class="left">sub–uertas

17, cumu–les 18, obliga–ti 23, tris–tissimum fo. 53^v, line 2, facili–orem 3, si–quis 5, offi–ciorum 7, praepara–tur 8, super–est 10, sim–plicitas 11, compro–bantis 14, diligen–ter 20, cog–nitio 22, milita–ret 26, exsol–uit

Orthography The spelling found in our six leaves is remarkably correct. It compares favorably with the best spelling encountered in our oldest Latin manuscripts of the fourth and fifth centuries. The diphthong ae is regularly distinguished from e. The interchange of b and u, d and t, o and u, so common in later manuscripts, is rare here: the confusion between b and u occurs once (comprouasse, fo. 52^v, l. 1); the omission of h occurs once (pulcritudo, fo. 51^v, l. 26); the use of k for c occurs twice (karet, fo. 51^r, l. 14, and karitas, fo. 52^r, l. 5). The scribe uses the correct forms in adolescet (fo. 51^v, l. 14) and adulescenti (fo. 51^v, l. 24); he writes auonculi (fo. 53^v, l. 15), exsistat (fo. 51^v, l. 9), and exsecutos (fo. 53^r, l. 8). In the case of composite words he has the assimilated form in some, and in others the unassimilated form, as the following examples go to show:

fo. 48r,	line 3,	inpleturus	fo. 48r,	line 7,	improbissimum
49r,	13a,	adnotasse	48v,	23,	composuisse
	19,	adsumo	50r,	1,	ascendit
50r,	1,	adsumit		6,	imbuare
	27,	adponitur		22,	accubat
50v,	3,	adficitur	51r,	2,	optulissem
51r,	19,	adstruere		3,	suppeteret
	21,	adstruere		16,	ascendere
	26,	adpetat	51v,	16,	accipiat
51v,	9,	exsistat	52v,	1,	comprouasse
	12,	inlustri		11,	collegae
	14,	inbutus		17,	impetrassent
52r,	18,	admonebitur	53r,	8,	accusationibus
52v,	20,	inplorantes		15,	comparatum
	22,	adlegantes	53v,	1,	computabam
	24,	adsensio		5,	accusare
	27,	adtulisse		11,	comprobantis
53r,	8,	exsecutos		23,	composuit

Abbreviations Very few abbreviated words occur in our twelve pages. Those that are found are subject to strict rules. What is true of the twelve pages was doubtless true of the entire manuscript, inasmuch as the sparing use of abbreviations in conformity with certain definite rules is a characteristic of all our oldest manuscripts.¹⁴ The abbreviations found in our fragment may conveniently be grouped as follows:

1. Suspensions which might occur in any ancient manuscript or inscription, e.g.:

B· =	BUS
Q· =	QUE15
·C̅· =	GAIUS16
P· C· =	PATRES CONSCRIPTI

2. Technical or recurrent terms which occur in the colophons at the end of each book and at the end of letters, as:

·EXP· =	EXPLICIT
·INC· =	INCIPIT
LIB· =	LIBER
VAL· =	VALE17

3. Purely arbitrary suspensions which occur only in the index of addresses preceding each book, suspensions which would never