Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/387

 B. xin. c. i. 54. THE TROAD. 379 to Theophrastus. Aristotle 1 was the first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books, and sug- gested to the kings of ^Egypt the formation of a library. Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up, lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings, on whom the city was de- pendent, were in eager search for books, with which they in- tended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs in an excavation under-ground ; at length, but not before they had been injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of Teos. Apellicon 2 was rather a lover of books than a philosopher ; when therefore he attempt- ed to restore the parts which had been eaten and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and introduced them into new copies ; he moreover supplied the defective parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophras- tus, that being wholly unprovided with the books of Aris- totle, with the exception of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric 3 kind, they were unable to philosophize according 1 This statement is not in contradiction with those (A then. b. i. c. 3) who assert that Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, and Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, were the first who formed libraries. The libraries of these two princes, who lived six centuries before our time, were probably confined to half a dozen poets, and it may be supposed that the care Pisistratus took to collect the poems of Homer did not extend to poets posterior to his time. But in the time of Aristotle there existed many poems, a great number of oratorical discourses, historical works, and various treatises of philosophy. 2 Apellicon proclaimed himself a 'philosopher of the school of Aristotle. From what Athenaeus, b. v., says of him, he appears to have used his great wealth for the purposes of ostentation rather than of employing it for the benefit of others. He was sent by Aristion, (or Athenion, as Athenseus calls him,) tyrant of Athens, to Delos, at the head of ten thou- sand soldiers, to remove the treasures of the temple. He was defeated by the Romans, and having lost his whole army, escaped with difficulty. 3 This name was given to books intended to be seen and read by every one, but which did not contain the fundamental dogmas which Aristotle only communicated to those of his own school. The books which con- tained these doctrines were called, by way of distinction, esoteric. Such at least is the opinion of those who admit of the existence of a secret doc- trine, and a public doctrine, in the philosophy of Aristotle. This passage of Strabo however seems to favour those who maintained a different