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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78256-0.txt b/78256-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07260ff --- /dev/null +++ b/78256-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1397 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78256 *** + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: +_italics_. + + + + + [Illustration: LITERATURE OF LIBRARIES + IN THE + SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES + + EDITED BY + + JOHN COTTON DANA AND HENRY W. KENT + + CHICAGO + A. C. McCLURG + AND COMPANY + 1907] + + + + + A BRIEF OUTLINE OF + + THE HISTORY OF + + LIBRARIES + + + + +_An Edition of two hundred and fifty copies in this form and one of +twenty-five copies on Large Paper were printed at The Merrymount +Press, Boston, in May, 1907_ + + + + + A BRIEF OUTLINE OF + + THE HISTORY OF + LIBRARIES + + BY + JUSTUS LIPSIUS + + TRANSLATED FROM THE + SECOND EDITION + + (ANTWERP, THE PLANTIN PRESS + JOHN MORETUS, 1607) + + THE LAST FROM + + THE HAND OF THE AUTHOR + + BY + + JOHN COTTON DANA + + [Illustration: (fleuron)] + + + CHICAGO + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + MDCCCCVII + + + + + COPYRIGHT, A. C. McCLURG & CO., 1907 + PUBLISHED, JUNE 1, 1907 + + D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON + + + + + NOTE + + + + + INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +Few of the biographers of Justus Lipsius have devoted their attention +to that part of his writings which, in an English translation by +John Cotton Dana, is here offered to lovers of libraries. They have +found matters of greater importance to the world at large in the +chief things of his life,--his theological, historical and literary +writings. Mr. Peter Bayle, in his famous _General Dictionary_, which +first appeared in 1697, and afterwards Englished, in 1710, says +in this connection, as an introduction to his own contribution to +Lipsius’s biography: + +“I might relate a great many curious particulars concerning him; but +as others[1] have already collected them, and have not even omitted +what relates to his education and his early learning, I am obliged to +confine myself to such particulars as they have not mentioned.” These +particulars related to one of Lipsius’s greatest faults, for which +he was chiefly censured,--his inconsistency with regard to religious +beliefs,--and they take on an additional interest when treated by +Bayle, who was himself given to tasting of religion at all its +different founts. With gossipy pen, he briefly summarizes the facts +in Lipsius’s stormy theological career, which to a sixteenth-century +mind, and even to one of the eighteenth century, must have seemed as +important as it was chequered. + +The theologian of a century or so ago undoubtedly found that Lipsius +had contributed something to religious thought, but to us, in this +century of freedom in such matters, Justus Lipsius is chiefly a +subject for antiquarian curiosity, just as he was to Bayle. It would +be idle to speculate on the present-day value of his _Diva Virgo +Hallensis_, or his _Diva Sichemiensis_, written for the Jesuits, +when late in his life he had accepted the professorship of Latin +in the Colegium Buslidanium at Louvain and had become, to quote +from Bayle, “a bigot, like a silly woman.” The polite literature +which Lipsius taught at Louvain, in a manner “very glorious to +him,” is quite unread to-day; it is unnecessary now when so much +polite literature has been, and is constantly being, added to the +world’s carefully shelved stock. Whatever defects of matter or style +our writer may have had, like all the humanists he served a great +purpose in retailing to further generations--and especially to +librarians--the opinions of the classic writers on the history of +libraries. It is not for us, who have received so great a favour at +his hands, to criticise his scholarship, as some have done,--as does +one writer who says, speaking of one of his mental tendencies, “The +other, derived from his Jesuit training, showed itself in his merely +rhetorical or verbal view of classical literature, of which the one +interest lay in its style.” Neither need we concern ourselves with +his tendency to change his religious point of view,--now Jesuit, now +Lutheran, now Calvinist, now Romanist. To Lipsius bibliophiles owe +their thanks because he published the first history of libraries, +in the modern sense of the word,--a history which is as fresh and +useful to-day as it was when it was written. Only a man of great +scholarship could have written such a story, requiring the searching +of the original authorities in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and only the +scholarship of the sixteenth century--careful, conscientious and +leisurely--could have brought together all the facts that Lipsius +did. All of the histories since his time have borrowed freely from +our author, or, like Edwards, have used his references for further +elaboration of their texts. + +If, however, but few of his biographers have devoted themselves +to a matter which must have been of no small interest in Lipsius’s +life (judging from his enthusiastic manner of treating it), one, at +least, has done full justice to it,--a Frenchman, Étienne Gabriel +Peignot, who, born in Arc-en-Barrios in 1767, devoted his whole life +to the cause of bibliography. The account of this scholar written +by Simonnet, in his _Essai sur la vie et les ouvrages de Gabriel +Peignot_, 1863, deserves to be on the shelves of every librarian, +certainly of every bibliographer. + +Early in his career Peignot planned a great bibliographical work, of +which his _Manuel Bibliographique_, published in 1804, was a first +part, and his _Dictionnaire Raisonné de Bibliologie_ a second. The +Manual is chiefly devoted to Lipsius, having for its opening chapter +a life of our author, followed by a translation of the _Syntagma_. +Peignot tells us that the plagiarism of Lipsius by authors who have +not thought it worth their while to mention their indebtedness to +him was one of the reasons why he was led to give the _Syntagma_ the +chief place in his own book,--he wished to secure to this learned man +his just due. + +In his “Notice préliminaire sur Juste Lipse et ses ouvrages” Peignot +gives a selected list of Lipsius’s works dated from 1599, wherein +it is seen that the book in which we are interested, _J. Lipsi de +Bibliothecis Syntagma, Antverpiae_, came, like all of the others, “ex +officina Plantiniana, apud J. Moretum.”[2] This, to the librarian, is +a fact worthy of special note, because it gives the evidence of the +friendship that existed between the printer, John Moretus, son-in-law +of the great Plantin, founder of the house, “first printer to the +king, and the king of printers,” and Lipsius, covering a long period +of years. + +In the house of Christopher Plantin at Antwerp, now known as the +Plantin-Moretus Museum, in the room called, since the sixteenth +century, the “Room of Justus Lipsius,” the bust of the friend of the +house looks down from its place of honour over the entrance door. +And so, just as Lipsius’s name is closely linked with one of the +great epochs of printing, it has also a part in the history of the +development of the library idea. Whatever the facts concerning his +theology, polite literature or other writings, whatever the final +vote on the value of his style, the little tract, here reprinted, +in the hands of friends of libraries will justify the faith that +Lipsius had in his claim to fame, when, in hanging a votive silver +pen before an altar of the Virgin, he wrote: + +“O Blessed Virgin, this pen, the interpreter of my mind, which soared +up as high as the sky; which searched the most hidden recesses of +land and sea; which always applied itself to learning, prudence and +wisdom; which dared to write a treatise on constancy; which explained +civil and military matters, and such as relate to the taking of +cities; which described, O Rome, thy greatness; which variously +illustrated and cleared up the writings of the ancients,--that pen +is now, O Blessed Virgin, consecrated to thee by Lipsius, for by +thy assistance have they all been completed. Let thy kind influence +constantly attend me for the future; and in return for that vanishing +fame which my pen gained, vouchsafe to grant, O Divine Lady, a +continual joy and life to your devoted servant, Lipsius.” + + H. W. K. + +_New York, February, 1907_ + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Teissier, Additions aux Éloges de M. de Thou, ii. 381, 432; +Bullart, Académie des Sciences, ii. 190; Balliet, Enfans Célèbres, +184._ + +[2] _Ed._ 1. _De Bibliothecis Syntagma_, Antwerp, 1602; _Ed._ 2. +Helmstadt, 1620; _Ed._ 3. Antwerp, 1629. _In his Opera Omnia_, +1610-30, 1637, 1675. + + + + + TRANSLATOR’S NOTE + + + + + TRANSLATOR’S NOTE + + +This translation has been made from the second edition, “the last +from the author’s hand,” Antwerp, Plantin Press, John Moretus, 1602. + +The French version by Gabriel Peignot, in his _Manuel +Bibliographique_, Paris, 1800, was found very helpful in translating +Lipsius’s rather crabbed Latin; I was greatly aided also by a first +draught of an English translation kindly made for me by Miss I. McD. +Howell, of the Newark, New Jersey, Free Public Library. Mr. W. W. +Bishop, reference librarian in the library of Princeton University, +gave most valuable assistance, both on difficult points in the Latin +and on many historical allusions. I am, of course, responsible for +all errors. + + J. C. D. + +_Newark, January, 1907_ + + + + + TO THE READER + + + + + TO THE READER + + +_You have before you my brief outline of the history of libraries, +that is, of books. Where shall we who are constantly making use of +books look for a worthier subject for our pen? Yet I never should +have dreamed of writing this outline had I not been inspired thereto +by the zeal in such matters of the noble Prince to whom I have just +dedicated it._ + +_That such as he should labour to encourage and inspire men to +good deeds and high endeavour--this I think a thing most helpful +to us all. And how few do give themselves generously to this task! +All thoughts seem now to turn to low and sordid things. Scorning +the ancient and holy truths, how eagerly to-day do men search out +doctrines whose only charm is that they seem new!_ + +_To these one might well repeat the ancient line: “Though broad and +well known is the highway, you choose a narrow and obscure path.”_ + +_For ourselves, we hold fast to the old and the established; and we +study, we point out the way, and we set forth examples--often, so I +hope and trust, to some useful purpose._ + +_And may you, O Gentle Reader, look with favour upon our work._ + + + + + A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF LIBRARIES + + + + + CHAPTER I + + Bibliotheca _and_ Libraria--_what do these words signify? The + Kings of old had Libraries, especially those of Egypt._ + + +The word _bibliotheca_ is used to signify any one of three things: +a place in which books are kept, a bookcase, or books themselves. +The Greek word, _bibliotheca_, came into use among the Romans. They +also used the word _libraria_; but it is more exact to understand +by that word a shop where books are kept for sale. Collections of +books, _bibliothecae_, date from the earliest days, and, if I am not +mistaken, were established as soon as letters were invented. The art +of writing must have arisen almost as soon as man began to learn and +to think; and this art would not have been profitable if books had +not been preserved and arranged for present and future use. + +At first these collections were private undertakings, each person +gathering for himself and his family; in the course of time kings +and dynasties took up the custom and collected books, not only for +use, but also to gratify their ambition and to add to their renown. +Indeed, it was scarcely within the power of a private person to +collect many books, since the process of copying them was a slow +and expensive one; though our lately discovered most useful art of +printing has now simplified it. + +Osymandyas of Egypt was of all kings the first, as far as history +shows, to have a library of any note. Along with other famous deeds +he established, says Diodorus, a library of sacred literature, and +placed over the entrance the inscription: “Here is Medicine for the +Mind.” Though he was one of the earliest of the Egyptian kings, I do +not doubt that his example was thereafter faithfully followed, even +if the library he is said to have founded never in fact existed; for +in Egypt there have always been libraries, especially in temples, +under the care of priests. Many facts may be cited as evidence for +the truth of this statement, among others this one about Homer: +a certain Naucrates accused Homer of plagiarism, and said that +when the latter went to Egypt he found there the books of a woman, +Phantasia, who had written the Iliad and the Odyssey and placed them +in the temple of Vulcan at Memphis; and that there Homer saw them, +appropriated them, and published them as his own. As far as Homer is +concerned I think this story false; but it establishes the fact in +question, that it was the custom in Egypt to have libraries. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + _The Alexandrian Library, of which Philadelphus was the founder + and the chief benefactor. The variety and number of books in it. + Burned, and restored._ + + +Though other libraries of Egypt are little known, we learn that +that of Ptolemy Philadelphus was famous and highly renowned. He was +the son of Ptolemy Lagus, second of the name and of the line of the +Greek kings of Egypt. Being a patron of the arts and sciences he +was, of course, a lover of books, and founded the great library of +Alexandria, aided by the instruction and example, perhaps even by +the very books themselves, of Aristotle. For Aristotle, as I shall +note later, had a library which was remarkable for the number and +excellence of its books. Speaking of this library, Strabo says that +Aristotle was the first private collector of books of whom we have +any knowledge, and that he taught the kings of Egypt the principles +of classification. This passage from Strabo, however, must be read +with care and be properly interpreted; for Aristotle was by no means +the first to form a library, and as he lived before the time of +Philadelphus, he could not have taught him, save as I have said, by +example. Perhaps what Athenaeus says is true, that Aristotle left +his books to Theophrastus, he to Neleus, and that from the latter +Ptolemy bought them, and transferred them, with others which he +purchased in Athens and Rhodes, to fair Alexandria. Other writers, +however, do not assent to this statement, as I shall show presently. +This much is admitted, however, that he founded a library and +collected for it books of every kind from all parts of the world, +even seeking out the sacred books of the Hebrews. As soon as the fame +of the wisdom of the Hebrews reached his ears, he sent and demanded +the books which contained it, and employed men skilled in such +matters to translate them into Greek for the common use of all. This +translation was called the Septuagint from the number of persons who +were engaged in making it. It was made, according to Epiphanius, in +the seventeenth year of the reign of Philadelphus, in the one hundred +and twenty-seventh Olympiad. Demetrius Phalereus had charge of this +library. He was an exile from his native Athens, and was renowned +both for his writings and his works. The King held him in high esteem +and entrusted to his care the library, and other matters of even +greater importance. + +Philadelphus likewise collected books from the Chaldeans, the +Egyptians, and even from the Romans, and had them translated into +Greek. I quote Georgius Cedrenus, who says, “Philadelphus had the +sacred books of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Romans, as well as some +in other languages, to the number of a hundred thousand volumes, +translated into Greek, and placed them in his library at Alexandria.” +I note especially two things in this quotation: first, the diligence +shown in translating into the common tongue books in foreign +languages,--a very useful custom in my opinion and one which should +be adopted to-day by you, O Princes; and second, the statement as to +the number of books. This number is very large, it is true, but not +large enough if it is meant to include all the books in the library. +I think it was not so meant; but that Cedrenus had in mind only the +translations, and that the works in the original Greek far surpassed +the number of translations. Other writers who have mentioned this +library say it was much larger than Cedrenus says it was. Our friend +Seneca reports that four hundred thousand volumes, a most precious +monument of royal munificence, perished in the flames. Most precious, +indeed; beyond all gold or rarest gems! How much more precious if +their number had been greater still! And greater in fact it was. This +number of Seneca’s falls short of the truth, and must be extended to +seven hundred thousand. Let Josephus tell us. He says that Demetrius, +the librarian I have mentioned, was once asked by Philadelphus how +many books he had in the library, and replied that he had two hundred +thousand volumes, and hoped soon to have five hundred thousand. + +So you see how the library grew under his hands; then consider how +much larger it must have grown to be in later years, under other +kings, successors of Philadelphus. A. Gellius frankly says that +the number rose to seven hundred thousand. To quote him exactly, +“A prodigious number of books was collected, either by purchase or +by copying, by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, nearly seven hundred +thousand volumes.” Ammianus, from whom I shall quote shortly, +says the same, and Isidore also, if his words be properly emended. +“In Alexandria, in the days of Philadelphus, there were,” he says, +“seventy thousand books.” I think that he should have said seven +hundred thousand. + +A precious treasure! But, alas, though it was the offspring of +man’s immortal spirit it was not itself immortal! For all this vast +store of books, whatever their number may have been, perished in +the flames. Caesar, in the civil war with Pompey, fought with the +Alexandrians in the city itself. He set fire to the ships for his +own protection; from the ships the flames spread to houses near the +harbour, then to the library itself, and consumed it utterly. + +Shame be to Caesar for having brought about, even though without +intent, this irreparable loss! Yet he himself does not mention it +in the third book of his _History of the Civil War_; and, later, +Hirtius did not speak of it. But others did; Plutarch, for