which they were originally intended in
connexion with a library as well as with a temple.

The temple and area of Apollo on the Palatine Hill, which Augustus began
B.C. 36 and dedicated B.C. 28, exhibit an arrangement precisely similar to
that of the Porticus Octaviae. The size was nearly the same[35], and the
structures included in the area were intended to serve the same purposes.
The temple stood in the middle of a large open peristyle, connected with
which were two libraries, one for Greek, the other for Latin books; and
between them, used perhaps as a reading-room or vestibule, was a hall in
which Augustus occasionally convened the Senate. It contained a colossal
statue of Apollo, made of gilt bronze; and on its walls were
portrait-reliefs of celebrated writers, in the form of medallions, in the
same material[36].

Of the other public libraries of Rome--of which there are said to have
been in all twenty-six--I need mention only three as possessing some
peculiarity to which I shall have to draw attention. Of these the first
was established by Tiberius in his palace, at no great distance from the
library of Apollo; the second and third by Vespasian and Trajan in their
Fora, connected in the one with the temple of Peace, and in the other with
the temple dedicated in honour of Trajan himself.

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Plan of the Forum of Trajan; after Nibby.]

Of the first two of these libraries we have no information; but in the
case of the third we are more fortunate. The Forum of Trajan (fig. 4) was
excavated by order of Napoleon I., and the extent of its buildings, with
their relation to one another, is therefore known with approximate
accuracy. The Greek and Latin libraries stood to the right and left of the
small court between the _Basilica Ulpia_ and the _Templum Divi Trajani_,
the centre of which was marked by the existing Column. They were entered
from this court, each through a portico of five inter-columniations. The
rooms, measured internally, were about 60 feet long, by 45 feet broad.

At this point I must mention, parenthetically, the library built by
Hadrian at Athens. Pausanias records it in the following passage:

Hadrian also built for the Athenians a temple of Hera
and Panhellenian Zeus, and a sanctuary common to all the
gods. But most splendid of all are one hundred columns;
walls and colonnades alike are made of Phrygian marble.
Here, too, is a building adorned with a gilde