TABULÆ, CALAMUS, AND PAPYRUS.[ToList]
Beside them stands a double inkstand, intended probably to contain both black and red ink. The former was made either of lampblack or some other sort of charcoal, or from the cuttlefish, and was called atramentum. As it contained no mordant, and was readily obliterated by moisture, it could be used for writing upon ivory tablets; and it has been conjectured that some sorts of paper were covered with a wash, or varnish, to facilitate the discharge of the old writing, and render the paper serviceable a second time. Red ink was prepared from cinnabar. The reed, cut to a point, which lies beside the inkstand, is the instrument used in writing with ink before the application of quills. It was called calamus. The open papyrus explains how manuscripts were read, rolled up at each end, so as to show only the column of writing upon which the student was intent. At the other side is a purse, or bag, to hold the reed, penknife, and other writing instruments.
The next cut represents, besides a set of tablets bound up, a single one hanging from a nail. Such, probably, were those suspended at Epidaurus, containing remedies by which the sick had been cured, by the perusal of which Hippocrates is said to have profited in the compilation of his medical works. It also contains, besides a papyrus similar to those described, a hexagonal inkstand, with a ring to pass the finger through, upon which there lies an instrument resembling a reed, but the absence of the knots, or joints, marks it to be a stylus. Another of these instruments leans against the open book.
TABULÆ, STYLUS, AND PAPYRUS.[ToList]
These were made of every sort of material; sometimes with the precious metals, but usually of iron, and on occasion might be turned into formidable weapons. It was with his stylus that Cæsar stabbed Casca in the arm, when attacked in the senate by his murderers; and Caligula employed some person to put to death a senator with the same instruments.
In the reign of Claudius women and boys were searched to ascertain whether there were styluses in their pen-cases. Stabbing with the pen, therefore, is not merely a metaphorical expression. Tablets such as those here represented, were the day-books, or account-books. When they were full, or when the writing on them was no longer useful, the wax was smoothed, and they were ready again for other service.