Page 117 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

116| MANUAL OF ROMAN EVERYDAY WRITING VOLUME 2: WRITING EQUIMENT | 117

a liar than the Parthians: before sunrise I wake, and call for pen, naturaliter existunt. Luteum membranum bicolor est, quod a confectore
paper, and book-buckets. una tingitur parte, id est crocatur.
(Transl. after H. Rushton Fairclough, Loeb) Parchment comes in white or yellowish or purple. The white
exists naturally. Yellowish parchment is of two colors, because
Horace, Epistles 2.1.235–237: one side of it is dyed, that is yellowed, by the manufacturer.
Sed veluti tractata notam labemque remittunt / atramenta, fere (Transl. S. A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof,
scriptores carmine foedo / splendida facta linunt. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, Cambridge 2006)
But as ink when handled leaves mark and stain, so ofttimes with
unseemly verse poets put a blot on bright exploits. Juvenal 3.203–207:
(Transl. H. Rushton Fairclough, Loeb) Lectus erat Cordo Procula minor, urceoli sex / ornamentum abaci, nec
non et parvulus infra / cantharus et recubans sub eodem marmore
Horace, Satires 1.4.21–23: Chiron, / iamque vetus Graecos servabat cista libellos / et divina opici
Beatus Fannius ultro / delatis capsis et imagine, cum mea nemo / rodebant carmina mures.
scripta legat volgo recitare timentis (…). Cordus’ possessions were: a bed too small for Procula, six
Happy fellow, Fannius, who has delivered his books and bust small jugs to decorate his sideboard, and, underneath, a little
unasked! My writings no one reads, and I fear to recite them in centaur, Chiron, made from the same ‘marble,’ and a box, by
public (…). now ancient, which kept his little Greek books safe—and the
(Transl. H. Rushton Fairclough, Loeb)
philistine mice were gnawing the immortal poems.
Horace, Satires 10.72–74: (Transl. S. Morton Braund, Loeb)
Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint / scripturus, neque te ut Juvenal 10.114–117:
miretur turba labores, / contentus paucis lectoribus. Eloquium ac famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis / incipit optare et totis
Often must you turn your pencil to erase, if you hope to write quinquatribus optat / quisquis adhuc uno parcam colit asse Minervam,
something worth a second reading, and you must not strive to quem sequitur custos angustae vernula capsae.
catch the wonder of the crowd, but be content with the few as The eloquence and reputation of Demosthenes or Cicero is what
your readers. boys keep on praying for throughout the spring holidays, every
(Transl. H. Rushton Fairclough, Loeb)
boy who goes to school accompanied by a house slave to guard
Isidorus, Origins 6.8.18: his narrow satchel and who still worships thrifty Minerva with a
Ante cartae et membranarum usum in (de)dolatis ex ligno codicillis single tiny coin.
epistolarum eloquia scribebantur (…). (Transl. S. Morton Braund, Loeb)
Before the use of papyrus sheets or parchment, the contents of Livy 4.20.8:
letters were written on shingles hewn from wood (…). Quis ea in re sit error, quod tam veteres annales quodque magistratuum
(Transl. S. A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof, libri, quos linteos in aede repositos Monetae Macer Licinius citat
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, Cambridge 2006)
identidem auctores, septimo post demum anno cum T. Quinctio Poeno
Isidorus, Origins 6.11.4: A. Cornelium Cossum consulem habeant, existimatio communis
Membrana autem aut candida aut lutea aut purpurea sunt. Candida omnibus est.