_Writers of_. The ancients seldom wrote their treatises with
their own hand, but dictated them to their freedmen and slaves. These
were either ταχυγράφοι, _amanuenses_, _notarii_, “hasty writers,” or
καλλιγράφοι, _librarii_, “fair writers,” or βιβλιογράφοι, _librarii_,
“copyists.” The office of these last was to transcribe fairly that which
the former had written hastily and from dictation; they were those who
were obliged to write books and other documents which were intended to
be durable. The correctness of the copies was under the care of the
_emendator_, _corrector_, ὁ δοκιμάζων τὰ γεγραμμένα. A great part of the
books of the New Testament was dictated after this custom. St. Paul
noted it as a particular circumstance in the Epistle to the Galatians,
that he had written it with his own hand, Gal. vi, 11. But he affixed
the salutation with his own hand, 2 Thess. iii, 17; 1 Cor. xvi, 21; Col.
iv, 18. The amanuensis who wrote the Epistle to the Romans, has
mentioned himself near the conclusion, Rom. xvi, 22.
their own hand, but dictated them to their freedmen and slaves. These
were either ταχυγράφοι, _amanuenses_, _notarii_, “hasty writers,” or
καλλιγράφοι, _librarii_, “fair writers,” or βιβλιογράφοι, _librarii_,
“copyists.” The office of these last was to transcribe fairly that which
the former had written hastily and from dictation; they were those who
were obliged to write books and other documents which were intended to
be durable. The correctness of the copies was under the care of the
_emendator_, _corrector_, ὁ δοκιμάζων τὰ γεγραμμένα. A great part of the
books of the New Testament was dictated after this custom. St. Paul
noted it as a particular circumstance in the Epistle to the Galatians,
that he had written it with his own hand, Gal. vi, 11. But he affixed
the salutation with his own hand, 2 Thess. iii, 17; 1 Cor. xvi, 21; Col.
iv, 18. The amanuensis who wrote the Epistle to the Romans, has
mentioned himself near the conclusion, Rom. xvi, 22.