notae

NOTAE(σημεῖα) in a technical sense means those signs and abbreviations which were used (1) for secret writing, cipher; (2) for rapid writing, i.e. shorthand or stenography.

1. We have frequent mention of the use of cipher, for despatches or letters of an important or compromising nature, at the end of the Republican period. Thus of Caesar's correspondence with Oppius and Balbus we are told by Gallus that there were litterae singulariae sine coagmentis syllabarum: erat autem conventum inter eos (the writer and his correspondents) clandestinum de commutando situ litterarum. The cipher used by Caesar was, according to Suetonius (Suet. Jul. 56), a simple one, and consisted in making D stand for A, E for B, and so on through the alphabet, si qua occultius perferenda essent. The cipher used by Augustus was on the same principle. (Suet. Aug. 88; Becker-Göll, Gallus, 1.62.) Whether the words διὰ σημείων in Cic. ad Att. 13.3. 2mean, in cipher, or simply with abbreviations of words (sigla), or in shorthand, is uncertain. The letter to which he refers (13.30) does not seem to be one which particularly requires secrecy, but it is quite possible that he may have sent it in cipher: on the other hand, he may, though less probably, have sent Atticus the copy taken down in shorthand from his dictation. However that may be, we may feel tolerably certain that in Cicero's correspondence cipher was used at least as frequently as in Caesar's.

2. The whole system of signs for numeration [see LOGISTICA] is no doubt essentially stenography; but it existed quite apart from, and probably was much anterior to, the art of shorthand writing which is usually expressed by that word: the same may be said of signs or letters for money value, weights, coins, &c., which, like the signs for numeration, arose from consideration of economy in space, rather than from any necessity for rapid writing. Such a necessity was the origin of the Notae Tironianae(called also Notae Tironis et Senecae), which we may take as the representative of ancient shorthand writing.

As to the history of this art, it is impossible to say with certainty whether the Romans originated their own shorthand and communicated it to the Greeks, or whether the Greeks had it first. The idea of its earlier use in Greece is started by a passage of Diogenes Laertius (Diog. Laert. 2.48), which states that Xenophon took down lectures ὑποσημειωσάμενος τὰ λεγόμενα. It is quite possible that this may, as some think, mean that he wrote in shorthand; but, in the absence of other mention of the art at that time, we should prefer to understand it merely of ordinary note-taking. We have not in fact any direct mention of its use among Greeks or Romans before the time of Cicero. (For a much earlier use in Asia, some adduce the ready writer in Psalm xlv., in which sense the LXX. translator possibly took it, when he rendered it ὀξυγράφος.) The use of shorthand at Rome may have been developed from cipher-writing, or more probably from the frequent use of abbreviations, such as S. C., &c. Of its use by Cicero we have abundant record. Plutarch (Cato Min. 23) tells us that the speech on the punishment of the Catilinarians was the only speech of Cato that was preserved, and that this was owing to Cicero, who had previously instructed those clerks who surpassed the rest in quick writing, how to use certain signs (σημεῖα) which in small and brief characters (τύποις) comprehended the force of many letters, and had placed them in many parts of the senate-house. For the Romans at that time were not used to employ, nor did they possess, what are called shorthand writers (σημειογράφοι), but it was on this occasion, as they say, that they first conceived the idea. Dio Cassius (Dio Cass. 55.7) ascribes the invention to Maecenas, which probably means merely that he, or his secretaries, made considerable additions and improvements, and this is exactly the account which Isidore gives in the 7th century, derived, as it seems, from Suetonius. He ascribes the invention of the shorthand in general use (vulgares notae) to Ennius, who used 1100 signs: for taking down public speeches or the proceedings in law-courts, there was also a division of labour among several librarii (= notarii), who took different portions. He says that Tiro had first used notae at Rome, sed tantum praepositionum: if that is correct, we must suppose that the actual shorthand of Tiro consisted of abbreviations (sigla), with arbitrary signs only for particles of frequent occurrence: he goes on to say that additional signs were added in succession by Vipsanius, Philargyrus and Aquila, the freedman of Maecenas, till at length Seneca reduced the whole to a regular system and increased the number of signs to 5,000. As regards the Ennius here mentioned, whom many writers have taken to be the poet (whence they make Isidore assert a much earlier date to Roman stenography), there can be little doubt that he was the grammarian Ennius of the Augustan period (see Suet. de Grammat. 1; Teuffel, Hist. of Rom. Lit. § 178, 4). Indeed the context shows clearly enough that Isidore speaks of Ennius as improving on something which existed in a smaller shape in Cicero's time. From Cicero's account of Tiro (ad Farm. 16.4, &c.; cf. Gell. 6.3, 8) it is extremely probable that the real labour of the work was his, not Cicero's, and that the title notae Tironianae is just: but the addition et Senecae seems to be rejected by Seneca himself, who says, quid loquar verborum notas, quibus quamvis citata excipitur oratio et celeritatem linguae manus sequitur? vilissimorum mancipiorum ista commenta sunt. The arrangement and additions were, however, probably effected by him through his notarii.