example, +and Dion; and Livy also, as may easily be shown by a reference to +Seneca, who says, after the words above quoted, “Another has praised +the library, even Livy, who says that it had been a splendid monument +to the culture and the enlightened zeal of kings.” These are the very +words used by Livy in speaking of the fire, and of the praise due the +library itself and the kings who had collected it. + +Ammianus also speaks of this lamentable conflagration, and says: +“Among all the temples in Alexandria the Serapeum was preëminent; in +it was formerly a library of inestimable value containing, according +to the concurrent testimony of the ancient monuments, seven hundred +thousand volumes, collected with patient zeal by the Ptolemaic kings. +All of these books were consumed by fire when the state, under the +dictatorship of Caesar, was disrupted by the Alexandrian war.” He +wishes to make it appear that this happened while the city was being +plundered. A. Gellius says the same: “All these books were burned in +the earlier Alexandrian war” (here he is in error; it was in the +later war, under Antony), “when the state was disrupted; and the +burning was not intentional or premeditated, and possibly was done +by the auxiliary soldiers.” He excuses Caesar, and with some reason; +for did ever any one love books and the humanities more than he? He +also excuses the Roman soldiers, and lays the blame on the foreign +auxiliaries. + +If one consults Plutarch and Dion one may see that they do not think +the burning took place during the sack of the city. + +Such, then, was the end of this noble library; destroyed in the one +hundred and eighty-third Olympiad, after enduring scarcely two +hundred and twenty-four years. Yet it lived again,--not the same +collection, of course, for that were impossible; but a similar +one,--and in the same building, the Serapeum. Cleopatra, she who +became famous through her amours with Antony, reëstablished the +library. She received from him, as the beginning or foundation of +the new collection, the Attalic or Pergamene library. She accepted +the entire collection as a gift and had it brought to Alexandria; +then she again decorated the buildings and increased the collection, +with the result that even in the time of the Christian fathers it was +widely known and much used. Tertullian says, “To this day are to +be found in the library of Ptolemy in the Serapeum books in Hebrew +characters.” Note that, according to this remark of Tertullian’s, +the library was again installed in the Serapeum, that is, in its +porticoes or galleries; and note, further, that Strabo and others +tell us that the Serapeum was near the harbour and the ships. Note, +once more, that it was called the Ptolemaic library, though it was in +fact not the original library, but a similar one; for the original +Hebrew texts and the original translation called the Septuagint had +perished in the flames. And yet once more note that the reputation +and ancient authority of this library were so great that Tertullian +uses it as an argument in his exhortation and admonition to the +heathen. + +For my part, I believe that the library existed as long as did the +Serapeum itself, which was a temple of massive construction and of +great size, and that, as reported by certain ecclesiastical writers, +the Christians, during the reign of Theodosius the Great, demolished +it utterly, as a monument of superstition. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + _Libraries in Greece, especially those of Pisistratus and + Aristotle. That at Byzantium._ + + +Concerning the libraries of Egypt I have given few and unimportant +facts, though the collections themselves were perhaps many and of +great importance. But history here is dimmed by the mists of time. +The same must be said also of the history of the libraries of Greece. +Athenaeus incidentally refers to the more important of them when he +praises his friend Laurentius for his skill in classifying books, and +says that in this art he surpassed Polycrates of Samos, Pisistratus +the Tyrant, Euclid the Athenian, Nicocrates the Cyprian, Euripides +the poet, and Aristotle the philosopher. I have little of detail +to say about any of these men. Of Pisistratus it should be noted +that A. Gellius gave to him the honour of being the pioneer in this +art of forming a library; though Polycrates had one at about the +same time. A. Gellius says, to quote his very words, “Pisistratus +the Tyrant is said to have been the first to make for public use +in Athens a collection of books on the liberal arts.” Here, then, +was indeed a great man,--he was called the “Tyrant,” but the word +did not convey at that time the odium it does to-day,--and to him +we owe the text of Homer collected and arranged as we now have it. +At that period critical studies, as we now call them, that is, the +collation and emendation of texts, were much followed by princes, +and even by kings. This library, founded by Pisistratus, was added +to from time to time by the Athenians, until Xerxes carried it away +when he captured Athens. Many years afterwards Seleucus Nicanor, King +of Syria, very generously caused the books of this library to be +returned to Athens. They remained there until the time of Sulla, who +captured and plundered the city. But even after that, I am sure we +must believe the library was again established; for how could a city +be, as Athens was, the mother of the arts without the aid of books? +Indeed there must have been many libraries there in later years. +Hadrian, for example, so Pausanias wrote, erected in Athens a temple +to the Panhellenic Jove, and placed in it a library. + +Of Euclid, Athenaeus says that he was an archon and one of the more +learned of the magistrates; nothing more. + +Of Aristotle, Strabo speaks in terms of highest praise, and I have +already quoted his words. I also cited the statement from Athenaeus +that Aristotle’s library came finally into the possession of the +Ptolemies. Strabo and some others, however, seem to question this +statement. “The books of Aristotle,” says Strabo, “which were +left to Neleus, were finally handed on to certain descendants of +his who were men of no learning. By them the books were kept under +lock and key, and were not used. Then they were buried under ground +and much injured by worms and mould; but finally were purchased at +a great price by Apellicon of Teos. He had the books, now sadly +worm-eaten and tattered, transcribed, though not faithfully or with +good judgement, and published. On his death Sulla, then master of +Athens, seized the books and sent them to Rome, where Tyrannion the +grammarian made use of them and, so it is reported, rearranged them +and to some extent corrupted their text.” Plutarch tells the same +or a very similar story in his life of Sulla. If it is true, how +could the books of Aristotle have come from Neleus to Philadelphus, +as Athenaeus says they did in the passage quoted above? Perhaps we +can reconcile the two statements, and this is my conclusion, by +supposing that Neleus retained Aristotle’s own writings, his original +manuscripts, as a precious heritage for his own family, and sold the +rest of the books, written by others, to Philadelphus. + +I do not recall any other matters worth relating about the libraries +of Greece. I do not need to say that the Romans, after they +conquered the country, undoubtedly took to Italy many collections of +books. + +Perhaps I should simply mention the Byzantine library of the time +of the Emperors. Zonaras and Cedrenus say that under the Emperor +Basiliscus, the library in Byzantium, into which had been gathered +a hundred and twenty thousand volumes, was destroyed by fire. Among +the books was the gut of a great dragon, one hundred and twenty feet +long, on which was written in letters of gold the whole of the Iliad +and the Odyssey. But this library, being in Thrace and not in Greece, +ought not to be considered as among the Grecian libraries. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + _The Attalic Library, of which Eumenes was the founder. Certain + errors of statement about it made by Pliny and Vitruvius. Its + size and the length of time it existed._ + + +The Attalic or Pergamene library, in Asia, was almost as illustrious +as the Alexandrian. When the Attalic kings, minor powers at first, +became great and rich through an alliance with the Romans, they +adorned their capital city in many ways and erected in it a library. +Strabo regarded Eumenes, the son of King Attalus, as the founder of +this collection. “Eumenes,” he says, “built the city and beautifully +adorned it as it now is, with temples and a library.” Pliny says, +“According to Varro there was a rivalry over their respective +libraries between Ptolemy and Eumenes, and the former forbade the +exportation of paper from his kingdom, and the latter of parchment +from his.” Jerome, in his letter to Chromatius, and Aelian, made +similar statements, though they say it was Attalus who was jealous of +Ptolemy, and not Eumenes. Concerning neither of them, however, can +the story be true; for, as a comparison of dates will show, they both +lived almost a century after Philadelphus. How, then, could there +have been between them the jealousy which Pliny speaks of? Unless, +indeed, “Ptolemy” is used simply in reference to the kings of Egypt +in general, and refers here not to Philadelphus but to Ptolemy the +Fifth, generally called Ptolemy Epiphanes, who was a contemporary of +Eumenes. He perhaps, though he was not at all distinguished for his +zeal in regard to libraries, forbade the exportation of paper, in +fear lest another new library should rival his own more ancient one. + +The erroneous or careless statement just noted is still more crudely +put by Vitruvius. He says, to quote him directly, “After the Attalic +kings, led by their great interest and delight in literature, +established for general enjoyment a superb library at Pergamum, +Ptolemy, stirred to a boundless zeal by their example, and rivalling +them in activity, endeavoured to establish at Alexandria a library +equal to theirs.” How absurd the statement! As if the Attalic kings +antedated the Alexandrian in this art! As if, in this field of books, +the latter caught from the former their zeal, or looked to them +for example! Why, the exact opposite was true; for the Ptolemies +practised the art of establishing libraries long before the Attalic +kings had ever thought of it. It is possible, of course, that here +again the writer alludes, without naming him, to one of the later +Ptolemies. But even then it remains true that the Pergamene library +never rivalled the Alexandrian in either resources or age. Plutarch +writes to this effect where, mentioning both libraries, he says that +Antony the Triumvir, fascinated by the charms of Cleopatra, gave +to her the library at Pergamum, in which were two hundred thousand +volumes. I use the word “volumes” and not “titles,” for I think the +word which Plutarch uses refers to several works bound together in +one volume, and that these several works are not counted in giving +the size of the library. + +This Pergamene library ceased to exist, then, soon after the +destruction of the first Alexandrian one; but lived again in the +latter when it was reëstablished. Was it set up again in its +own city? Certainly Strabo’s words, quoted above, if carefully +considered, seem to imply that it was. For he says, “was erected +where it now is.” What does he mean by “now”? Plainly the time when +he, Strabo, was writing, which was in the reign of Tiberius. So it +appears that the victorious Augustus, who annulled much that Antony +did, either brought the library back to its old home in Pergamum, or, +what is more probable, caused it to be copied again and reëstablished +it. But on this point I do not venture to speak with certainty. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + _Roman libraries; private ones; and the first public library, + that of Asinius Pollio._ + + +Having spoken of such libraries of foreign peoples as seem worthy of +mention, let us pass to those of Rome, which are nearer to us in both +place and time. + +Slow enough at first was the growth of love of books and interest +in the humanities among the Romans; for the Romans were children +of Mars, not of the Muses. But at last, by God’s grace, here also +culture took root and refinement gained in esteem, though slowly at +first, as it always does. Isidore notes that Aemilius Paulus was +the first to bring to Rome any large number of books, and this he +did after he had conquered Perseus, King of the Macedonians; then +Lucullus did the same after the pillage of Pontus. Thus he names two +who brought books to Rome. But they did not make them accessible +to the public. Concerning Aemilius I have read nothing further; of +Lucullus, Plutarch speaks at great length. He says: “His delight in +books and his free expenditure for them should be highly praised. +For he acquired many of them, and very beautifully written ones; and +showed the same liberality in respect to their use that he showed in +respect to their purchase. His library was open to every one; and in +the adjoining colonnades and exedras learned Greeks were especially +made welcome. Here they came, as to a temple of the Muses, and +passed the time pleasantly together free from all cares. And often +Lucullus himself came to these colonnades and walks, and joined the +learned in their conversations, and took part in their philosophical +discussions.” + +From which you may see, Most Illustrious Prince, how free and open +this library was; and that though he retained the title to it +himself, he gave the unrestricted use of it to the learned, just as +you so generously do with your own. + +To Aemilius and Lucullus one may add the name of Cornelius Sulla, +afterwards dictator, as a founder of libraries. He brought from +Greece and Athens to Rome a very large number of books and arranged +them to form a library. About this Lucian has written, as well as +Plutarch. + +But after all these things were done, a true public library for Rome +had not yet been established. The thought of such an institution was +first conceived by the great and glorious Julius Caesar, and would by +him have been carried to its conclusion had not the fates forbidden. +Suetonius says, “He planned to open to the public libraries formed +of as many books in the Greek and Latin languages as he could bring +together, and to give to Marcus Varro the duty of organizing and +managing them.” This was truly the plan of a generous spirit, and +of a wise one also; for who in all the world was better fitted than +Varro, most learned in Greek and Roman letters, to carry out such a +scheme? But Caesar was not destined to realize his thought. Augustus, +his adopted son, added a library to the other adornments and glories +he gave to the city. At his suggestion and inspired by him, Asinius +Pollio, orator, senator, and noble, erected a temple of liberty, so +Suetonius says, and placed in it a library which he made free to all. +Isidore says, “Pollio was the first to establish a public library in +Rome, one composed of books in Greek and in Latin, and decorated with +busts of famous authors. He placed it in the public hall, which he +magnificently adorned with the spoils of war.” “Spoils of war” refers +to those taken from the Dalmatians, whom he had just conquered. Pliny +remarks that Asinius Pollio was the first to establish a library +which made free to all the wisdom of all. + +It seems plain from these writers that this library was in the Hall +of Liberty, on the Aventine Hill. I think it was rather rearranged +or reconstructed for the library than built especially for it. It +had been in existence a long time before Pollio’s day. Plutarch +and other writers say that it dated from the time of Tiberius +Gracchus, father of the Gracchi. Pollio, it would seem, refitted +it and dedicated it to this glorious use. Ovid’s words should be +noted here, for he says,--his book, _Tristia_, is supposed to be +speaking,--“Liberty did not permit me to enter her hall; that hall in +which were first opened to the public the books of the wise.” I do +not think the words he uses in these lines have reference, as some +think, to a gathering of poets. The book--for, as I have said, it +is a book which Ovid’s verse makes us suppose is speaking--frankly +complains that it was not received into the library of Asinius, that +library which was the first to open to public use the writings of +learned men. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + _The Libraries of Augustus, the Octavian and the Palatine. Their + Librarians and Custodians._ + + +It was, then, under Augustus that this the first public library was +established. Soon there were two others, also due to him. The first, +the Octavian, he founded in honour of his sister, and gave it her +name. Of this Dion Cassius says, in his chronicle of the year 721, +“Augustus built a colonnade and in it established a library, which +he named after his sister Octavia.” Plutarch seems to ascribe this +work to Octavia herself, when he says, “In honour of Marcellus, his +mother Octavia built a library and dedicated it to his memory; +Augustus built a theatre and gave to it the name of Marcellus.” I +think Plutarch is here in error, for the note of Dion’s places the +erection of the Colonnade of Octavia ten whole years before the death +of Marcellus. He adds that these memorials were erected from spoils +of the Dalmatians, and his words draw attention to the remarkable +fact that the first and second libraries of Rome were both due, in a +certain sense, to barbarians. + +Suetonius, in speaking of Melissus the grammarian, says that after he +was freed he soon became intimate with Augustus, and at the latter’s +request undertook, and very efficiently, the task of arranging the +library in the Colonnade of Octavia. It is my opinion that it was in +the upper part of the colonnade, as safer and more appropriate, since +the lower part was used as a promenade. Ovid again makes his little +book of verse say, “I seek another temple, near the theatre; and this +also was forbidden to my feet.” The book complains that it is spurned +by the library, and incidentally tells where the library was,--near +the theatre of Marcellus. He calls the building, which was in fact +a portico, a temple, because in it, as Pliny says, was an altar to +Juno, and certain beautiful statues. + +Still another library was founded by this same Augustus, the +Palatine, so called because it was in the royal palace itself. +Suetonius says, “He built the temple of Apollo in that part of his +house on the Palatine Hill which had been struck by lightning, and +was thereby, as the priests interpreted the fact, marked out as a +spot dear to God. To the temple he added porticoes, in which he +placed a library of books in Latin and in Greek.” This happened in +the seven hundred and twenty-sixth year of the city, as one may learn +from the opening lines of Dion’s _History_, book LIII. + +It seems, then, that Ovid followed the order of the dates of their +establishment in his reference to the libraries of Rome, when he +named, in the following quotation, first the Asinian, next the +Octavian, and last the Palatine. + + From thence we to Apollo’s temple went, + To which by steps there is a faire ascent: + Where stand the signs in faire outlandish stone, + Of Belus and of Palammed the sonne. + There ancient bookes, and those that are more new, + Doe all lye open to the Reader’s view. + I sought my brethren there, excepting them, + Whose haplesse birth my father doth condeme. + And as I sought, the chiefe man of the place, + Bid me be gone out of that holy space.