190 PLINY 3 NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIII. 



till then had been looked upon as being of the first quality : 

 for the Augustan paper had been found to be so remarkably 

 fine, as to offer no resistance to the pressure of the pen ; in 

 addition to which, as it allowed the writing upon it to run 

 through, it was continually causing apprehensions of its being 

 blotted and blurred by the writing on the other side ; the re- 

 markable transparency, too, of the paper was very unsightly to 

 the eye. To obviate these inconveniences, a groundwork of 

 paper was made with leaves of the second quality, over which 

 was laid a woof, as it were, formed of leaves of the first. He 

 increased the width also of paper ; the width [of the common 

 sort] being made afoot, and that of the size known as " macro- 

 collum," 23 a cubit ; though one inconvenience was soon detected 

 in it, for, upon a single leaf 24 being torn in the press, more 

 pages were apt to be spoilt than before. 25 In consequence of 

 the advantages above-mentioned, the Claudian has come to be 

 preferred to all other kinds of paper, though the Augustan is 

 still used for the purposes of epistolary correspondence. The 

 Livian, which had nothing in common with that of first quality, 

 but was entirely of a secondary rank, still holds its former 

 place.. 



CHAP. 25. THE PECULIAR DEFECTS IN PAPER. 



The roughness and inequalities in paper are smoothed down 

 with a tooth 26 or shell ; but the writing in such places is very 

 apt to fade. "When it is thus polished the paper does not take 

 the ink so readily, but is of a more lustrous and shining surface. 

 The water of the Nile that has been originally employed in 

 its manufacture, being sometimes used without due precaution, 

 will unfit the paper for taking writing : this fault, however, 

 may be detected by a blow with the mallet, or even by 

 the smell, 27 when the carelessness has been extreme. These 



23 Or "long glued" paper: the breadth probably consisted of tbat of 

 two or more sheets glued or pasted at the edges, the seam running down 

 the roll. 



24 Scheda. One of the leaves of the papyrus, of which the roll of 

 twenty, joined side by side, was formed. 



25 This passage is difficult to be understood, and various attempts have 

 been made to explain it. It is not unlikely that his meaning is that the 

 breadth being doubled, the tearing of one leaf or half breadth entailed of 

 necessity the spoiling of another, making the corresponding half breadth. 



20 He perhaps means a portion of an elephant's tusk. 

 37 Meaning a damp, musty smell. 



