Italy. — The Etruscans and the Aborigines of Sicily covered their pottery with inscriptions. After the fall of Carthage, the Romans presented to the family of Regulus all the books found in that city. It was at this time that they began to translate the works of the principal Greek poets into Latin, and it was likewise from the Greeks that they borrowed the idea of libraries.
We have already stated that iEmilius Paulus carried the library of Perseus to Rome ; this was the first important collection of books that the Romans possessed. When Athens fell into their hands Sulla seized the library of a certain Apellicon, 1 and less than twenty years afterward, Lucullus picked up a great number of books in Asia.2 Cicero and his friend Pomponius Atticus collected fine libraries and their example was followed by other men of letters. These were all absolutely private collections ; the vast galleries where Lucullus kept his books were the first libraries to be thrown open to the outside world.
Julius Caesar then conceived the idea of establishing a genuine Greek and Latin public library ; he had gone so far as to entrust Varro with the task of collecting and arranging the books when the project was cut short by his death. His friend Asinius Pollio, took up the idea and carried it into execution by founding a public library in the Atrium libertatis, on Mount Aventine.
In the year of Rome 721, at the time of the erection of the Porticus Octaviae, Augustus built a library which he likewise dedicated to his sister. It was connected with the portico, and comprised a Greek and a Latin department. It was burned in the year 833 of the city.3 Augustus constructed a second public library at the same time that he reared the temple and Atrium of Apollo Palatinus.4 It was maintained until the sixth century when it was burned by Pope Gregory the Great.
There were libraries also at the Capitol, in the Temple of Peace, and in the palace of Tiberius. The first was burned under Domitian; that in the Temple of Peace was collected by Vespasian and was destroyed by a conflagration during the reign of Commodus, while the last perished by fire in the reign of Titus. But the most celebrated of all the Roman libraries was the Ulpian, which was founded by Trajan and which Diocletian annexed to his baths. The Tabularium may also be considered as a library ; for it was in this large edifice at one end of the Forum, back of the Temple of Concord, that the tables of the laws and the archives of the Republic were deposited.
The public libraries were in charge of a conservator-in-chief, chiefs of departments and guards. All menial services were performed by public slaves. The buildings were ordinarily set toward the east; the interior disposition exhibited rows of cases running along the walls and divided into a certain number of compartments, separated by shelves and vertical divisions; each division was numbered. Often, also, there were additional presses facing both ways down the centre of the library, around which people could circulate.5 These presses were called armaria and loculamenta, to designate open cases reaching the entire height of the room, etc. The compartments were from three feet to three and a half feet long, and were about six feet high; the volumes were put in horizontally, with the edge exposed, in which was the “ pittacium,” or index card inscribed with the name of the book.
Different terms were applied to the books; a “ volumen ” was a work made of a certain number of bands of papyrus glued together and rolled around a cylinder; a “ codex ” was a blank book made for writing and composed of leaves of parchment or papyrus separated by wood covered with wax, and bound together like our books; a “libellus ” was a small codex. Pamphlets in separate leaves were laid flat side by side, on shelves inclined toward the gallery so as to expose one of the small sides to view; the title could be read on the edge of the shelf.
All the public libraries served as meeting places for philosophical and literary discussions; especially was this true of those established in the thermae. They were luxuriously decorated ; that of Asinius Pollio was adorned with brass, silver and even gold busts of the illustrious men of all countries.
The main gallery of the Palatine library was one hundred and
seventy feet long, one hundred and twelve broad, and more than fifty high. It was covered with barrel-vaulting ornamented with paintings and sculptures. At the end of the gallery there was a colossal brass statue of Augustus representing him as Apollo. The side galleries, reserved for the public, were paved with green marble.
We have already said that the Romans possessed numerous private libraries; these were as handsomely furnished as those found in public edifices; the cases were of cedar wood inlaid with ivory. The spaces not occupied by the cases were adorned with ivory plaques and variously colored glass. An ingenious disposition for a private library is described by Pliny the Younger in the sketch of his Laurentian villa : “ At the angle there is an apse-shaped room the windows of which admit the sun at every successive stage of its journey. A cupboard has has been inserted in the wall which serves me as a library and which contains, not the books that one reads once, but those which one re-reads constantly.” 6
In some of the houses of Herculaneum libraries have been discovered nearly intact. One of these apartments is so narrow that a person can touch the opposite walls by stretching out his arms.
In early Christian times bigoted followers of the new faith sometimes undertook to destroy all books except the Gospels, the new and the old Testaments and the Acts of the martyrs. Saint Jerome and Saint George, bishop of Alexandria, were opposed to such outrages. Saint Pamphilus is said to have founded the library of Cassarsea, though this is likewise attributed by some to Julius Africanus. Later the collection was enlarged by Eusebius; it was afterward dispersed, but was reformed by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.
