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STICHOMETRY

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 916 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STICHOMETRY , a See also:

term applied properly to the measurement (AiTpov) of See also:ancient texts by vri of (lit. " rows ") or verses of a fixed See also:standard length. It was the See also:custom of the Greeks and See also:Romans to estimate the length of their See also:literary See also:works by measured lines. In poetical works the number of metrical verses was computed; in See also:prose works a standard See also:line had to be taken, for no two See also:scribes would naturally write lines of the same length. On the authority of See also:Galen (de Placit. Hipp. et Plat. Viii. I) we learn that the unit of measurement among the Greeks was the See also:average Homeric line, consisting of about 36 letters, or .16 syllables. The lines so measured were called arLXor, or "See also:earl. The practice of thus computing the length of a See also:work can be traced back to the 4th See also:century B.C. in the boast of See also:Theopompus that he had written more Earl than any other writer. The number of such rrixot or gr.?) contained in a See also:papyrus See also:roll was recorded at the end of the work; and at the end of a large work extending to several rolls the See also:grand See also:total was given. The See also:object of such stichometrical calculations was a commercial one, viz. to assess the pay of the See also:scribe and the See also:market value of the MS.

See also:

Callimachus, when he See also:drew up his See also:catalogue of the Alexandrian See also:libraries in the 3rd century B.C., registered the total of the See also:ari of in each work. Although he is generally lauded for thus carefully recording the See also:numbers and setting an example to all who should follow him, it has been suggested that this very See also:act was the cause of their See also:general disappearance from See also:MSS.; for that, when his Afvases were published, scribes evidently thought it was needless to repeat what could be found there; and thus it is that so few MSS. have descended to us which are marked in this way. A ICtore natural See also:reason for the scarcity of such details is that scribes and booksellers suppressed them in See also:order to impose upon their customers. The application of the See also:system to Latin MSS. was fully recognized. The unit of measurement was the average Virgilian line. This is recorded in an interesting memorandum written in the 4th century, found in a MS. in the Phillipps Library at See also:Cheltenham, containing a computation of the vrixot in the books of the See also:Bible and the works of See also:Cyprian. The writer states that in the See also:city of See also:Rome it had become the practice not to See also:record the number of verses in the MSS., and that elsewhere also, for greed of gain, the numbers were suppressed. Therefore he has made a calculation of the contents of the See also:text under his See also:hand and has appended to the several books the number of Virgilian hexameters which would represent its length. The See also:rate of pay of the scribes in See also:Diocletian's reign was fixed by his See also:edict de pretiis rerum venalium at 25 denarii for too avixot in See also:writing of the first quality, and at 20 denarii for the second quality; what the difference was between the two qualities does not appear. The system of measurement described above has been called " total stichometry," in distinction from " partial stichometry," which was the calculation and marking off in the margins of the aetxot from point to point, just as we See also:mark off the lines in a poem at convenient intervals and number the verses of the chapters of the Bible. This method was for convenience of literary reference. Instances of such " partial stichometry " are not very numerous among existing MSS., but they are sufficient to show that the system was in See also:vogue.

In the Bankes See also:

Homer in the See also:British Museum the verses are numbered in the margin by hundreds, and the same practice was followed in other Homeric papyri. In the Ambrosian See also:Pentateuch of the 5th century at See also:Milan the See also:book of See also:Deuteronomy is likewise numbered at every hundredth ortxoc. Euthalius, a See also:deacon of See also:Alexandria of the 5th century, marked the orlxot of the Pauline epistles by fifties. In the Codex Urbinus of Isocrates, and in the See also:Clarke See also:Plato of A.D. 888, at See also:Oxford, there are indications of partial stichometry. There was also in use in biblical texts and in rhetorical works a stichometrical system different from that described above, in which the orlxot, as we have seen, were lines of measurement or space-lines. This other system, which is more correctly entitled colometry (see See also:MANUSCRIPT), consisted in the See also:division or breaking up of the text into See also:short sentences or lines according to the sense, with a view to a better understanding of the meaning and a better delivery in public See also:reading. The See also:Psalms, See also:Proverbs and other poetical books were anciently thus written, and hence received the See also:title of 13L13Xoi oroOpets, or ortxnpaL; and it was on the same See also:plan that St See also:Jerome wrote, first the books of the prophets, and subsequently all the Bible of his version, per cola et commata " quod in Demosthene et Tullio solet fieri." In the See also:Greek Testament also Euthalius, in the 5th century, introduced the method of writing 0-rixrt6ov, as he termed it, into the Pauline and See also:Catholic epistles and the Acts. The surviving MSS. which contain the text written in short sentences show by the diversity of the latter that the rhythmical sentences or lines of sense were differently calculated by different writers; but the See also:original arrangement of St Jerome is thought to be represented in the Codex Amiatinus at See also:Florence, and that of Euthalius in the Codex Claromontanus at See also:Paris. With regard to St Jerome's reference to the division per cola et commata of the rhetorical works of See also:Demosthenes and See also:Cicero, it should be noticed that there are still in existence MSS. of works of the latter in which the text is thus written, one of them being a See also:volume of the Tusculans and the De senectute in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. The same arrangement of the text of the orations of Demosthenes is also mentioned by the rhetoricians of the 5th and subsequent centuries. STICK$. a See also:game played in an enclosed See also:court, taking its name from " sphairistike," the See also:parent of See also:lawn-See also:tennis.

The implements are an See also:

ordinary lawn-tennis racket and lawn-tennis balls not covered with See also:flannel. The walls of the court may be made of See also:wood, See also:cement or See also:brick to the height of 9 or to ft., with netting above—unless the court is roofed—to prevent the balls from going out: the See also:floor may be of wood, cement or See also:asphalt, perfect accuracy not being essential. The dimensions of the court are 78 ft. by 27 ft.; it is bisected longitudinally by a painted line, laterally by a See also:net 3 ft. 6 in. high, above which is stretched a tape 8 ft. from the ground. In each of the corners a 9-ft. square (the" service " court) is painted, and 18 ft. from each back See also:wall lines (" service " lines) are See also:drawn across the breadth of the court. The rules are similar to those of lawn-tennis, except that a See also:ball can only be " out of court " if it is struck over the walls. STICK-See also:INSECT, the name given to certain orthopterous See also:insects of the See also:family Phasmidae, of extremely variable See also:form and See also:size, and deriving their name from a resemblance to the branches and twigs of the trees in which they live and feed. The resemblance is produced by the See also:great length and slenderness of the See also:body and legs. See also:Protection is afforded to some See also:species, like Heteropteryx grayi from See also:Borneo, by See also:sharp thornlike spines. The anterior wings, when See also:present, are always small; but the posterior wings are sometimes of large size and very beautifully coloured. The colouring, however, is only visible when the wings are See also:expanded and in use. Many species are wingless at all ages.

As in the See also:

leaf-insects, to which the stick-insects are closely allied, the See also:egg-cases are very similar to seeds. Stick-insects,are intolerant of See also:cold, and attain their largest size and greatest See also:pro-See also:fusion of species in the tropics, one See also:West See also:African species, Palophus cenlaurus, reaching a length of 9 in. Species of small size are found in See also:southern See also:Europe, one belonging to the genus Bacillus advancing as far See also:north as the See also:middle of See also:France.

End of Article: STICHOMETRY

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