A-dictionary-of-greek-and-roman-antiquities-william-smith

1093 TABULAE. TABULARIUM.
that they opened and shut like our books ; and Ccratae, et antiquissimae et unicc Romanae in
to prevent the wax of one tablet rubbing against Fodina Auraria apud Abrudbanyam, oppidulom
the wax of the other, there was a raised margin Transsylvanum, nuper repertae," Lipsiae (1841).
around each, as is clearly seen in the woodcut under An account of these tablets, taken from Massmann's
Stilts. There were sometimes two, three, four description, will serve as a commentary on what
five, or even more, tablets fastened together in the has been said above. Both the tabulae are triptycha,
that is, consisting of three tablets each.
above-mentioned manner. Two such tablets were
called Diptt/cka (oiarux«), which merely means One is made of fir-wood, the other of beech- wood,
** twice-folded" (from vttiWm "to fold"), whence and each is about the size of what we call a small
we have arwrrfoi', or with the t omitted, vvktIov. octavo. The outer part of the two outside tablets
The I. ruin word ptu/illares, which is the name fre of each exhibits the plain surface of the wood, the
quently given to tablets covered with wax (Mart, inner part is covered with wax, which is now al
xir. 3 ; (Jell. xvii. 9 j Plin. Ep. i. 6), may perhaps most of a black colour, and is surrounded with a
be connected with the same root, though it is raised margin. The middle tablet has wax on
usually derived from pwiillus, because they were both sides with a margin around each ; so that
small enough to be held in the hand. Such (ablets each of the two tabulae contains four sides or four
are mentioned as early as the time of Homer, who pages covered with wax. The edges are pierced
speaks of a irti^ wtvkt6s. (//. vi. 169.) Three through, that they might be fastened together by
tablets fastened together were called Triptycha means of a thread passed through them. The wax
(rptwrvx*), which Martial (xiv. 6) translates by
triplices icerue) ; in the same way we also read of
Prntaptycha (tv«ktowti*xo) called by Martial ( xiv. 4 )
Quintupfiirg (crrae), and of I'olyjttyt'ha (woAv*Tuxa)
or MultijJices (ceraeX The pages of these tablets
were frequently called by the name of cerae alone ;
thus we read of prima Cera, altera crra, " first page,"
44 second patfc." (Compare Suet. Ner. 17.) In ta
blets containing important legal documents, espe
cially wills, the outer eilges were pierced through
with holes (foramina), through which a triple
thread (linum) was passed, and upon which a seal
was then placed. This was intended to guard
against forgery, and if it wns not done such docu
ments were null and void. (Suet. Ner. 17 ; Paulus,
Sent. Rec. v. 25. § 6 ; Tkstamxntum.)
Waxen tablets were used among the Romans
for almost every species of writing, where great
length was not required. Thus letters were fre
quently written upon them, which were secured
by being fastened together with packthread and
sealed with wax. Accordingly we read in Plautus
(llticchid. iv. 4. 64) when a letter is to be written,
" Effer cito stilum, ceram, et tabellas, et linum."
The sealing is mentioned afterwards (1. 96). (Com
pare Cic. in Catil. ill. 5.) Tabulae and tabellae are
therefore used in the sense of letters. (Ovid. Met.
ix. 522.) Love-letters were written on very small
tablets called Vitelliani (Mart. xiv. 8, 9), of which
word however we do not know the origin. Ta
blets of this kind are presented by Amor to Poly
phemus on an ancient painting. (Mm. Uorbon.
vol. i. tav. 2.)
Legal documents, and especially wills, were al
most always written on waxen tablets, as men
tioned above. Such tablets were also used for
accounts, in which a person entered what he re
ceived and expended ( Tabulae or Codex accepti et
ejepensiy Cic. pro Hose. Coin. 2), whence Novae
Tabulae mean an abolition of debts either wholly
or in part. (Suet. Jul. 42 ; Cic. de Of. ii. 23.)
The above are merely instances of the extensive
use of waxen tablets ; it is unnecessary to pursue
the subject further.
Two ancient waxen tablets have been discovered
in a perfect state of preservation, one in a gold
mine four or five miles from the village of Abrudbanya
in Transylvania, and the other in a gold
mine in the village itself. Of this interesting dis
covery an account has been published by Massmann
in a work intitled " Libcllus Aurarius, she Tabulae
is not thick in either ; it is thinner on the beechen
tabulae, in which the stilus of the writer has some
times cut through the wax into the wood. Then
are letters on both of them, but on the beechen ta
bulae they are few and indistinct ; the beginning
of the first tablet contains some Greek letters, but
they are succeeded by a long set of letters in un
known characters. The writing on the tabulae
made of fir-wood is both greater in quantity and in
a much better state of preservation. It is written
in Latin, and is a copy of a document relating to
some business connected with a collegium. The
name of the consuls is given, which determines its
date to be A. D. 169. One of the most extraordi
nary things connected with it is, that it is written
from right to left. The writing begins on what we
should call the last or fourth page, and ends at the
bottom of the third ; and by some strange good
fortune it has happened that the same document
is written over again, beginning on the second
page and ending at the bottom of the first ; so that
where the writing is effaced or doubtful in the one
it is usually supplied or explained by the other.
Waxen tablets continued to be used in Europe
for the purposes of writing in the middle ages ; but
the oldest of these with which we are acquainted
belongs to the year 1301 A. »., and is preserved in
the Florentine Museum.
The tablets used in voting in the comitia and
the courts of justice were also called tabulae as
well as tabellae. [Tabellae.]
TA BULAE PU'BLICAE. [Tabularii'M.]
TABULA'RII were notaries or accountants,
who are first mentioned under this name in the
time of the empire. (Sen. Ep. 88 ; Dig. 1 1. tit. 6.
s. 7 ; 50. tit. 13. s. 1. § 6.) Public notaries, who
had the charge of public documents, were also
called tabularii (Dig. 43. tit 5. s. 3), and these
seem to have differed from the tabelliones in the
circumstance that the latter had nothing to do
with the custody of the public registers. Public
tabularii were first established by M. Antoninus
in the provinces, who ordained that the births of
all children were to be announced to the tabularii
within thirty days from the birth. (CapitoL M.
Anton. 9.) Respecting the other duties of the
public tabularii, see Cod. Theod. 8. tit. 2, and
Oothofr. ad lor.
TABULA'RIUM, a place where the public
records (tabidtie publicae) were kept. (Cic. pro C
Rabir. 3, pro Arch. 4.) These records were of
various kinds, as for instance Senatusconsulta, Tar