RE´GULA
RE´GULA (
κανών), the
ruler used by scribes for drawing right lines (Brunck,
Anal.
3.69, 87); also the rule used by carpenters, masons, and other artificers,
for drawing straight lines on plane surfaces, whereas the perpendiculum or
στάθμη was used for a vertical
direction [
PERPENDICULUM]. (Aristoph.
Ban. 798;
Vitr. 7.3.5; cf. Plat.
Phileb. p.
56 B; Aeschin.
c. Ctes. § 199;
Plin. Nat. 36.188.) That it was marked
with equal divisions, like our carpenters' rules, is manifest from the
representations of it among the “Instrumenta fabrorum
tignariorum,” in the woodcut at p. 243. The substance with which the
lines were made was raddle or red ochre (
μίλτος, Brunck,
Anal. 1.221;
φοίνικι κανόνι,
Eur. Her. 925). The
linea (
σχοῖνος, σπάρτον, μιλτεῖον,
Anth. Pal. 6.103, 205; Poll. 10.186) was a line or cord for
the same purpose, either red or chalked (
Cic.
ad Qu. Fr. 3.1, 2;
Vitr.
7.3; Pallad. 3.9, 10). Regula is also the
thread of the screw [
COCLEA]: see
Vitr. 10.11,
2; Blümner,
Technologie,
4.124. For the regula of a wine or oil press, see
TORCULAR
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
