It seems evident, from the wording of certain references, that the copies prepared for sale were usually at least themselves the property of the bibliophile. Cicero speaks of libri tui,[162] and says also, illa quæ habes de Academicis.[163] On the other hand, the author and publisher, occasionally, at least, assumed equal shares of the cost of the paper (papyrus). Cicero writes to Atticus, quoniam impensam fecimus in macrocolla, facile patior teneri.[164] This share taken by the author in the outlay in addition to his investment of literary labor, may very properly have been taken into account in arriving at a division of the profits, but we have no figures to show on what basis such division was made. While the Discourse on Ligarius produced, as we have seen, a profit, the publication of the first series of Academic Discourses (Academica Priora) resulted in loss, and the full amount of this loss appears to have been borne by the publisher. Cicero, referring to the large portion of the edition remaining unsold, writes, tu illam jacturam feres æquo animo, quod illa, quæ habes de Academicis, frustra descripta sunt; multo tamen hæc (i. e., academica posteriora, the later or the revised series) erunt splendidiora, breviora, meliora.[165] “You will bear the loss with equanimity, since the copies that you have left on your hands of the Academic Discourses comprise in fact but a portion of the venture. The revised editions of these will be more brilliant, more compact, and in every way better.” Cicero wishes to show that this revision should certainly prove popular and salable, and should more than make up the loss incurred on the first edition.
Birt points out[166] the difference in the publishing arrangements entered into by Cicero from those referred to by Martial. Cicero has apparently a direct business interest in the continued sale of his books, an interest, therefore, probably based upon a percentage. Martial, on the other hand, appears to have accepted from the publishers some round sum, a præmium libellorum, for each of his several works, a sum which is evidently too small to make him happy. On this ground he says it is, from a pecuniary point of view, a matter of indifference to him whether his writings find few readers or many—Quid prodest? nescit sacculus ista meus.[167] Unfortunately no catalogue or even partial list of the publishing ventures of Atticus has been preserved, and the references in the letters of Cicero are almost the sole source of information in regard to them. Cicero speaks of the treatise of Aulus Hirtius upon Cato as one of the publications of Atticus.[168] Birt finds record of the issue by him of a series of carefully edited Greek classics (published in the original), for the texts of which the trustworthy manuscripts of the Athenian “calligrapher,” or copyist, Callinus were followed.[169] Birt is also my authority for the conclusion that Atticus did not confine his book business to his publishing house, but that he established retail shops, tabernarii, in different quarters of Rome, and possibly also in one or two of the great provincial capitals.[170]
While no publisher of the time occupied any such prominent position in the world of letters as Atticus, it seems evident from the references made by Roman authors to the arrangements for the sale of their books, that other publishing concerns already existed in Rome, although no other names have been preserved. It is probable that no one of his contemporaries possessed the exceptional advantages afforded by the wealth of Atticus in carrying on literary undertakings of uncertain business value, and it is probable also that the competition of a publisher to whom the financial result of his venture was a matter of small importance, must frequently have been perplexing to the dealers whose capital was limited and whose income was dependent upon their publishing business. In fact, the exceptional business methods of Atticus may easily for a time have discouraged or rendered difficult the development on sound business foundations of publishing in Rome.
Important as the undertakings of Atticus unquestionably were for the furthering of the production and the distribution of literature, in Rome, we should have known practically nothing concerning his work as a publisher if it were not for the fortunate preservation of the series of letters written to him by Cicero. If these letters had been destroyed, the name of Atticus would have come into the history of his time only as that of a rich banker and a public-spirited citizen. The honorable friendship between this old-time publisher and his most important author was of service to literature in more ways than one. Other Roman publishers of greater importance must have taken up the work of Atticus, but no similar series of letters has been preserved to commemorate their virtues and their services. Boissier[171] is of opinion that Tiro acted as publisher for certain of Cicero’s writings; he uses the phrase Tiron et Atticus, les deux éditeurs de Cicéron. The evidences, however, concerning Tiro’s career as a publisher do not appear to be conclusive. Tiro was a favorite slave of Cicero, a Greek by birth, and evidently a man of education. He served as Cicero’s secretary, and, as the correspondence shows, was regarded by his master as a valued friend. As secretary, he unquestionably had during Cicero’s lifetime a full share of responsibility in preparing Cicero’s writings for publication, and after the death of his master he appears to have acted as a kind of literary executor.
It is probably to this class of service that Quintilian referred when he spoke of him as the compiler and publisher of the writings of Marcus Tullius.[172] Gellius, in quoting the fifth oration against Verres, speaks of the edition or the “book” as one of accepted authority, prepared under the supervision and personal knowledge of Tiro.[173]
Haenny is of opinion that Tiro never had any publishing business, but that his services were simply those first of a secretary and later of an editor and literary executor. Seneca is authority for the statement that after the death of Cicero his works and the right to their continued publication were bought from Atticus by the bookseller Dorus;[174] see also Birt.[175] This same Dorus was, says Seneca, the publisher of the history of Livy: Sic potest T. Livius a Doro accipere aut emere libros suos.
The writings of Catullus and the famous treatise on the Nature of Things of Lucretius were the most important of the works published between 75 and 50 B.C. during the time of Cicero’s correspondence with Atticus. Lucretius appears to have had little personal vanity concerning his work, which did not appear until after his death. It is probable, but not certain, that the former was issued by Atticus.
Géraud says that there were at this time in Rome a large number of public writers, or professional copyists (librarii), who devoted themselves to transcribing for sale the older classics, and who also took commissions from authors for the production of small editions of volumes prepared for private circulation.[176] Their work might in fact be compared to that of the typewriters of to-day, whose signs are multiplying in all our large cities. These “writers” were principally Greeks, and it was probably for this cause that their Latin work not infrequently evoked criticism. Cicero, writing to his brother Quintus, concerning some Latin books which Quintus had asked him to purchase, says it was difficult to know where to go for these, because most of the texts offered for sale were so bad—ita mendose et scribuntur et veneunt.[177]
These librarii took upon themselves the work not only of transcribing but of binding and decorating the covers of the books sold by them. The contrast between a scribe of this kind, working at bookmaking in his stall like a cobbler making shoes, and the great establishment of the banker-publisher Atticus, must have been marked enough.
Non modo hoc tibi, salse, sic abibit;