Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/69



Roman libraries; private ones; and the first public library, that of Asinius Pollio.

AVING spoken of such libraries of foreign peoples as seem worthy of mention, let us pass to those of Rome, which are nearer to us in both place and time.

Slow enough at first was the growth of love of books and interest in the humanities among the Romans; for the Romans were children of Mars, not of the Muses. But at last, by God's grace, here also culture took root and refinement gained in esteem, though slowly at first, as it always does. Isidore notes that