ing survived the various
revolutions of the Roman Empire, existed until the time of Gregory the
Great, whose mistaken zeal led him to order all the writings of the
ancients to be destroyed. The successors of Augustus, though they did
not equally encourage learning, were not altogether neglectful of its
interests. Suetonius informs us that Tiberius founded a library in the
new Temple of Apollo; and we learn from some incidental notices that he
instituted another, called the Tiberian, in his own house, consisting
chiefly of works relating to the empire and the acts of its sovereigns.
Vespasian, following the example of his predecessors, established a
library in the Temple of Peace, which he erected after the burning of
the city by order of Nero; and even Domitian, in the commencement of his
reign, restored at great expense the libraries which had been destroyed
by the conflagration, collecting copies of books from every quarter, and
sending persons to Alexandria to transcribe volumes in that celebrated
collection, or to correct copies which had been made elsewhere. But the
most magnificent of all the libraries founded by the sovereigns of
imperial Rome was that of the Emperor Ulpius Trajanus, from whom it was
denominated the Ulpian Library. It was erected in Trajan's Forum, but
afterwards removed to the Viminal Hill, to ornament the baths of
Diocletian. In this library were deposited the elephantine books,
written upon tablets of ivory, wherein were recorded the transactions of
the emperors, the proceedings of the senate and Roman magistrates, and
the affairs of the provinces. It has been conjectured that the Ulpian
Library consisted of both Greek and Latin works; and some authors
affirm, that Trajan commanded that all the books found in the cities he
had conquered should be immediately conveyed to Rome, in order to
increase his collection. The library of Domitian having been consumed by
lightning in the reign of Commodus, was not restored until the time of
Gordian, who rebuilt the edifice, and founded a new library, adding
thereto the collection of books bequeathed to him by Quintus Serenus
Samonicus, the physician, and amounting, it is said, to no fewer than
72,000 volumes.

In addition to the imperial libraries, there were others to which the
public had access in the principal cities and colonies of the empire.
Pliny mentions one which he had founded for the use of his countrymen;
and Vopiscus informs us that the Emper