Kelly Digges
@kellydigges.bsky.social
718 followers 941 following 415 posts
Worldbuilder, editor, and narrative designer for games. Principal Narrative Designer for Riot's Riftbound TCG. Formerly worked on Magic, Lorcana, Concord, Gods Unchained. I killed Lorthos and I'd do it again. He/him
![The photo shows four images of the same Roman iron stylus (pen) one below the other, with knib to the left. This stylus is octagonal in shape, with an inscription dot-punched along its length on four alternate sides. The stylus is 132 mm long and 5 mm thick, and the letters are circa 2 mm high. The four images of the pen show the four lines of inscribed text (highlighted) which read:
‘ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf(e)ro
acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna dar[e]t quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus’
Translated as
‘I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift
with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give)
as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.’
This inscription is generally interpreted by scholars as a humorous, tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment by the giver of the cheapness of the gift.
The pen was used to write on wax-filled wooden writing tablets. Found in London (Roman ‘Londinium’) by MOLA, during excavations for Bloomberg’s European Headquarters in 2010–2014 . Photo by Juan Jose Fuldain for MOLA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j56ydp325adovobhwpkzc6sp/bafkreifnagf7o3c3tsvpawfj2o5exyqsg52vwrovvapsjrhwtzd6tv5bf4)
![Wikipedia entry for dinkus
In typography, a dinkus is a typographic device or convention that typically consists of three spaced asterisks or bullet symbols in a horizontal row, e.g. ∗ ∗ ∗ or • • • . The device has a variety of uses, and it usually denotes an intentional omission or a logical "break" of varying degree in a written work. This latter use is similar to a subsection, and it indicates that the subsequent text should be re-contextualized. Such a dinkus typically appears centrally aligned on a line of its own with vertical spacing before and after the device. The dinkus has been in use in various forms since c. 1850.[1][2] Historically, the dinkus was often represented as an asterism, ⁂, though this has fallen out of favor and is now nearly obsolete.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2zcfjzyocp6kapg6jc4eacok/bafkreiat5pvuu2mdh5bauxt7uxlo4rdf6bue3exmrmskgi5aycbemv5dyq)
