TOE OMAHA RUNT) AT BEE: AUGUST 11. 1907.
Remnants of Famous Libraries of Ancient Rome
R
OMU July 30. A Iialf starved
scholar who eked out a livelihood
by transcribing old dee1s In an
attorney" offlce In Rome tu rs
turning horn on evening In tha
year 1W, after a hard dsy. work at a
"hop In Pt.zsa Kavona and bought a
umall loaf of bread and soma fried Ash
for his evening meal. Ha at his supper,
using tha paper In which tha fish waa
wrapped aa plat. When, hi frugal meal
over, he picked up tha paper preparatory
to throwing It away, his practiced eya de
tected that It waa an old manuscript.
From forca of habit ha read It. Tha
manuscript was an autograph latter of
Christopher Columbus.
Seven years before this Incident a bill
waa pasted by tha Italian Parliament which
drova tha nuna and monks from their
homes, deprived them of their endowments
and put their lands and house up for sale
by public auction. The monasteries were
plundered of everything they contained,
and the booty, especially books and manu-
Ine, but manufactured In rjormnny;
still, since this trade has sprung up
It Is an Indication that before fain
manuscripts were supplied genulno
ones were sold.
And yet In spite of alt this If tha
Vatican library were the only one In
Rom, tha Eternal City would still
take precedence over all others for
the wealth of manuscripts It pos
sesses. In fact, the Vatican library
by Itself Is sufficient to make any
city famous. Tha object of tha
present article Is to deal briefly with
the private libraries of Rome, but this
cannot he dona unless soma mention
la made of tha Vatican library. In
which have been Incorporated from
time to tlm eoveral private collec
tions of books and manuscripts.
The Vatican library was first formed
by Nicholas V (H7-F6), who alone col
lected 5.000 manuscript, and It wis
Increased by Bixtus IV and Blx
tus V CM78-15M). In 163 th
1 1 'J'" '
a i f. ."- - ' '
- -tX ' : ' 'f'f "'J ST VAT CAN LIBRARY "- TT3
rtn ! f" -" "W 'i
. 4':
1
fttffljMy' VfrKojj? - S5y
lntlng to the rontlflcate of Alexander VII.
and nearly ail tha correspondence of the
papal repraaentattvaa abroad. Tha pon
tificates of Paul III. Plus IV. Bixtus V,
Clement VIII, and Paul V, and Urban
VIII ax represented through autograph
letters, reports and Instructions to nun
cios. Oerman history during tha sixteenth
century Is minutely described In the auto
graph lettors of Melancthon. among which
there la tha celebrated letter referring to
tha marriage of Luther. The library con
tains also a unique collection of Provencal
aongs, which were published by Btengel.
The Coralnl library la In the handsome
palace of tha same name on the Lungara.
It waa built by tha Rlarlo family, from
whom It waa bought by Pope Clement XII
In 172 for his nephew, Cardinal Nerl Cor
slnl. This palace la one of the most his
torical of Rome. It was tha resort of Cath
erine Bforsa, of Cardinal dl Ban Giorgio,
of Michael Angelo, of Eraamus and In the
seventeenth century of Queen Christina
of Sweden, who died her In 1SS9. It Is
said that It contained a deadly shaft closed
by a trap door that dropped the living
victim who stepped upon It out of hearing
and out of eight forever. When It was
repaired by the Corsinl family the hones
of nameleas, dead were found In heaps far
down among th foundation.
The library la on the first floor. It was
begun by Cardinal Nerl Corsinl, who, be
sides th family library belonging to the
Marquis Corsinl, bought the collections of
books of Cardinals Oualtlert, de Medici
and Camlllo Maoslmo, but the real founder
waa Pop Clement XII, who spent every
year 11,000 acudl toward th Increase of hi
family library.
Tomasso Corsinl subsequently bought and
added to this library the collections of
Faettonl, Guidl and Bonl. Dertolomeo Cor
alnl when viceroy of Naples added to It
the Florentine collection of Nicola de Rossi.
In 1884 the Italian government purchased
the Corsinl palace and library and pre
sented It to the Academy of the LJncel.
