Page:On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV.djvu/55

 1478. The salary of the librarian was at the rate of ten ducats a month, and that of each of his subordinates at the rate of one ducat for the same period. This arrangement appears to have been confirmed by a Bull of Sixtus IV. before the end of 1477 ; and it subsisted till 1480, when the Pope formally appointed Demetrius keeper, with a salary of three gold ducats a month, and other emoluments, the amount of which is not specified. Shortly afterwards (28 April, 1481) the Pope appointed a second keeper, Jean de Chadel of Lyons.

These officers and Platyna appear to have lived together in the rooms adjoining the Latin Library, as shewn by the accounts for the purchase of beds, furniture, and the like ; and when Josias falls ill of the plague, Platina sends away Demetrius and John, the book-binder, "for fear they should die or infect others ."

Besides the regular staff, we meet with special engagements to do certain definite pieces of work. For instance, in 1476 a person called Cassius of Parma—but whose real name, as appears by his receipt when the final payment was made to him, was Johannes Antonii de Sasso de Parma—is engaged to write a Register of Bulls and other documents in three volumes. He is usually described as librarius—a word which evidently at that date meant a maker of books—a writer —as Cassius is in fact called in the last entry relating to him. Another writer, Simon of Cologne, is engaged in 1478 to transcribe the works of Celsus; and two others, whose names are not given, to transcribe certain treatises of Jerome and Augustine.