer of the φιλύρινον δίθυρον ἐσγράψας ὑπὸ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον ἐν τῇ κλίνῃ ἐν ᾗ
pen’s errors, and the ink-box with many cavities that holds in ἀνεπαύετο ὑπέθηκε (…).
one all the implements of calligraphy. For my part, I have heard also the following account—that
(Transl. W. R. Paton, Loeb)
Domitian, having become suspicious of these persons, conceived
Anthologia Palatina 6.66: the desire to kill them all at the same time, and wrote their
ἄβροχον ἀπλανέος μόλιβον γραπτῆρα κελεύθου, / ἧς ἔπι ῥιζοῦται names on a two-leaved tablet of linden-wood, which he placed
γράμματος ἁρμονίη, / καὶ κανόνα τροχαλοῖο κυβερνητῆρα μολίβδου, / under his pillow on the couch on which he was wont to take his
καὶ λίθακα τρητὴν σπόγγῳ ἐειδομένην, / καὶ μέλανος σταθεροῖο δοχήιον, rest (…).
ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν / εὐγραφέων καλάμων ἀκροβαφεῖς ἀκίδας, / σπόγγον, (Transl. E. Cary, H. B. Foster, Loeb)
ἁλὸς βλάστημα, χυτῆς λειμῶνα θαλάσσης, / καὶ χαλκὸν δονάκων τέκτονα
λεπταλέων, / ἐνθάδε Καλλιμένης φιλομειδέσιν ἄνθετο Μούσαις, / γήραϊ
κεκμηὼς ὄμματα καὶ παλάμην.
Here Callimenes, his eye and hand enfeebled by age, dedicates
