of Eupolis and Cratinus, which were equal to
Aristophanes; the histories of Theopompus, which in the speeches were
as good as Thucydides; the lively, agreeable orations of Hyperides, the
accuser of Demosthenes; with the books of travels, chronologies, and
countless others of less merit for style and genius, but which, if they
had been saved, would not have left Egypt wholly without a history.

[Illustration: 120.jpg ALEXANDRIAN FORMS OF WRITING]

The trade of writing and making copies of the old authors employed
a great many hands in the neighbourhood of the museum. Two kinds of
handwriting were in use. One was a running hand, with the letters joined
together in rather a slovenly manner; and the other a neat, regular
hand, with the letters square and larger, written more slowly but read
more easily. Those that wrote the first were called _quick-writers_,
those that wrote the second were called _book-writers_. If an author was
not skilled in the use of the pen, he employed a _quickwriter_ to write
down his words as he delivered them. But in order that his work might be
published it was handed over to the _book-writers_ to be copied out more
neatly; and numbers of young women, skilled in penmanship, were employed
in the trade of copying books for sale. For this purpose parchment
was coming into use, though the old papyrus was still used, as an
inexpensive though less lasting writing material.

Athenaeus, if we may judge from Iris writings, was then the brightest of
the Alexandrian wits and men of learning. We learn from his own pages
that he was born at Naucratis, and was the friend of Pancrates, who
lived under Hadrian, and also of Oppian, who died in the reign of
Caracalla. His _Deipnosophist_, or table-talk of the philosophers, is a
large work full of pleasing anecdotes and curious information, gathered
from comic writers and authors without number that have long since been
lost. But it is put together with very little skill. His industry and
memory are more remarkable than his judgment or good taste; and the
table-talk is too often turned towards eating and drinking. His amusing
work is a picture of society in Alexandria, where everything frivolous
was treated as grave, and everything serious was laughed at. The wit
sinks into scandal, the humour is at the cost of morality, and the
numerous quotations are chosen for their point, not for any lofty
thoughts or noble feeling. Alexandria was then as much the seat of
lit