At the time of the persecutions of Diocletian, almost all the libraries found in the churches were scattered. The emperor Jovian (363) destroyed the library of Antioch, which had been founded by Julian. Under Roman rule the books in the temples of Nineveh and Sinope were transported to Edessa; the works written in Syriac formed the first division of the library, those in Greek formed the second. When Constantine the Great transferred the seat of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, he constructed a library there, in which he gathered
together a splendid collection of books. In 727 a. d. Leo the Isaurian set fire to it. Basil the Macedonian and the Comneni (ninth and eleventh centuries) collected some books in the convents on the islands of the Archipelago and on Mount Athos. Constantine Porphyrogenitus founded a new public library at Constantinople. At the time of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the library was not destroyed, but it was afterward dispersed by Amurath IV.
The Greek Christians likewise established libraries in their monasteries ; it is probable that the nucleus of these collections was formed from the old library of the emperors. We must also call attention to the libraries in the convents on the Isle of Patmos.
In consequence of the religious troubles which desolated Greece, many of the educated Greeks took refuge at Bagdad and it was not long before the Arabs themselves became the protectors of letters. Haroun al Raschid and his son collected a magnificent library in their palace at Bagdad. The libraries of Fez, Morocco, Gaza and Damascus were also famous at this period.7
In Spain, the libraries of Arias Montanus, Antonius Augustus and Michael Tomasius were also renowned. To Ferdinand Nonius, who first taught Greek in Spain, is attributed the honor of founding the great library of Salamanca. Under Moorish domination the library of Cordova attracted men of letters.
[ To be continued.]
1 Strabo, XIII. 2 Plutarch, 42.
3 See the restoration of the Portico of Octavia by M. Duban, and that by M. Pascal at the library of the Beaux-Arts.
4 See the restoration of M. Pascal and that of M. Defrasse at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
5 Vitruvius, VI, 7, VII, Prsef. 7 ; Pliny, II, 17, 8 — Consult “ Lettre XCde Home au siecle d’Auguste” by E. Dezobry, and the “ Dictionanire des antiquites” of Rich.
Rain-making. — Prof. Rossiter W. Raymond says, in the Engineering and Mining Journal, that “ the appropriation made by Congress for rain-making was first ordered to be expended by Mr. B. E Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture; that Mr. Fernow declined to expend it, and, in his annual report, gave conclusive reasons for regarding the proposed experiments as a waste of pnblic money; that the appropriation was thereupon increased, and put into the hands of the ex-Commissioner of Patents; and, finally, that there is a United States patent covering the process which General Dyrenforth has been advertising at the public expense.”
6 See tlie restoration of the Laurentinian villa by M. Jules Bouchet.
7 The library of the Seraglio, founded in the eighteenth ceDtury, is exclusively reserved for the service of the imperial household ; but several libraries still exist at Constantinople. The Koptic convents in Egypt possess a few libraries.
We have already stated that iEmilius Paulus carried the library of Perseus to Rome ; this was the first important collection of books that the Romans possessed. When Athens fell into their hands Sulla seized the library of a certain Apellicon, 1 and less than twenty years afterward, Lucullus picked up a great number of books in Asia.2 Cicero and his friend Pomponius Atticus collected fine libraries and their example was followed by other men of letters. These were all absolutely private collections ; the vast galleries where Lucullus kept his books were the first libraries to be thrown open to the outside world.
Julius Caesar then conceived the idea of establishing a genuine Greek and Latin public library ; he had gone so far as to entrust Varro with the task of collecting and arranging the books when the project was cut short by his death. His friend Asinius Pollio, took up the idea and carried it into execution by founding a public library in the Atrium libertatis, on Mount Aventine.
In the year of Rome 721, at the time of the erection of the Porticus Octaviae, Augustus built a library which he likewise dedicated to his sister. It was connected with the portico, and comprised a Greek and a Latin department. It was burned in the year 833 of the city.3 Augustus constructed a second public library at the same time that he reared the temple and Atrium of Apollo Palatinus.4 It was maintained until the sixth century when it was burned by Pope Gregory the Great.
There were libraries also at the Capitol, in the Temple of Peace, and in the palace of Tiberius. The first was burned under Domitian; that in the Temple of Peace was collected by Vespasian and was destroyed by a conflagration during the reign of Commodus, while the last perished by fire in the reign of Titus. But the most celebrated of all the Roman libraries was the Ulpian, which was founded by Trajan and which Diocletian annexed to his baths. The Tabularium may also be considered as a library ; for it was in this large edifice at one end of the Forum, back of the Temple of Concord, that the tables of the laws and the archives of the Republic were deposited.
The public libraries were in charge of a conservator-in-chief, chiefs of departments and guards. All menial services were performed by public slaves. The buildings were ordinarily set toward the east; the interior disposition exhibited rows of cases running along the walls and divided into a certain number of compartments, separated by shelves and vertical divisions; each division was numbered. Often, also, there were additional presses facing both ways down the centre of the library, around which people could circulate.5 These presses were called armaria and loculamenta, to designate open cases reaching the entire height of the room, etc. The compartments were from three feet to three and a half feet long, and were about six feet high; the volumes were put in horizontally, with the edge exposed, in which was the “ pittacium,” or index card inscribed with the name of the book.
