Another great loss was occasioned by the destruction of the Pythagorean Schools in Italy, when the Platonic or new philosophy prevailed over the former. Pythagoras went into Egypt, before the Persian Conquest, where he resided 22 years; he was initiated into the Sacerdotal order, and from his spirit of inquiry he has been justly said to have acquired a great deal of Egyptian Learning, which he afterwards introduced into Italy. Polybius and Jamblichus mention many circumstances, relative to these facts, quoted from authors now lost; as doth Porphyry in his Life of Pythagoras. Learning, philosophy, and arts, suffered much by the loss of liberty in Greece; whence they were transplanted into Italy, under the patronage of some of the great men of Rome; who, by their countenance and protection which he caused to be transcribed in as beautiful a manner as possible ; the originals he retained for his own library, presenting the Athenians with 15 talents for the exchange, that is, with upwards of 3000l. stere ling. As the Academy was at first in the quarter of the city called Bruchion, the library was placed there, but when the number of books amounted to 400,000 volumes, another library within the Serapeum, was erected by way of supplement to it, and on that account called the daughter of the former. The books lodged in this increased to the number of 300,000 volumes, and these two made up the number of 700,000 volumes, of which the Royal Libraries of the Ptolemys were said to consist. In the war which Julius Cæsar waged with the Inhabitants of Alexandria, the library of Bruchion, was accidentally, but unfortunately, burnt. But the library in the Serapeum still remained, and there Cleopatra deposited the 200,000 volumes of the Pergamean Library, with which she was presented by Marc Antony. These and others added to them from time to time, rendered the new library of Alexandria, more numerous and considerable than the former, and though it was plundered more than once during the revolutions which happened in the Roman Empire, yet it was as frequently supplied with the same number of books, and continued for many ages to be of great fame and use, till it was burnt by the Saracens in the year 642 of the Christian era. not only introduced them into their own country, but even contributed to the revival of them in Greece. The love of learning and of arts amongst the Romans was too soon neglected, through the tyranny of the Emperors, and the general corruption of manners, for in the reign of Dioclesian, towards the end of the third century, the arts had greatly declined, and in the course of the fourth, philosophy degenerated into superstition. Learning and the arts also received a most fatal blow by the destruction of the Heathen temples in the reign of Constantine. The devastations then committed, are depicted in the strongest and most lively colours by Mr. Gibbon, in his History, of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Many valuable libraries perished by the Barbarians of the north who invaded Italy in the fourth and fifth Centutries. By these rude hands perished the library of Perseus, King of Macedon, which Paulus Æmilius brought to Rome with its captive owner; as did also the noble library established for the use of the public by Asinius Pollio, which was collected from the spoils of all the enemies he had subdued, and was much enriched by him at a great expense. The libraries of Cicero and Lucullus met with the same fate, and those of Julius Cæsar, of Augustus, Vespasian, and Trajan also perished, together with the magnificent library of the younger Gordian, founded by his preceptor Simonicus, which is said by some to have contained 60,000 volumes, and by others 80,000. The repository for this vast collection is reported to have been paved with marble, and ornamented with gold; the walls were covered with glass and ivory, the armories and desks were made of ebony and cedar. The loss of Ptolemy's library at Alexandria had been in some measure repaired, by the remains of that of Eumenes, King of Pergamus, which Mark Antony presented to Cleopatra, and by other collections, so that a vast library remained at Alexandria, till it was taken by storm, and plundered by the Saracens in the Seventh Century, A. D ̧ 642. Though the Saracens were at that time a barbarous people, yet Amrus, or Amru Ebn al As, the commander of the troops who took the city, was a man of good capacity, and greatly delighted in hearing philosophical points discussed by learned men. John the Grammarian, called Philoponus, from his love of labour, lived in Alexandria at this time; he soon became acquainted with Amrus, and having acquired some degree of his esteem, requested that the philosophical books preserved in the royal library might be restored. Amrus wrote to Omar, the Caliph, to know if his request might be complied with; who returned for answer, that "if the books he mentioned agreed in all