This library contains over l.lMK) manu
scripts, many of which are unique, and
besides Its collection of historical docu
ments Is larise. There are theological
codes, pontifical dlarla, histories of con
claves, histories of the temporal power of
the holy see, political intrm-tlon, letters,
reports of nuncio and otlifr works In
numerable, which cover the history of Italy
and of the popes from the sixteenth cen
tury up to the present day. There Is also
a very rich collection of rare engravings,
oonslstorlal acta and pontifical ceremonies.
Such were the private libraries of Rom
In time gone by.
suited. In the celebrated history of tha a year from church benefits alone
Council of Trent by Pailavlcino at almost This library was ao large that It had to
very page manuscripts existing In private be split up and the manuscripts and docu-
llbrarles are cited, and In Ranke'a "His- menta separated from th codes and books,
tory of th Popes" nearly all the material Th former ax now In th Vatican ar-
waa collected from thes libraries, aa th chives, while th latter, carefully csta-
VaMean archive were then closed to th logued by the n..n ,,w
w. - . '
Until
private
v. .1 , Father Ehrle. are In th library. Leo XIII..
th. eighteenth century many also bought the Borgia library, famous for
libraries were still In existence. Its oriental mnn.,.rint. ... ,
but at the present only two remain Intact. It. Latin document, and many other pa
l"ZT ..WJ --"t. most,;. wcrhPaa.
yei nave not been sorted.
The celebrated Barberlnl library, besun
by Cardinal Francesco Barberinl. th
nephew of Urban VIII, who built the gryat
palace of his family with stono taken from
the Colosseum, which gnve rise to the say
ing that "th Barberlnl had done what th
barbarians had not." Is perhaps the most
Important private library In the world. In
th year 1972 the library of Cardinal An-
tnnfffc T1tKiHnl - am m a- . ...
hoiieht Kv Trtnn nl .f,. k uuoa iu n ana I.-.
.': "Z::r:j:' nvto It continued increa. to the
Blchl, Bona, Celsl, Ceat, Fontanlnl, Im
peiiall, Maaslmt, Bpada, etc, have all dis
f appeared. Tha famous Altierl library,
which contained important document
about the pontificate of Sixtua V. and all
th manuscripts belonging to Pope Cle
ment X. collected by his nephew, Cardinal
Paoluzzo Altierl, has been reduced to only
about six or seven codes.
Th no leas famous Albanl library was
old In 1867. Borne manuscripts were
scripts, war carted off and roughly stauk.d
in some vacant rooms in the Colleglo Ro
mano,, from which th Jesuit had bean
expelled.
The man In charge of the rooms had
been selling the books and manuscripts as
wast paper by the hundredweight. What
remained of the collection after th dis
covery mad by th poor scholar of Co
lumbus' letter has been gathered up and
now It form, part of the Victor Emmanuel
library. (
For many centuries man and time co
operated to destroy everything that be
longed to ancient Rome. Barbarians sacked
tha city and burned It many times over.
The emperor of th east plundered It
and carried off works of art to adorn
Constantinople. Marble statuea were broken
up by builders in the middle ages and
burned for lime, wblle bronxes were melted
down for metal. The Colosseum was
library waa Increased by th gift of
founded by Federlco da Moniefelt.ro; tn
lt&O by th Alexandrina, which belonged
to Queen Christina of Sweden; In 1746 by
th Ottobonlana, purchased by Ottobonl,
duke of Flano.
The library consists of over 30,000 Greek,
Latin and oriental manuscripts and about
100,000 volumes. Among Its treasures are a
manuscript of the Greek Testament of th
fifth century, a Terence of th fourth, th
palimpsest of "Th Republic," manuscript,
by St. Thomas Aquinas and Petrarch, by
Henry Vin of England, etc
Tha first person In Rom to own a pri
vate lfbary was Cardinal Vltelloxst under
th pontificate of Paul IV, but It had been
the fashion In Rome, as far back a. th
fifteenth century, for noble families to col
the Blbllotheca Palatlna of Heidelberg,
captured by Tilly from MaxlmlUlan of Ba
the Vatican library, but th greater port
were lost, aa they were purchased by th
Prussian government and th vessel that
waa carrying them to Germany waa
wrecked.
