The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-01-24

The far-famed library of Alexandra
was not burned ssby fanatical
monks in the middle of the fourth CEN
tury.o
This library was founded about the
year 234 B. G. for the purpose of fos-
tering Greek civilization in Egypt by
inoculating the Egyptians with Greek
philosophy and literature. It was des-
troyed by Julius Caesar in the year
At B. G. He was on the point of tax
ing it to Rome "to grace his chariot
Wheels in triumph, when he found
it necessary to burn his fleet, in order
10 prevent its falling into the hands of
Cleopatra.
In the year Al B. G. Mark Antony
took Cor rather stole) 100000 volumes
from the library of Pergamon, which
he gave to Cleopatra as token Of
esteem. The Antony library was des-
troyeG under Aurelian in 272.
A smaller library, almost as ancient
as the great one, located in the Sera-
peum, persisted when Theophilus burned
the temple of Scraps.
Up to the beginning of the nine
teenth century the destruction of the
great library of Alexandria was credit
ed by historians to Caliph Omar who
took the city in 642. Before booming
the library to be used for heating the
baths, he said: eff these writings of
the Greeks agree with the Koran they
are useless and need not be preserved;
if they disagree, they are pernicions
and ought to be destroyed This story
rests on the sole authority of Thir-
teenth century writer named Abul-
pharagius, and is now regarded as pure
fiction. If the curses heaped upon the
head of Omar by the learned of the
last six centuries were represented by
building stones, they would make a
monument higher than Washington s.
/ Yet Omar was as innocent of the great
crime as were the "fanatical monks in
the middle of the Fourth century,, be-
cause there was no public library in
Alexandra in either the Fourth or the
Seventh centuries.
The monasteries were the publishing
houses for Europe, Asia and Africa
from the time of Constantine to the
time of John Gutenberg. IF man
wanted book during that period, say
copy of the Bible, the works of
Cicero, or of Augustine, of any Greek
or Roman poet, philosopher, or his
monastery because he could not get it
anywhere else. The great monasteries
had copies, not merely of the Bible, not
merely of the works of the Fathers; but
they had copies of all the Greek, or
Roman, writer's then or now extant
fla Bible was wanted, it took the skins
of at least $50 sheep to make the parch-
ment The art of tanning the skins
and thinning, and smoothing them down
to the thinness and smoothness of
de luxe paper, was known to the monks.
They did not know how to split leather
in such way as to make three hides
out Of one which would have lowered
the cost of books very much in those
days.
| The cost Of sheet of parchment 12x
IS inches today is about $500. It is
obvious that it would cost relatively
more in the Middle Ages At least
1000 sheets were needed for the whole
Bible. IF the work Of the copyist was
worth $1,000 then a plain copy of the
Bible could be had for 100000. An
Illuminated edition would bring three
times as much.
The entire works of Cicero or St. Au-
gustine would cost about twice as much
4 as the Bible.
| The monastery was a school and a
shop, in which many things were taught
and many things were made. The monks
whose duty it was to teach the sciences,
and the Greek and Latin classics, to ex-
plain the various systems Of the Greek
and Latin philosophers, showing how
they agreed, and how they differed,
with the teachings of Christian philos-
Ophy and theology, were not ignorant
men. The monks whose duty it was to
serve in the kitchen, to till the soil, to
herd the flocks, to weave the coarse
cloths needed for their own habits, and
the fine linens and cloths of gold and
silver used by kings and princes, and
for church vestments, were not ignorant
of things they ought to know. Besides,
they had the advantage Of intimate as
ISOLATION with their learned brethren.
We must thank the monks and the
Church which governed them for all
that we have of Greek and Latin lit
erature, art and science. not to mention
the Bible and the mass of patriotic
writings. For what we have lost, we
must blame not the monks, but Julius
Caesar, Aurelian and Theophilus, and
the savage. Huns, Goths and Vandals.
To the learned, it has been marvel for
Ecenturies how the monks saved as much
as they did from these Apaches.
r. J. Smith.