The name is absent



vi


WRITING PRACTISED AT AN EARLY DATE.

LECTURE IL

That even in the earliest period of Roman history, there was
writing in Italy, and that therefore there might have been
writers, cannot be doubted, for we have coins bearing the
name of Sybaris, which is said to have been destroyed four
years before the establishment of the commonwealth. Hence it
cannot be questioned, that the art of writing was known among
the Greeks of Italy : why not, then, amongthe Romans? Another
question is, whether writing could be
common among the
Romans, and the answer to this must depend on another:
namely, whether they were acquainted with the Egyptian
papyrus ; for before its introduction the art of writing cannot
have been in very general use.1 The census at Rome, which
could not be taken without a great deal of writing, and re-
quired a minute system of book-keeping, is a proof that the
art was extensively applied. We have, therefore, no reason
to deny, that history might have been written at Rome previ-
ously to the banishment of the kings ; and it would be arbi-
trary scepticism to doubt, that there existed written laws long
before the time of the Decemvirs: their collection is ascribed to
L. Papirius, who perhaps lived in the reign of the second
Tarquin, though some refer him to the time of Tarquinius
Priscus. The art of writing was therefore applied, in all
probability, not merely to the purposes of common life, but
even to books; and when Livy, speaking of the times pre-
vious to the burning of the city, says
per ilia tempora
Hterae rarae erant~,
this is one of those notions, in which
he was misled by opinions prevalent in his own age, and
which are only partially true. Authors, in the modern sense
of the word, that is, such as write for the purpose of being read
by a public,—making collections of laws is a different thing,—

1 The use of alphabetical writing is altogether very ancient. It sprang from
three distinct places ; viz., Egypt (or perhaps Ethiopia), Phoenicia, and Babylon,
and all three are independent of one another. It is an established fact, that the
art of writing was known in Europe before the time to which we assign Homer,
for we have inscribed monuments of that early age. But the question whether
Homer wrote his poems or not, is of quite a different nature.—N.      b2 vi. 1.

CHARACTER OE EARLT ANNALS.

vii


certainly did not exist at all in the earliest times; but when,
in regard to a written literature
(Iiterae), Livy adds, una
Custodiafidelismemoriaererumgestarum,
he goes too far. We
must not take a one-sided view of the origin of an historical
literature : we have parallels to that of Lome in the history of
our ancestors, and of other nations; for in Greece Chrono-
graphies and Toichographies—annals kept in temples by the
priests—are mentioned by Polybius3, and this practice con-
tinued down to his time. Analogous to these are our Annales
Bcrtiniani, Fuldenses, and others, which sprang up at the end
of the seventh century, and were continued throughout the
period of the Carlovingians, until afterwards they gradually
disappeared, for the same reasons which made them cease
among the ancients. Such annals were composed of single
Unconnectedlines: they would begin, for instance, with the
thirteenth year of the reign of King Dagobert, and by the side
of this date the events of the year were recorded in the briefest
manner possible, e.g.
Saxones debellati. These annals, too,
were kept for the most part in churches; and, besides the
names of the emperors, we usually find those of the bishops
also. After the chronicles of the empire, there sprang up
those of single towns. We find such annals at different times
and among the most different nations ; and, indeed, there is
nothing more natural, than that a person should make such
brief records to assist his own memory. Hence the custom of
our ancestors to record in their Bibles every thing of import-
ance which happened in their families ; and the same interest
which we feel in our families, the ancients felt in the state.
Some small towns in Germany still continue to keep such
annals: in short, the custom is a very ancient one; and we
may therefore assume, that in Rome too they existed in great
numbers, where they had not been accidentally destroyed.
As the year received its name from the annual magistrates, it
was necessary to preserve their names in the Fasti for all kinds
of documents. This custom prevailed among the Romans
from the earliest times down to the latest emperors; and no
document was valid without the names of the consuls as the
mark of its date. In these annals the banishment of the kings
no doubt formed an era, a
regibus exactis ; they contained the

3 V. 33 : OI та ката κaιρobs ⅛ ταts χpoι>oγpaφlaιs iιroμrημaτιζ6μwoι πoλιτικωs
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