34 PAPYRI OF HERCULANEUM. 



described, were arranged horizontally along- the shelves. 

 Their titles were either written on the end of the papyrus* 

 or upon a piece of papyrus paper fastened to the middle of 

 the papyrus, in this way (Fig. 2). Some papyri were found 

 tied up in bundles (Fig. 3.); others in double rolls, as if the 

 last reader had left them open where he left off reading (Fig. 

 4.); and some in a box, as I have before mentioned, that they 

 might be carried about in safety (Fig. 5). From the blank 

 paper which is often found round the papyri, it would appear 

 that each volume had a sheet of blank paper rolled round it, 

 in order to protect the fragile material of which it was com- 

 posed. The marks of the lines ruled for the guide of the 

 copyist are still visible; and the ancients appear to have had 

 their large paper copies of their works, as well as the moderns. 

 The size of the Greek MSS. is generally smaller than the 

 Latin ; the former being from 8 to 12 inches, the latter from 

 twelve to sixteen, broad. Some are 110 pages long, others 

 upwards of 62 feet (75 palmi) by measurement. This is an 

 engraving shaded so as to give an idea of the state of the 

 MSS. when unrolled (Engraving II). 



HENRIETTA. 



What a ragged, torn looking thing. 



MRS. F. 



True ; but when you take into consideration the difficulty 

 of the task, it is wonderful that the unrolling is ever effected 

 at all. If the glue be put on in too large quantities, it will 

 probably remove a portion of the next layer of the papyrus; a 

 breath of air will carry away all these pulverized particles, 

 and dust is so fatal, that one Manuscript having become 

 covered with dust, it took a whole year to remove it. 



* Whether the title was also written, as some suppose, at the 

 beginning, cannot be discovered from the papyri of Herculaneum, 

 none of them being in a sufficient state of preservation to decide 

 the point. 



