Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-06-27
BOOKS OF The
OLD ROMANS.

Many boys while they are at school
have to learn In the course Of some OF
their lessons about Roman history and
the home life Of that remarkable peo'
pie Of Italy In the olden time. 1t is no
wonder that our boys have been sur
prised at the great achievements OF
the Romans. for they were indeed
fighting and conquering race.
Some people may say the Romans
were not as clever as the Greeks. Per.
haps not, still they were wise, and, be-
sides war, they understood arts and
sciences. Many Of them could speak
and write we'll. They made good use
Of the books which they had.
The Romans had many books and
turned them to good account, though
they never had any printed books. mag
azines or newspapers, such as We have
In abundance.
When Rome was at the height OF Its
prosperity most Of the well to do citi-
zens had their libraries. The books OF
the Romans were really rolls. There
fore it would seem they did not ar
range them on shelves, as we put our
books, showing the titles at the backs.
They were distinguished. however.
from each other by strips of parch-
ment on which the title was written
In red, but 1t is not certain wheth1
they fastened the strip to the roll SO as
to hang down In front or stuck 1t nat
on the outside.
When people dug up the remains OF
the city Herculaneum they found
room which had been a library. and
there was proof that the rolls had been
kept in cupboards placed along the
wall Some say It was also usual 10
keep rolls in what We now call pigeon
holes. A stick or piece Of reed was Sc
cured to the last page Of the roll or
written book, the ends Of which had
knobs. gilded or painted, or Of ivory.
To keep 1t better protected parchment
wrapper was often put upon a roll as
a cover.
These ancient books or rolls were
mostly made Of the bark Of the Egyp-
tan papyrus, a sort Of water reed,
which was carefully prepared. and
made a stout paper, Of which there
were several qualities. PlIny says they
made eight kinds from this reed. The
best was called Augustus, after the
emperor. The coarsest could not be
written upon and only served for pack
Ing up parcels.
Parchment was the material selected
for some rolls, but the objection to this
was its cost. We read sometimes about
composition being written upon silk.
This, however, was only used In spe-
cial cases. OF such rolls only few
existed. Leather also was sometimes
covered with writing. But, whatever
the material which was chosen. 1t only
had writing upon one side, 30 that
when the words on a roll were nearly
rubbed out or the work was no longer
to be preserved 1t was easy to write
upon the blank side. Most OF the rolls
upon which the Roman children did
their sums and wrote their exercises
were those which had become old or
useless.
The outsides Of rolls seem to have
been washed over with an aromatic
liquid Of yellow color to keep OF the
attacks Of insects.
The Romans and probably the an.
clients generally used an ink thicker
than ours. something Like india ink,
30 that the writing seemed to be raised
ABOVE the page-in fact, It was sort
Of paint. But It is said that they also
used q black fuid obtained from the
cuttleHsh. The pen was not the quill
of bird, but reed, carefully pointed
and split.