Justus Lipsius

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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.) ”