Greek Palaeography

I.
Of Cinnabar.

In the first book, while dealing with the various types of ink and other liquids used by the Greeks, we stated that Cinnabar was used by the Emperors alone for signing documents. Subsequently, we inquired whether that purple liquid which Greek calligraphers used—not only in titles and marginal notes, but also in the personal subscriptions customarily placed at the end of books—differed from the Cinnabar used by the Emperors. Having proposed many conjectures on this matter, we stated that it was likely the same liquid was used in both cases; however, that the Emperors alone were permitted to use it for subscriptions in Epistles and public Acts, whereas its use was promiscuous in other things, for example, in the titles and notes of any books whatsoever. This we now hold as almost certain and investigated; for that purple liquid which scribes used, just like the Imperial one, is called Cinnabar by Eusebius in his Letter to Carpianus, as well as by other writers of the subsequent age, nor does there seem to be any distinction intervening between the two.

II.
Of the origin of Greek letters.

In the first chapter of the second book, we briefly weighed a matter debated by many, namely the origin of Greek letters, and embracing the common opinion, we said that Greek letters arose from the Phoenician. More could have been said, and various questions raised; but we deemed it proper to investigate more accurately only those things which, upon examination, seemed capable of being brought into greater light, while those whose traces remain obscure, and concerning which disagreements of opinion have arisen, we proposed briefly and clearly. For if I had weighed the opinion of various authors, the subject would have been drawn out further: since, moreover, those things which are handed down regarding the origin of letters by historians or grammarians are, as pertaining to the mythical age, perplexed and for the most part fabulous. Truly, a man no less conspicuous for his erudition than his dignity, J. B., President in the Supreme Senate of Dijon, undertook this province, though quite difficult; when he had adorned a Dissertation on the ancient letters of the Greeks and Latins, he most kindly complied with my wishes when I asked him to send it for publication. Once I had read it through, I judged it most worthy of the light; for everything there is both clearly set forth and diligently examined. But if anything should occur beyond the common opinion of the learned, or even our own, what wonder if, in such a fog of affairs as those Deucalionean and Cadmean times present, different people follow different paths and opinions? In the sum of the matter, however, we entirely agree with the learned man. For although he thinks the Pelasgian letters are older than the Cadmean, he nevertheless professes, just as we do, that modern Greek letters arose from the Cadmean and Phoenician; as anyone will see in his Dissertation, which we have taken care to publish at the end of the Palaeographia Graeca.

III.
Of Samaritan letters.

In the same first chapter of Book II, we said that it seemed certain to us that, in the times of Origen and Jerome, it was a common opinion that the Holy Scripture was written out in the modern Samaritan character before the Babylonian captivity; but that at the return from the captivity, Ezra substituted other characters, namely the modern Hebrew ones, in place of the ancient ones. This indeed we established, relying upon these reasons—