urn to the public libraries of Rome. In
the first place those built by Augustus had a regular organisation. There
appears to have been a general director called _Procurator Bibliothecarum
Augusti_[40]; and subordinate officers for each division: that is to say,
one for the Greek books, one for the Latin books. These facts are derived
from inscriptions found in _Columbaria_. Secondly, it may be concluded
that they were used not merely for reading and reference, but as
meeting-places for literary men.

The Palatine libraries evidently contained a large collection of old and
new books; and I think it is quite certain that new books, as soon as
published, were placed there, unless there was some special reason to the
contrary. Otherwise there would be no point in the lines in which Ovid
makes his book--sent from Pontus after his banishment--deplore its
exclusion. The book is supposed to climb from the Forum to the temple of
Apollo:

Signa peregrinis ubi sunt alterna columnis
Belides et stricto barbarus ense pater
Quaeque viri docto veteres coepere novique
Pectore lecturis inspicienda patent.
Quaerebam fratres exceptis scilicet illis
Quos suus optaret non genuisse parens;
Quaerentem frustra custos e sedibus illis
Praepositus sancto iussit abire loco[41].

Where, set between each pair of columns from some
foreign quarry, are statues of the Danaids, and their
barbarous father with drawn sword; and where whatever
the minds of men of old or men of to-day have imagined,
is laid open for a reader's use. I sought my brethren,
save those of course whom their father would fain have
never begotten; and, while I was seeking for them in
vain, he who was set over the room bade me leave that
holy ground.

The second couplet can only mean that old books and new books were alike
to be found there. The general nature of the collection, and its extent,
may be further gathered from the advice which Horace gives to his friend
Celsus:

Quid mihi Celsus agit? monitus multumque monendus
Privatas ut quaerat opes, et tangere vitet
Scripta Palatinus quaecunque recepit Apollo[42].

What is my friend Celsus about? he who has been
reminded, and must still be reminded again and again,
that he should draw upon his own resources, and be
careful to avoid the multifarious writings which
Palatine Apollo has taken under his charge.

A man might say now-a-days, "