"The portion of the volume which has fallen into the possession of Mr. Arden contains 'fifteen continuous columns of the "Oration for Lycophron," to which work three of Mr. Harris's fragments appertained; and likewise the "Oration for Euxenippus," which is quite complete and in beautiful preservation. Whether, as Mr. Babington observes in his preface to the work, any more scraps of the "Oration for Lycophron" or of the "Oration against Demosthenes" remain to be discovered, either in Thebes or elsewhere, may be doubtful, but is certainly worth the inquiry of learned travellers.' The condition, however, of the fragments obtained by Mr. Harris but too significantly indicate the hopelessness of success. The scroll had evidently been more frequently rolled and unrolled in that particular part, namely, the speech of Hyperides in a matter of such peculiar interest as that involving the honor of the most celebrated orator of antiquity; it had been more read and had been more thumbed by ancient fingers than any other speech in the whole volume; and hence the terrible gap between Mr. Harris's and Mr. Arden's portions Those who are acquainted with the brittle, friable nature of a roll of papyrus in the dry climate of Thebes, after being buried two thousand years or more and then coming first into the hands of a ruthless Arab, who, perhaps, had rudely snatched it out of the sarcophagus of the mummied scribe, will well understand how dilapidations occur. It frequently happens that a single roll, or possibly an entire box, of such fragile treasures is found in the tomb of some ancient philologist or man of learning, and that the possession is immediately disputed by the company of Arabs who may have embarked on the venture. To settle the dispute, when there is not a scroll for each member of the company, an equitable division is made by dividing the papyrus and distributing the portions. Thus, in this volume of Hyperides, it seems that it has fallen into two pieces at the place where it had most usually been opened, and where, alas! it would have been most desirable to have kept it whole; and that the smaller fragments have been lost amid the dust and rubbish of the excavation, while the two extremities have been made distinct properties, which have been sold, as we have seen, to separate collectors. So, at all events, such matters are managed at Thebes.
"Mr. Harris mentions fragments of the 'Iliad,' which he had purchased of some of the Arab disturbers of the dead in the sacred cemeteries of Middle Egypt, most probably Saccara."
The oldest known specimens of the Greek papyri and which were found in Egypt, have a range of one thousand years; that is, from the third century B. C. to the seventh century A. D.
The first discovery of Greek papyri was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Papyrus, however, in the most ancient, periods was not the only pliable material used to write on which could be rolled on cylinders. Linen or cloth, which had been first treated with substances which filled the interstices and characteristic of our oil-cloth, the inner bark of certain trees, or in fact any material which would receive ink and roll around a cylinder was in vogue. This form of manuscript was later termed by the Romans rolles, to roll round, or more commonly volvere, to roll over.
It is not certain, however, that this character of manuscript immediately superseded the tablet form of records inscribed on wood or metal. Noel Humphreys is one of several to suggest:
"The reference to the 'pen of a ready writer,' mentioned in the Psalms of David (B. C. 1086- 1016) could scarcely be the sharp point, or stilus, by means of which characters were engraved upon wood or metal, but rather the calamus or juncas, used for writing with a dark fluid upon bark or linen. The word volume indeed occurs in Psalms xxxix., and these volumina or volumes must have been either rolls of leaves, or bark, or Egyptian papyrus."
Some writers like Casley, Purcelli, Haygen, Calmet, and others, who also more or less discuss this subject, do not view it entirely the same.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ANCIENT INK BACKGROUNDS (PARCHMENT AND VELLUM).
THE PERGAMUS LIBRARY COMPOSED PRINCIPALLY OF
PARCHMENT VOLUMES—CAUSES WHICH CONTRIBUTED
TO THE SUBSTITUTION OF PARCHMENT FOR PAPYRUS
—ANECDOTE ABOUT EUMENES AND PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS—
INVENTION OF METHOD WHICH MADE SKINS
AVAILABLE FOR FLUID INK WRITING—INTRODUCTION
OF DRESSED SKINS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE
MODERN FORM OF BOOKS—WHEN PARCHMENT AND
VELLUM SUPERSEDED OTHER SUBSTANCES AS A GENERAL
MATERIAL FOR WRITING UPON—MANUFACTURE
OF BARK PAPER PREVIOUS TO THE INTRODUCTION OF
THE LINEN PAPER OF THE EAST—SOME OBSERVATIONS
ABOUT CHINESE PAPER—ALLUSIONS OF CLASSICAL
WRITERS TO INSCRIPTIONS ON SKINS AND DISCOVERY
OF SPECIMENS—EMPLOYMENT OF PARCHMENT BY THE
HEBREWS—OLD SCRIPTURAL MSS. DISCOVERED ON
PARCHMENT—NAMES OF THE MOST VALUABLE NEW
TESTAMENT CODICES—STORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF
THE SINAITIC CODEX AS TOLD BY MADAN—ASSERTION
OF SIMONIDES THAT HE FORGED IT—PAMLIMPSESTS
THE LINK BETWEEN CLASSICAL TIMES AND THE MIDDLE
AGES—OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THEM AND SOME DISCOVERIES
OF THE MORE FAMOUS ONES—USE OF PAPYRUS,
PARCHMENT AND VELLUM TOGETHER IN MSS.
BOOKS—OBSERVATIONS BY THOMPSON—CHARACTER
OF THE ROLLS AND RECORDS BELONGING TO EARLY
PARLIAMENTARY TIMES IN ENGLAND—COMPARATIVE
METHODS OF THEIR PREPARATION—MODES OF DEPOSITING
AND CARRYING ANCIENT ENGLISH RECORDS
—METHOD OF FINDING PARTICULAR DOCUMENTS—
THE INDIVIDUALS WHO HANDLED THE BOOKS OF THOSE
EPOCHS—CITATIONS FROM KNIGHT'S "LIFE OF
CAXTON"—REMARKS BY WARTON—EXPENSE ACCOUNT OF
SIR JOHN HOWARD—METHODS OF THE TRANSCRIBERS
AND LIMNERS OF THOSE TIMES—MODERN METHODS
OF PREPARING PARCHMENT AND VELLUM—CITATION
FROM THE PENNY CYCLOPaeDIA—PASSAGE FROM A
SERMON OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF TOURS—ANECDOTE
ABOUT THE COUNT OF NEVERS.