Page 135 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

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unwillingness to die, as because of the entreaties of his friends; remisit.
and he met a natural death while still in confinement. In the same test of justice L. Crassus behaved no differently.
(Transl. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb) He had launched a prosecution against Cn. Carbo in a spirit of
hostility, for Carbo was his bitter enemy. All the same, when a
Symphosius, Aenigmata 1: slave brought him a briefcase of Carbo’s containing a quantity
Graphium. of material with which he could easily have been brought down,
De summo planus sed non ego planus in imo / versor utrimque manu. Crassus returned it to him sealed as it was along with the slave
diverso munere fungor: / altera pars revocat quicquid pars altera fecit. in chains.
I am flat at the top but not flat at the bottom, I turn either way (Transl. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Loeb)
in the hand. I have a conflicting task: one part of me undoes
whatever the other part did. Vitruvius 1.1.4:
(Transl. A. Willi) Geometria autem plura praesidia praestat architecturae; et primum ex
euthygrammis circini tradit usum, e quo maxime facilius aedificiorum
Symphosius, Aenigmata 2: in areis expediuntur descriptiones normarumque et librationum et
Harundo. linearum directiones.
Dulcis amica dei, ripae vicina profundae, / suave canens Musis, nigro Mathematics again furnishes many resources to architecture.
perfusa colore, / nuntia sum linguae digitis signata magistris. It teaches the use of rule and compass and thus facilitates the
A sweet friend to the god, a neighbour to the fathomless bank, laying out of buildings on their sites by the use of set-squares,
singing sweetly for the Muses, steeped in black, I am the levels and alignments.
messenger of the tongue when distinguished by the master’s (Transl. F. Granger, Loeb)
fingers.
(Transl. A. Willi) Vitruvius 7.10.2:
In fornace resina conlocatur. Hanc autem ignis potestas urendo cogit
Tacitus, Annals 5.8: emittere per nares intra laconicum fuliginem, quae circa parietem et
Mox crebris prolationibus spem ac metum iuxta gravatus Vitellius petito camerae curvaturam adhaerescit. Inde collecta partim componitur
per speciem studiorum scalpro levem ictum venis intulit vitamque ex gummi subacta1 ad usum atramenti librarii, reliquum tectores
aegritudine animi finivit. glutinum admiscentes in parietibus utuntur.
Later, as adjournment followed adjournment, Vitellius, anxious Resin is placed in the furnace. Now the fiery potency burns
to be rid alike of hope and fear, asked for a penknife on the it and compels it to emit soot through the outlets into the
ground that he wished to write, slightly incised an artery, and in chamber. The soot clings round the walls and vaulting of the
the sickness of his heart made an end of life. chamber. It is then collected and in part compounded with gum
(Transl. J. Jackson, Loeb)
and worked up for the use of writing ink; the rest is mixed with
Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings 6.5.6: size and used by fresco-painters for colouring walls.
Nec aliter <se> L. Crassus in eodem iustitiae experimento gessit. Cn. (Transl. F. Granger, Loeb)
Carbonis nomen infesto animo utpote inimicissimi sibi detulerat, sed
tamen scrinium eius a servo allatum ad se, complura continens quibus
facile opprimi posset, ut erat signatum cum servo catenato ad eum