[3] + +Here Ovid shows, among other things, that there was a librarian or +custodian of the Palatine library. Suetonius tells us he was C. +Julius Higinus. In his _Celebrated Grammarians_ he says, “This man +presided over the Palatine library; though meanwhile he followed his +profession and taught many.” Later there was a special custodian for +the books in Greek, and another for those in Latin. On an ancient +marble tablet are inscribed these words: + + ANTIOCHUS + IN CHARGE OF THE LATIN BOOKS + IN THE LIBRARY OF + TI. CLAUDIUS CAESAR + IN THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO + +On another: + + C. JULIUS FALYX + IN CHARGE OF THE GREEK BOOKS + OF THE + PALATINE LIBRARY + +There are other similar inscriptions. + +To this Palatine library Pliny refers when he says, “We may see in +the library in the temple of Augustus a Tuscan statue representing +Apollo, fifty feet in height.” This quotation, however, may point to +the library of Vespasian Augustus, which was in the temple of Peace. +But Pliny refers very plainly to the Palatine library when he says, +“The old Greek letters were almost the same as the Latin letters of +the present time, as is shown by an ancient Delphic tablet of bronze, +dedicated to Minerva, which is now in the Palatine--that gift of +emperors--in the library.” I am led to believe, from the words of +John of Salisbury, that this library was in existence in Rome for a +very long time, since he writes, “The learned and most holy Gregory +not only banished astrology from the court; but also, as is reported +by them of old time, gave to the flames those writings of approved +merit, and whatever else the Palatine library in Apollo’s temple +possessed. Preëminent among these were some which seemed designed to +reveal to men the will of the celestial beings and the oracles of the +higher powers.” + +This quotation is worthy of note. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[3] _W. Saltonstall’s translation_, 1637. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + _The Libraries of Tiberius, of Trajan, of Vespasian; also the + Capitoline; other unknown Libraries._ + + +We have seen that two libraries were established in Rome by the +Emperor Augustus, a most zealous patron of the arts and sciences. +What may be said of other Roman libraries? Certainly there were +others; and there even seems to have been a spirit of rivalry among +the rulers of that time in regard to them, each contending for the +palm as founder of libraries. For example, Tiberius, soon after +the death of Augustus, established one within the limits of the +royal palace itself, on that part which fronts on the Via Sacra. +Students of the subject think that here were Tiberius’s own special +apartments; and A. Gellius locates the library in them when he says, +“While Apollinaris and I were sitting in the library in the house of +Tiberius.” Vopiscus makes the same statement in effect, for he tells +us that he used the books in the Ulpian library and also those in the +apartments of Tiberius. + +It seems that in due course Vespasian also collected a library and +placed it in the temple of Peace, as we gather from A. Gellius’s +remark, “We sought very diligently for the Commentary of L. Aelius, +the teacher of Varro, and found it, and read it, in the library in +the temple of Peace.” Galen also mentions it in his _Treatise on the +Compounding of Medicines_. + +Another library was gathered by Trajan, of which A. Gellius also +speaks. “We happened,” he says, “to be sitting in the library in +the temple of Trajan.” This is the one which is commonly called the +Ulpian, from the family name of the Emperor Trajan. Vopiscus says, +“I learned these things from the elders; and I read them also, in +the books of the Ulpian library;” also, “If you are still in doubt, +consult the books in Greek, then look up also the linen books, the +ancient chronicles, which the Ulpian library can show to you whenever +you wish.” + +I am of the opinion that this Ulpian library was at first in the +forum of Trajan, where the other monuments erected by that emperor +were placed; and was afterwards moved to the Viminal Hill to adorn +the Baths of Diocletian. If so moved, why not by Diocletian himself? +Vopiscus would lead us to think it was, for he says, “I make use +especially of the books of the Ulpian library, which in my time was +in the Baths of Diocletian.” When he expressly says that in his time +it was in a certain place, he plainly implies that it had previously +been in another place. + +Let us pass now to the Capitoline library, concerning which Eusebius +says, in speaking of the reign of the Emperor Commodus, “The +lightning struck the Capitol and started a great fire, which consumed +the library and the houses near it.” Orosius relates the incident +more at length: “Upon the city falls the punishment for the crimes +of the emperor. The Capitol was struck by lightning, and a terrible +conflagration burst forth, which devoured both the library, which had +been gathered by men of old with so much zeal and care, and all the +adjoining dwellings.” + +Who was the founder of this library? We cannot be sure, but we may +surmise that it was Domitian. At one time he narrowly escaped death +in the Capitol, and there, after he became emperor, he erected a +temple; and if the temple, why not the library within it? No record, +it is true, remains to prove that he did. Suetonius speaks of the +matter in a very vague way where he says, “He, Domitian, was at +great pains to reëstablish the library which had been burned, and at +large expense sought for books in all parts of the world, and sent +savants to Alexandria to copy and edit books there for his library.” +We note from this that even then the Alexandrian was looked upon as +the source and very foster-mother of all other libraries, and that +these others sought from her carefully edited and beautifully written +books to replace their corrupted versions. Moreover, these other +and later libraries were preserved through the enlightened interest +of the princes of their day, for if this had not been so, how could +there have been so many libraries at the time of P. Victor, that is, +in the reign of Constantine? Victor says that he noted, among other +remarkable things in Rome, twenty-nine public libraries; two of which +were especially noteworthy, the Palatine and the Ulpian. + +Alas, of how many of these have we no record whatsoever! Out of all +the twenty-nine we discovered, for all our diligence, traces of seven +only, and of these have rescued from oblivion hardly more than their +names. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + _Of the Tiburtine Library; also of certain of the more important + Private Libraries. These latter were sometimes found in the + Baths, sometimes in the Country Houses._ + + +Concerning the greater part of the Roman public libraries I have +learned nothing, as I have said; not even of those within the city. + +There was one at Tibur, near Rome, about which A. Gellius says, “We +recall having found it written in that same book of Claudius in +the library at Tibur.” And again, “He brought it from the library +of Tibur, which was at that time very conveniently located in the +temple of Hercules.” Here and elsewhere we note that the libraries +were often placed in or near temples. And why should not the sacred +productions of human genius be deposited in consecrated buildings? +It is possible that the Emperor Hadrian established this library at +Tibur, for it is well known that he took much pleasure in that spot, +and spared no expense in adorning it with many and very beautiful +buildings. + +It seems evident to me that in all the cities and colonies of +the empire libraries were found and the arts and humanities were +cultivated. + +Certain of the wealthy citizens, it appears, had their own private +libraries, some of them very noble ones, partly for use and partly +for the sake of the reputation for learning which they gave. + +For example, there is Tyrannion the grammarian, in the reign of +Sulla, who had three thousand volumes. Epaphroditus of Chaeronea, +also a grammarian by profession, is another example. Suidas says of +him that he lived at Rome from the time of Nero to that of Nerva, +and was so assiduous a purchaser of books that he collected thirty +thousand of them, and they of the best and rarest. I applaud this +last example, not so much, of course, for the great number of books +he collected as for the good taste he showed in choosing them. I +should like to believe that this Epaphroditus was the one who had +among his slaves Epictetus, the very head of the true philosophy. +Certainly they were contemporaries. But the rank and occupation +of the two men were very different, the book-collector being a +grammarian, according to Suidas, while the owner of Epictetus was +one of the bodyguards of Nero. Whoever he was, Samonicus Serenus +surpassed him in his zeal for book-collecting, for he had a library +in which there were sixty-two thousand volumes. When he died he +left his books to Gordian the Less, afterwards emperor. The gift +is reported by Capitolinus with these words of praise, “This has +immortalized Gordian; for men of letters will never cease to speak +of the gift of so vast and splendid a library.” + +Consider, O Most Illustrious Prince, how this love of books brings +favour and high renown,--such favour and renown as should be granted +without limit to great men like yourself. + +Those I have named, and a few besides, are known to have had notable +libraries. There were, of course, many others of whom we know +nothing. Seneca shows that the habit of book-collecting was very +common in his time, and condemns it. You ask, why did he condemn it? +“Because,” he says, “they acquired books not that they might enjoy +them, but simply for show. To most of these newly rich, ignorant +even of the elements of _belles-lettres_, books are not aids to +study, but simply ornaments of dining-rooms.” A little further on he +adds: “Why, in the homes of the idlest of the rich you will find all +that orators or historians have written, with bookcases built clear +to the ceiling! Formerly a library gave a home an air of culture; one +is now put in, like a bathroom, simply as a necessary part of the +equipment of a house.” A sad state of affairs, I admit. And yet it is +to be wished that our own rich men had the same taste in luxuries; +for a collection of books can always be of use and value to some one, +even if not to the owner. + +We note that libraries were placed in the baths, as we did above in +the case of the Ulpian library, which was in the Baths of Diocletian. +If you ask why, I would say because the Romans, while caring for the +body in the bath, found their minds at ease, and discovered that then +was a favourable time, especially for those who were deeply engrossed +in affairs, to read or to be read to. For a like reason they had +books in their villas and country seats. There also they found a +leisure and a freedom from care which were favourable to reading. + +A decision of the jurisconsult Paulus calls attention to this custom +of having libraries: “In a legacy of real estate any books and any +library which are in the house pass to the legatee.” Pliny says, +speaking of his own villa, “A bookcase is built into the wall, thus +forming, as it were, a little library.” Martial praises the library +at the country-place of a certain other Julius Martial, as follows: + + Thou lovely country library, + Whence thy lord views the city nigh, + If, ’mongst his serious studys, place + My wanton muse may find, and grace, + To these sev’n books afford a roome, + Though on the lowest shelf, which come + Corrected by their author’s penn.[4] + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[4] _Translation from a sixteenth century MS. Bohn._ + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + _The Decoration of Libraries with Ivory and with Glass. Bookcases + and Shelves, Tables and Seats._ + + +I have now gone rapidly over the early history of libraries and have +mentioned those of which time has not destroyed all records. As to +what I have written, I must confess that it is but a trivial mention +of a great subject,--as the old saying goes, “a drop of water out +of a full bucket.” Yet I have said enough, perhaps, to act as an +incentive or to serve as an example. + +I shall add a few words on the decoration of libraries and the +arrangement of their books. + +From Isidore I learn that the more experienced architects did not +think that the ceilings of libraries should be gilded, or that the +floors should be made of any but Carystian marble; this because the +glitter of gold is rather tiring to the eyes, while the green of +Carystian marble rests them. + +This is good advice from whomever it may have come. True it is, as my +own experience proves, that a brilliant light is disturbing to the +attention and makes writing difficult; and green is a colour which +seems to rest and refresh the eyes. + +Boethius adds something further to this subject of decoration, when +he says, in his book on _Consolation_, “The walls were decorated +with ivory and glass.” Does he mean the walls of the room itself? +It would seem so, for the bookcases or shelves were not placed +against the walls, in which case the ornamentation of the latter +would not have been seen, but were set out in the room, just as they +are in most public libraries to-day. Glass cut in squares, circles, +ovals, and rhomboids was used like marble tiles, to ornament the +walls, though oftener the arches and the ceilings. Pliny says in his +_Natural History_, book XXXVI, “Tiles made of earth they transformed +into glass and put on the arches; and this is a recent invention.” It +was, then, still a novelty in the time of Nero and Seneca. Yet Seneca +speaks of it as a common thing, in letter LXXXVI, on baths, where he +says, “Unless the arch is covered with glass.” On this point consult +my work on the baths of the Romans. + +That it was also used on the walls, Vopiscus, as well as Boethius, +shows when he says in speaking of Firmus, “The house appears to have +been covered over with squares of glass, with bitumen and other +material between the squares.” I think the bitumen was here used to +fasten the squares of glass to the wall, and not to join them to each +other. The joints between the pieces of glass were more appropriately +covered with ivory, as Boethius seems to say they were. Ivory was +placed also on the bookcases themselves; whence the phrase, “ivory +library,” in the _Pandects_. Seneca mentions bookcases made of cedar +and ivory. + +Common sense and the general fitness of the thing of course make +it plain that there were bookcases in libraries; I would add the +fact that the cases were numbered. Vopiscus so indicates when he +says, “The Ulpian library has the elephant book in the sixth case.” +Whether by “elephant” he means made of ivory or of the skin of an +elephant, I cannot say. The old scholiast in commenting on this +phrase, from Juvenal, “Hic libros dabit et forulos” (This one will +furnish you with books and cases), gives as an equivalent phrase, +“Armaria, bibliotheca” (A library and the books in it). I think the +word _foruli_ (pigeon-holes), as here used, properly means either +compartments in the shelves, “nests” for the books, following +Martial’s use of the word; or, in Seneca’s use of it, separate little +cases for them. Sidonius speaks of these cases and of other things +found in libraries. “Here,” he says, “is an astonishing number of +books and you would think yourself in a library and could see the +shelves (_plutei_) of the grammarians; or the seats (_cunei_) of +Athenaeus; or the lofty bookcases (_armaria_) of the booksellers.” +_Plutei_ are the sloping tables on which books were placed for +reading; _cunei_, the rows of seats, as explained in Athenaeus; and +_armaria_, bookcases, generally wide and tall, as I have shown. These +last Cicero seems to call _pegmata_ in a letter to Atticus. