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Show CHAP. VII. Of their Writing, /I;Ja(oriteJ~ and their lf'ork., W Ritin in no Nation came to its perfefrJo.n 00 : fudden but by degrees: The Optntf the Ancients ~oncerning the Authors -and Inons o s of letters are different. Some fay (a) Cad~ a~li" l. 7 .c.sl6. venteb~ ht the ufe of letters into Greece: oth~rs DtoJor Stclil • fJJHI roug r. d h J.6. c. S· b) p11Jamcde1 : (c) fome 1.ty, Ra ama111 NJ' 9Ser'l!h" lib.l. fay' (h h into Aff11ria : A-Jemnon into EgJpl: Her· ./Enml broug t t em '.JJJ • L · {. · k c Alt:c:GeniAl culesinto PhrJgia: .and Carmenta tnto attum. t e· '·'• .'•3o, wife fome fay the Phtenicians had firfi the knowledge and nfe of letter6. . . . Phllnices primi ([am£ Ji credunus) all.[i Manforam rHdibuJ vocem fign4rtflg•rw. Lucan •. . . Others fay the (d) Ethiopians: (e)othC'rs the .Affirz. ·fDr~Jor,Stdl. Bot upon better grounds it is thought, that (f) ~~li~rJ.1 c.~~ an~~ ft . .JJ tau ht the 11ft of letter1 to the Jews, and fEN{th.,.,.,ar .. MD_)elh 'i"h ~ ·anJ learned them from the JewJ, and ·Bvarr,.lr!J,JB. that t e P £ntct · h . . the Greci4nJ from the P tentct4ns. . ,, 1 n like manner' the ~atter upon w htch me~ j wrote in rnder times was d1ffer6en~.c .~ome.~rot1e1 on ' . d 'if trees whence Liber, tgnhytng ongtna y a r~n I o . re: is now u(ed for A book._: (g) fome wrote .g Di?te~. Lte· rtnd~ of at ' . h b ne inftead of a pen ; fame on err. ,,v~r" on ltle-.ftDne wtt a o. . h ·Cltantbu. TableJ; thh lafl: was chiefly tn ~fe among t e Je~s~ the Decttlogue was was wntten Jn t\YO t,tbles • . ~gat?~ write thefe things upon. a table~ ~/"1 3o• 8. ~ 'JJ'u~•~~, 'aith the septt~•gint, as If the wrtttngstables at that time "were made of Box~ treet, They ufed not then pe111 OJtheir writi Ng, their Mtif'oriteJ:J ·&c. ~49 pens or quits, but a certain infirument or punch, made of Iron or Steel, called StJitH, it was fb arp at one end, for the more convenient indenting ot carving gf the characters, and broad at the other, fer the fcraping or blotting out wh~t had been wri tten : wl:ence fprang that Proverbial fpeech: (h) Inverte~e h E.rafm i~ flJ!um, to iinfa; #httt he .hadfaid, or to blot OHt wh.tt he Adag. hath written: Scribe fli/o homi11k: write with the pen of.. tlldn, EfoJ 8. I . Afterward before they came to bind up books in manner as ·now we have them , they wrote in a roll of Paper or Parchme111, which fometimes was ten cubits broad, and twe11f.J Iong:.Zac~ 5. 2. T~is they called n7Jo MegiUa in HehrerP, from G~tlal, i fJ roll, Vt~lllmen i1Z Latine, inE~tglijh a floiNmN, from volviJJ to roll. In the fJOlHmn {)fthe hooftit is writ• ten, P[al.4o. 7· And Chrift c/ofit~g the Book, gave it to the Minilter, L~Jk,.~. 2o. the word is '71'JJ~«~, comp/i. · c~Jns folding, or rolling it up: and verf. 17. f.vet..,?Jetl.s, exp/ic11n~, unfolding_, or openi~g it. (i). Thefe v~~111JJJ j Buxtorf in}U" \Vere Written not wah one entue conttnued wrtttng, tift. ,,iJf. ~~ {• but the writing was diltinguifhed into many [pacer c-olllmfls or platforms, like unto fa many Are.e: thefe platfor,s, filled with writing, were inftead offo ma-ny p4g4J in a book: and thus we are to underfiand that ]er. 36.1.3. When ]thHdi had read three or four lt•ve1, he cut it with a pen:.knife, &c. Thefe let~vc..s were nothing elfe but fuch[paces,and platforms in the r~U. After this manner the Jew1 referve the Law written in fuch rolls, and with fuch JP.tces, i'n their 8J11agogrteJ at this day. It is n1udt controverfed, whether the Je~.t did from the beginning write with vowel:s and acce11ts, or whether they were added by the Alaforites; for the underll:anding of which, it .will be ne.edful, Firfi, to K k enquire f . |