Page 131 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

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mortario carbonibus. mira in hoc saepiarum natura, sed ex iis non fit. Quintilian, Orator’s Education 10.3.31:
omne autem atramentum sole perficitur, librarium cumme, tectorium Scribi optime ceris, in quibus facillima est ratio delendi, nisi forte visus
glutino admixto. quod aceto liquefactum est, aegre eluitur. infirmior membranarum potius usum exiget, quae ut iuvant aciem,
Black pigment will also be classed among the artificial colours, ita crebra relatione, quoad intinguntur calami, morantur manum et
although itc is also derived from earth in two ways; it either cogitationis impetum frangunt.
exudes from the earth like the brine in salt pits, or actual earth It is best to write on wax, where it is easiest to erase, unless
of a sulphur colour is approved for the purpose. Painters have weak sight demands the use of parchment instead; but though
been known to dig up charred remains from graves thus violated this is better for the eyes, it delays the hand and breaks off the
to supply it. All these plans are troublesome and new-fangled; flow of the thought, because of the frequent movement to and
for black paint can be made in a variety of ways from the soot fro, whenever the pen is dipped in the ink.
produced by burning resin or pitch, owing to which factories (Transl. D. A. Russell, Loeb)
have actually been built with no exit for the smoke produced Quintilian, Orator’s Education 10.3.32:
by this process. The most esteemed black paint is obtained in Ne latas quidem ultra modum esse ceras velim, expertus iuvenem
the same way from the wood of the pitch-pine. It is adulterated studiosum alioqui praelongos habuisse sermones quia illos numero
by mixing it with the soot of furnaces and baths, which is used versuum metiebatur, idque vitium, quod frequenti admonitione corrigi
as a material for writing. Some people calcine dried wine-lees, non potuerat, mutatis codicibus esse sublatum.
and declare that if the lees from a good wine are used this ink I do not advise unduly wide wax tablets, because I knew a
has the appearance of Indian ink. The very celebrated painters young man, otherwise a good student, who wrote excessively
Polygnotus and Micon at Athens made black paint from the long pieces, because he measured them by the number of lines;
skins of grapes, and called it grape-lees ink. Apelles invented this fault, which could not be corrected by repeated warnings,
the method of making black from burnt ivory; the Greek name disappeared when his notebook was changed.
for this is elephantinon. There is also an Indian black, imported (Transl. D. A. Russell, Loeb)
from India, the composition of which I have not yet discovered.
A black is also produced with dyes from the black florescence Quintilian, Orator’s Education 10.4.1:
which adheres to bronze pans. One is also made by burning Sequitur emendatio, pars studiorum longe utilissima: neque enim sine
logs of pitch-pine and pounding the charcoal in a mortar. causa creditum est stilum non minus agere cum delet.
The cuttle-fish has a remarkable property in forming a black Next comes Correction, much the most useful part of study. It
secretion, but no colour is made from this. The preparation of has been held, and not without reason, that the pen is as active
all black is completed by exposure to the sun, black for writing as it ever is when it scratches something out.
ink receiving an admixture of gum and black for painting walls (Transl. D. A. Russell, Loeb)
an admixture of glue. Black pigment that has been dissolved in Seneca, De Clementia 1.14:
vinegar is difficult to wash out. Numquid aliquis sanus filium a prima offensa exheredat? nisi magnae
(Transl. H. Rackham, Loeb)
et multae iniuriae patientiam evicerunt, nisi plus est, quod timet, quam
Propertius 3.1.8: quod damnat, non accedit ad decretorium stilum.
Exactus tenui pumice versus eat. Does any father in his senses disinherit a son for his first
Let my verse run smoothly, perfected with fine pumice.
(Transl. G. P. Goold, Loeb)