scriba

scrība, ae, m. [scribo],

• a public or official writer, a clerk, secretary, scribe (whereas librarius or scriba librarius denotes a private secretary or amanuensis; notarius, a short-hand writer): scribas proprio nomine antiqui et librarios et poëtas vocabant. At nunc dicuntur scribae quidem librarii, qui rationes publicas scribunt in tabulis, etc., Fest. p. 333 Müll.: (scribarum) ordo est honestus, quod eorum hominum fidei tabellae publicae periculaque magistratuum committuntur, etc., Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 79, § 183; cf. id. ib. 2, 3, 78, § 182; 2, 3, 80, § 184 sq.; 2, 3, 80, § 187; id. Pis. 25, 61; id. Clu. 45, 126; id. Agr. 2, 13, 32 (distinguished from librarii): meus, id. Fam. 5, 20, 2; Liv. 2, 12; 22, 57; 40, 29; Suet. Claud. 1; 38; id. Vesp. 3; Hor. S. 1, 5, 35; 2, 5, 56; id. Ep. 1, 8, 2 et saep.; cf. also: SCRIBA AB EPISTOLIS LATINIS, Inscr. Orell. 41; 2437; and: SCRIBA LIBRARIVS, ib. 1621; 2950 al.—
• • • 2 (Eccl. Lat.) A doctor of the Jewish law, one whose duty it was to guard and expound the sacred text, Vulg. 2 Reg. 8, 17; id. Matt. 23, 2 et saep.

scrība, ae, m. (scribo), der Schreiber, bes. der beamtete Schreiber, der Sekretär, a) öffentlicher, eine Art Unterbeamter (Schrift- od. Rechnungsführer) im Dienste des Senates u. obrigkeitlicher Personen (Konsuln, Prätoren, Ädilen, Quästoren, Statthalter), die in Rom einen ehrenvollen Stand bildeten, Cic.: scriba aedilicius, Cic.: quaestorius, Suet.: equitum, Eskadronschreiber, Curt. 7, 1, 15: – bei Fürsten, Nep. Eum. 1, 5: regum scribae, Firm. math. 8, 25. p. 233, 20 ed. Basil. – b) bei Privatpersonen, scriba librarius, Varro (sonst bloß librarius gen.): scriba Neronis, Hor.: so auch scriba meus, Cic. ep. 5, 20, 1: scriba ab epistulis, Schreiber, Sekretär, Inscr. Vgl. über die scribae Benecke Cic. Cat. 4, 15. p. 285 sq. Klotz zu Cic. Reden 3, 861 ff.

1 scriba [CL] 1 one whose business is writing, transcribing, or recording, scribe: a member of class of professional interpreters, copyists, and teachers of Jewish law; b (w. ref. to Matth. xiii 52, also applied in non-Biblical context). c writer or author of Scripture. a s169 Esdras sacerdos et ~a legis Dei Bede Chr. 486; Jabes qui fuit doctor ~arum S. Langton Chron. 88; Christus ‥ verba illa ‥ dixit propter Phariseos et ~as Ockham Dial. 854.  b omnis ~a doctus in regno caelorum Bede Tab. 422D; c789 esto ~a sapiens, negotiator fidelis: vende terrena, eme caelestia Alcuin Ep. 52; 800 intra sanctorum gazophilatia doctorum et profer nobis ‥ doctissimus ~a ‥ nova et vetera Ib. 196; erat vir iste ~a doctus in regno celorum et sepe sermonem jussus facere in populo, proferebat de thesauro suo nova et vetera Ailr. Ed. Conf. 786B.  c uno ore locuti sunt unum magnum verbum omnes ~e Domini Wycl. Ver. II 112. 2 notary, secretary, keeper of accounts; b (as official of royal court); c (as clerk of judicial court); d (as town clerk); e (as university registrar). Willelmus ~a j mansionem tenet de li d. DB I 162ra; 1299 duobus ~is scribentibus magnos rotulos ‥ xxiiij s. ij d. Pipe 144 r. 28; nomina artificiorum, ecclesiasticorum: hic ~a, chaunsyllere, scawnceler WW; 1537 sol. ‥ ~e scaccarii ‥ xx s. Ac. Durh. 703.  b a1123 Robertus ~a curie [regis] Cart. Merton 428; peritia ‥ liberalium artium imbutus ‥ Henrico regi familiaris effectus inter precipuos ~as complacuit. denique de capella regis provectus ‥ Ord. Vit. XIII 39 p. 119; decet quod tu [sc. rex] eligas de ~is seu scriptoribus qui habeant hanc perfeccionem in eloquencia ornata et in recordacione subtili Bacon V 147.  c 1549 ~ae curiarum ‥ se promptos et paratos ad obsequendum et parendum judicum mandatis praestent Conc. Scot. II 123.  d 1471 a ‥ R. de G., ~a communi curie burgi de Aberden ac notario publico, sibi fieri petiit ‥ publica ‥ instrumenta Scot. Grey Friars II 221.  e 1470 facta memorie satis digna ‥ propter communis ~e defeccionem irregistrata relicta, in grave ‥ universitatis dispendium penitus ignorantur StatOx 285; decrevit quod ‥ magister artium notarius publicus in retorica sufficienter eruditus, in ~am registrarium et tabellionem cancellarii et universitatis ‥ habeatur Ib.; 1506 determinatorum nomina ‥ in communi registro universitatis scribenda ‥ esse ~amque universitatis ab unoquoque bacallariorum sic determinantium duos denarios ‥ pro ‥ registratione recepturum esse Ib. 322.