From this time its use spread. It served not only for taking down public speeches (as in Plutarch, l. c.), but also for the use of students in the lecture-room (Quint. Inst. proem. 7), and for any writing from dictation, e. g. for the rough draft of wills: Silius notario testamentum scribendum notis dictavit, et priusquam litteris perscriberetur (the full text for signature) defunctus est (Dig. 29, 1, 40). The same distinction between notae and perscriptio may be seen in the fragment of Valerius Probus about cipher-writing, est etiam circa perscribendas vel paucioribus litteris notandas voces studium necessarium. It was taught in schools: see Prudent. Περὶ Στεφάνων, 9. Praefuerat studiis puerilibus et grege multoSaeptus magister litterarum sederat,Verba notis brevibus comprendere cuncta peritus, Raptimque punctis dicta praepetibus sequi.

So Fulgentius (Mythol. 3.10) divides the writing lesson into the abecedaria or regular alphabet, and the notaria. Many Romans kept slaves trained for the purpose [NOTARII], and Suetonius tells us that Titus, who prided himself on his skill in writing, and said that he was a forger spoilt, used to race his secretaries in shorthand writing (Suet. Tit. 3). The use was still further developed among the Christians for taking down sermons, episcopal addresses, &c.; and, if it was not as old as Xenophon in Greece, it was at any rate widely employed in early Christian times. The extant examples of Greek shorthand writing are considered to date only from the 10th century (see the article Palaeography in Encyclop. Brit.), but we can have no doubt that if the art was originated at Rome it was not much later in reaching Greece. As to its general use in Christian synods, St. Augustine (Ep. 141) says that eight notarii in relays of two at a time followed the speeches of bishops assembled at Carthage: and we are told by Trithemius (abbot of Wurtzburg in 1506 A.D.) that St. Cyprian added to the original Tironian notes. The words are worth quoting, since the learning and research of the writer make it likely that his account of the development of the notae is correct: M. Tullius Cicero librum scripsit notarum quem Sanctus Cyprianus multis et notis et dictionibus ampliavit, adjiciens vocabula Christianorum usibus necessaria ut opus ipsum fieret non solum utile paganis sed multo magis etiam fidelibus. The notae fell apparently into disuse for a considerable time, but were revived under the Carlovingian dynasty and used in Capitularies, &c. The MSS. written in the Tironian character long remained incomprehensible, till Charpentier deciphered them and published an account of them in 1747.

As to the ancient system itself, we have some contemporary description from the passage of Plutarch cited above (Cat. Min. 23), who tells us clearly that arbitrary signs, not merely abbreviations or sigla, were used. Compare Manilius 4.197: Hic et scriptor erit velox, cui littera verbum est,Quique notis linguam superat, cursimque loquentis Excipiat longas nova per compendia voces.

Auson. Epigr. 146: Cui multa fandi copiaPunctis peracta singulis Ut una vox absolvitur.

From the passage of Seneca quoted above, and from Mart. 14.208, we can merely gather that the writer could keep pace with the speaker. It is impossible to say how far what we possess under the name of notae Tironianae reproduces the system used in the Augustan age. Common sense would suggest what Trithemius states to be the fact, that great additions were made at various times; and the view which he gives may fairly be accepted, that the system of Tiro was much the same in its general outlines as that which is still extant under his name, though far less full and elaborate. The system consists mainly (1) in using an alphabet more or less based on the Roman letters which can be so modified as to facilitate the junction of letters.

(2) In representing terminations by arbitrary signs, such as B. for bam,.B for bant (or, instead of the regular letters, new characters similarly multiplied by the variation of the point). To this the punctis in the passages of Ausonius and Prudentius refer.

(3) In employing all sorts of abbreviations (sigla) independently of the character used. (Cf. cui littera verbum est above.)

(4) In adopting arbitrary signs, such as Trithemius describes, for words in common use. With this correspond the τύποι πολλῶν γραμμάτων ἔχοντα δύναμιν of Plutarch and the nova compendia of Manilius.

For further information on the subject, see Kopp, Palaeographica Critica, vol. i.; Ruess, Tachygraphie; and especially Jules Tardiff, Mém. sur Not. Tiron., Acad. des Inscriptions, sér. 2, vol. 3.1852, who all give tables of the alphabet and examples of the writing as it has come down to us.

(σημεῖα). A word used technically of signs and abbreviations, as (1) for secret writing, cipher;

(2) for rapid writing, short-hand, stenography; and

(3) for critical purposes in texts (σημεῖα κριτικά).

