writer Copy link Outline 1. scriptor2. scrība (a public w., clerk)3. auctor (author) • writer: 1. scriptor: Diphilus Crassus' w. (secretary) and reader, Diphilus Crassi scriptor et lector, Cic. de Or. 1, 30, 136: the w.s and teachers on the liberal arts must be read, bonarum artium scriptores et doctores legendi, ibid. 1, 34, 158: a most elegant and polished w., venustissimus scriptor et politissimus, id. Or. 9, 29. 2. scrība (a public w., clerk): these w.s are an honourable class, for to their integrity the public accounts are entrusted, scribarum ordo est honestus, quod eorum hominum fidei tabellae publicae committuntur, Cic. Verr. 3, 79, 183: v. clerk, copyist. 3. auctor (author): the w. of the Alexandrine war is uncertain, Belli Alexandrini incertus auctor est, Suet. Caes. 56: w.s whom I am now often reading, auctores quos nunc lectito, Cic. Att. 12, 18, 1. The writer of a particular document is perhaps more often expressed by a periphrasis with the verb: the w. of this letter, qui hanc epistolam scripsit, conscripsit.