2 scriba v. substantia

scrība, (10) æ, m. (scribo), ¶ 1 copiste : Fest. 333 ¶ 2 scribe, greffier : Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 183, etc. ¶ 3 secrétaire : Cic. Fam. 5, 20, 1 ; Nep. Eum. 1, 5 ; Liv. 22, 57, 3 ¶ 4 pl., les scribes, docteurs de la loi chez les Juifs : Vulg.

scriba , ae. m.
書辦。筆手。

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scrība ae, m

• SCARP-, a public writer, official scribe, professional writer, clerk, secretary: (scribarum) ordo est honestus: da scribae, recitat ex codice, etc.: scriba cum rege sedens, L.: recoctus Scriba ex quinqueviro, H.: equitum, i. e. clerk of a company, Cu.

SCRIBA

SCRIBAa title given to the clerks, or rather secretaries, who formed the highest class of the officials attached to a Roman magistrate. The scriba was much more than a mere librarius or copyist; thus Cicero, pro Sull. 15, 42, 44, distinguishes sharply the librarii who copied out the confessions of the Catilinarian conspirators from the scribae, the four senators who had taken them down. The compound expression scriba librarius is used to denote a superior kind of librarius: hence the quaestorian clerks often appear as scribae librarii. These were divided into three decuries, presided over by the sex primi (Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3.3. 0, 74; Wilmanns, Inscr. 1297, 1298, 1809), and had as their especial charge the administration of the treasury (whence they are sometimes called ex aerario, C. I. L. 6.1816) and the keeping of the public books. Every governor of a province had two of these treasury-clerks assigned to him to keep his accounts (Liv. 38.55, 5), and to draw up the statement which lie had to, give in upon his return (Cic. in Pis. 25, 61). Besides them, he would naturally have his own clerks for his private accounts. As the treasury contained the state archives, all the business connected with them, especially the registration of the decrees of the senate, passed through the hands of the scribae. There is no definite reference to scribae attached to the consuls; but the praetors and the judicial authorities generally were regularly aided by scribae, who read the documents laid before the court (Cic. in Verr. 3.1. 0, 26), and drew up the decisions and sentences in due form (Cic. Clu. 53, 147). The censors especially were during their term of office in need of such clerical assistance, and sometimes they appear as the authorities in charge of the whole body of public clerks (Liv. 4.8, 4). Most of the clerks may have belonged to the class of public slaves; but others, again, must have been officials holding a respectable position, for, in the formula of the census, they are mentioned after the censors but before the other magistrates (Varro, 6.87). At least the more important of the clerks must have been taken from the decuries of the scribae quaestorii: the nominations were usually made by quaestors, but here, as always, a superior magistrate could interfere by the exercise of his overruling powers when he pleased. We learn from the case of Horace that appointments could be, in some cases at least, obtained by purchase. The number of the quaestorian clerks was 27 before the time of Sulla, and was raised by him to 36. As there were probably 11 provincial governors sent out after Sulla's re-arrangements, this left 14 for duty at home. The clerks of the curule aediles, mentioned by Cicero (Cic. Clu. 45, 126) and Livy (Liv. 30.39, 7), and often in inscriptions (e. g. Wilmanns, 1296, 1300, 1302, 1303, &c.), formed one decuria, presided over by 10 head clerks (C. I. L. 6.1840). They were not much inferior in standing to the former class. We also find mention of clerks to the plebeian magistrates, the tribunes, the plebeian aediles, and the Cerial aediles; but little is known of their functions, and they do not appear to have been important. On the other hand, the first two classes contained men of great knowledge of business and even of law (C. I. L. 6.1819), and these may be compared to the permanent officials of our own public offices. Their services must have been quite necessary to the annually elected magistrates, often young and inexperienced. They formed collectively an ordo (Cic. Ver. 3.7. 9, 184), claiming to rank with that of the equites (Schol. in Juven. 5.3), and it was the gradual establishment of a claim to lifelong tenure of office that led to the sale of posts which the incumbents were willing to vacate. In the provinces they ranked immediately after the staff officers of the governor; but the fact that they received pay (under the Republic called merces, under the Empire salarium) drew a sharp line between them and the officers who were not merscenarii. Hence, as in the well-known case of Cn. Flavius, a scriba was not allowed to stand as a candidate for office until he had laid down his scriptus or official position. Cicero (de Off. 2.8, 29) mentions another case of a man who had been a clerk under Sulla becoming praetor urbanus under Caesar. In Horace (Sat. 2.5, 56) we have an instance of an inferior magistrate, one of the quinqueviri, turning clerk; he also speaks of the order, to which he himself belonged, in Sat. 2.6, 36, as possessed of influence. In Tacitus they are apparently included libertini or their descendants. (Cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, i.3 331-339.)

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