Both th Boncompangnt and the Borghese
libraries have been broken up. The former
was sold mostly abroad, while the manu
script, of the latter were bought by the
Vatican. The collection belonging to Car
dinal Baldasarr Boncompngnl Is corn-
number of 9.000. During the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries many precious book
and documents were stolen and shortly
afterward the entire library was sold to
th Vatican.
Th Barberlnl library contains, among
other priceless treasures, a collection of
autographs by Cardinal Berpbo and Galileo
Galilei, a Latin translation of Plato, with
autograph notes by the poet, Taaso, de
signs by San Gallo and other celebrated
pletoly lost and no trace of It exists; only architects. Byzantine miniatures, etc There
a complete catalogue compiled by Narduccl
remains to show how great tha loss waa.
A considerable collection of unsorted man
uscripts, among which were the documents
of Cardinal Marescottl and many codes
of great value, were sold by public auction
tn Rome a couple of years ago, and hardly
a single paga was left In Italy, almost
everything being purchased by foreigners.
Several private libraries were fortunately
Incorporated In public libraries and thus
saved from dispersal. Thus all the manu
script, of Cardinal Baron 1 us, the disciple
varla: In 1657 by tha Blbllotheca Urhlna.
turned Into a quarry. It I. truly wonderful iect jn their calaces books and miimicrlr,t of Bt- Ph'P Nrl, who waa made cardinal
that after such wholesale destruction th besides objects of art, statuary and paint- lu 1E96' now torm Part of tho Blbllotheca
Ings. Still such collection, could not be
considered as libraries.
Th household of every nobleman of rank
In th middle ages, especially If he was
a nephew of a pope, was a real court, with
chamberlains, servant, and men at arms,
and no establishment was considered oom
pktt unless, besides a chaplain, an auditor,
secretaries and a lawyer, some literary
personages, known as literati. ' who wer
Rom of today can still boast of so many
monuments of Its ancient glory.
It Is mora wonderful still, that If buildings
intended to last forever and art treasures of
marble and bronxe could not withstand tha
combined action of time and man and wer
reduced Into dust, ancient parchments, man
uscript and books should survive. Th
instance of the man who for seven years
sold book, and manuscripts as waste paper
does not stand Isolated, w,ho can tell how
many pages of priceless manuscripts wer vere1 ,n th 'ur principal languages of
used throughout Italy to wrap fried fish
and other edibles?
Varcelllana, one of th most magnificent
libraries of Rome In the monastery of tha
Oratorlans, now used as a court of assize.
Th manuscript, of Cardinals Bona, Norl.
and Passlonel are In the Blbllotheca An
gelica, founded In 1604 by Angelo Rocca,
and containing over 160,000 volumes and
1M6 manuscript.. This library waa once
owned by th Au.tln friars, but It wa. de
clared state property In 1870.
The manuscript, of Cardinal Casanata
th world, namely, Hebrew, Greek. Latin are tm ta the "braTy 'which bears his
and Italian, were attached to lt Th.. name, the Blbllotheca Caaaaatensls, one
are 00 Greek codes and twice as many
Latin ones, many of which are palimp
sests. Among th Oriental codes there Is the
priceless and unique Samaritan Pentateuch.
There Is a complete collection of books
dealing with the history of Roman archi
tecture, many manuscripts of celebrated
men aid writers and all the diplomatic cor
respondence during the pontificate of Urban
VIII and the sixteenth century.
Since the sale of the Barberlnl library
to the Vatican there are only two Important
private libraries left Intact In Rome the
Blbllotheca Chlglana, belonging ' to the
Chlgl family, and the Blbllotheca Corsln
lana, th property one of th Corsinl,
but now of the Italian state. The de
scendants of the old noble families hav
sold their books and rented their palaces,
and Instead of old manuscripts and Oriental
codes their libraries of today. If they de
serve he nanro, contain only French
novels and society papers, bound uniformly
In the same color and In many cases utl
only a. ornaments.
