SCRIPTORIA
4Y6
SCRIPTURE
mon life and of proselytes coming on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Lightfuot, Hor. Uth. on Matt, x, 10). The l!iiovT], on the other haiiil, was the loose girdle, in the folds of which money was often kept for the sake of safetj' [see Gikdle] ; the/iaXXdi'-ioi' {saccvliis, \u\g.). was the smaller bag used exclusively for money (Luke xii, 33). See Bag. Lightfoot, on the authority of rabbi Nathan, describes the scrip as "a kind of vesture, which was a little upper garment in which were many places sewed, where they put anything they met witli that they had occasion to use; so that this was a kind of apron with divers purses or pockets made in it, in which the Jews put their necessaries as we do in our pockets, which apron they could readily put oflFor on, wear or lay aside, as they saw occasion. As in such an apron they had their pockets, so in the scarf or girdle wherewithal they girded their undercoats they had their purses. Their girdles were ordinarily of linen, and in them they kept their money when they travelled or went from home on their business" (Temple Service, ix, 121). See PuKSE. Notwithstanding the great hospitality of the Orientals, travellers cannot always calculate upon ob- taining a supply of food in their cottages, for most of the peasants are so poor that they can rarely afford to keep more provisions than will meet the immediate wants of their families. Pedestrian travellers and shep- herds are therefore accustomed to take with them a satchel, or wallet, in which they carry some dry food and other little articles likely to be useful on a journey. It was in such a bag that David carried the pebble with which he smote the boasting champion of the Philis- tines (1 Sam. xvii, 40). AVhen Christ sent forth his apostles, he forbade them to provide themselves with these satchels; and nothing can more forcibly show the completeness of their dependence on Divine Provi- dence, while executing their mission, than their neg- lecting to supply themselves with what all other travel- lers would have regarded as an indispensable requisite (Matt. X, 10; Mark vi, 8; Luke ix, 3; comp. Luke xxii, 35, 3(5). They were to appear in every town or village as men unlike all other travellers, freely doing without that which others looked on as essential. The fresh rule given in Luke xxii, 35, 3(), perhaps, also, the facts that Judas was the bearer of the bag {yXwccjoKOfiov, John xii,G), and that when the disciples were without bread they wore ashamed of their furgetfulness (Mark viii, 14-16), show that the command was not intended to be permanent. The scrip is often made of haircloth, and is of various forms. In Palestine, however, it is usually made of leather (Porter, Damascus, ii, 109). lu the south of Spain, where many of the usages introduced by the Mohammedan conquerors are still retained, the scrip is usually of goat -skin, and is generally carried over the shoulder. The purse, which some inaccurate commentators have con- founded with the scrip, was always suspended from the girdle. A kind of sanctity is attributed to the scrip by some of I the Eastern Jews, as it preserves their food from being polluted by being brought in to con tact with those whom they are taught to regard as un- clean or profane (see Hackett, jniix/ni/iiiiis oj' , Scripture, p. 97). Thomson found the farmers, in the vicinity of the Lake of Gennesaret, carrying wallets made of the skins of kids stripped off whole and roughly tanned; and he supposes these to be the scrip of the Bible (^Land and Book, i, 532 sq.).
Scriptoria, the desks of religious houses at which the monks wrote in the scriptorium.
Scriptorium. In the IMiddlc Ages, when learning was neglected elsewhere, such literature as there was
Modern Oiicutal Wallet.
found a refuge in monasteries. In every great abbey there was an apartment called scriptorium, or domus antiquurii, where writers were constantly employed in copying psalters, missals. Church music, and such other works as thej- could obtain. The monks in these writ- ing-rooms were enjoined to pursue their occupations in silence, and cautiously to avoid mistakes in grammar, s|)elling, or pointing. In some cases authors prefixed to their works a solemn adjuration to the transcribers to copy them correctly. ^Vhen a number of copies of the same work was to be made, it was usual to employ sev- eral persons at the same time in writing; each person, except the writer of the first skin, began where liis fel- low was to leave off. Sometimes they wrote after an- other person, called the dictator, who held the original and dictated ; hence the errors in orthography in many ancient MSS. These so-iptoiia were ordinarily so ar- ranged that benches were placed one behind another for the copyists, so that, a master or person standing at one end and naming a word or musical note, it could be quickly copied by all, each naming it in succession. These writing monks were sometimes distinguished by the name of librarii, a term applied to tlie common scripiores who gained a living by writing, but their more usual designation was antiquarii. Isidore of Sev- ille says, '• The librarii transcribed both old and new works, the antiquarii only those that were ancient ; from hence they derived their name." It was the duty of the librarian, or precentor of the monastery, to provide the writing-monks with the books they were to copy, and with the materials necessary for their occupation ; they were also forbidden to write anything without his per- mission. The junior monks were usually employed in the transcription of ordinary books, but it was ordained that " the gospels, psalters, and missals should be care- fidly written by monks of mature age." Nuns were oc- casionally employed in a similar way, — Farrar, Ecclcs. Diet. s. V.