from Garrucci, "Storia dell' arte
Cristiana,"_ iii. pl. 126.

To get an idea of one of the larger Roman libraries in ancient times we
cannot do better than turn to that of the Vatican at the present day. It
was fitted up as we see it now--with presses, busts, and antique vases, by
Pope Sixtus V., in 1588. It is therefore, at best, only a modern antique;
but arranged so skilfully that an ancient Roman, if he could come to life
again, might imagine himself in his own library.

_Interior of part of the Vatican Library._

The library-era, as we may call it, of the Christian world, began with the
publication of the Rule of S. Benedict, early in the sixth century. But,
just as that Rule emphasized and arranged on the lines of an ordered
system observances which had long been practised by isolated congregations
or individuals living in solitude--so the part of it which deals with
study was evidently no new thing. S. Benedict did not invent literature or
libraries; he only lent the sanction of his name to the study of the one
and the formation of the other. That libraries existed before his period
is proved by allusions to them in the Fathers and other early writers;
but, as those allusions are general, and say nothing from which either
their size or their arrangement can be inferred, I shall dismiss them in
very few sentences. The earliest is said to have been the collection got
together at Jerusalem, by Bishop Alexander, at the beginning of the third
century. Another was founded about fifty years later at Caesarea by
Origen. This is described as not only extensive, but remarkable for the
importance of the manuscripts it contained. Others are recorded at Hippo,
at Cirta, at Constantinople, and at Rome, where both S. Peter's and the
Lateran had their special collections of books. I suspect that all these
libraries were in connexion with churches, possibly actually within their
walls. At Cirta, for example, it is recorded that during the persecution
of 303-304 the officers "went to the church where the Christians used to
assemble, and spoiled it of chalices, lamps, etc., but when they came into
the library (_bibliothecam_), the presses (_armaria_) there were found
empty." This language seems to imply that the sacred vessels and the books
were in different parts of the same building. The instructions, again, of
the dying Augustine, who bequeathed his library to the church at Hippo,
lead to the same conclusion. The library o