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forty centuries of ink-第12章

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witnessed a general revival of the scholastic

zeal; poets; orators; novelists; and writers increased

in numbers and grew in favour; savants; philosophers;

chemists and alchemists; mathematicians

and astronomers; travellers and naturalists; were

awakened; so to speak; by the life…giving breath of

the Middle Ages; and great scientific discoveries

and admirable works on every imaginable subject

showed that the genius of modern society was not

a whit inferior to that of antiquity。 Printing; was

invented; and with that brilliant discovery; the Middle

Ages; which had accomplished their work of

social renovation; made way for the Renaissance;

which scattered abroad in profusion the prolific and

brilliant creations of Art; Science; and Literature。〃



This author to some extent discredits himself; however;

p。 455; where he remarks:



〃Long before the invasions of the Barbarians

the histories written by Greek and Latin authors

concerning the annals of the ancient peoples had

been falling into disfavor。 Even the best of them

were little read; for the Christians felt but slight

interest in these pagan narratives; and that is why

works relating to the history of antiquity were already

so scarce。〃



Another authority writing on the same subject discusses

it from a different standpoint; remarking:



〃As in the middle ages invention busied itself

with instruments of torture; and as in our days it

is taken up almost as much with the destructive engines

of war as with the productive arts of peace;

so in those early ages it applied itself to the fabrication

of idols; to the mechanism and theatrical

contrivances for mysteries and religious ceremonies。

There was then no desire to communicate

discoveries; science was a sort of freemasonry;

and silence was effectually secured by priestly

anathemas; men of science were as jealous of one

another as they were of all other classes of society。

If we wish to form a clear picture of this earliest

stage of civilization; an age which represents at

once the naivete of childhood and the suspicious

reticence of senility; we must turn our eyes to the

priest; on the one hand; claiming as his own all art

and science; and commanding respect by his contemptuous

silence; and; on the other hand; to the

mechanic plying the loom; extracting the Tyrian

dye; practising chemistry; though ignorant of its

very name; despised and oppressed; and only tolerated

when he furnished Religion with her trappings

or War with arms。 Thus the growth of

chemistry was slow; and by reason of its backwardness

it was longer than any other art in ridding

itself of the leading…strings of magic and

astrology。 Practical discoveries must have been

made many times without science acquiring thereby

any new fact。 For to prevent a new discovery from

being lost there must be such a combination of

favorable circumstances as was rare in that age and

for many succeeding ages。 There must be publicity;

and publicity is of quite recent growth; the

application of the discovery must be not only possible

but obvious; as satisfying some want。 But

wants are only felt as civilization progresses。 Nor

is that all; for a practical discovery to become a

scientific fact it must serve to demonstrate the error

of one hypothesis; and to suggest a new one; better

fitted for the synthesis of existing facts。 But

(some) old beliefs are proverbially obstinate and

virulent in their opposition to newer and truer

theories which are destined to eject and replace

them。 To sum up; even in our own day; chemistry

rests on a less sound basis than either physics; which

had the advantage of originating as late as the 17th

century; or astronomy; which dates from the time


when the Chaldean shepherd had sufficiently provided

for his daily wants to find leisure for gazing

into the starry Heavens。〃



The observations of a still earlier commentator are of

the same general nature。 He says:



〃In the first ages of Christianity; when the

fathers of the Church; the Jews; and the Heathen

philosophers were so warmly engaged in controversy;

there is reason to believe that pious frauds

were not uncommon: and that when one party suspected

forgeries; instead of an attempt at confutation;

which might have been difficult; they had

recourse perhaps to a countermine: and either invented

altogether; or eked out some obscure traditional

scraps by the embellishments of fancy。

When we consider; amongst many literary impositions

of later times; that Psalmanazar's history of

Formosa was; even in this enlightened age and

country (England; about 1735); considered by our

most learned men as unquestionably authentic; till

the confession of the author discovered the secret;

I think it is not difficult to conceive how forgeries

of remote events; before the invention of printing

and the general diffusion of knowledge might gain

an authority; and especially with the zealous; hardly

inferior to that of the most genuine history。〃



De Vinne; however; in his 〃Invention of Printing;〃

New York; 1878; best explains the status quo of those

times; relative not only to book (MSS。) making; and

methods of circulation; but the causes which led up to

their eventual disappearance and the literary darkness

which ensued。 His remarks are so pertinent

that they are quoted at length:



〃The civilization of ancient Rome did not require

printing。 If all the processes of typography

had been revealed to its scholars the art would not

have been used。 The wants of readers and writers

were abundantly supplied by the pen。 Papyrus

paper was cheap; and scribes were numerous; Rome

had more booksellers than it needed; and books

were made faster than they could be sold。 The

professional scribes were educated slaves; who; fed

and clothed at nominal expense; and organized under

the direction of wealthy publishers; were made

so efficient in the production of books; that typography;

in an open competition; could have offered few advantages。



〃Our knowledge of the Roman organization of

labor in the field of bookmaking is not as precise as

could be wished; but the frequent notices of books;

copyists and publishers; made by many authors

during the first century; teach us that books

were plentiful。 Horace; the elegant and fastidious

man of letters; complained that his books were too

common; and that they were sometimes found in

the hands of vulgar snobs for whose entertainment

they were not written。 Martial; the jovial man of

the world; boasted that his books of stinging epigrams

were to be found in everybody's hands or

pockets。 Books were read not only in the libraries;

but at the baths; in the porticoes of houses; at

private dinners and in mixed assemblies。 The

business of bookmaking was practised by too many

people; and some were incompetent。 Lucian; who

had a keen perception of pretense in every form;

ridicules the publishers as ignoramuses。 Strabo;

who probably wrote illegibly; says that the books

of booksellers were incorrect。



〃The price of books made by slave labor was

necessarily low。 Martial says that his first book of

epigrams was sold in plain binding for six sesterces;

about twenty…four cents of American money; the

same book in sumptuous binding was valued at five

denarii; about eighty cents。 He subsequently complained

that his thirteenth book was sold for only

four sesterces; about sixteen cents。 He frankly

admits that half of this sum was profit; but intimates;

somewhat ungraciously; that the publisher Tryphon

gave him too small a share。 Of the merits of this

old disagreement between the author and publisher

we have not enough of facts to justify an opinion。

We learn that some publishers; like Tryphon and

the brothers Sosii; acquired wealth; but there are

many indications that publishing was then; as it is

now; one of the most speculative kinds of business。

One writer chuckles over the unkind fate that sent

so many of the unsold books of rival authors from

the warehouses of the publisher; to the shops of

grocers and bakers; where they were used to wrap

up pastry and spices; another writer says that the

unsold stock of a bookseller was sometimes bought

by butchers and trunk makers。



〃The Romans not only had plenty of books but

they had a manuscript daily newspaper; the Acta

Diurna; which seems to have been a record of the

proceedings of the senate。 We do not know how

it was written; nor how it was published; but it

was frequently mentioned by contemporary writers

as the regular official medium for transmitting

intelligence。 It was sent to subscribers in distant

cities; and was; sometimes; read to an assembled

army。 Cicero mentions the Acta as a sheet in

which he expected to find the city news and gossip

about marriages and divorces。



〃With the decline of power in the Roman empire

came the decline of 
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