The Chlgl library will In all probability
be soon sold, and with It the last Roman
private library will disappear. The Chlgls
"MAD DOG" A NATURE FAKE
Oftca t Animal la Tfedlnsr Only
Water, Qnlet and Rational
Attention.
Among other "nature fakers' there Is
the "mad dog" of the hot and silly season.
He appears as a ferocious beast, galloping
along with frothing, distended Jaws, biting
recklessly as he Roes. It Is instructive to
compare this fanciful victim of rabies with
a renl victim as described in "The Dog's
Medical Dictionary," by A. J. Eewell. M. R.
C. V. S.
Dr. Bewell Is cantn surgeon to King Ed
ward, to the Kennel club, to the Dumb
Friends' league and to various English
associations and Institutions. Referring to
the oft reported detail of the frothing
mouth of the rabid dog he says: "This Is
a mistake. The mouth may certainly be
little molster than usual at first, but It
soon becomes dry and of a dark red color."
In the earlier stages of rabies the suffer
ing animal shows "an Inclination to hide
In dark corners, though when called by his
owner he comes forward and Is very affec
tionate, licking the hand and even the per
son", face, If allowed." Later the rabid
dog "Is much disposed to wander If ha can
only get his liberty, and once h gets out
he often goe. for miles on a sort of a Jog
trot, with head and tall down, going out
of his way to attack other dogs, but not
so much people, unless they get directly In
his way or Interfere with him." Left to
himself th dog may wander for hours or
for a day and a night, and then return
home.
A dog really gone mad change. In nature
and In voice. He will not often attack his
owner unless to resist an effort to restrain
him. Contrary to popular Impression, he Is
not afraid of water. He drinks freely dur
ing the first symptoms of his trouble and
will thrust his muzzle Into water even after
he has lost the power to swallow. There
Is no cur for him. Eventually his hind
leg. weaken and. If he Is not killed before,
he dies usually within four or five days.
Dr. Bewell crushes the foolish Idea that
If a dog bites another, or even a person,
and then shall ever go mad, his victim will
go mad, too. H quotes from Pasteur to
the effect that a bite from a dog Is not
dangerous even two days before signs of
rabies are observed. His hook will
strengthen tha belief that the "mad dog"
of the summer news Is as a rule In a fit,
needing only water, quiet and rational at
tention. New York World.
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Thn on should tak Into aecour-t also "Uratl wrota the letter of their master owne1 b? th Dominicans, and considered were a family of bankers and one of the
th area! quantities of manuscripts that and kept the archives of the house, they
hav perished by fir and the books and wrote poetry, kept diaries and acted it
codea that hav been stolen or bought and Interpreters; In short, they attended to
Smuggled out of Italy. Even to this day everything and anything which required
tvery foreign tourist that visits Rome can, a knowledge of reading and writing.
If so Inclined, purchase an old manuscript Gradually they become librarians. It
took to take home to nis menus instead was the custom to keep deeds
a. the largest religious library In Rome
after that of the Vatican. It consist, of
1V0.O0O printed volumes and 4,600 manu
scripts. Many collections or manuscripts and
books belonging to cardinals and noblo
Roman families are now to be found out-
greateet of art patrons In Rome. Its most
prominent members were Agostlno Chlgl,
owner of the famous palace called La
Famesina. which contains some of th
most beautiful existing frescoes of Ra
phael and his school, and Fablo Chlgl,
who mounted the papal throne as Alex
ander VII. and who was the only pope
who refused to seek the aggrandizement
nd leusl
f a coral necklace or a piece of mosaio acta, letters of ambassadors, report, and 13 Kome- Thus, for Instance, th cele
renresenttng th temple of Vest. It is Instructions In the unner rlnAr. r,t brated Manoacrlttl Farnesiane belonging
true that th manuscript may not be genu- palaces, which were generally well lighted to Paul HI- nd hlB nePnew- Cardinal Ales- of his family and acnowledged the poor
and free from dampness. Here the Utteratl sandro are In Naplea and Parma, the docu- as his own relations.
