founded by Pamphilus, "a man who in zeal for the
acquisition of a library wished to take rank with Demetrius Phalereus and
Pisistratus[118]." As Pamphilus suffered martyrdom in A.D. 309, this
library must have been got together soon after that at Jerusalem. It is
described as not only extensive, but remarkable for the importance of the
manuscripts it contained. Here was the supposed Hebrew original of S.
Matthew's Gospel[119], and most of the works of Origen, got together by
the pious care of Pamphilus, who had been his pupil and devoted admirer.
S. Jerome himself worked in this library, and collated there the
manuscripts which Origen had used when preparing his Hexapla[120]. At
Cirta the church and the library were evidently in the same building,
from the way in which they are spoken of in the account of the persecution
of A.D. 303-304. "The officers," we are told, "went into the building
(_domus_) where the Christians were in the habit of meeting." There they
took an inventory of the plate and vestments. "But," proceeds the
narrative, "when they came to the library, the presses there were found
empty[121]." Augustine, on his deathbed, A.D. 430, gave directions that
"the library of the church [at Hippo], and all the manuscripts, should be
carefully preserved by those who came after him[122]."

Further, there appears to be good reason for believing that when a church
had a triple apse, the lateral apses were separated off by a curtain or a
door, the one to contain the sacred vessels, the other the books. This
view, which has been elaborated by De Rossi in explanation of three
recesses in the thickness of the wall of the apse of a small private
oratory discovered in Rome in 1876[123], is chiefly supported by the
language of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who lived from about A.D. 353 to
A.D. 431. He describes a basilica erected by himself at Nola in honour of
S. Felix, martyr, as having "an apse divided into three (_apsidem
trichoram_)[124]"; and in a subsequent passage, after stating that there
are to be two recesses, one to the right, the other to the left of the
apse, he adds, "these verses indicate the use of each[125]," and gives the
following couplets, with their headings:

_On the right of the Apse._

Hic locus est veneranda penus qua conditur, et qua
Ponitur alma sacri pompa ministerii.

Here are the sacred vessels stored, and here
The peaceful trappings of our holy rites.

_On the left of the same._