points with the book of God (the Alcoran) this last would be perfect without them, and consequently they would be superfluous; but if they contained any thing repugnant to the doctrines and tenets of that book, they ought to be looked upon as pernicious, and of course should be destroyed." As soon as the Caliph's letter was received, Amrus, in obedience to the command of his sovereign, dispersed the books all over the city, to heat the Baths, of which there were 4000; but the number of the books was so immense that they were not intirely consumed in less than six months. *Thus perished by fanatical madness the inestimable Alexandrian Library, which is said to have Mr. Gibbon, in his history, vol. ix. p. 440, has attempted by negative arguments to disprove and overthrow the positive evidence given by Abulpharagius, relating to the destruction of this library by the Saracens, but the references given in support of his assertions do not bear him out, for the authors he alludes to refer to the destruction of Books at Alexandria in the time of Julius Cæsar, after which large libraries must have been continually accumulating, during the long period in which the schools of philosophy flourished in that city.. contained at that time upwards of five hundred thousand volumes; and from this period, barbarity and ignorance prevailed for several centuries. In Italy and all over the west of Europe, learning was in a manner extinguished. except some small remains which were preserved in Constantinople. In this city the Emperor Constantine had deposited a considerable library, which was soon after enriched by his successor Julian, who placed the following Inscription at the entrance; Alii quidem, equos amant, alii aves, alii feras, mihi vero a puerulo, Theodosius the younger was very assiduous in augmenting this library, by whom, in the latter end of the fourth century, it was enlarged to 100,000 volumes, above one half of which were burned in the fifth century by the Emperor Leo the First, so famous for his hatred of images. The inhabitants of Constantinople had not lost their taste for literature in the beginning of the 13th cen tury, when that city was sacked by the Crusaders in the year 1205; the depredations then committed, are related in Mr. Harris's, Posthumous Works, (vol. ii. p. 301.) from Nicetas the Choniate, who was present at the sacking of this place. His account of the Statues, Bustos, Bronzes, Manuscripts, Paintings, and other exquisite remains of antiquity, which then perished, cannot be read by any lover of arts and learning without emotion. The ravages committed by the Turks who plundered Constantinople in the year 1453, are related by Philelphus, who was a man of learning, and tutor to Eneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius the Second, and was an eye witness to what passed at that time. This author says that the persons of quality, especially the women, still preserved the Greek Language uncorrupted. He observes that 232 On the Destruction of the Writings of the Ancients. though the city had been taken before, it never suffered so much as at that time; and adds that till that period, the remembrance of ancient wisdom remained at Constantinople, and that no one among the Latins was deemed sufficiently learned who had not studied for some time at that place; he expressed his fear that all the works of the ancients would be destroyed. Still however there are the remains of three libraries at Constantinople; the first called that of Constantine the Great; the second is for all ranks of people, without distinction; the third is in the Palace, and is called the Ottoman Library, but a fire happened in 1665, which consumed a great part of the palace, and almost the whole library, when, as is supposed, Livy, and a great many valuable works of the Ancients perished. Father Posserius has given an account of the libraries at Constantinople, and in other parts of the Turkish Dominions, in his excellent work intituled, Apparatus Sacer. Many other losses of the writings of the ancients have been attributed to the zeal of the Christians, who at different periods made great havoc amongst the Heathen Authors. Not a single copy of the famous work of Celsus is now to be found, and what we know of that work is from Origen his opponent. The venerable Fathers who em ployed themselves in erasing the best works of the most eminent Greek or Latin authors in order to transcribe the lives of Saints or legendary Tales upon the obliterated vellum, possibly mistook these lamentable depredations for works of piety. The ancient fragment of the 91st Book of Livy, discovered by Mr. Burns, in the Vatican, in 1772, was much defaced by the pious labours of some well-in. tentioned divine. The Monks made war on Books as the Goths had done before them. Great numbers of manuscripts have also been destroyed in this kingdom by its invaders, the Pagan Danes, and the Normans, by the civil commo |