Page 127 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

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