LrrKRATruK. — Thompson, typ. cit. ; Oardthausen, op. eCt. ;
Pttlatoqraphiral Society, facsimiles of MSS; Oniont, Facgimil^s den pbiJi anciens manuacriis ;irri-ii . . . de la Bibl. Nat. 1802; Kenyon, FacsiviUes of liiblical MSS in the Brit. Mus. 1900.
vi. Greek Minuscule Writing. — The great
defect of uncial writing n*^ a vehicle of literature wan its cunihrousness. Written witliout ligatures, in large, hcavily-fornicti letters, it occupied more time and more space than its predecessor on papyrus, and could not be adapted to the produc- tion of cheap or handy volumes. Up to the 7th cent, tliis need was su]iplied, as has been shown above, by co])ics upon pa])yrus: and the failure of the snpjily of this nuiterial drove iha scribes ulti- mately to the production of a sulistitute. Further, as uncial writmg degenerated, it lost its sole re- commendation^the beauty of the vohimes written in that style ; and the way was open to a successor. Both these wants were supplied by an adaptation of the cursive style of common writing to the purposes of literature. It is not to l)e supposed that uncials were ever the sole manner of writing in existence. From the earliest point at which
954
WRITING
WRITING
we nave extant remains of Greek writing (3rd cent. B.C.), cursive writing is found in existenoe side by side with uncial ; and coniuion-sense tells us that this tuust always have been the case, such writing being reqviired for ordinary use, quite apart from the needs of book production. We now have plentiful e.\aniples of Greek cursive writing from the 3rd cent. B.C. to the 7th cent, after Christ, with a few specimens from the 8th cent. ; and it is only through tlie accident of the Arab conquest of Egypt that we are unable to trace its develop- ment on into the 9th cent. Tlie extant evidence, however, is enough to show that the minuscule hand wliicli was taken into use for literary pur- I)oses in the 9th cent, is the direct descendant of that which is found in the Byzantine pap3'ri of the 6th and 7th centuries. The forms of nearly all the letters are the same ; only the exuberances of the Byzantine style are repressed, the size of the characters (which is often considerable) reduced, and the whole made far more calligi'aphic. Tlie Greek minuscule MSS of the 9th and lOtli cents, are, in fact, as beautiful examples of wTiting as exist anywhere ; and at the same time the economy in space and labour, as compared with the coarse Slavonic iincials which preceded them, is very con- sider.able(Fig. 5). The effectof the reformation upon the textiial tradition of the Greek Bible was very great. The multiplication of copies \\as rendered infinitely easier, the possession of them was platted within the reach of a much wider circle, and the consultation of the Scriptures was greatly facilitated. The extant uncial MSS of the NT number less than 200, the extant minuscules are nearlj' 3000 ; and tliough much must be allowed for tlie greater antiquity of the former style (and consequently greater certainty of the destniction of MSS), very much of the disparity must be due to tlie increased ease with which the minuscule could be produced.
Into the details of Greek minuscule writing from the 9th cent, to the 15th it is not necessary to enter here. When all are so far removed from the original autograjihs, little turns on the precise date of a minuscule MS of the Bible. It is the character of the text contained in them, and the evidence thence derivable as to the archetypes from which they are descended, that make them valuable or the reverse. Moreover, it is not possible to describe the successive styles of minuscule writing, with the slight variations by which the typical hand of one century can (more or less pre- cariously) be distinguished from that of another, without a copious use of facsimiles. For these the reader may be referred to the publications of the Palajograjiliical Society or the series of facsimiles of dated IVISS in the Bibliothfeque Nationale issued by M. Omont. These illustrate at once the pre- dominant h.'inds of the successive centuries, and the uncertainty which must always attend the precise fixing of undated MSS, owing to the sporadic reajipcarances of the various liands at considerable intervals of time.
The earliest extant dated minuscule MS is dated in a.d, 835 (the Uspcnsky Gospels) ; and in the course of this century, ttiough the uncial style was by no means yet extinct, the miniiKciile hand wsis perfected into a style of great beauty. It is a firm, uiiri(,'lit hand, rather square in character, ami some- times leanintr Hlii;htly backward-^. The letters are fr'-'quently linked totrether, but only in small groups. Tlie breathings are angular (,- h t j), the accents small and inconspicuous. The characters are pure minuscule, without intermixture of uncial forms. The writing stands upon the lines ruled in the vellum. Towards the end of the 10th cent, a change is nia^ie in this respect, and the writing frequently depends from the ruled lines. Uncial forms of certain letters (such as ,j, *, *) creep in again among the minuscules. A looser style of writing is adopted, the letters being less firm and square, and more freely spaced out. This is especially characteristic of a number of MSS of classical authors written about the Uth cent., and the same tt.i lencies continue progressively in the succeeding cen- turies, lu the 11th cent., too, the rounded breathing makes