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + _Statues of Learned Men sometimes placed in Libraries; a + praiseworthy Custom which originated with Asinius._ + + +A most appropriate method of decorating a library, one which ought +to be imitated by us to-day but unhappily is not, is that of placing +in it and near their writings the statues or busts of great authors. +How delightful it must have been to the readers to see them, and how +stimulating to the mind! We all wish to become familiar with the +features and the general appearance of great men, with those material +bodies in which dwelt their celestial spirits, and, lifting our +eyes from their books, here they are before us! You could read the +writings of Homer, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Pindar, Virgil, Cicero, +and others, and at the same time feast your eyes upon the counterfeit +presentment of each one. Again I say, a most beautiful custom, and +why, Most Illustrious Friend, do we to-day not imitate it, under your +leadership? + +This idea seems to have originated with the Romans--not every +good thing, after all, has come from the Greeks! Pliny is of this +opinion. “Nothing,” he says, speaking in his most happy vein, “is +more delightful than to have knowledge of the face and bearing of the +authors one reads. Asinius Pollio, at Rome, apparently originated +this idea of placing statues in libraries; that same Asinius who was +the first, by founding a free library, to make the wisdom of mankind +free to all. Whether the kings at Alexandria and Pergamum, who showed +great zeal in the founding of libraries, had done the same before, +I find it impossible to learn.” So it seems, as I have said, that +Asinius was the originator of the idea; and Pliny says that he placed +in a library, the first public one opened in the city (not, in the +world, as some absurdly render the phrase), the statue of a living +man, Marcus Varro, the first person to have that honour. Afterwards +the same distinction was shown to others, either through courtesy +or because it was justly due them; for example, to the poet Martial, +who boasted that Stertinius wished to place a statue of him in his +library. But for the most part this honour has been reserved for +the dead, and for those who have, by common consent, proved their +greatness. + +Pliny says, “A certain custom, now just established, ought not to +be passed by in silence. I refer to the fact that they place in +libraries, not only the statues in gold, silver, or bronze of those +whose immortal souls may be said to be speaking there through their +books, but also the statues of those whose books are not there; and +even imaginary statues of those of whom no portraits have been +preserved.” He calls the custom a new one, meaning that it originated +with Pollio. He says also that these statues of the dead were for +the most part made of metal. I would add that they were also made of +plaster, in which they were easily duplicated for private libraries. +Juvenal says, “Though you may find everywhere busts of Chrysippus in +plaster.” + +Indeed I think the portraits were sometimes paintings, and that +perhaps they placed portraits at the beginnings of books. Seneca +says, “Those exquisite works of highest genius, illustrated with the +portraits of their authors.” Suetonius says of Tiberius, “He placed +their writings and their portraits in the public libraries among +the old and accepted authors.” And Pliny in his letters remarks, +“Herennius Severus, a most learned man, is very desirous to place in +his own library the statues of Cornelius Nepos and Titus Atticus.” +So, according to these two writers, both statues and portraits +were used. Pliny also says, in speaking of Silius Italicus, “He +owned many villas in these same places, and in them he had many +portraits; moreover, he not only owned them, he almost worshipped +them, especially the portrait of Virgil.” Vopiscus says of Numerian +that a certain oration of his was held to be so eloquent that it was +decided that a statue be made of him as an orator, not as emperor, +and placed in the Ulpian library with this inscription: “To Numerian, +Emperor, the greatest Orator of his time.” Sidonius, justly boasting +of a statue erected to himself in the same place, says, “Nerva Trajan +has seen fit to place an enduring statue of me, in honour of my +writings, among other authors in both libraries.” By “both libraries” +he means that his statue was set up in the Greek as well as in the +Latin library. + +Small portraits or statues were, it seems, often placed on brackets +projecting from the cases or shelves on which stood the works of the +writers they represented. I quote a line from Juvenal, “And bids the +bust of Cleanthes guard the shelf on which his works repose.” + +The same custom is referred to in the distich which was inscribed +on a bust of Virgil: “No harm can come to a poet who is honoured by +having both his verse and his bust upon the library shelf;” meaning +that he has attained to lasting fame who lives both in his books and +in his sculptured likeness. Note also the seals or medallions above +the shelves referred to by Cicero in a letter to Atticus. In Cicero’s +day they ornamented libraries with statues of the gods as well as of +authors. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + _A word about the Alexandrian Museum. Learned men dwelt in it + supported from the Public Funds. Kings and Emperors made this + Museum their special Care._ + + +I have nothing further that seems worth saying on this subject of +libraries, except a few words about their use. If they stand empty, +or with only an occasional visitor; if students do not frequent them +and make use of their books, why were they ever established, and +what are they save that “idle luxury in the garb of scholarship” to +which Seneca alludes? The Alexandrian kings saw to it that there +were students to make use of their library, for they built near it +a Museum, so called because it was, so to speak, a temple of the +Muses, in which it was possible to follow the Muses, to cultivate the +humanities, free from all cares, even from the labour of providing +food and lodging, since the students in it were supported from the +public funds. How admirable an institution! Strabo gives us the best +description of it: + +“Part of the royal palace is a Museum, in which one may stroll or +sit at ease, with a great hall, in which men of letters, who are +members of the Museum, hold meetings and take their meals together. +Moreover, this college, as we may call the Museum organization with +its students, has a foundation or common fund for its support; and +a priest, who is president of the Museum, formerly appointed by the +kings of Egypt, but at the present time by the emperor.” + +He says this was part of the royal palace. Doubtless the kings wished +it to be near their own apartments that they might have at hand the +learned men who were its inmates, and converse with them when they +pleased; thus acquiring knowledge and training their minds. It had +porticoes and exedras, the former being more for the exercise of +the body, the latter for the training of the mind, as in them the +students gathered, conferred, and held discussions. There was also +a hall, where they ate together. Philostratus says the same thing +in speaking of Dionysius, who was, he writes, “received into the +Museum;” and then adds, “The Museum is the Egyptian banquet-hall of +learning, which brings together all the men of letters from all parts +of the world.” + +Note particularly the words, “all the men of letters from all parts +of the world,” for even if not to be taken literally they show that +the number was very large and the expense very great. Timon the +satirist calls our attention to the same points when he says, in his +satirical and carping way, “Many people are supported at public +expense in Egypt the populous, that they may idly browse among +books and quarrel over them in the cave of the Muses.” Athenaeus, +commenting on this passage, says, “Timon spoke of the Museum as a +cave or cage, thus making sport of the philosophers maintained there, +as if they were so many rare birds.” + +Athenaeus, we see, calls them philosophers; but Strabo uses the more +general phrase, “men of letters and savants;” and no doubt scholars +of every sort were admitted. Strabo puts special stress on the word +“men,” showing that boys and youths and those beginning their studies +were not taught in the Museum, as they would be in a similar place +to-day; but that admittance was rather a reward for erudition already +attained, an honour rightly earned. At Athens, following a similar +custom, those who deserved the honour were supported in the Prytaneum +at public expense. + +What think you of that, O Prince of to-day? Does not the wish rise +within you to establish again this noble custom? + +Continuing Strabo’s account of the Museum: he says a priest was +appointed to manage its affairs, who was selected by the kings or +emperors. The position must have been of great dignity, and one which +it was thought the emperor himself should fill. One may ask if the +emperor did not appoint all the officials? Philostratus seems to +imply that he did, when he says, speaking of Dionysius the sophist, +“The Emperor Hadrian appointed him satrap or governor of many people, +and named those who should receive public honours, and those also +who should be maintained at public expense in the Museum.” Again, +speaking of Polemon, he says, “Hadrian made him a member of the +Museum, where he lived at public expense.” Let me add that, though +I have not so indicated in my translation, Philostratus uses in the +phrase I have quoted a word meaning “circle,” from which it would +seem that members were admitted in a certain order and in proper +turn, some even being chosen before any vacancy had occurred. These +no doubt waited in confidence and entered in due course, in the order +of their appointment. A like custom prevails to-day among princes in +conferring favours. + +Athenaeus throws light on this matter of appointments to the Museum +by the emperor when he says that a certain poet, Pancrates, very +cleverly praised Hadrian’s favourite, Antinous, and that the emperor, +delighted with the subtle flattery, ordered the poet to be supported +free of expense at the Museum. + +So much for the reports of Strabo and others on the Museum and its +management. + +Let me add that the inmates of the Museum by no means lived +therein an idle and useless life (how could they, being men who +were dedicated, as it were, to public service?), but were diligent +in writing, in arguing, and reciting their own works. Spartianus +testifies to this in his remark about Hadrian, to the effect that he +propounded questions to the savants in the Museum at Alexandria, and +in turn answered those they presented to him. + +Let me note that Suetonius says that the Emperor Claudius added a +second Museum to the original one and ordered that certain books be +read there every day, and + +I close, + +O MOST ILLUSTRIOUS RULER, with the wish that you, a descendant +of great men and born to do great things, may long continue in +that work, worthy of the highest praise, which you have already +begun,--the work of encouraging the production of books and the +cultivation of the liberal arts among men, and so make your name for +all time revered. + +To you, JOHN MORETUS, because of the friendship which has bound +together for now these many years you and our Plantin--alas, now +no more!--and all his family and myself,--to you, I say, I entrust +the printing and the publishing of this my OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY +OF LIBRARIES; to you and to no one else. And this my wish and will +I thus declare in accordance with the law laid down by the great +Emperor and the Kings. + + JUSTUS LIPSIUS + + + + + LITERATURE OF LIBRARIES + + SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH + CENTURIES + + +_Edited by_ JOHN COTTON DANA, _Librarian of the Free Public Library, +Newark, New Jersey; and_ HENRY W. KENT, _Librarian of the Grolier +Club, New York City._ + + 1. COTTON DES HOUSSAYES, JEAN BAPTISTE (1727-1783). + + Concerning the Duties and Qualifications of a Librarian (Des + Devoirs et de Qualities du Bibliothecaire). + + 2. DURY, JOHN (DURIE) (1596-1680). + + The Reformed Librarie-Keeper. London, 1650. + + 3. KIRKWOOD, REV. JAMES (1650?-1708). + + An Overture for founding and maintaining of Bibliothecks in every + Paroch throughout this Kingdom. [Edinburgh], 1699. + + 4. BODLEY, SIR THOMAS (1545-1613). + + Life, written by himself, 1609; with his First Draught of the + Statutes of the Public Library at Oxford. (From Reliquiae + Bodleianae, 1703.) + + 5. LIPSIUS, JUSTUS (1547-1606). + + De Bibliothecis Syntagma. Antwerp, 1602. Translated into English + for this series. + + 6. NAUDÉ, GABRIEL (1600-1653). + + News from France; or, A Description of the Library of Cardinal + Mazarini (London, 1652), and, The Surrender of the Library of + Cardinal Mazarin. + +_250 copies on small paper, 6 vols., $12.00 per set._ + +_25 copies on large paper, 6 vols., $25.00 per set._ + + + A. C. McCLURG & CO. PUBLISHERS + CHICAGO + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +On page 46, “reestablished” was replaced by “reëstablished”, +reflecting the predominant spelling in the text. Otherwise, original +spelling and punctuation has been retained. + +New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain. + +Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78256 *** diff --git a/78256-h/78256-h.htm b/78256-h/78256-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d388f03 --- /dev/null +++ b/78256-h/78256-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2828 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + A brief outline of the history of libraries | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; 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+ margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding: 2em; + margin-bottom:2em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + color: #A9A9A9; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* spacing */ +.p1t {padding-top: 1em;} +.phalfb {padding-bottom: .5em;} +.p2b {padding-bottom: 2em;} +.p2t {padding-top: 2em;} + +/* font size */ +.fs160 {font-size: 160%;} +.fs125 {font-size: 125%;} +.fs100 {font-size: 100%;} +.fs90 {font-size: 90%;} +.fs85 {font-size: 85%;} + +/* font style */ +.fnormal {font-weight: normal;} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowe2 {width: 2em;} +.illowp70 {width: 70%;} + +/*dropcaps*/ +p.drop-cap {text-indent: 0em;} +p.drop-cap:first-letter {float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 270%; + line-height:.55em;} + +.x-ebookmaker-2 p.drop-cap:first-letter { float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%;} +span.drop2 {margin-left: -0.2em;} +.x-ebookmaker-2 span.drop2 {margin-left: 0;} + +/* paragraphs */ +.hanging3 { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -1em + } +.noindent {text-indent:0em;} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} + +.corr { + text-decoration: none; + border-bottom: thin dashed blue + } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78256 ***</div> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp70" id="i001_f2" style="max-width: 50.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i001_f2.jpg" alt="Decorated page describing series"> + <figcaption> + <p class="center fnormal"> + LITERATURE + OF + LIBRARIES + IN THE + SEVENTEENTH + AND + EIGHTEENTH + CENTURIES</p> + + <p class="center noindent fnormal"> + EDITED BY<br> + + JOHN COTTON DANA + AND + HENRY W. KENT</p> + + <p class="center noindent fnormal">CHICAGO<br> + A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY<br> + 1907</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<h1 class="fnormal fs100"> +A BRIEF OUTLINE OF<br> +<br> +THE HISTORY OF<br> +<br> +LIBRARIES +</h1> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <p class="noindent"> + <i>An Edition of two hundred and fifty + copies in this form and one of twenty-five + copies on Large Paper were printed + at The Merrymount Press, Boston, in + May, 1907</i> + </p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center noindent fs125"> +A BRIEF OUTLINE OF</p> +<p class="center noindent fs160"> +THE HISTORY OF +LIBRARIES</p> +<p class="center"> +BY</p> +<p class="center noindent fs125">JUSTUS LIPSIUS</p> +<p class="center noindent"> +TRANSLATED FROM THE +SECOND EDITION</p> +<p class="center noindent allsmcap"> +(ANTWERP, THE PLANTIN PRESS<br> +JOHN MORETUS, 1607)</p> +<p class="center noindent"> +THE LAST FROM +THE HAND OF THE AUTHOR</p> +<p class="noindent center"> +BY</p> +<p class="center noindent"> +JOHN COTTON DANA</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowe2"> + <img class="w100" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="fleuron"> +</figure> +<br> +<p class="center noindent p1t"> +CHICAGO<br> +A. C. McCLURG & CO.<br> +MDCCCCVII +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="noindent center allsmcap"> +COPYRIGHT, A. C. McCLURG & CO., 1907</p> +<p class="center noindent allsmcap p2b">PUBLISHED, JUNE 1, 1907</p> + +<p class="center noindent allsmcap fs90">D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON +</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <p class="noindent center p2t p2b"> + NOTE</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="INTRODUCTORY_NOTE"> + INTRODUCTORY NOTE + </h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Few</span> of the biographers of +Justus Lipsius have devoted +their attention to that part of his +writings which, in an English +translation by John Cotton Dana, +is here offered to lovers of libraries. +They have found matters +of greater importance to the +world at large in the chief things +of his life,—his theological, historical +and literary writings. Mr. +Peter Bayle, in his famous <cite>General +Dictionary</cite>, which first appeared +in 1697, and afterwards +Englished, in 1710, says in this +connection, as an introduction to +his own contribution to Lipsius’s +biography:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<p>“I might relate a great many +curious particulars concerning +him; but as others⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> have already +collected them, and have not +even omitted what relates to his +education and his early learning, +I am obliged to confine myself +to such particulars as they have +not mentioned.” These particulars +related to one of Lipsius’s +greatest faults, for which he was +chiefly censured,—his inconsistency +with regard to religious +beliefs,—and they take on an additional +interest when treated by +Bayle, who was himself given +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>to tasting of religion at all its +different founts. With gossipy +pen, he briefly summarizes the +facts in Lipsius’s stormy theological +career, which to a sixteenth-century +mind, and even +to one of the eighteenth century, +must have seemed as important +as it was chequered.</p> + +<p>The theologian of a century or +so ago undoubtedly found that +Lipsius had contributed something +to religious thought, but +to us, in this century of freedom +in such matters, Justus Lipsius +is chiefly a subject for antiquarian +curiosity, just as he was to +Bayle. It would be idle to speculate +on the present-day value +of his <cite>Diva Virgo Hallensis</cite>, or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>his <cite>Diva Sichemiensis</cite>, written for +the Jesuits, when late in his life +he had accepted the professorship +of Latin in the Colegium +Buslidanium at Louvain and had +become, to quote from Bayle, +“a bigot, like a silly woman.” +The polite literature which Lipsius +taught at Louvain, in a manner +“very glorious to him,” is +quite unread to-day; it is unnecessary +now when so much polite +literature has been, and is +constantly being, added to the +world’s carefully shelved stock. +Whatever defects of matter or +style our writer may have had, +like all the humanists he served +a great purpose in retailing to +further generations—and especially +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>to librarians—the opinions +of the classic writers on the history +of libraries. It is not for us, +who have received so great a favour +at his hands, to criticise his +scholarship, as some have done,—as +does one writer who says, +speaking of one of his mental +tendencies, “The other, derived +from his Jesuit training, showed +itself in his merely rhetorical or +verbal view of classical literature, +of which the one interest +lay in its style.” Neither need +we concern ourselves with his +tendency to change his religious +point of view,—now Jesuit, now +Lutheran, now Calvinist, now +Romanist. To Lipsius bibliophiles +owe their thanks because he published +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>the first history of libraries, +in the modern sense of the +word,—a history which is as +fresh and useful to-day as it was +when it was written. Only a man +of great scholarship could have +written such a story, requiring +the searching of the original authorities +in Latin, Greek and +Hebrew, and only the scholarship +of the sixteenth century—careful, +conscientious and leisurely—could +have brought together +all the facts that Lipsius +did. All of the histories since his +time have borrowed freely from +our author, or, like Edwards, +have used his references for further +elaboration of their texts.