worked and her every book or manu- "'-it ot Cardinal Cervlniant ar In Flor- These two powerful men founded th
script was brought up for safe keeping. nce and those of Cardinal Garampl are at celebrated library which Is still Intact to-
(Gradually thes archives, for such they Rimini. day In the Chlgl palace at Plazxa Colonna
were In the beginning, became libraries. The Vatican library generally secures and comprise S.'iOO manuscripts and 16,000
The master of th house might belong to Part of tns manuscripts belonging to car- rare printed books. The catalogue of this
one of the sixty conscript families of Rome "n'. and very often the heirs of a car- library has never been published, but
who wer privileged to erect a colored dlnal's estate spontaneously offer such many distinguished bibliographer, have
canopy or a sort of throne in one of the document, as relate to Stat affairs to the examined and descried several of th col-
princlpal room, of their palace., and he Vatican, aa was done in the ciki ot th lections existing In It and a fairly good
might therefor rank aa a Roman prince, libraries of Cardinals Albanl. Garampl and Idea of Its Importance can be gathered
In such a case he wa. l:y to hold om Borghese, as well a. th private library of from their works.
post A importance In the papal court. Giovanni Battista Confalonlerl and thos The greater part of the manuscript, ra-
Th archive of th family would thea f the noble fajnllie. of Bolognettl-Cencl, fer to the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
includ all th document relating to th Ptn n1 Carpegna. During th seven- turles and especially to th tlm of Alex-
office hsld in the papal court, an benoe tenth century the Vatican library was In- ander VII. who represented the Holy Bee
private libraries became public or state creased by the manuscript, belonging to as nuncio at Cologne before h wa. elect-
archjves. and many of them ar conald- Cardinals Birletl, Baron I us and Carafla and ed pope and took a principal part In the
ered as uch to this very day. Generally also those of Fulvio Orslnl. peace negotiations at Munster under In-
th collections contained In ih iihr.-j. Pone Leo XIII.. beside, ooenlng the se- nocent X All the correspondence durlnc
cret archives of the Vatican to the public,
spent a considerable sum of money in pur
chasing private collection, of manuscripts
and book, which wer added to th Vatican
library. He bought, for Instance, th cele
CONSTIPATION
"For r ftln yar I aTr4 with ahroDU
tlpattoa ftad durtB hi tta 1 h4 to tk to
iuKoMoa ' r wiir ob M hour U(on
e"V4. amy fcowals. Uaupiljr I
Irlei CMStlfM, u4 fclftr I M BitJft.
turtut io yr bfor I u)4 Cueamu I
ul!rd iiatoi! vUry with IftMrntU ptU. Taunt
to yv m frM frota ftll bbtl lhl moratuff. To
KM tfcla I lUhii of tuffwriiksj hutnDlir M
It. r. rw.r. 4Wim4, IU.
XX. Camcy camumc ,
IMouMt. FUhl. rwl TuMSml, DoGood,
t birkak, Wka r litiv. W. SM. Ms. ot
Sotil lu bulk. Tk Alllt UlM lUl&H COO.
Ctu'aut4 lo mm of roar 4M bMi.
Sterling Rme4y Co., Chicafo or N.V. to)
AKKUALSALE.TEI U'.LUOM BOXES
f private noble families ar carefully
catalogued and Indexed, and this 1. ex
plained by the fact that at th death
of the owner they passed to th male
heir who succeeded to the family title.
ine weaitn ana importance of th private brated Barghes library, founded by Car-
libraries of Rom U considers Me, so much dinal Bctplon Borghese, the wealthiest
ao that no work on Rome has ever been man In tbe seventeenth century, who a-
wrUten without the libraries being con- joyed an Incom ot laO.OOO scudt or dollar.
this period, private and official. Including
many secret letter, of th pope and th
two cardinal. Fanclrolo and Pamflll, also
th correspondence of th papal nuncio
accredited to th emperor and to Louis
XV, and th Fpanlsh and Venetian am
bassador at Munster, are collected tn
sixty-three volumes.
Toex ar bealde. copious document r
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