Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/77



''The Libraries of Augustus, the Octavian and the Palatine. Their Librarians and Custodians.''

T was, then, under Augustus that this the first public library was established. Soon there were two others, also due to him. The first, the Octavian, he founded in honour of his sister, and gave it her name. Of this Dion Cassius says, in his chronicle of the year 721, "Augustus built a colonnade and in it established a library, which he named after his sister Octavia." Plutarch seems to ascribe this work to Octavia herself, when he says, "In honour of Marcellus, his mother Octavia built a