</p> + +<p>If, however, but few of his biographers +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>have devoted themselves +to a matter which must +have been of no small interest +in Lipsius’s life (judging from +his enthusiastic manner of treating +it), one, at least, has done +full justice to it,—a Frenchman, +Étienne Gabriel Peignot, who, +born in Arc-en-Barrios in 1767, +devoted his whole life to the +cause of bibliography. The account +of this scholar written by +Simonnet, in his <cite>Essai sur la vie +et les ouvrages de Gabriel Peignot</cite>, +1863, deserves to be on the +shelves of every librarian, certainly +of every bibliographer.</p> + +<p>Early in his career Peignot +planned a great bibliographical +work, of which his <cite>Manuel Bibliographique</cite>, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>published in 1804, +was a first part, and his <cite>Dictionnaire +Raisonné de Bibliologie</cite> a +second. The Manual is chiefly +devoted to Lipsius, having for +its opening chapter a life of our +author, followed by a translation +of the <cite>Syntagma</cite>. Peignot +tells us that the plagiarism of +Lipsius by authors who have not +thought it worth their while to +mention their indebtedness to +him was one of the reasons why +he was led to give the <cite>Syntagma</cite> +the chief place in his own book,—he +wished to secure to this +learned man his just due.</p> + +<p>In his “Notice préliminaire sur +Juste Lipse et ses ouvrages” +Peignot gives a selected list of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>Lipsius’s works dated from 1599, +wherein it is seen that the book +in which we are interested, <cite>J. +Lipsi de Bibliothecis Syntagma, +Antverpiae</cite>, came, like all of the +others, “<span lang="la">ex officina Plantiniana, +apud J. Moretum</span>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This, to the +librarian, is a fact worthy of special +note, because it gives the +evidence of the friendship that +existed between the printer, John +Moretus, son-in-law of the great +Plantin, founder of the house, +“first printer to the king, and the +king of printers,” and Lipsius, +covering a long period of years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> + +<p>In the house of Christopher +Plantin at Antwerp, now known +as the Plantin-Moretus Museum, +in the room called, since the sixteenth +century, the “Room of Justus +Lipsius,” the bust of the friend +of the house looks down from its +place of honour over the entrance +door. And so, just as Lipsius’s +name is closely linked with +one of the great epochs of printing, +it has also a part in the history +of the development of the +library idea. Whatever the facts +concerning his theology, polite +literature or other writings, whatever +the final vote on the value +of his style, the little tract, here +reprinted, in the hands of friends +of libraries will justify the faith +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>that Lipsius had in his claim to +fame, when, in hanging a votive +silver pen before an altar of the +Virgin, he wrote:</p> + +<p>“O Blessed Virgin, this pen, the +interpreter of my mind, which +soared up as high as the sky; +which searched the most hidden +recesses of land and sea; which +always applied itself to learning, +prudence and wisdom; which +dared to write a treatise on constancy; +which explained civil and +military matters, and such as relate +to the taking of cities; which +described, O Rome, thy greatness; +which variously illustrated +and cleared up the writings of +the ancients,—that pen is now, O +Blessed Virgin, consecrated to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>thee by Lipsius, for by thy assistance +have they all been completed. +Let thy kind influence +constantly attend me for the +future; and in return for that +vanishing fame which my pen +gained, vouchsafe to grant, O +Divine Lady, a continual joy and +life to your devoted servant, +Lipsius.”</p> + +<p class="right allsmcap p2b"> + H. W. K. +</p> + +<p><i>New York, February, 1907</i></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3 class="fs125 fnormal">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> <i>Teissier</i>, <cite>Additions aux Éloges de M. +de Thou</cite>, <i>ii</i>. 381, 432; <i>Bullart</i>, <cite>Académie +des Sciences</cite>, <i>ii</i>. 190; <i>Balliet</i>, <cite>Enfans +Célèbres</cite>, 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> <i>Ed.</i> 1. <cite>De Bibliothecis Syntagma</cite>, +Antwerp, 1602; <i>Ed.</i> 2. Helmstadt, +1620; <i>Ed.</i> 3. Antwerp, 1629. <i>In his</i> +<cite>Opera Omnia</cite>, 1610-30, 1637, 1675.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span></p> + <p class="noindent center p2b p2t"> + TRANSLATOR’S NOTE + + </p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="TRANSLATORS_NOTE_1"> + TRANSLATOR’S NOTE + </h2> +</div> + + +<p class="noindent">This translation has been made +from the second edition, “the last +from the author’s hand,” Antwerp, +Plantin Press, John Moretus, +1602.</p> + +<p>The French version by Gabriel +Peignot, in his <cite>Manuel Bibliographique</cite>, +Paris, 1800, was found +very helpful in translating Lipsius’s +rather crabbed Latin; I +was greatly aided also by a first +draught of an English translation +kindly made for me by Miss I. +McD. Howell, of the Newark, +New Jersey, Free Public Library. +Mr. W. W. Bishop, reference +librarian in the library of +Princeton University, gave most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>valuable assistance, both on difficult +points in the Latin and on +many historical allusions. I am, +of course, responsible for all errors.</p> + +<p class="right"> + J. C. D. +</p> + +<p><i>Newark, January, 1907</i></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span></p> + + + <p class="noindent center p2b p2t" > + TO THE READER + </p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="TO_THE_READER_1"> + TO THE READER + </h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Y<i>ou</i></span> <i>have before you my brief +outline of the history of libraries, +that is, of books. Where +shall we who are constantly making +use of books look for a worthier +subject for our pen? Yet I never +should have dreamed of writing +this outline had I not been inspired +thereto by the zeal in such matters +of the noble Prince to whom +I have just dedicated it.</i></p> + +<p><i>That such as he should labour to +encourage and inspire men to good +deeds and high endeavour—this I +think a thing most helpful to us +all. And how few do give themselves +generously to this task! All +thoughts seem now to turn to low +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>and sordid things. Scorning the +ancient and holy truths, how eagerly +to-day do men search out +doctrines whose only charm is that +they seem new!</i></p> + +<p><i>To these one might well repeat +the ancient line: “Though broad +and well known is the highway, +you choose a narrow and obscure +path.”</i></p> + +<p><i>For ourselves, we hold fast to +the old and the established; and we +study, we point out the way, and +we set forth examples—often, +so I hope and trust, to some useful +purpose.</i></p> + +<p><i>And may you, O Gentle Reader, +look with favour upon our work.</i></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="noindent center p2b p2t"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> + + A BRIEF OUTLINE OF + THE HISTORY OF LIBRARIES +</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_I"> + CHAPTER I + </h2> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb">Bibliotheca <i>and</i> Libraria—<i>what do + these words signify? The Kings of old + had Libraries, especially those of Egypt.</i></p> +</blockquote> + + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">The</span> word <i>bibliotheca</i> is used +to signify any one of three +things: a place in which books +are kept, a bookcase, or books +themselves. The Greek word, +<i>bibliotheca</i>, came into use among +the Romans. They also used the +word <i lang="la">libraria</i>; but it is more exact +to understand by that word a shop +where books are kept for sale. +Collections of books, <i>bibliothecae</i>, +date from the earliest days, and, +if I am not mistaken, were established +as soon as letters were +invented. The art of writing must +have arisen almost as soon as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>man began to learn and to think; +and this art would not have been +profitable if books had not been +preserved and arranged for present +and future use.</p> + +<p>At first these collections were +private undertakings, each person +gathering for himself and +his family; in the course of time +kings and dynasties took up the +custom and collected books, not +only for use, but also to gratify +their ambition and to add to their +renown. Indeed, it was scarcely +within the power of a private person +to collect many books, since +the process of copying them was +a slow and expensive one; though +our lately discovered most useful +art of printing has now simplified +it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + +<p>Osymandyas of Egypt was of +all kings the first, as far as history +shows, to have a library of +any note. Along with other famous +deeds he established, says +Diodorus, a library of sacred literature, +and placed over the entrance +the inscription: “Here is +Medicine for the Mind.” Though +he was one of the earliest of the +Egyptian kings, I do not doubt +that his example was thereafter +faithfully followed, even if the +library he is said to have founded +never in fact existed; for in +Egypt there have always been +libraries, especially in temples, +under the care of priests. Many +facts may be cited as evidence +for the truth of this statement, +among others this one about +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>Homer: a certain Naucrates accused +Homer of plagiarism, and +said that when the latter went to +Egypt he found there the books +of a woman, Phantasia, who had +written the Iliad and the Odyssey +and placed them in the temple +of Vulcan at Memphis; and that +there Homer saw them, appropriated +them, and published them +as his own. As far as Homer is +concerned I think this story false; +but it establishes the fact in question, +that it was the custom in +Egypt to have libraries.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_II"> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>The Alexandrian Library, of which + Philadelphus was the founder and the + chief benefactor. The variety and number + of books in it. Burned, and restored.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Though</span> other libraries of +Egypt are little known, we +learn that that of Ptolemy Philadelphus +was famous and highly +renowned. He was the son +of Ptolemy Lagus, second of the +name and of the line of the Greek +kings of Egypt. Being a patron +of the arts and sciences he was, +of course, a lover of books, and +founded the great library of Alexandria, +aided by the instruction +and example, perhaps even +by the very books themselves, of +Aristotle. For Aristotle, as I shall +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>note later, had a library which +was remarkable for the number +and excellence of its books. +Speaking of this library, Strabo +says that Aristotle was the first +private collector of books of +whom we have any knowledge, +and that he taught the kings of +Egypt the principles of classification. +This passage from Strabo, +however, must be read with care +and be properly interpreted; for +Aristotle was by no means the +first to form a library, and as he +lived before the time of Philadelphus, +he could not have taught +him, save as I have said, by example. +Perhaps what Athenaeus +says is true, that Aristotle left +his books to Theophrastus, he to +Neleus, and that from the latter +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>Ptolemy bought them, and transferred +them, with others which +he purchased in Athens and +Rhodes, to fair Alexandria. Other +writers, however, do not assent +to this statement, as I shall show +presently. This much is admitted, +however, that he founded a +library and collected for it books +of every kind from all parts of +the world, even seeking out the +sacred books of the Hebrews. +As soon as the fame of the wisdom +of the Hebrews reached his +ears, he sent and demanded the +books which contained it, and +employed men skilled in such +matters to translate them into +Greek for the common use of +all. This translation was called +the Septuagint from the number +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>of persons who were engaged +in making it. It was made, according +to Epiphanius, in the +seventeenth year of the reign of +Philadelphus, in the one hundred +and twenty-seventh Olympiad. +Demetrius Phalereus had charge +of this library. He was an exile +from his native Athens, and was +renowned both for his writings +and his works. The King held +him in high esteem and entrusted +to his care the library, and other +matters of even greater importance.</p> + +<p>Philadelphus likewise collected +books from the Chaldeans, the +Egyptians, and even from the +Romans, and had them translated +into Greek. I quote Georgius +Cedrenus, who says, “Philadelphus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>had the sacred books of +the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and +Romans, as well as some in +other languages, to the number +of a hundred thousand volumes, +translated into Greek, and placed +them in his library at Alexandria.” +I note especially two things +in this quotation: first, the diligence +shown in translating into +the common tongue books in +foreign languages,—a very useful +custom in my opinion and +one which should be adopted +to-day by you, O Princes; and +second, the statement as to the +number of books. This number +is very large, it is true, but not +large enough if it is meant to include +all the books in the library. +I think it was not so meant; but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>that Cedrenus had in mind only +the translations, and that the +works in the original Greek far +surpassed the number of translations. +Other writers who have +mentioned this library say it was +much larger than Cedrenus says +it was. Our friend Seneca reports +that four hundred thousand volumes, +a most precious monument +of royal munificence, perished +in the flames. Most precious, +indeed; beyond all gold or rarest +gems! How much more precious +if their number had been +greater still! And greater in fact +it was. This number of Seneca’s +falls short of the truth, and must +be extended to seven hundred +thousand. Let Josephus tell us. +He says that Demetrius, the librarian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>I have mentioned, was +once asked by Philadelphus how +many books he had in the library, +and replied that he had two +hundred thousand volumes, and +hoped soon to have five hundred +thousand.</p> + +<p>So you see how the library +grew under his hands; then consider +how much larger it must +have grown to be in later years, +under other kings, successors of +Philadelphus. A. Gellius frankly +says that the number rose to +seven hundred thousand. To +quote him exactly, “A prodigious +number of books was collected, +either by purchase or by copying, +by the Ptolemaic kings of +Egypt, nearly seven hundred +thousand volumes.” Ammianus, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>from whom I shall quote shortly, +says the same, and Isidore also, +if his words be properly emended. +“In Alexandria, in the days +of Philadelphus, there were,” he +says, “seventy thousand books.” +I think that he should have said +seven hundred thousand.</p> + +<p>A precious treasure! But, alas, +though it was the offspring of +man’s immortal spirit it was not +itself immortal! For all this vast +store of books, whatever their +number may have been, perished +in the flames. Caesar, in the civil +war with Pompey, fought with +the Alexandrians in the city itself. +He set fire to the ships for his +own protection; from the ships +the flames spread to houses near +the harbour, then to the library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>itself, and consumed it utterly.</p> + +<p>Shame be to Caesar for having +brought about, even though without +intent, this irreparable loss! +Yet he himself does not mention +it in the third book of his <cite>History +of the Civil War</cite>; and, later, Hirtius +did not speak of it. But +others did; Plutarch, for example, +and Dion; and Livy also, as +may easily be shown by a reference +to Seneca, who says, after +the words above quoted, “Another +has praised the library, +even Livy, who says that it had +been a splendid monument to the +culture and the enlightened zeal +of kings.” These are the very +words used by Livy in speaking +of the fire, and of the praise due +the library itself and the kings +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>who had collected it.</p> + +<p>Ammianus also speaks of this +lamentable conflagration, and +says: “Among all the temples +in Alexandria the Serapeum was +preëminent; in it was formerly +a library of inestimable value +containing, according to the concurrent +testimony of the ancient +monuments, seven hundred thousand +volumes, collected with patient +zeal by the Ptolemaic kings. +All of these books were consumed +by fire when the state, +under the dictatorship of Caesar, +was disrupted by the Alexandrian +war.” He wishes to make it +appear that this happened while +the city was being plundered. +A. Gellius says the same: “All +these books were burned in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>earlier Alexandrian war” (here +he is in error; it was in the later +war, under Antony), “when the +state was disrupted; and the burning +was not intentional or premeditated, +and possibly was done +by the auxiliary soldiers.” He +excuses Caesar, and with some +reason; for did ever any one +love books and the humanities +more than he? He also excuses +the Roman soldiers, and lays the +blame on the foreign auxiliaries.</p> + +<p>If one consults Plutarch and +Dion one may see that they do +not think the burning took place +during the sack of the city.