Palimpsest A parchment on which the original writing has been effaced, and something else has been
written. (Greek, palin, again; psao, I rub or efface.) When parchment was not supplied in sufficient
quantities, the monks and others used to wash or rub out the writing in a parchment and use it again. As
they did not wash or rub it out entirely, many works have been recovered by modern ingenuity. Thus
Cicero's De Republica has been restored; it was partially erased to make room for a commentary of St.
Augustine on the Psalms. Of course St. Augustine's commentary was first copied, then erased from the
parchment, and the original MS. of Cicero made its appearance.