Scott Brown's Twelve Enduring Misconceptions About "To Theodore" Misconception #11: It Is Not That Hard to Forge a Complete Document
Anxiety and Its Effects on Forgery
Osborn begins by highlighting the effects of anxiety on a forger. The realization that forgery is a criminal act, coupled with the fear of discovery and the intense desire to execute the work skillfully, can create a mental and muscular state that severely hinders the forger's ability to produce a convincing document. This pressure often results in a poorer quality forgery than the forger might otherwise be capable of if merely demonstrating skill. Osborn notes, “This intense fixing of the attention on the matter and the process of writing makes it extremely difficult to write even one’s own hand in a free and natural manner, and under these self-conscious conditions to be required to imitate successfully the writing of another is a task of very great difficulty” (1929, 273).
Imagine a scholar, aware of the potential career-ruining consequences of their actions, attempting to write a three-page Greek manuscript with an unforgiving dip pen into the back pages of a rare 1646 book. The pressure to perform without error would be immense, as even a single mistake would necessitate starting over with another copy of the rare book.
Imitating Writing Forms
Osborn further discusses the problems of imitating another's writing forms, stating, “To forge a writing with entire success one must first be able to see the significant characteristics of the writing of another and then must have the muscular skill necessary to reproduce them and at the same time eliminate all the characteristics of his own writing. The result usually shows failure in both phases of the performance.” This task becomes even more complex when the required pen movements are unfamiliar. Osborn asserts, “It is very much more difficult to simulate an unfamiliar movement than an unfamiliar form, and to copy unfamiliar forms and at the same time write freely in an unusual manner is simply impossible” (1929, 274).
Mar Saba 65 features numerous foreign letterforms, ligatures, and letter connection habits that a forger would need to analyze and reproduce without reverting to their natural writing tendencies.
Faking Genuine Writing Indicators
Osborn also points out a crucial aspect that many forgers overlook: the need to fake the indications of genuine writing. Successful imitation requires not only replicating the usual letter forms but also showing the natural variation found in genuine writing. This involves design, proportions, size, and spacing variations that genuine documents exhibit. The most difficult aspect is mimicking the “careless abandon, disregard of details and inattention to the writing process that is always one of the most forceful indications of genuineness” (1929, 293–294). These features are particularly hard to fake because they result from quickness and inattention, characteristics evident in Mar Saba 65, which also possesses an elegant character, stable (or wavy) baselines, and a high-level rhythm.
The Extraordinary Difficulty of Forging a Complete Document
Osborn concludes that “the successful forgery of a whole document is a task of extraordinary difficulty and requires intelligent attention to many particulars and details that do not enter into the task of fabricating only a signature” (1929, 293). He estimates that only “the rare one or two, out of hundreds or thousands, who might do this act well” could succeed, and this estimation pertains to forgers working in their native language with familiar writing instruments.
Was Smith Capable of Such a Forgery?
In evaluating whether Morton Smith could have forged Mar Saba 65, it is critical to note that experts agree that individuals cannot forge writing superior to their own. Anastasopoulou's analysis of Smith's Greek handwriting samples, taken throughout his life, led to the conclusion that forging Mar Saba 65 would have been impossible for him. His Greek handwriting was described as being at the level of “young school children who have not started to use writing in a practical way expressing thoughts and ideas” (2009, 37).
In summary, the notion that it is not that hard to forge a complete document, such as Mar Saba 65, is a misconception. The intricate requirements and significant challenges highlighted by Osborn demonstrate the extreme unlikelihood of successfully forging such a document, particularly for someone with Smith's known handwriting abilities.
Follow our series on "Scott Brown's Twelve Enduring Misconceptions About 'To Theodore'" for further analysis and insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding this controversial letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria.
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