Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/39

Rh Osymandyas of Egypt was of all kings the first, as far as history shows, to have a library of any note. Along with other famous deeds he established, says Diodorus, a library of sacred literature, and placed over the entrance the inscription: "Here is Medicine for the Mind." Though he was one of the earliest of the Egyptian kings, I do not doubt that his example was thereafter faithfully followed, even if the library he is said to have founded never in fact existed; for in Egypt there have always been libraries, especially in temples, under the care of priests. Many facts may be cited as evidence for the truth of this statement, among others this one about