Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/66

60 Pergamum, Ptolemy, stirred to a boundless zeal by their example, and rivalling them in activity, endeavoured to establish at Alexandria a library equal to theirs." How absurd the statement! As if the Attalic kings antedated the Alexandrian in this art! As if, in this field of books, the latter caught from the former their zeal, or looked to them for example! Why, the exact opposite was true; for the Ptolemies practised the art of establishing libraries long before the Attalic kings had ever thought of it. It is possible, of course, that here again the writer alludes, without naming him, to one of the later Ptolemies. But even then it remains true that the Pergamene library