</p> + +<p>Such, then, was the end of this +noble library; destroyed in the +one hundred and eighty-third +Olympiad, after enduring scarcely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>two hundred and twenty-four +years. Yet it lived again,—not +the same collection, of course, for +that were impossible; but a similar +one,—and in the same building, +the Serapeum. Cleopatra, +she who became famous through +her amours with Antony, <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber’s Note—Original text: 'reestablished'" id="tn-46">reëstablished</ins> +the library. She received +from him, as the beginning +or foundation of the new +collection, the Attalic or Pergamene +library. She accepted the +entire collection as a gift and had +it brought to Alexandria; then +she again decorated the buildings +and increased the collection, +with the result that even in +the time of the Christian fathers +it was widely known and much +used. Tertullian says, “To this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>day are to be found in the library +of Ptolemy in the Serapeum +books in Hebrew characters.” +Note that, according to +this remark of Tertullian’s, the +library was again installed in the +Serapeum, that is, in its porticoes +or galleries; and note, further, +that Strabo and others tell us that +the Serapeum was near the harbour +and the ships. Note, once +more, that it was called the Ptolemaic +library, though it was in +fact not the original library, but +a similar one; for the original +Hebrew texts and the original +translation called the Septuagint +had perished in the flames. And +yet once more note that the reputation +and ancient authority +of this library were so great that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>Tertullian uses it as an argument +in his exhortation and admonition +to the heathen.</p> + +<p>For my part, I believe that the +library existed as long as did the +Serapeum itself, which was a temple +of massive construction and +of great size, and that, as reported +by certain ecclesiastical writers, +the Christians, during the reign +of Theodosius the Great, demolished +it utterly, as a monument +of superstition.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> + + +<h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_III"> + CHAPTER III</h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>Libraries in Greece, especially those of + Pisistratus and Aristotle. That at Byzantium.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Concerning</span> the libraries +of Egypt I have given +few and unimportant facts, +though the collections themselves +were perhaps many and +of great importance. But history +here is dimmed by the mists of +time. The same must be said also +of the history of the libraries of +Greece. Athenaeus incidentally +refers to the more important of +them when he praises his friend +Laurentius for his skill in classifying +books, and says that in this +art he surpassed Polycrates of +Samos, Pisistratus the Tyrant, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>Euclid the Athenian, Nicocrates +the Cyprian, Euripides the poet, +and Aristotle the philosopher. I +have little of detail to say about +any of these men. Of Pisistratus +it should be noted that A. Gellius +gave to him the honour of being +the pioneer in this art of forming +a library; though Polycrates +had one at about the same time. +A. Gellius says, to quote his very +words, “Pisistratus the Tyrant +is said to have been the first to +make for public use in Athens a +collection of books on the liberal +arts.” Here, then, was indeed a +great man,—he was called the +“Tyrant,” but the word did not +convey at that time the odium +it does to-day,—and to him we +owe the text of Homer collected +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>and arranged as we now have it. +At that period critical studies, as +we now call them, that is, the collation +and emendation of texts, +were much followed by princes, +and even by kings. This library, +founded by Pisistratus, was added +to from time to time by the +Athenians, until Xerxes carried +it away when he captured Athens. +Many years afterwards +Seleucus Nicanor, King of Syria, +very generously caused the +books of this library to be returned +to Athens. They remained +there until the time of +Sulla, who captured and plundered +the city. But even after +that, I am sure we must believe +the library was again established; +for how could a city be, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>as Athens was, the mother of the +arts without the aid of books? Indeed +there must have been many +libraries there in later years. Hadrian, +for example, so Pausanias +wrote, erected in Athens a +temple to the Panhellenic Jove, +and placed in it a library.</p> + +<p>Of Euclid, Athenaeus says that +he was an archon and one of the +more learned of the magistrates; +nothing more.</p> + +<p>Of Aristotle, Strabo speaks in +terms of highest praise, and I +have already quoted his words. +I also cited the statement from +Athenaeus that Aristotle’s library +came finally into the possession +of the Ptolemies. Strabo and +some others, however, seem to +question this statement. “The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>books of Aristotle,” says Strabo, +“which were left to Neleus, were +finally handed on to certain descendants +of his who were men +of no learning. By them the +books were kept under lock and +key, and were not used. Then +they were buried under ground +and much injured by worms and +mould; but finally were purchased +at a great price by Apellicon +of Teos. He had the books, +now sadly worm-eaten and tattered, +transcribed, though not +faithfully or with good judgement, +and published. On his +death Sulla, then master of Athens, +seized the books and sent +them to Rome, where Tyrannion +the grammarian made use of +them and, so it is reported, rearranged +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>them and to some extent +corrupted their text.” Plutarch +tells the same or a very similar +story in his life of Sulla. If it is +true, how could the books of +Aristotle have come from Neleus +to Philadelphus, as Athenaeus +says they did in the passage +quoted above? Perhaps we can +reconcile the two statements, and +this is my conclusion, by supposing +that Neleus retained Aristotle’s +own writings, his original +manuscripts, as a precious heritage +for his own family, and sold +the rest of the books, written by +others, to Philadelphus.</p> + +<p>I do not recall any other matters +worth relating about the libraries +of Greece. I do not need +to say that the Romans, after +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>they conquered the country, undoubtedly +took to Italy many +collections of books.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I should simply mention +the Byzantine library of the +time of the Emperors. Zonaras +and Cedrenus say that under the +Emperor Basiliscus, the library +in Byzantium, into which had +been gathered a hundred and +twenty thousand volumes, was +destroyed by fire. Among the +books was the gut of a great +dragon, one hundred and twenty +feet long, on which was written +in letters of gold the whole +of the Iliad and the Odyssey. But +this library, being in Thrace and +not in Greece, ought not to be +considered as among the Grecian +libraries.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a><a id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span></p> + + +<h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_IV"> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> + +<blockquote> + <p class="noindent phalfb"><i>The Attalic Library, of which Eumenes + was the founder. Certain errors of + statement about it made by Pliny and + Vitruvius. Its size and the length of + time it existed.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">The</span> Attalic or Pergamene +library, in Asia, was almost +as illustrious as the Alexandrian. +When the Attalic kings, +minor powers at first, became +great and rich through an alliance +with the Romans, they +adorned their capital city in many +ways and erected in it a library. +Strabo regarded Eumenes, the +son of King Attalus, as the founder +of this collection. “Eumenes,” +he says, “built the city and +beautifully adorned it as it now +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>is, with temples and a library.” +Pliny says, “According to Varro +there was a rivalry over their respective +libraries between Ptolemy +and Eumenes, and the former +forbade the exportation of +paper from his kingdom, and the +latter of parchment from his.” Jerome, +in his letter to Chromatius, +and Aelian, made similar +statements, though they say it +was Attalus who was jealous of +Ptolemy, and not Eumenes. Concerning +neither of them, however, +can the story be true; for, +as a comparison of dates will +show, they both lived almost a +century after Philadelphus. How, +then, could there have been between +them the jealousy which +Pliny speaks of? Unless, indeed, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>“Ptolemy” is used simply in reference +to the kings of Egypt in +general, and refers here not to +Philadelphus but to Ptolemy the +Fifth, generally called Ptolemy +Epiphanes, who was a contemporary +of Eumenes. He perhaps, +though he was not at all distinguished +for his zeal in regard to +libraries, forbade the exportation +of paper, in fear lest another new +library should rival his own more +ancient one.</p> + +<p>The erroneous or careless statement +just noted is still more +crudely put by Vitruvius. He +says, to quote him directly, “After +the Attalic kings, led by their +great interest and delight in literature, +established for general +enjoyment a superb library at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>Pergamum, Ptolemy, stirred to a +boundless zeal by their example, +and rivalling them in activity, endeavoured +to establish at Alexandria +a library equal to theirs.” +How absurd the statement! As +if the Attalic kings antedated the +Alexandrian in this art! As if, in +this field of books, the latter +caught from the former their zeal, +or looked to them for example! +Why, the exact opposite was +true; for the Ptolemies practised +the art of establishing libraries +long before the Attalic kings had +ever thought of it. It is possible, +of course, that here again the +writer alludes, without naming +him, to one of the later Ptolemies. +But even then it remains +true that the Pergamene library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>never rivalled the Alexandrian +in either resources or age. Plutarch +writes to this effect where, +mentioning both libraries, he +says that Antony the Triumvir, +fascinated by the charms of Cleopatra, +gave to her the library at +Pergamum, in which were two +hundred thousand volumes. I use +the word “volumes” and not “titles,” +for I think the word which +Plutarch uses refers to several +works bound together in one volume, +and that these several works +are not counted in giving the size +of the library.</p> + +<p>This Pergamene library ceased +to exist, then, soon after the destruction +of the first Alexandrian +one; but lived again in the latter +when it was reëstablished. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>Was it set up again in its own +city? Certainly Strabo’s words, +quoted above, if carefully considered, +seem to imply that it was. +For he says, “was erected where +it now is.” What does he mean +by “now”? Plainly the time +when he, Strabo, was writing, +which was in the reign of Tiberius. +So it appears that the victorious +Augustus, who annulled +much that Antony did, either +brought the library back to its +old home in Pergamum, or, what +is more probable, caused it to be +copied again and reëstablished +it. But on this point I do not venture +to speak with certainty.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_V"> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>Roman libraries; private ones; and the + first public library, that of Asinius + Pollio.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Having</span> spoken of such libraries +of foreign peoples +as seem worthy of mention, let +us pass to those of Rome, which +are nearer to us in both place +and time.</p> + +<p>Slow enough at first was the +growth of love of books and interest +in the humanities among +the Romans; for the Romans +were children of Mars, not of +the Muses. But at last, by God’s +grace, here also culture took root +and refinement gained in esteem, +though slowly at first, as it +always does. Isidore notes that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>Aemilius Paulus was the first to +bring to Rome any large number +of books, and this he did after +he had conquered Perseus, King +of the Macedonians; then Lucullus +did the same after the pillage +of Pontus. Thus he names two +who brought books to Rome. But +they did not make them accessible +to the public. Concerning +Aemilius I have read nothing +further; of Lucullus, Plutarch +speaks at great length. He says: +“His delight in books and his +free expenditure for them should +be highly praised. For he acquired +many of them, and very +beautifully written ones; and +showed the same liberality in +respect to their use that he +showed in respect to their purchase. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>His library was open to +every one; and in the adjoining +colonnades and exedras learned +Greeks were especially made +welcome. Here they came, as to a +temple of the Muses, and passed +the time pleasantly together free +from all cares. And often Lucullus +himself came to these colonnades +and walks, and joined the +learned in their conversations, +and took part in their philosophical +discussions.”</p> + +<p>From which you may see, +Most Illustrious Prince, how free +and open this library was; and +that though he retained the title +to it himself, he gave the unrestricted +use of it to the learned, +just as you so generously do +with your own.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span></p> + +<p>To Aemilius and Lucullus one +may add the name of Cornelius +Sulla, afterwards dictator, as a +founder of libraries. He brought +from Greece and Athens to Rome +a very large number of books +and arranged them to form a +library. About this Lucian has +written, as well as Plutarch.</p> + +<p>But after all these things were +done, a true public library for +Rome had not yet been established. +The thought of such an +institution was first conceived +by the great and glorious Julius +Caesar, and would by him have +been carried to its conclusion had +not the fates forbidden. Suetonius +says, “He planned to open +to the public libraries formed +of as many books in the Greek +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>and Latin languages as he could +bring together, and to give to +Marcus Varro the duty of organizing +and managing them.” This +was truly the plan of a generous +spirit, and of a wise one also; for +who in all the world was better +fitted than Varro, most learned +in Greek and Roman letters, to +carry out such a scheme? But +Caesar was not destined to realize +his thought. Augustus, his +adopted son, added a library to +the other adornments and glories +he gave to the city. At his suggestion +and inspired by him, Asinius +Pollio, orator, senator, and +noble, erected a temple of liberty, +so Suetonius says, and placed +in it a library which he made free +to all. Isidore says, “Pollio was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>the first to establish a public library +in Rome, one composed of +books in Greek and in Latin, and +decorated with busts of famous +authors. He placed it in the public +hall, which he magnificently +adorned with the spoils of war.” +“Spoils of war” refers to those taken +from the Dalmatians, whom +he had just conquered. Pliny remarks +that Asinius Pollio was the +first to establish a library which +made free to all the wisdom of +all.</p> + +<p>It seems plain from these writers +that this library was in the +Hall of Liberty, on the Aventine +Hill. I think it was rather rearranged +or reconstructed for the +library than built especially for +it. It had been in existence a long +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>time before Pollio’s day. Plutarch +and other writers say that +it dated from the time of Tiberius +Gracchus, father of the Gracchi. +Pollio, it would seem, refitted +it and dedicated it to this glorious +use. Ovid’s words should +be noted here, for he says,—his +book, <cite>Tristia</cite>, is supposed to +be speaking,—“Liberty did not +permit me to enter her hall; that +hall in which were first opened to +the public the books of the wise.” +I do not think the words he uses +in these lines have reference, +as some think, to a gathering +of poets. The book—for, as I +have said, it is a book which +Ovid’s verse makes us suppose +is speaking—frankly complains +that it was not received into the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>library of Asinius, that library +which was the first to open to +public use the writings of learned +men.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_VI"> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>The Libraries of Augustus, the Octavian + and the Palatine. Their Librarians + and Custodians.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">It</span> was, then, under Augustus +that this the first public +library was established. Soon +there were two others, also due to +him. The first, the Octavian, he +founded in honour of his sister, +and gave it her name. Of this +Dion Cassius says, in his chronicle +of the year 721, “Augustus +built a colonnade and in it established +a library, which he +named after his sister Octavia.” +Plutarch seems to ascribe this +work to Octavia herself, when +he says, “In honour of Marcellus, +his mother Octavia built a library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>and dedicated it to his memory; +Augustus built a theatre +and gave to it the name of Marcellus.” +I think Plutarch is here +in error, for the note of Dion’s +places the erection of the Colonnade +of Octavia ten whole years +before the death of Marcellus. +He adds that these memorials +were erected from spoils of the +Dalmatians, and his words draw +attention to the remarkable fact +that the first and second libraries +of Rome were both due, in +a certain sense, to barbarians.</p> + +<p>Suetonius, in speaking of Melissus +the grammarian, says that +after he was freed he soon became +intimate with Augustus, +and at the latter’s request undertook, +and very efficiently, the task +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>of arranging the library in the +Colonnade of Octavia. It is my +opinion that it was in the upper +part of the colonnade, as safer +and more appropriate, since the +lower part was used as a promenade. +Ovid again makes his +little book of verse say, “I seek +another temple, near the theatre; +and this also was forbidden +to my feet.” The book complains +that it is spurned by the +library, and incidentally tells +where the library was,—near +the theatre of Marcellus. He +calls the building, which was in +fact a portico, a temple, because +in it, as Pliny says, was an altar +to Juno, and certain beautiful +statues.