The running title at the top of each page is in small rustic capitals.[6] On the verso of each folio stands the word EPISTVLARVM; on the recto of the following folio stands the number of the book, e.g., LIB. II, LIB. III.

To judge by our fragment, each book was preceded by an index of addresses and initial lines written in alternating lines of black and red uncials. Alternating lines of black and red rustic capitals of a large size were used in the colophon.[7]

[Ornamentation] As in all our oldest Latin manuscripts, the ornamentation is of the simplest kind. Such as it is, it is mostly found at the end and beginning of books. In our case, the colophon is enclosed between two scrolls of vine-tendrils terminating in an ivy-leaf at both ends. The lettering in the colophon and in the running title is set off by means of ticking above and below the line.

Red is used for decorative purposes in the middle line of the colophon, in the scroll of vine-tendrils, in the ticking, and in the border at the end of the Index on fol. 49. Red was also used, to judge by our fragment, in the first three lines of a new book,[8] in the addresses in the Index, and in the addresses preceding each letter.

[Corrections] The original scribe made a number of corrections. The omitted line of the Index on fol. 49 was added between the lines, probably by the scribe himself, using a finer pen; likewise the omitted line on fol. 52v, lines 7-8. A number of slight corrections come either from the scribe or from a contemporary reader; the others are by a somewhat later hand, which is probably not more recent than the seventh century.[9] The method of correcting varies. As a rule, the correct letter is added above the line over the wrong letter; occasionally it is written over an erasure. An omitted letter is also added above the line over the space where it should be inserted. Deletion of single letters is indicated by a dot placed over the letter and a horizontal or an oblique line drawn through it. This double use of expunction and cancellation is not uncommon in our oldest manuscripts. For details on the subject of corrections, see the notes on [pp. 23-34].

There is a ninth-century addition on fol. 53 and one of the fifteenth century on fol. 51. On fol. 49, in the upper margin, a fifteenth-century hand using a stilus or hard point scribbled a few words, now difficult to decipher.[10] Presumably the same hand drew a bearded head with a halo. Another relatively recent hand, using lead, wrote in the left margin of fol. 53v the monogram QR[11] and the roman numerals i, ii, iii under one another. These numerals, as Professor Rand correctly saw, refer to the works of Pliny the Elder enumerated in the text. Further activity by this hand, the date of which it is impossible to determine, may be seen, for example, on fol. 49v, ll. 8, 10, 15; fol. 52, ll. 4, 10, 13, 21, 22; fol. 53, ll. 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 27; fol. 53v, ll. 5, 10, 15.

[Syllabification] Syllables are divided after a vowel or diphthong except where such a division involves beginning the next syllable with a group of consonants.[12] In that case the consonants are distributed between the two syllables, one consonant going with one syllable and the other with the following, except when the group contains more than two successive consonants, in which case the first consonant goes with the first syllable, the rest with the following syllable. That the scribe is controlled by this mechanical rule and not by considerations of pronunciation is obvious from the division san|ctissimum and other examples found below. The method followed by him is made amply clear by the examples which occur in our twelve pages:[13]

fo. 48r, line 1,con–suleret
2,sescen–ties
3,ex–ta
7,fal–si
fo. 49v, line 3,spu–rinnam
5,senesce–re
7,distin–ctius
12,se–nibus
13,con–ueniunt
15,spurin–na
18,circum–agit
20,mi–lia
24,prae–sentibus
25,grauan–tur
fo. 50r, line 1,singu–laris
4,an–tiquitatis
5,au–dias
9,ite–rum
11,scri–bit
12,ly–rica
15,scri–bentis
17,octa–ua
19,uehe–menter
20,exer–citationis
21,se–nectute
22,paulis–per
23,le–gentem
fo. 50v, line 2,de–lectatur
3,co–moedis
4,uolupta–tes
5,ali–quid
6,lon–gum
11,senec–tut
12,uo–to
13,ingres–surus
14,ae–tatis
15,in–terim
16,ho–rum
20,re–xit
21,me–ruit
22,eun–dem
25,epis–tulam
fo. 51r, line 2,mi–hi
4,afria–nus
6,facultati–bus
7,super–sunt
8,gra–uitate
9,consi–lio
10,ut–or
13,ar–dentius
23,con–feras
24,habe–bis
27,concu–piscat
fo. 51v, line 3,san–ctissimum
5,memo–riam
10,pater–nus
11,contige–rit
12,lau–de
14,hones–tis
15,refe–rat
17,contuber–nium
21,circumspi–ciendus
22,scho–lae
24,nos–tro
27,praecep–tor
fo. 52r, line 2,demon–strare
5,iudi–cio
6,gra–uis
8,quan–tum
9,cre–dere
12,mag–nasque
13,ge–nitore
16,nes[cis]–se
19,nomi–na
20,fauen–tibus
23,dis–citur
fo. 52v, line 1,uidean–tur
3,con–silium
5,concu–pisco
6,pecu–nia
7,excucuris–sem
10,se–natu
12,ne–cessitatibus
19,postulaue–runt
21,bae–bium
23,clari–sima
25,in–quam
26,excusa–tionis
fo. 53r, line 1,com (or con)–pulit
5,ueni–ebat
7,iniu–rias
8,ex–secutos
10,prae–terea
12,aduoca–tione
13,con–seruandum
15,com–paratum
16,sub–uertas
17,cumu–les
18,obliga–ti
23,tris–tissimum
fo. 53v, line 2,facili–orem
3,si–quis
5,offi–ciorum
7,praepara–tur
8,super–est
10,sim–plicitas
11,compro–bantis
14,diligen–ter
20,cog–nitio
22,milita–ret
26,exsol–uit

[Orthography] The spelling found in our six leaves is remarkably correct. It compares favorably with the best spelling encountered in our oldest Latin manuscripts of the fourth and fifth centuries. The diphthong ae is regularly distinguished from e. The interchange of b and u, d and t, o and u, so common in later manuscripts, is rare here: the confusion between b and u occurs once (comprouasse, fo. 52v, l. 1); the omission of h occurs once (pulcritudo, fo. 51v, l. 26); the use of k for c occurs twice (karet, fo. 51r, l. 14, and karitas, fo. 52r, l. 5). The scribe uses the correct forms in adolescet (fo. 51v, l. 14) and adulescenti (fo. 51v, l. 24); he writes auonculi (fo. 53v, l. 15), exsistat (fo. 51v, l. 9), and exsecutos (fo. 53r, l. 8). In the case of composite words he has the assimilated form in some, and in others the unassimilated form, as the following examples go to show: