Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/260

 UBia 227 T.TBRARTTBS

law. This collection, which appeared about the cud we have any precise knowledge is tlmt of Tello io

of the sixteenth oentunr, was edited by Francis Sen- Mesopotamia, discovered through the excavations of

tiaC'ClementisPapfflVniDecretales",Freiburg,1870). M. de Saraec and now in great part removed to the

JrSS^J^irSt^T^^^ 9i?;iT;./,L^'^' toha^•e consistecl of more than

•qa.,277; ScaMUMR,HandbuchdeMKirchmreehu,l\GnLz,lS86), 20.0(K) tablets inscribed With cuneiform wnting and

2A3; ScHNMDSB. Die Lehre v. d. Kirchenrechtmjufllen (Rotis- belonging to the time of Gudcu, ruler of Laeash.

boo, 1002). 166 sqq., 177; text-booka of Wkhns, Uaoiii;lleb. -i---"-"'^- r..., .. o~ .»

•*c- A. Van Hovk.

. ¥^i *?**" ^^^^^^T* *i? ***!? ^^ ^r® ''^'}??; Ashiiix^blniiiaKeeS to 628 B.Tr'The Ktterl^MrSI leal collection coinpiied under order of Boniface VIII

byOuillai

of Siena, vice-chancellor of the ^pe. by whom it was tain that the collection comprised texts, impressed of

^T!^i^.^^Jt^^^!'''f'^ S""^ ^ i^« i'^*'!"^ "? n*"® «>""« "P«^ clay ^l^l^ts, dealing with eve^ branch Bim 'Sacpoaanctffi ' of 3 March 1^8. Like the De- of learning and science known to the wise men of his wetd^ofGregwylX the'I^berSext^^^^ day. More than twenty thousand of these tablets five books, subc^yided into titl(^ and chapters. It have been brought to EGrope and are now preserved COTtains in addition eighty-ei^t rul^ of law (r^^- in the British Museum. All the more important texts lite j«n«)l»rrowed from the Roman law, and com- are marked with a formula attesting that they belong piled probably by Dmo de Rossoni, professor of civil to the palace of Ashurbanipal, and the formula con- law at tlw University of Bologna. It is an obli- eludes with an imprecation interesting to compare Eitory code of b^ abrogating all previous general with those so often found in the manuscripts of medi- uSL^i rV?™ ^®TJ?^*^fi *u Publication of the eval Ubraries: " Whosoever shall carry off this tablet, "DcCTetals of Grego^r IX tdl the a«^ otBoni. or shaU inscribe his name upon it side by side ^itll ^■SS^Yl" ^^ September, 1234 to 24 Decem!>er, 1294), mineown,may Ashur and Belit overthrow him in wrath inth the exception of those that were reserved (re- and anger, and may they destroy his name and pos-

•?T^""i'l^ ^ ^ ^*A ^i^^^irS^ y^ ^y^^^^r' ^"*y ^^ ^^^ land " (Wallis, Budge, and King, " Guide

eitlKar by decretals inserted in the "Sextus", declar- to Babvlonian and Assyrian Antiquities", 1908, p.

mgthattheeekwsTOre toremaminforce orb^^^ 41). In Eg>'pt collections of papvrus rolls must un-

IncipU bcmg included m the collection. 1 he Deere- doubtedl v have been made, though the more perish-

tals of GregOTy IX were revoked, m so far as they able nature of the material has not permitted any

were inconsistent with the new statutes. Although considerable remains to be preserved from the earlier

Win holds the contrary, we beheve that the eighty- ages of Egyptian history. Of collections of books

GoBFUB Juris CANONia. oerning the holy gifts ^' ,r^. ®"^??i^,T^^"^l''^. ^"^^^f^^^ Boniface with regaixi to pagan Rome and Greece we have

Vm hiDMelf the Liber Swctus\ firstly, be^ ^^re precise evidence. Pisistratus is said to have*

continuation of the five books of the / Decretals of formed a library which was carried off to Persia by

^^^S?^ ^\j ^*f ^^!^H' ^^-^ «^^. *s a ^rfect Xerxes and afterwards restorefi. Aristotle, the phil-

number. This title will indicate, he says m the 3iill of osopher, as his writings prove, miLst certainly have

approbation (Sacrosancta), that the complete body haj some sort of libraVat his command, and this

of cancm law, henceforth collecteil into six b^^^ collection, after coming to Athens, is said to have

yjerfect number of books), will furnish a perfect rule been ultimately taken by Sulla to Rome. But by

of Mtion and be a safe guide m morals. According farthe most famous libraries of the Greek workl were

to Euchd. the number six is perfect, Ixjcause it is ^hose of Pergamum and Alexandria. The former,

equal to the sim of aU its factors (1+2 + 3^.6). Ac- ^.i^j^.^ ^ad been formed by the kings of the familv o^

cording to Boethius, a number is to be compared to an Attains from a])out the vear 20 b. r., must have been

organised body, aU the parts of which (factors, quo- ^ ^^^v remarkable collection. Modern archiuolog-

tients, or ahquot parts) represent the members. A " . -.

^.^»^ ... ^^ .-^ > :t :? — r—-— -~- --' - — — -; i5onm Acaaemv, iJ>;^-i, i.i;)'.;-/u;. -f\s lor ine dooks

Mem of virtue («rtu/w ^mii/ojor) and, caUing this themselves, we "learn from Plutarch that two hundred

newoompJation the Liber Sextus, the pope wished thousand volumes, or rather rolls, wore removed by

to ngnifv the happy effwts which tins collection of ^j^^k Anthon v to Alexandria and given to Cleopatra

^S2Sf ^S^^TlTt I'^S^^^mmluno Bonifm ^ f-P^^- the libn.ry which had U^^n accidentally

VUlTLSb. Sat. Decretal. Bonif. PP. VIII. in Archiv fiir kath. destroyed l)y fire in Julius C a>sar s Egyptian cam-

KirdkieHreehi. LXXXII (Mains, 1902), pp. 425 sqq.; Lauriv, paign. The I ibrarv so d<'st roved, which was known as

t!Z^'f*!i "^TLiZ:^ S?V^.vrw^'yJl?w/^- Voi.fVi' that of the Masaniin, was formed by Ptolemy Phila-

ScBDfUDBB, DiB Le/ure von aen KxrcnmrechtequeUirn (2n(l od.,, i i i. Oi»rk Ti. • ^ ^i • ru _ li x ^u^

^tkboa. 1892), 151 m\.\ Werni. Ju9 DecrdlaUum, I (Rome! delphus about 200 H. c. It IS to this library that the

1808). 328 Mq.; Schxbxb, Handbuch dea Kirchenrechtn, I legend attaches of the origin of the Septuagint (q. V.),

(Gns, 188(9)t 252. A. Van Hove. as recorded in the apoorvphal, but verv ancient,

LibertlM. Gaujcan. See Galucanism. "Letter of Aristeas". According to this legend, De-

Aiui«wim, xjAAdtfVAi^. o^ v*Ai^u*v.Ai^io^. metrius Phalereus, the keeper of the librar>', advised

Ubniief, that is to say, collections of books ao- his master, King Ptolemy, to endeavour to obtain

cumulated and made accessible for public or private for it a translation of the Law of the Jews. Envoys

use, we» known to the ancients before the cominj^ of were accordingly despatched to the High Priest Elea-

Chiut. PrabaUy the meet ancient library of which zar of Jerusalem, who sent so'enty (or, more exactly.