382 Sir Edivard Maunde Thompson [March 19, 



We now turn the century and glance at one or two of the classical 

 papyri representing the first century b.o. The literary hand assumes 

 in some of these a more compact style. The manuscript of the 18th 

 book of the Iliad, known as the Harris Homer, now in the British 

 Museum, is an excellent specimen, but rather discoloured. Here the 

 writing is again of the formal literary type, the letters delicately 

 shaped and slightly inclining to the left. Somewhat of the same cast 

 of hand and of the same period is the quite recently discovered 

 papyrus of the odes of the poet Bacchylides. The writing is beauti- 

 fully clear, and, had the roll not been unfortunately broken up and a 

 portion of it reduced to a confusion of small fragments, the editing of 

 the book would not have presented most of the difficulties which now 

 have to be encountered. 



Towards the end of the first century a more ornamental class of 

 writing for literary purposes appears to Lave been coming into vogue. 

 It was essentially a calligraphic style, and in the rounded shapes of 

 the letters we see an indication of the form that Greek literary writing 

 was to assume when the writing material changed from the frail 

 papyrus, on which the strokes were necessarily of a light character, 

 to the substantial vellum which would bear the impress of a firmer 

 hand. A fragment of the Odyssey, now in the British Museum, which 

 may be dated in the closing years of the century, is in this style. 

 And again, the beautifully written papyrus which contains the ora- 

 tion of Hyperides for Lycophron and Euxenippus, and which may be 

 placed in the first century of our era, is another example of this precise 

 but rather artificial hand. 



But, now and again, a scholar, perhaps too poor to buy costly 

 papyri, perhaps living too far away in the country, or, it may be, pre- 

 ferring his own transcript to the handsomer but less correct text 

 which he might purchase, wrote out some favourite book for his own 

 use. The long-lost work of Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, 

 which was recovered only a few years ago, is an instance of this 

 jiersonal industry. Written on the back of some farm accounts of 

 the year 78-79 a.d., the text is in the involved and cramped cursive 

 hand found in documents of the end of the century. But such home- 

 made books were no doubt comparatively rare by the side of those 

 turned out by the professional literary scribe, whose writing was now 

 approaching nearer to the perfect round uncial hand which we find in 

 the earliest vellum manuscripts. The papyrus document which comes 

 nearest to that round hand is the Bankes Homer of the second 

 century. 



How this hand was taught in the schools we learn from an 

 interesting little diptych or pair of waxen tablets belonging to a 

 schoolboy of about the second century.* 



This copy-book, clumsily made of wood, wdth a sunken surface 

 coated with wax in the usual way, contains two columns of the 



* Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 34,186. 



