Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Excursus II - The Books
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Summary
SCHWARZ, in his learned dissertation, De ornamentis libra rum apud veteres usilatis, has treated in detail about the external form of the books of the ancients; mixing up, it is true, much that could be dispensed with. Still much remains, even after his laborious enquiry, to be corrected and explained; and the rolls that have been discovered in Herculaneum, will afford a partial enlightenment. Some points have been touched on by Bekker, ad Tibull. iii. 1, and Elegeia Romana, 242.
The material on which the books were generally written, was the fine bark (the liber, the single layers, philyrœ) of the Ægyptian Papyrus, which, at the time of Augustus, had been brought into such a state of perfection, by preparation and bleaching (ablutio), that the quality formerly considered the best (hieratica), was now only ranked as third rate, while that named after Augustus took the first place, and the next to it bore the name of Livia. There were various manufactories of it at Rome: Plin. xiii. 12, 23, says, after speaking of the kinds above-mentioned, Proximum (nomen) amphitheatricœ datum fuerat a confecturœm loco. Excepit hanc Romœ Fannii sagax officina, tenuatamque curiosa interpolatione principalem fecit e plebeia et nomen ei dedit. Quœ non esset ita recurata, in suo mansit umphitheatrica. He mentions eight sorts in all, the commonest of which, the emporetica, was unfit for writing on, and only used for packing with, whence its name (a mercatoribus cognominatata).
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- GallusOr, Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus, pp. 238 - 244Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1844