Note 046 This game, which might be translated by the more familiar names of trictrac, or backgammon was a favourite amusement of the gravest Rornans, and old Mucius Scaevola, the lawyer, had the reputation of a very skilful player. It was called ludus duodecim scriptorum, from the twelve scripta or lines which equally divided the alveolus or table. On these the two armies, the white and the black, each consisting of fifteen men, or calculi, were regularly placed and alternately moved according to the laws of the game and the chances of the tesserae or dice. Dr. Hyde, who diligently traces the history and varieties of the nerdiludium(a name of Persic etymology) from Ireland to Japan, pours forth on this trifling subject a copious torrent of classic and Oriental learning. See Syntagma Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 217-405.

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The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire— Chapter 31