Different terms were applied to the books; a “ volumen ” was a work made of a certain number of bands of papyrus glued together and rolled around a cylinder; a “ codex ” was a blank book made for writing and composed of leaves of parchment or papyrus separated by wood covered with wax, and bound together like our books; a “libellus ” was a small codex. Pamphlets in separate leaves were laid flat side by side, on shelves inclined toward the gallery so as to expose one of the small sides to view; the title could be read on the edge of the shelf.
All the public libraries served as meeting places for philosophical and literary discussions; especially was this true of those established in the thermae. They were luxuriously decorated ; that of Asinius Pollio was adorned with brass, silver and even gold busts of the illustrious men of all countries.
The main gallery of the Palatine library was one hundred and
seventy feet long, one hundred and twelve broad, and more than fifty high. It was covered with barrel-vaulting ornamented with paintings and sculptures. At the end of the gallery there was a colossal brass statue of Augustus representing him as Apollo. The side galleries, reserved for the public, were paved with green marble.
We have already said that the Romans possessed numerous private libraries; these were as handsomely furnished as those found in public edifices; the cases were of cedar wood inlaid with ivory. The spaces not occupied by the cases were adorned with ivory plaques and variously colored glass. An ingenious disposition for a private library is described by Pliny the Younger in the sketch of his Laurentian villa : “ At the angle there is an apse-shaped room the windows of which admit the sun at every successive stage of its journey. A cupboard has has been inserted in the wall which serves me as a library and which contains, not the books that one reads once, but those which one re-reads constantly.” 6
In some of the houses of Herculaneum libraries have been discovered nearly intact. One of these apartments is so narrow that a person can touch the opposite walls by stretching out his arms.
In early Christian times bigoted followers of the new faith sometimes undertook to destroy all books except the Gospels, the new and the old Testaments and the Acts of the martyrs. Saint Jerome and Saint George, bishop of Alexandria, were opposed to such outrages. Saint Pamphilus is said to have founded the library of Cassarsea, though this is likewise attributed by some to Julius Africanus. Later the collection was enlarged by Eusebius; it was afterward dispersed, but was reformed by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.
At the time of the persecutions of Diocletian, almost all the libraries found in the churches were scattered. The emperor Jovian (363) destroyed the library of Antioch, which had been founded by Julian. Under Roman rule the books in the temples of Nineveh and Sinope were transported to Edessa; the works written in Syriac formed the first division of the library, those in Greek formed the second. When Constantine the Great transferred the seat of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, he constructed a library there, in which he gathered
together a splendid collection of books. In 727 a. d. Leo the Isaurian set fire to it. Basil the Macedonian and the Comneni (ninth and eleventh centuries) collected some books in the convents on the islands of the Archipelago and on Mount Athos. Constantine Porphyrogenitus founded a new public library at Constantinople. At the time of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the library was not destroyed, but it was afterward dispersed by Amurath IV.
The Greek Christians likewise established libraries in their monasteries ; it is probable that the nucleus of these collections was formed from the old library of the emperors. We must also call attention to the libraries in the convents on the Isle of Patmos.
In consequence of the religious troubles which desolated Greece, many of the educated Greeks took refuge at Bagdad and it was not long before the Arabs themselves became the protectors of letters. Haroun al Raschid and his son collected a magnificent library in their palace at Bagdad. The libraries of Fez, Morocco, Gaza and Damascus were also famous at this period.7
In Spain, the libraries of Arias Montanus, Antonius Augustus and Michael Tomasius were also renowned. To Ferdinand Nonius, who first taught Greek in Spain, is attributed the honor of founding the great library of Salamanca. Under Moorish domination the library of Cordova attracted men of letters.
[ To be continued.]
1 Strabo, XIII. 2 Plutarch, 42.
3 See the restoration of the Portico of Octavia by M. Duban, and that by M. Pascal at the library of the Beaux-Arts.
4 See the restoration of M. Pascal and that of M. Defrasse at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
5 Vitruvius, VI, 7, VII, Prsef. 7 ; Pliny, II, 17, 8 — Consult “ Lettre XCde Home au siecle d’Auguste” by E. Dezobry, and the “ Dictionanire des antiquites” of Rich.
Rain-making. — Prof. Rossiter W. Raymond says, in the Engineering and Mining Journal, that “ the appropriation made by Congress for rain-making was first ordered to be expended by Mr. B. E Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture; that Mr. Fernow declined to expend it, and, in his annual report, gave conclusive reasons for regarding the proposed experiments as a waste of pnblic money; that the appropriation was thereupon increased, and put into the hands of the ex-Commissioner of Patents; and, finally, that there is a United States patent covering the process which General Dyrenforth has been advertising at the public expense.”
6 See tlie restoration of the Laurentinian villa by M. Jules Bouchet.
7 The library of the Seraglio, founded in the eighteenth ceDtury, is exclusively reserved for the service of the imperial household ; but several libraries still exist at Constantinople. The Koptic convents in Egypt possess a few libraries.