arta piu
grossolana, di quella qualita che gli antichi chiamavano
_emporetica_, e questi probabilmente formavano le parti
ed i libri d' un' opera intiera[57]....

The place in which they [the rolls] were first seen was
a small room in the villa at Herculaneum of which we
spoke above, the length of which could be covered by two
men with their arms extended. All round the wall there
were book-cases such as are commonly seen in
record-rooms, of a man's height, and in the middle of
the room there was another similar book-case or table to
hold writings, of such a size that one could go round
it. The wood of this table was reduced to charcoal, and,
as may easily be imagined, fell all to pieces when it
was touched. Some of these papyrus rolls were found
fastened together with paper of coarser texture, of that
quality which the ancients called _emporetica_, and
these probably formed the parts and books of an entire
work.

The information which these observers have given us amounts to this: the
room was about 12 feet long, with a floor of mosaic. Against the walls
stood presses, of a man's height, inlaid with different sorts of wood,
disposed in rows, with cornices at the top; and there was also a table, or
press, in the centre of the room. Most of the rolls were separate, but a
bundle of eighteen was found "wrapped about with the bark of a tree, and
covered at each end with a piece of wood." A room so small as this could
hardly have been intended for study. It must rather have been the place
where the books were put away after they had been read elsewhere.

Before I quit this part of my subject, I should like to mention one other
building, as its arrangements throw light on the question of fitting up
libraries and record-offices. I allude to the structure built by
Vespasian, A.D. 78, to contain the documents relating to his restoration of
the city of Rome. It stood at the south-west corner of the Forum of Peace,
and what now exists of it is known as the Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano.

The general arrangement and relation to adjoining structures will be
understood from the plan (fig. 7). The room was about 125 feet long by 65
feet broad, with two entrances, one on the north-west, from the _Forum
Pacis_, through a hexastyle portico (fig. 7. 2), the other on the
north-east, through a square-headed doorway of travertine which still
exists (_ibid._ 1) toge