Page 126 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

126| MANUAL OF ROMAN EVERYDAY WRITING
praelata omnibus Claudia, Augustae in epistulis auctoritas relicta;
Liviana suam tenuit, cui nihil e prima erat sed omnia e secunda. (81)
Scabritia levigatur dente conchave, sed caducae litterae fiunt: minus
sorbet politura charta, magis splendet. rebellat saepe umor incuriose
datus primo, malleoque deprehenditur, aut etiam odore cum cura fuit
indiligentior. deprehenditur et lentigo oculis, sed inserta mediis
glutinamentis taenea fungo papyri bibula vix nisi littera fundente se:
tantum inest fraudis. alius igitur iterum texendis labor. (82) Glutinum
vulgare e pollinis flore temperatur fervente aqua, minimo aceti aspersu,
nam fabrile cummisque fragilia sunt. diligentior cura mollia panis
fermentati colat aqua fervente; minimum hoc modo intergerivi, atque
etiam lini lenitas superatur. omne autem glutinum nec vetustius esse
debet uno die nec recentius. postea malleo tenuatur et glutino
percurritur, iterumque constricta erugatur atque extenditur malleo..
The process of making paper from papyrus is to split it with a
needle into very thin strips made as broad as possible, the best
quality being in the centre of the plant, and so on in the order of
its splitting up. The first quality used to be called ‘hieratic
paper’ and was in early times devoted solely to books connected
with religion, but in a spirit of flattery it was given the name of
Augustus, just as the second best was called ‘Livia paper after
his consort, and thus the name ‘hieratic’ came down to the third
class. The next quality had been given the name of
‘amphitheatre paper,’ from the place of its manufacture. This
paper was taken over by the clever workshop of Fannius at
Rome, and its texture was made finer by a careful process of
insertion, so that it was changed from common paper into one
of first-class quality, and received the name of the maker; but
the paper of this kind that did not have this additional treatment
remained in its own class as amphitheatre paper. Next to this is
the Saitic paper named from the town where it is produced in
the greatest abundance, being made from shavings of inferior
quality, and the Taeneotic, from a neighbouring place, made
from material still nearer the outside skin, in the case of which
we reach a variety that is sold by mere weight and not for its
quality. As for what is called ‘emporitic’ paper, it is no good for
VOLUME 2: WRITING EQUIMENT | 127
writing but serves to provide covers for documents and wrappers
for merchandise, and consequently takes its name from the
Greek word for a merchant. After this comes the actual papyrus,
and its outermost layer, which resembles a rush and is of no use
even for making ropes except those used in water. Paper of all
kinds is ‘woven’ on a board moistened with water from the Nile,
muddy liquid supplying the effect of glue. First an upright layer
is smeared on to the table, using the full length of papyrus
available after the trimmings have been cut off at both ends, and
afterwards cross strips complete the lattice-work. The next step
is to press it in presses, and the sheets are dried in the sun and
then joined together, the next strip used always diminishing in
quality down to the worst of all. There are never more than
twenty sheets to a roll.
There is a great difference in the breadth of the various kinds of
paper: the best is thirteen inches wide, the hieratic two inches
less, the Fannian measures ten inches and the amphitheatre
paper one less, while the Saitic is still fewer inches across and is
not as wide as the mallet used in making it, as the emporitic
kind is so narrow that it does not exceed six inches. Other points
looked at in paper are fineness, stoutness, whiteness and
smoothness. The status of best quality was altered by the
emperor Claudius. The reason was that the thin paper of the
period of Augustus was not strong enough to stand the friction
of the pen, and moreover as it let the writing show through
there was a fear of a smudge being caused by what was written
on the back, and the great transparency of the paper had an
unattractive look in other respects. Consequently the foundation
was made of leaves of second quality and the woof or cross layer
of leaves of the first quality. Claudius also increased the width of
the sheet, making it a foot across. There were also eighteen-
inch sheets called ‘macrocola,’ but examination detected a defect
in them, as tearing off a single strip damaged several pages. On
this account Claudius paper has come to be preferred to all other
kinds, although the Augustus kind still holds the field for
correspondence; but Livia paper, having no quality of a first-