Ancient Literacies

Certain phrases occur on thetabulaewith sufficient frequency to

appear formulaic: for example,circus plenus(‘‘the circus is full’’) and

ludere nescis(‘‘you don’t know how to play’’). The arrangement of the

letters on the surviving tablets suggests that they may mark positions for

movement of game pieces across the playing space.
44
As a player moves

his game piece from position to position he also moves from letter to

letter of a message exhorting him and the other participants to relax, play,

enjoy the defeat of the Picts, and so on. It seems worth noting in this

context that one of the popular board games from antiquity—perhaps the

one calledlatrunculi, or ‘‘little bandits’’—is known to have thirty-six

pieces (the same as the number of places on thetabulae) while another
was calledduodecim scripta, or ‘‘twelve written things’’^45 (twelve, like

thirty-six, being a multiple of six). A certain self-consciousness with

respect to the interrelated processes of reading, writing, and playing can

thus be seen to have characterized at least one familiar type of Roman

board game.

Word games comparable to those on thelusoriae tabulaecan also be

found among the poems of theAnthologia Latina, which expressly attri-

bute them to ‘‘twelve sages’’ orsapientes(Riese 1894, c. 495–506). In the

poetic context, the challenge of producing sayings consisting of six words

of six letters (familiar from thelusoriae tabulae) is intensified, in that the

sayings must also comprise dactylic hexameters. Examples include a

saying attributed to Pompilianus:

Irasci victos minime placet, optime frater

(it ill behooves losers to grow angry, dearest brother)

Anth. Lat. 498

and this one assigned to Basilius

Lusori cupido semper gravis exitus instat

(a player’s greed always brings a bad outcome)

Anth. Lat. 501

PARTHI OCCISI

BRITTO VICTVS

LVDITE ROMANI

(Parthians slain

Briton conquered

Play Romans!)^43

43. Lamer 1927, 2010; Purcell 1995, 25.


44. Ferrua 1946, 54 followed by Purcell 1995, 19. It is also possible that each letter
    marks a different spot for the landing of dice.


45. The termduodecim scriptais attested Cic.De Or. 1.217. Mart. 14.17 and Ov.Tr.
    2.477 may refer to the same game. Ov.Ars3.357 66 alludes to the title ‘‘duodecim scripta’’
    while also referring to playing pieces calledlatrunculi. His remarks, as well as the possibility
    of organizing thirty six places into three lines, has led some to seelatrunculiandduodecim
    scriptaas referring to the same game, a possibility denied by Austin 1934 and 1935.

126 Situating Literacies