</p> + +<p>Still another library was founded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>by this same Augustus, the +Palatine, so called because it was +in the royal palace itself. Suetonius +says, “He built the temple +of Apollo in that part of his +house on the Palatine Hill which +had been struck by lightning, +and was thereby, as the priests +interpreted the fact, marked out +as a spot dear to God. To the +temple he added porticoes, in +which he placed a library of books +in Latin and in Greek.” This happened +in the seven hundred and +twenty-sixth year of the city, as +one may learn from the opening +lines of Dion’s <cite>History</cite>, book <span class="allsmcap">LIII</span>.</p> + +<p>It seems, then, that Ovid followed +the order of the dates of +their establishment in his reference +to the libraries of Rome, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>when he named, in the following +quotation, first the Asinian, next +the Octavian, and last the Palatine.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza fs90"> + <div class="verse indent0">From thence we to Apollo’s temple went,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which by steps there is a faire ascent:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where stand the signs in faire outlandish stone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Belus and of Palammed the sonne.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There ancient bookes, and those that are more new,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doe all lye open to the Reader’s view.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sought my brethren there, excepting them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose haplesse birth my father doth condeme.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And as I sought, the chiefe man of the place,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bid me be gone out of that holy space.⁠<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Here Ovid shows, among other +things, that there was a librarian +or custodian of the Palatine library. +Suetonius tells us he was +C. Julius Higinus. In his <cite>Celebrated +Grammarians</cite> he says, +“This man presided over the Palatine +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>library; though meanwhile +he followed his profession and +taught many.” Later there was a +special custodian for the books +in Greek, and another for those +in Latin. On an ancient marble +tablet are inscribed these words:</p> + +<p class="center allsmcap"> +ANTIOCHUS<br> +IN CHARGE OF THE LATIN BOOKS<br> +IN THE LIBRARY OF<br> +TI. CLAUDIUS CAESAR<br> +IN THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO +</p> + +<p class="noindent">On another:</p> + +<p class="center allsmcap"> +C. JULIUS FALYX<br> +IN CHARGE OF THE GREEK BOOKS<br> +OF THE<br> +PALATINE LIBRARY +</p> + +<p class="noindent">There are other similar inscriptions.</p> + +<p>To this Palatine library Pliny +refers when he says, “We may +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>see in the library in the temple +of Augustus a Tuscan statue representing +Apollo, fifty feet in +height.” This quotation, however, +may point to the library +of Vespasian Augustus, which +was in the temple of Peace. But +Pliny refers very plainly to the +Palatine library when he says, +“The old Greek letters were almost +the same as the Latin letters +of the present time, as is +shown by an ancient Delphic +tablet of bronze, dedicated to +Minerva, which is now in the +Palatine—that gift of emperors—in +the library.” I am led to believe, +from the words of John of +Salisbury, that this library was in +existence in Rome for a very +long time, since he writes, “The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>learned and most holy Gregory +not only banished astrology from +the court; but also, as is reported +by them of old time, gave to +the flames those writings of approved +merit, and whatever else +the Palatine library in Apollo’s +temple possessed. Preëminent among +these were some which +seemed designed to reveal to +men the will of the celestial beings +and the oracles of the higher +powers.”</p> + +<p>This quotation is worthy of +note.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3 class="fs125 fnormal">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> <i>W. Saltonstall’s translation</i>, 1637.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_VII"> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>The Libraries of Tiberius, of Trajan, + of Vespasian; also the Capitoline; other + unknown Libraries.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">We</span> have seen that two libraries +were established +in Rome by the Emperor Augustus, +a most zealous patron of +the arts and sciences. What may +be said of other Roman libraries? +Certainly there were others; and +there even seems to have been +a spirit of rivalry among the +rulers of that time in regard to +them, each contending for the +palm as founder of libraries. For +example, Tiberius, soon after the +death of Augustus, established +one within the limits of the royal +palace itself, on that part which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span>fronts on the Via Sacra. Students +of the subject think that here +were Tiberius’s own special apartments; +and A. Gellius locates +the library in them when he says, +“While Apollinaris and I were +sitting in the library in the house +of Tiberius.” Vopiscus makes the +same statement in effect, for he +tells us that he used the books in +the Ulpian library and also those +in the apartments of Tiberius.</p> + +<p>It seems that in due course Vespasian +also collected a library and +placed it in the temple of Peace, +as we gather from A. Gellius’s +remark, “We sought very diligently +for the Commentary of +L. Aelius, the teacher of Varro, +and found it, and read it, in the +library in the temple of Peace.” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>Galen also mentions it in his +<cite>Treatise on the Compounding of +Medicines</cite>.</p> + +<p>Another library was gathered +by Trajan, of which A. Gellius +also speaks. “We happened,” he +says, “to be sitting in the library +in the temple of Trajan.” This +is the one which is commonly +called the Ulpian, from the family +name of the Emperor Trajan. +Vopiscus says, “I learned +these things from the elders; +and I read them also, in the +books of the Ulpian library;” +also, “If you are still in doubt, +consult the books in Greek, then +look up also the linen books, the +ancient chronicles, which the +Ulpian library can show to you +whenever you wish.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span></p> + +<p>I am of the opinion that this +Ulpian library was at first in the +forum of Trajan, where the other +monuments erected by that emperor +were placed; and was afterwards +moved to the Viminal +Hill to adorn the Baths of Diocletian. +If so moved, why not +by Diocletian himself? Vopiscus +would lead us to think it was, +for he says, “I make use especially +of the books of the Ulpian +library, which in my time was in +the Baths of Diocletian.” When +he expressly says that in his +time it was in a certain place, he +plainly implies that it had previously +been in another place.</p> + +<p>Let us pass now to the Capitoline +library, concerning which +Eusebius says, in speaking of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>reign of the Emperor Commodus, +“The lightning struck the +Capitol and started a great fire, +which consumed the library and +the houses near it.” Orosius relates +the incident more at length: +“Upon the city falls the punishment +for the crimes of the emperor. +The Capitol was struck by +lightning, and a terrible conflagration +burst forth, which devoured +both the library, which +had been gathered by men of old +with so much zeal and care, and +all the adjoining dwellings.”</p> + +<p>Who was the founder of this +library? We cannot be sure, but +we may surmise that it was Domitian. +At one time he narrowly +escaped death in the Capitol, and +there, after he became emperor, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span>he erected a temple; and if the +temple, why not the library within +it? No record, it is true, remains +to prove that he did. Suetonius +speaks of the matter in a +very vague way where he says, +“He, Domitian, was at great pains +to reëstablish the library which +had been burned, and at large +expense sought for books in all +parts of the world, and sent savants +to Alexandria to copy and +edit books there for his library.” +We note from this that even then +the Alexandrian was looked upon +as the source and very foster-mother +of all other libraries, +and that these others sought from +her carefully edited and beautifully +written books to replace +their corrupted versions. Moreover, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>these other and later libraries +were preserved through +the enlightened interest of the +princes of their day, for if this +had not been so, how could there +have been so many libraries at +the time of P. Victor, that is, in +the reign of Constantine? Victor +says that he noted, among other +remarkable things in Rome, +twenty-nine public libraries; two +of which were especially noteworthy, +the Palatine and the +Ulpian.</p> + +<p>Alas, of how many of these +have we no record whatsoever! +Out of all the twenty-nine we +discovered, for all our diligence, +traces of seven only, and of these +have rescued from oblivion hardly +more than their names.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_VIII"> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>Of the Tiburtine Library; also of certain + of the more important Private Libraries. + These latter were sometimes + found in the Baths, sometimes in the + Country Houses.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">Concerning</span> the greater +part of the Roman public +libraries I have learned nothing, +as I have said; not even of those +within the city.</p> + +<p>There was one at Tibur, near +Rome, about which A. Gellius +says, “We recall having found +it written in that same book of +Claudius in the library at Tibur.” +And again, “He brought it from +the library of Tibur, which was +at that time very conveniently +located in the temple of Hercules.” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span>Here and elsewhere we +note that the libraries were often +placed in or near temples. And +why should not the sacred productions +of human genius be deposited +in consecrated buildings? +It is possible that the Emperor +Hadrian established this library +at Tibur, for it is well known +that he took much pleasure in +that spot, and spared no expense +in adorning it with many and +very beautiful buildings.</p> + +<p>It seems evident to me that +in all the cities and colonies of +the empire libraries were found +and the arts and humanities were +cultivated.</p> + +<p>Certain of the wealthy citizens, +it appears, had their own private +libraries, some of them very noble +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>ones, partly for use and partly +for the sake of the reputation +for learning which they gave.</p> + +<p>For example, there is Tyrannion +the grammarian, in the reign +of Sulla, who had three thousand +volumes. Epaphroditus of Chaeronea, +also a grammarian by profession, +is another example. Suidas +says of him that he lived at +Rome from the time of Nero to +that of Nerva, and was so assiduous +a purchaser of books that +he collected thirty thousand of +them, and they of the best and +rarest. I applaud this last example, +not so much, of course, +for the great number of books +he collected as for the good taste +he showed in choosing them. I +should like to believe that this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>Epaphroditus was the one who +had among his slaves Epictetus, +the very head of the true philosophy. +Certainly they were +contemporaries. But the rank and +occupation of the two men were +very different, the book-collector +being a grammarian, according +to Suidas, while the owner of +Epictetus was one of the bodyguards +of Nero. Whoever he +was, Samonicus Serenus surpassed +him in his zeal for book-collecting, +for he had a library +in which there were sixty-two +thousand volumes. When he died +he left his books to Gordian the +Less, afterwards emperor. The +gift is reported by Capitolinus +with these words of praise, “This +has immortalized Gordian; for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span>men of letters will never cease +to speak of the gift of so vast and +splendid a library.”</p> + +<p>Consider, O Most Illustrious +Prince, how this love of books +brings favour and high renown,—such +favour and renown as +should be granted without limit +to great men like yourself.</p> + +<p>Those I have named, and a few +besides, are known to have had +notable libraries. There were, of +course, many others of whom we +know nothing. Seneca shows that +the habit of book-collecting was +very common in his time, and +condemns it. You ask, why did +he condemn it? “Because,” he +says, “they acquired books not +that they might enjoy them, but +simply for show. To most of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>these newly rich, ignorant even +of the elements of <i lang="fr">belles-lettres</i> , +books are not aids to study, +but simply ornaments of dining-rooms.” +A little further on he +adds: “Why, in the homes of the +idlest of the rich you will find all +that orators or historians have +written, with bookcases built +clear to the ceiling! Formerly a +library gave a home an air of +culture; one is now put in, like +a bathroom, simply as a necessary +part of the equipment of a +house.” A sad state of affairs, I +admit. And yet it is to be wished +that our own rich men had the +same taste in luxuries; for a collection +of books can always be of +use and value to some one, even +if not to the owner.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p> + +<p>We note that libraries were +placed in the baths, as we did +above in the case of the Ulpian +library, which was in the Baths +of Diocletian. If you ask why, I +would say because the Romans, +while caring for the body in the +bath, found their minds at ease, +and discovered that then was +a favourable time, especially for +those who were deeply engrossed +in affairs, to read or to +be read to. For a like reason they +had books in their villas and +country seats. There also they +found a leisure and a freedom +from care which were favourable +to reading.</p> + +<p>A decision of the jurisconsult +Paulus calls attention to this custom +of having libraries: “In a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>legacy of real estate any books +and any library which are in the +house pass to the legatee.” Pliny +says, speaking of his own villa, +“A bookcase is built into the +wall, thus forming, as it were, +a little library.” Martial praises +the library at the country-place +of a certain other Julius Martial, +as follows:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza fs90"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou lovely country library,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence thy lord views the city nigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If, ’mongst his serious studys, place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My wanton muse may find, and grace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To these sev’n books afford a roome,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though on the lowest shelf, which come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Corrected by their author’s penn.⁠<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3 class="fs125 fnormal">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> <i>Translation from a sixteenth century +MS. Bohn.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_IX"> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>The Decoration of Libraries with Ivory + and with Glass. Bookcases and Shelves, + Tables and Seats.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">I</span> have now gone rapidly +over the early history of libraries +and have mentioned those +of which time has not destroyed +all records. As to what I have +written, I must confess that it is +but a trivial mention of a great +subject,—as the old saying goes, +“a drop of water out of a full +bucket.” Yet I have said enough, +perhaps, to act as an incentive +or to serve as an example.</p> + +<p>I shall add a few words on the +decoration of libraries and the +arrangement of their books.</p> + +<p>From Isidore I learn that the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span>more experienced architects did +not think that the ceilings of libraries +should be gilded, or that +the floors should be made of any +but Carystian marble; this because +the glitter of gold is rather +tiring to the eyes, while the green +of Carystian marble rests them.</p> + +<p>This is good advice from whomever +it may have come. True it +is, as my own experience proves, +that a brilliant light is disturbing +to the attention and makes writing +difficult; and green is a colour +which seems to rest and refresh +the eyes.</p> + +<p>Boethius adds something further +to this subject of decoration, +when he says, in his book on +<cite>Consolation</cite>, “The walls were +decorated with ivory and glass.” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span>Does he mean the walls of the +room itself? It would seem so, for +the bookcases or shelves were +not placed against the walls, in +which case the ornamentation of +the latter would not have been +seen, but were set out in the +room, just as they are in most +public libraries to-day. Glass cut +in squares, circles, ovals, and +rhomboids was used like marble +tiles, to ornament the walls, +though oftener the arches and +the ceilings. Pliny says in his <cite>Natural +History</cite>, book <span class="allsmcap">XXXVI</span>, “Tiles +made of earth they transformed +into glass and put on the arches; +and this is a recent invention.” +It was, then, still a novelty in the +time of Nero and Seneca. Yet +Seneca speaks of it as a common +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span>thing, in letter <span class="allsmcap">LXXXVI</span>, on baths, +where he says, “Unless the arch +is covered with glass.” On this +point consult my work on the +baths of the Romans.