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THE SENSE OF 'LIBER'
two books, as a liber {De or. 2.31; Att. 15.27.2,16.6.4). This however has been explained
in the light of 'a last-minute change in the form of the work before publication'
(Shackleton Bailey (1965-70) vi 289). The second example cited by Dziatzko, loc. cit.,
is from the fourth-century grammarian Charisius, who refers to Varro's De poematis,
a work in three books, as liber (1.53, p. 66 Barwick). From these admittedly inconclusive
data it seems to emerge that sense (iii) was late in developing and slow to make
headway. In this sense uolumen is also found: cf. Plin. N.H. 3.58, Veil. 1.14.1, 2.131
(Wendel loc. cit.). The definition of a 'book' might be of some legal importance: cf.
Dig. 32.52, Dziatzko (1899a) 941.
EXCURSUS 2. THE SENSE OF 'cORNUA* (P. l6)
The explanation given in the text is that usually accepted, and analogies such as the use
of cornu for the tip of a yard-arm seem to lend support to it^OLDcornuje). However,
Birt (1882) 299 argued strongly that comua were the ends of the roll itself. In this
connexion it is also relevant to consider the meaning of the word frons ('front, side,
forehead') as applied to a book. The frontes are usually taken to be (i) the long edges
of the roll (Birt (1882) 365, id. (1913) 304—5, TLL VI 1362.84). It has, however, been
argued that they were (ii) the ends of the roll {OLD frons 2 8b, but 'flat ends' is
unclear; Luck (1968) on Ov. Trist. 1.1.8 (supporting this as the sense in the singular,
sense (i) in the plural); Schubart (1921) 105). The frons ox frontes were smoothed with
pumice as part of the process of finishing the book (Ov. Trist. I.I.II, Mart, 1.66.10)
and were apparently, with the titulus, what showed •when the book was shelved (Sen.
De tranqu. an. 9.6). The emphasis on the appearance of both frontes at (e.g.) Mart.
3.2.8 suggests that sense (i) is the more likely, since when the book was properly rolled
only the outside end would be visible, whereas both edges would be. The relationship
of the cornua to the frons or frontes still remains somewhat obscure, especially since the
poets tend to indulge in word-plays of an obvious kind when referring to the external
appearance of the libellus: cf. Ov. Trist. 1.1.8. A much-cited but very difficult verse in
this connexion is [Tib.] 3.1.13 inter geminas pingantur cornua frontes 'let the cornua
between the twin frontes be coloured'. When die book was rolled, each cornu, if taken
= knob, would stand out in the centre of its frons (sense (i)); but inter is not good
Latin to express this idea (cf. Luck, loc. cit.; Erath (1971) 29). Ov. Pont. 4.13.7 shows
that the tag (titulus") which identified the book when it stood on the shelf was attached
to the frons, presumably meaning 'edge' rather than 'beginning of the book' (Erath,
loc. cit.). Cf. on these tags Cic. Att. 4.4a. 1, 8.2 and Shackleton Bailey (1965^70) ad
locc; Turner (1971) 34. On the whole problem see Besslich (1973).
EXCURSUS 3. TITLING (p. l6)
On the analogy of the modern book it might be expected that the author and title of a
work -would be given at the beginning of the text; the handful of surviving (Greek)
rolls in which this is the case are all of late date (Turner (1971) 16). This is not in itself
conclusive, since the beginning of a roll is the most vulnerable part of it, and the odds
against survival into modern times of a roll complete with its beginning were large.
Nor is the indirect evidence clear. Martial writes of the ' Epigramma' of Book 9 of his
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