in grammar, is an art with which we have said, in the Encyclopaedia, that the ancients were entirely unacquainted. Candour obliges us to confess that this was said rashly. A learned writer, in the Monthly Magazine for September 1793, who subscribes J. Warburton, has proved, we think completely, that the art is not wholly modern; and we Some species of pauses and divisions of sentences in speaking and writing must have been coeval with the knowledge of communicating ideas by sound or by symbols. Suidas says, that the period and the colon were discovered and explained by Thrasymacus, about 380 years before the Christian era. Cicero says, that Thrasymacus was the first who studied oratorical numbers, which entirely consisted in the artificial structure of periods and colons. It appears from a passage in Aristotle, that punctuation was known in his time.
The learned Dr Edward Bernard refers the knowledge of pointing to the time of that philosopher, and says, that it consisted in the different positions of one single point. At the bottom of a letter, thus, (A.) it was equivalent to a comma; in the middle (A') it was equal to a colon; at the top (A") it denoted a period, or the conclusion of a sentence.
This mode was easily practised in Greek manuscripts, while they were written in capitals. But when the small letters were adopted, that is, about the 9th century, this distinction could not be observed; a change was therefore made in the scheme of punctuation. Unciala literarum hodiernae usu dicimus ear in vetustissima codicibus, quae primum formam servant, ac solute sunt, nec mutuâ colligantur. Haec modi litterae unciales observantur in libris omnibus ad nonnum usque faculum.—Montf. Palæog. Recens. p. xii.
According to Cicero, the ancient Romans, as well as the Greeks, made use of points. He mentions them under the appellation of librariorum nota; and in several parts of his works he speaks of "interpunkte clausulae in orationibus," of "clausulae atque interpuncta verborum," of "interpunktiones verborum," &c.
Seneca, who died A.D. 65, expressly says, that Latin writers, in his time, had been used to punctuation. "Nos cum scribimus interpungere consuevimus." Muretus and Lipsius imagined that these words alluded to the insertion of a point after each word; but they certainly were mistaken; for they must necessarily refer to marks of punctuation in the division of sentences, because in the passage in which these words occur, Seneca is speaking of one Q. Haterius, who made no pauses in his orations.
According to Suetonius, in his Illust. Gram. Valerius Probus procured copies of many old books, and employed himself in correcting, pointing, and illustrating them; devoting his time to this and no other part of grammar. Multa exemplaria contralita emendare, ac distingui et adnotare curavit; foli huic, nec ulli praeterea, grammatices partis dedicavit.
It appears from hence, that in the time of Probus, or about the year 68, Latin manuscripts had not been usually pointed, and that grammarians made it their business to supply this deficiency.
Quintilian, who wrote his celebrated treatise on Oratory, about the year 88, speaks of commas, colons, and periods; but it must be observed, that by these terms he means clauses, members, and complete sentences, and not the marks of punctuation.
Allius Donatus published a treatise on Grammar in the 4th century, in which he explains the distinzione, the media distinzione, and the subdistinzione; that is, the use of a single point in the various positions already mentioned.
Jerom, who had been the pupil of Donatus, in his Latin Version of the Scriptures, made use of certain distinctions or divisions, which he calls cola and clausa. It has, however, been thought probable, in fact, that these divisions were not made by the addition of any points or stops; but were formed by writing, in one line, as many words as constituted a clause, equivalent to what we distinguish by a comma or a colon. These divisions were called or ; and had the appearance of short irregular verses in poetry. There are some Greek manuscripts still extant, which are written in this manner.
Mr Warburton says, that the best treatise upon punctuation that he has seen, was published some years since by an anonymous author, and dedicated to Sir Clifton Wintringham, Bart. With that treatise we are not acquainted; but we do not think that the art of punctuation can be taught by rules. The only way to acquire it is to observe attentively how the most perspicuous writers dispose of their periods, colons, semicolons, and commas. This will make us acquainted with the importance of each; and then every writer, who knows his own meaning, must be capable of pointing his own pages more correctly than any other man.