I. There is no mention of cryptography, properly so called, among the Greeks of the classical period, though they had various devices for concealing a written message and making it unintelligible except to the person for whose eyes it was intended. Among such devices was the σκυτάλη, mentioned by Plutarch as in use among the Spartans, and of which an account is given in the article scytale. At Rome towards the end of the Republican period we find mention of cipher writing, though it was of a simple sort and one that would not long baffle the scrutiny of an ingenious investigator. Thus, we are told of Caesar's private correspondence, that he had an agreement with the persons to whom he was writing by which the letters of the words were to be interchanged. Suetonius says that this system consisted in making D stand for A, E for B, and so on through the alphabet, and that Augustus used a similar system ( Iul. 56; Aug. 88; Becker-Göll, Gallus, i. 62).

II. Whether the use of short-hand arose first among the Greeks or among the Romans there is no definite information. A passage in Diogenes Laertius (ii. 48) seems to imply that Xenophon took down lectures by some stenographic process, but there is no direct mention of it earlier than the time of Cicero, who employed it frequently, as we learn from Plutarch (Cat. Min. 23) and others. Thus, at the trial of the Catilinarian conspirators, Cato 's speech was taken down by writers whom Cicero had instructed “to use certain signs which in small and brief characters comprehended the force of many letters. . . . For the Romans at that time were not accustomed to employ and did not possess what are known as short-hand writers, but it is said that it was on this occasion that they first conceived the idea.” Dio Cassius (lv. 7) ascribes the invention of the art to Maecenas, but this probably means that Maecenas made some improvements in the existing system. An explanation is given by Isidorus, who ascribes the invention of short-hand to one Ennius (not the poet), who is said to have used 1100 signs. He also says that Tiro , the confidential freedman and secretary of Cicero, was the first person to use these signs at Rome, but implies that this short-hand consisted of abbreviations or arbitrary signs only for particles of frequent occurrence, and that additional signs were added successively by Vipsanius, Philargyrus, and Aquila, the freedmen of Maecenas, until finally Seneca reduced the whole to a regular system and increased the number of signs to about 5000. It is probable, however, from what Cicero says (Ad Fam. xvi. 4), that the main structure of the system is due to Tiro , and in fact the traditional name for short-hand signs (notae Tironianae) seems to justify this belief (cf. Gell.vi.3.8). However this may be, from the time of Cicero and his immediate successors the use of stenography spread among the Romans. It was used both for taking down public speeches and for the use of students in the lecture-room, and many Romans kept slaves who were trained as short-hand writers (notarii). The emperor Titus was a skilful stenographer, and often instituted contests in rapid writing with his secretaries (Suet. Tit. 3). After the Christian era began, short-hand was much used among the Christians for taking down sermons and ecclesiastical speeches, and St. Augustine (Epist. 141) speaks of an episcopal assemblage held at Carthage at which eight stenographers were employed in relays of two. Such ancient manuscripts as are written in the Tironian shorthand remained undecipherable until 1747, when the French scholar Charpentier succeeded in reading them and published an account of them.

The ancient system consisted first of an alphabet more cursive than the ordinary Roman alphabet and especially modified so as to facilitate the juncture of letters. In the second place, it represented terminations by arbitrary characters used in conjunction with a point—thus, B. stood for bam and .B for bant. In the third place, all sorts of abbreviations (sigla) independently of the character used were employed. Finally, as in modern stenography, a number of arbitrary signs were employed for words in common use.

III. The Alexandrian grammarians appear to have originated the use of critical signs by which to indicate certain judgments in their recension and study of texts. Aristophanes of Byzantium (B.C. 257-180) published an edition of Homer with such signs, and these were developed by his successors, especially Aristarchus. The most important of these were the obelus, , used to denote a spurious passage; the diplé (διπλῆ), , used to call attention to something special; the dotted diplé (διπλῆ περιεστιγμένη), , to denote variant readings; the asterisk, *, to mark genuine verses if repeated; the antisigma, C, and the stigmé, , both used to denote repetitions of the same idea; the ceraunion (κεραύνιον), used when a large number of lines were to be rejected. Other signs and symbols of a different character, such as marks of punctuation, accents, breathings, etc., will be found treated under palaeography; and textual criticism.

For ancient short-hand, see Kopp, Palaeographia Critica, vol. i. (Mannheim, 1817); and Anderson, History of Short-hand (London, 1882). On the notae criticae, see Reifferscheid's Suetonii Reliquiae, pp. 137-144 (Leipzig, 1890); Schrader, De Notatione Critica, etc. (Bonn, 1863); and Römer, Die Notation der alexandr. Philol. etc. in the Bayr. Acad. Cl. I., vol. xix. (1892).