Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-10-18

script roll. When the safe OF the booty
occurred this manuscript was put up az
auction. and. 20 the surprise and delight
OF. one or two scholars with the army. IL
proved to be the missing Pandects. IL
was purchased for the State: was car
red TO Pisa In triumph as a national
copylsis were set to work to transcrIbe
IT, In Pisa IL remained as precious
possession until ms. when the city was
taken by the F'lorentihes. who. In turn;
seized upon the manuscript as booty ana
carried II to Florence. where II has ever
since remained. To this one copy scholars
owe almost all they know Of the system
OF Roman law. The works of Quin-
biz of good fortune. a Florentine scholar,
rummagng In the library OF an Italian
monastery. discovered the manuscript
from which all our texts have been made.
BEFORE his time none OF the writings or
Ouintillian were known 10 be in existence.
and the lovers Of learning bewaied their
loss n irreparable. Fragments survived
in the writings OF later men. fact that
caused all the more concern at the loss
of the original. The discovery placed the
whole body Of ancient rhetoric before
the modern world and first gave 1t an
idea Of the real greatness OF the author
OF the Institutes.
THE PALIMPSESTS.
No wilder romance was ever conceived
than the story OF the recovery OF the
works OF more than one ancient author
after the writing on the parchment had
been purpOselv obliterated. After the con-
quest of Egypt by the Saraccns. the sup
plv OF papyrus. which then constituted the
principal medium OF writing in Europe,
was completely cut of. and the occupa
ton of the highlands OF Asia Minor ~
the same race seriously diminished the
supply Of parchment. Its excessive cost
rendered the latter almost unattalnable
for writing purposes ana the MONKS then
the only scribes. turned TO the ancient
manuscripts OF the pagan authors for
their writing materials. II should be un-
derstOOd that by the cleriCs Of the Mid
die Ages the pagan writers were held IN
supreme contempt. In all the Libraries ST.
lence was strictly enforced. and all com
municatiOn was carried on by signs. The
slgn by which "A monk asked the librarian
for d pagan author was scratching the
ear Ike a dog. Holding them IN this low
esteem the scribes of the monasteries had
little hesitation IN erasing the writing
from a manuscript volume OF Cicero or ' II
xii in order 10 obtain parchment for SER
mon cr set "a prayers, ana thus did the
writings of the Greeks and Romans suffer
"A severe and In some cases irreparable
loss. When the Work or the eraser was
well done il was impossible 10 decipher
the underlying lines Of writing, but. fortu-
natriy the monks were often lazy. and,
In many cases, carried the process or
CELEBRATION only far enough 10 render
the lines of the original dim and indis-
tinct 50 that by careful inspection the
whole or. at least. the greater part, could
b. made out by an expert in such work.
4 very sl0venly job OF Obdtcraton at
tractei the attention Of Cardinal Mai.
who. by carefully experimenting with va
riOus chemicals. finally succeeded in eras-
ing the later writing and thus recovering
the original \ resort To- chemicals, how
. ever. is not always necessary. for SO care
less were the defaCers Of parchment that
often the earlier writings can be read
with little difficulty, under the lines of
the hOmilY or SANITY legend that cove RS
la words a Greek nUllusOnher
man sage A number Of works of anti
guilty have been recovered in this way,
among them the DE Republica" Of Cice-
10. and portions OF the writings Of not IL
few Of the poets.
THE ROLLS OF POMPEU.
For long time after excavations began
at Pompeii and Herculaneum the work
men frequently noticed small cylinders OF
what seemed to be charcoal. They We're
perfect in form, but exceedingly friable.
breaking into fragments at touch OF
the pick. Nobody for many years attached
any consequence TO these charred cylIn-
ders. and hundreds OF them were destroy
cd in the course Of the excavations. At
last the men e me upon room fitted up
with stone shelves, ana upon these We're
found disposed in regular order several
scores of the curious charcoal rolls. \
scholar who happened TO be present on
this occasion at once came to the con-
clusiOn that these cylinders of charcoal
were in reality ancient books. The pro-
pricty Of preserving them ut once sug-
gested itself to all concerned, and all the
rolls were removed with sedulous care
10 place Of safety. What TO DO with
them was the next question, Tor the heat
that consumed the Wood Of the houses
ana that Of the ashes which descended ON
the Inflated cities was 50 great that TN"
parchment or papyrus Of which they were
composed had been cctccrted into a moss
Of coal, and attempts TO unroll them ana
decipher their contents were manifesty
doomed Ia disappointment. But the in
genuity OF the scholarly world was not
10 be bafllcd Curiosity was reused TO
the highest pitch by the widely-circulated
lost books Of Tdcitus and Ivy danced
before the eyes OF the classclsts. ana
from every part Of Europe came hints,
suEges lions. and advice as to the best
method OF dealing with the rolls! At last.
an inventive genius discovered that By
soaking the roll in water and thus msa-
surably scftening H.. the layers of parch-
Inent could be removed with knife. one
line AT a time, and enough Of the writing
could be deciphcred to enable reason
able guess 10 be- made at the contents
OF the manuscript. With Infinite pains,
roll was thus taken apart in sections
and read when II proved TO BE- a volume
Of obscene stories. Another was similarly
treated, and found TO be composed OF
poems. If possible. worse than The stories.
Not discouraged, others were opened but
evidently come upon the library Of some
wOrshiper of Venus, who delighted in
salaoous literature. and, in disgust, the
restores gave up their Job and allowed
the rest Of the rolls to rep0se. undistnrbed
on the shelves Of the museum. at Naples.
MANUSCRIPTS AND JEWELS.
There have been times when manuscript
books were as highly valued and as costly
as precious stones. There are printed
books at the present day worth ten times
their weight in gold, but the manuscripts
OF antiquity, in the age when Europe
awoke 10 the value Of these literary relies,
valued at prices in COMPARISON with
which the cost OF an edition de Luxe sinks
into insignhcance. Being so valuable, they
were often stolen, and still more ire
quently pawnod. When they were bor-
rowed. as they sometimes were. even
then the borrower was forced 10 deposit
Il considerable sum in pledge for the
return OF the loan. Louis II. once
desired To obtain d manuscript Of Rasis,
an Arabian. from the library Of Paris.
IN order 10 have copy made for his
own use, but ithe authorities OF the
library positively refused To allow the
volume to leave their care until a deposit
OF lOJ golden crowns had been made, and
the wrathful King. compelled to comply
with their terms, ordered portion OF the
royal plate to be sold Ia order 10 raise
the money. According 20 D'lsraeli. a
French baron IL III offered deposit
Of ten marks as a pledge for the return
Of copy Of "Avcenna,' and the Offer
was refused. being deemed entirely in
adequate. As articles OF barter and sale.
manuscripts that were greatly in demand
sometimes changed hands for queer con-
slderatiOns. IA 1921. the Countess OF An
lou desired a book OF homilies for her
spiritual reiTeshment, and stood so greatly
N need Of IL, that after some dckerng,
she became the possessor, paying for ii
20 sheep, with such lambs as followed
them, forty martin skins. and sixty
bushels each OF wheat and rye. Borrow
ing WAS as dangerous a business then
for the lender as ii is to-day. petrarch
lost Cicoro's Essay on Glory" by lend
ing IL to an aged man. who had once been
his tutor. The poor. old man, in the
extremity Of want, pawned the volume,
and a few hours later died very suddenly.
The treatise was never recovered. IL is
probable indeed, that many of the works
OF the ancient writers. which were eX-
,ort a cottuIa of hundred wears 400 haXa