</p> + +<p>That it was also used on the +walls, Vopiscus, as well as Boethius, +shows when he says in +speaking of Firmus, “The house +appears to have been covered +over with squares of glass, with +bitumen and other material between +the squares.” I think the +bitumen was here used to fasten +the squares of glass to the wall, +and not to join them to each +other. The joints between the +pieces of glass were more appropriately +covered with ivory, +as Boethius seems to say they +were. Ivory was placed also +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>on the bookcases themselves; +whence the phrase, “ivory library,” +in the <cite>Pandects</cite>. Seneca +mentions bookcases made of cedar +and ivory.</p> + +<p>Common sense and the general +fitness of the thing of course +make it plain that there were +bookcases in libraries; I would +add the fact that the cases were +numbered. Vopiscus so indicates +when he says, “The Ulpian library +has the elephant book in +the sixth case.” Whether by +“elephant” he means made of +ivory or of the skin of an elephant, +I cannot say. The old +scholiast in commenting on this +phrase, from Juvenal, “<span lang="la">Hic libros +dabit et forulos</span>” (This one +will furnish you with books and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>cases), gives as an equivalent +phrase, “Armaria, bibliotheca” +(A library and the books in it). +I think the word <i lang="la">foruli</i> (pigeon-holes), +as here used, properly +means either compartments in +the shelves, “nests” for the +books, following Martial’s use of +the word; or, in Seneca’s use of +it, separate little cases for them. +Sidonius speaks of these cases +and of other things found in +libraries. “Here,” he says, “is an +astonishing number of books and +you would think yourself in a +library and could see the shelves +(<i lang="la">plutei</i>) of the grammarians; or +the seats (<i lang="la">cunei</i>) of Athenaeus; +or the lofty bookcases (<i lang="la">armaria</i>) +of the booksellers.” <i lang="la">Plutei</i> are +the sloping tables on which books +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>were placed for reading; <i lang="la">cunei</i>, +the rows of seats, as explained +in Athenaeus; and <i lang="la">armaria</i>, bookcases, +generally wide and tall, +as I have shown. These last +Cicero seems to call <i lang="la">pegmata</i> in +a letter to Atticus.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_X"> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent phalfb"><i>Statues of Learned Men sometimes + placed in Libraries; a praiseworthy + Custom which originated with Asinius.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">A</span> most appropriate method +of decorating a library, +one which ought to be imitated +by us to-day but unhappily is +not, is that of placing in it and +near their writings the statues +or busts of great authors. How +delightful it must have been to +the readers to see them, and +how stimulating to the mind! +We all wish to become familiar +with the features and the general +appearance of great men, +with those material bodies in +which dwelt their celestial spirits, +and, lifting our eyes from their +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>books, here they are before us! +You could read the writings of +Homer, Hippocrates, Aristotle, +Pindar, Virgil, Cicero, and others, +and at the same time feast your +eyes upon the counterfeit presentment +of each one. Again I +say, a most beautiful custom, +and why, Most Illustrious Friend, +do we to-day not imitate it, under +your leadership?</p> + +<p>This idea seems to have originated +with the Romans—not +every good thing, after all, has +come from the Greeks! Pliny is +of this opinion. “Nothing,” he +says, speaking in his most happy +vein, “is more delightful than to +have knowledge of the face and +bearing of the authors one reads. +Asinius Pollio, at Rome, apparently +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>originated this idea of +placing statues in libraries; that +same Asinius who was the first, +by founding a free library, to +make the wisdom of mankind +free to all. Whether the kings +at Alexandria and Pergamum, +who showed great zeal in the +founding of libraries, had done +the same before, I find it impossible +to learn.” So it seems, as I +have said, that Asinius was the +originator of the idea; and Pliny +says that he placed in a library, +the first public one opened in the +city (not, in the world, as some +absurdly render the phrase), +the statue of a living man, Marcus +Varro, the first person to +have that honour. Afterwards +the same distinction was shown +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>to others, either through courtesy +or because it was justly due them; +for example, to the poet Martial, +who boasted that Stertinius +wished to place a statue of him in +his library. But for the most part +this honour has been reserved for +the dead, and for those who have, +by common consent, proved their +greatness.</p> + +<p>Pliny says, “A certain custom, +now just established, ought not +to be passed by in silence. I refer +to the fact that they place in +libraries, not only the statues in +gold, silver, or bronze of those +whose immortal souls may be said +to be speaking there through +their books, but also the statues +of those whose books are not +there; and even imaginary statues +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>of those of whom no portraits +have been preserved.” He +calls the custom a new one, +meaning that it originated with +Pollio. He says also that these +statues of the dead were for the +most part made of metal. I would +add that they were also made of +plaster, in which they were easily +duplicated for private libraries. +Juvenal says, “Though you may +find everywhere busts of Chrysippus +in plaster.”</p> + +<p>Indeed I think the portraits +were sometimes paintings, and +that perhaps they placed portraits +at the beginnings of books. +Seneca says, “Those exquisite +works of highest genius, illustrated +with the portraits of their +authors.” Suetonius says of Tiberius, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span>“He placed their writings +and their portraits in the public +libraries among the old and accepted +authors.” And Pliny in +his letters remarks, “Herennius +Severus, a most learned man, +is very desirous to place in his +own library the statues of Cornelius +Nepos and Titus Atticus.” +So, according to these two writers, +both statues and portraits +were used. Pliny also says, in +speaking of Silius Italicus, “He +owned many villas in these same +places, and in them he had many +portraits; moreover, he not only +owned them, he almost worshipped +them, especially the portrait +of Virgil.” Vopiscus says of +Numerian that a certain oration +of his was held to be so eloquent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span>that it was decided that a statue +be made of him as an orator, not +as emperor, and placed in the +Ulpian library with this inscription: +“To Numerian, Emperor, +the greatest Orator of his time.” +Sidonius, justly boasting of a +statue erected to himself in the +same place, says, “Nerva Trajan +has seen fit to place an enduring +statue of me, in honour of my +writings, among other authors in +both libraries.” By “both libraries” +he means that his statue +was set up in the Greek as well +as in the Latin library.</p> + +<p>Small portraits or statues were, +it seems, often placed on brackets +projecting from the cases +or shelves on which stood the +works of the writers they represented. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span>I quote a line from Juvenal, +“And bids the bust of +Cleanthes guard the shelf on +which his works repose.”</p> + +<p>The same custom is referred +to in the distich which was inscribed +on a bust of Virgil: “No +harm can come to a poet who +is honoured by having both his +verse and his bust upon the library +shelf;” meaning that he has +attained to lasting fame who lives +both in his books and in his sculptured +likeness. Note also the seals +or medallions above the shelves +referred to by Cicero in a letter +to Atticus. In Cicero’s day they +ornamented libraries with statues +of the gods as well as of authors.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs125" id="CHAPTER_XI"> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><i>A word about the Alexandrian Museum. + Learned men dwelt in it supported + from the Public Funds. Kings + and Emperors made this Museum their + special Care.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="drop2">I</span> have nothing further that +seems worth saying on this +subject of libraries, except a few +words about their use. If they +stand empty, or with only an occasional +visitor; if students do not +frequent them and make use of +their books, why were they ever +established, and what are they +save that “idle luxury in the +garb of scholarship” to which +Seneca alludes? The Alexandrian +kings saw to it that there +were students to make use of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>their library, for they built near +it a Museum, so called because +it was, so to speak, a temple of +the Muses, in which it was possible +to follow the Muses, to cultivate +the humanities, free from +all cares, even from the labour of +providing food and lodging, since +the students in it were supported +from the public funds. How admirable +an institution! Strabo +gives us the best description of +it:</p> + +<p>“Part of the royal palace is a +Museum, in which one may stroll +or sit at ease, with a great hall, +in which men of letters, who are +members of the Museum, hold +meetings and take their meals +together. Moreover, this college, +as we may call the Museum organization +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>with its students, has +a foundation or common fund for +its support; and a priest, who is +president of the Museum, formerly +appointed by the kings of +Egypt, but at the present time +by the emperor.”</p> + +<p>He says this was part of the +royal palace. Doubtless the kings +wished it to be near their own +apartments that they might have +at hand the learned men who +were its inmates, and converse +with them when they pleased; +thus acquiring knowledge and +training their minds. It had porticoes +and exedras, the former being +more for the exercise of the +body, the latter for the training +of the mind, as in them the students +gathered, conferred, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>held discussions. There was also +a hall, where they ate together. +Philostratus says the same thing +in speaking of Dionysius, who +was, he writes, “received into +the Museum;” and then adds, +“The Museum is the Egyptian +banquet-hall of learning, which +brings together all the men of +letters from all parts of the +world.”</p> + +<p>Note particularly the words, +“all the men of letters from all +parts of the world,” for even if +not to be taken literally they +show that the number was very +large and the expense very great. +Timon the satirist calls our attention +to the same points when +he says, in his satirical and carping +way, “Many people are supported +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>at public expense in Egypt +the populous, that they may idly +browse among books and quarrel +over them in the cave of the +Muses.” Athenaeus, commenting +on this passage, says, “Timon +spoke of the Museum as a cave +or cage, thus making sport of the +philosophers maintained there, +as if they were so many rare +birds.”</p> + +<p>Athenaeus, we see, calls them +philosophers; but Strabo uses +the more general phrase, “men +of letters and savants;” and no +doubt scholars of every sort were +admitted. Strabo puts special +stress on the word “men,” showing +that boys and youths and +those beginning their studies +were not taught in the Museum, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>as they would be in a similar +place to-day; but that admittance +was rather a reward for erudition +already attained, an honour +rightly earned. At Athens, following +a similar custom, those +who deserved the honour were +supported in the Prytaneum at +public expense.</p> + +<p>What think you of that, O +Prince of to-day? Does not the +wish rise within you to establish +again this noble custom?</p> + +<p>Continuing Strabo’s account of +the Museum: he says a priest +was appointed to manage its affairs, +who was selected by the +kings or emperors. The position +must have been of great dignity, +and one which it was thought the +emperor himself should fill. One +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>may ask if the emperor did not +appoint all the officials? Philostratus +seems to imply that he +did, when he says, speaking +of Dionysius the sophist, “The +Emperor Hadrian appointed him +satrap or governor of many people, +and named those who should +receive public honours, and those +also who should be maintained at +public expense in the Museum.” +Again, speaking of Polemon, he +says, “Hadrian made him a member +of the Museum, where he +lived at public expense.” Let me +add that, though I have not so indicated +in my translation, Philostratus +uses in the phrase I have +quoted a word meaning “circle,” +from which it would seem that +members were admitted in a certain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>order and in proper turn, +some even being chosen before +any vacancy had occurred. These +no doubt waited in confidence +and entered in due course, in the +order of their appointment. A like +custom prevails to-day among +princes in conferring favours.</p> + +<p>Athenaeus throws light on this +matter of appointments to the +Museum by the emperor when +he says that a certain poet, Pancrates, +very cleverly praised Hadrian’s +favourite, Antinous, and +that the emperor, delighted with +the subtle flattery, ordered the +poet to be supported free of expense +at the Museum.</p> + +<p>So much for the reports of +Strabo and others on the Museum +and its management.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span></p> + +<p>Let me add that the inmates of +the Museum by no means lived +therein an idle and useless life +(how could they, being men who +were dedicated, as it were, to +public service?), but were diligent +in writing, in arguing, and +reciting their own works. Spartianus +testifies to this in his remark +about Hadrian, to the effect +that he propounded questions +to the savants in the Museum +at Alexandria, and in turn +answered those they presented +to him.</p> + +<p>Let me note that Suetonius says +that the Emperor Claudius added +a second Museum to the original +one and ordered that certain +books be read there every day, +and</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span></p> + +<p>I close,</p> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">O Most Illustrious Ruler</span>, +with the wish that you, a descendant +of great men and born +to do great things, may long +continue in that work, worthy of +the highest praise, which you +have already begun,—the work +of encouraging the production +of books and the cultivation of +the liberal arts among men, and +so make your name for all time +revered.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">To you, <span class="smcap">John Moretus</span>, because +of the friendship which has +bound together for now these +many years you and our Plantin—alas, +now no more!—and all +his family and myself,—to you, +I say, I entrust the printing and +the publishing of this my <span class="smcap">Outline +of the History of Libraries</span>; +to you and to no one +else. And this my wish and will +I thus declare in accordance with +the law laid down by the great +Emperor and the Kings.</p> + +<p class="right allsmcap"> + JUSTUS LIPSIUS +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center fs125"> +LITERATURE OF LIBRARIES</p> +<p class="center allsmcap"> +SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH +CENTURIES +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="noindent"><i>Edited by</i> <span class="smcap">John Cotton Dana</span>, <i>Librarian of the +Free Public Library, Newark, New Jersey; and</i> +<span class="smcap">Henry W. Kent</span>, <i>Librarian of the Grolier Club, +New York City.</i></p> + + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">1. COTTON DES HOUSSAYES, JEAN BAPTISTE +(1727-1783).<br> +Concerning the Duties and Qualifications of a Librarian +(Des Devoirs et de Qualities du Bibliothecaire).</p> + + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">2. DURY, JOHN (DURIE) (1596-1680).<br> +The Reformed Librarie-Keeper. London, 1650.</p> + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">3. KIRKWOOD, REV. JAMES (1650?-1708).<br> +An Overture for founding and maintaining of Bibliothecks +in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom. [Edinburgh], +1699.</p> + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">4. BODLEY, SIR THOMAS (1545-1613).<br> +Life, written by himself, 1609; with his First Draught +of the Statutes of the Public Library at Oxford. (From +Reliquiae Bodleianae, 1703.)</p> + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">5. LIPSIUS, JUSTUS (1547-1606).<br> +De Bibliothecis Syntagma. Antwerp, 1602. Translated +into English for this series.</p> + +<p class="hanging3 fs85">6. NAUDÉ, GABRIEL (1600-1653).<br> + +News from France; or, A Description of the Library of +Cardinal Mazarini (London, 1652), and, The Surrender of +the Library of Cardinal Mazarin.</p> + + +<p class="noindent fs85"> + <i>250 copies on small paper, 6 vols., $12.00 per set.</i><br> + <i>25 copies on large paper, 6 vols., $25.00 per set.</i> +</p> + + +<p class="noindent center allsmcap"> +A. C. McCLURG & CO. PUBLISHERS<br> +CHICAGO +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="transnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak fnormal fs100" id="Transcribers_Notes"> + Transcriber’s Notes + </h2> + +<p>On page <a href="#tn-46">46</a>, “reestablished” was replaced by “reëstablished”, +reflecting the predominant spelling in the text. Otherwise, original +spelling and punctuation has been retained.</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted +to the public domain.</p> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78256 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78256-h/images/colophon.jpg b/78256-h/images/colophon.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2797989 --- /dev/null +++ b/78256-h/images/colophon.jpg diff --git a/78256-h/images/cover.jpg b/78256-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2550c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/78256-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78256-h/images/i001_f2.jpg b/78256-h/images/i001_f2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..85697ab --- /dev/null +++ b/78256-h/images/i001_f2.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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