Di zaman modern begini, ada banyak cara untuk melindungi koleksi perpustakaan yang berharga. Misalnya dengan memasang CCTV untuk memantau aktivitas pengunjung perpustakaan. Manuskrip berharga bisa disimpan di brankas khusus dengan kunci ber-password dan terlindung dari paparan cuaca yang bisa merusak. Tapi bagaimana cara orang-orang zaman dulu melindungi buku, lembar manuskrip, dan tablet dari pencurian?
Sampai beberapa abad lalu , perpustakaan dengan buku yang diikat rantai masih banyak dijumpai. Tetapi jauh sebelum itu, para pustakawan menjaga buku dengan segel kutukan. Iya, kutukan. Sepertinya, waktu itu menuliskan kutukan pada halaman buku dianggap ampuh buat menghindari pencurian.
Seperti ini, lho contoh kutukan yang dituliskan di lembaran buku-buku kuno.
“For him that stealeth a Book from this Library, let it change to a Serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with Palsy, and all his Members blasted. Let him languish in Pain, crying aloud for Mercy and let there be no surcease to his Agony till he sink to Dissolution. Let Book-worms gnaw his Entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final Punishment let the Flames of Hell consume him for ever and aye.’
-dari salah satu buku di Perpustakaan Biara Kepausan San Pedro, Barcelona
He who breaks this tablet or puts it in water or rubs it until you cannot recognize it [and] cannot make it to be understood, may Ashur, Sin, Shamash, Adad and Ishtar, Bel, Nergal, Ishtar of Ninevah, Ishtar of Arbela, Ishtar of Bit Kidmurri, the gods of heaven and earth and the gods of Assyria, may all these curse him with a curse that cannot be relieved, terrible and merciless, as long as he lives, may they let his name, his seed, be carried off from the land, may they put his flesh in a dog’s mouth”.
-dari salah satu tablet di perpustakaan Ninevah, Assyria
“If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever size him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen.”
-didokumentasikan dalam Anathema! Medieval Scribes and the History of Book Curses
Seram, ya. Entah apakah kutukan ini efektif buat menakut-nakuti calon pencuri atau tidak. Yang pasti, kalimat-kalimat di atas cukup seram buat dibaca. Apalagi kalau tertulis di lembaran buku kuno yang sudah lapuk dan berwarna kecokelatan.
The Stupid Bookworm 