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Pamphilus. a. D. 294. 217
' for had such a desire to form a well furnished ecclesiastical
' library] that he wrote out with his own hand the greatest
' part of Origen's works, wiiich are still in the library of
' Csesarea ; and beside 1 have met with five-and-twenty
' volumes of Origen's Commentaries upon the twelve pro-
' phets in his hand-writing- ; which I value and keep as if I
' had the treasures of Croesus. For if it be a pleasure to
' possess one single epistle of a martyr, how much more
' must it be to have so many thousand lines, which he seems
' to me to have marked with the traces of his blocxi ? lie
* wrote before Eusebius of Coesarea an Apology for Origen,
legas ea quae sub asteriscis sunt, imo rade de voluminibus, ut vetenim te fanto-
reni probes. Quod si feceris, omnes ecclesiarain bibliothecas damnare cogeris
vix enim unus aut alter liber invenitur, qui ista non habeat. But I think the
phrase ought there to be understood in its own natural sense, to denote the
libraries oT the churches, containing copies of the Old and New Testament,
All churches had copies of the scriptures, and the repositories in which they
were lodged might be called libraries : besides, some churches had large col-
lections of books, and many copies of the scriptures; as the churches at
Jerusalem and Caesarea : which last library, as Jerom expressly says in a passage
to be cited by and by, was dedicated to that church by Pamphilus. Such a
library there was likewise at Hippo in Africa in Augustine's time: Ecclesiae
bibliothecam, omnesque codices diligenter posteriscustodiendos semper jubebat.
Possid. in Vit. Aug. c. 31. And the word is used of the repository of a church
which could not have it in many books. Posteaquam perventum est in
bibliothecam, inventa sunt ibi armaria inania. Act. Purgat. Caecil. ap. Du
Pin. Optat. p. 168. a. f. There is another passage of Jerom, where, as 1 think,
the phrase ought to be interpreted in the same manner : Revolve omnium,
quos supra memoravi, commentarios, et ecclesiarum bibliothecis fruere, et magis
concitato gradu ad optata coeptaque pervenies. Ad Panun. ep. 31. [al. 52.]
p. 244. in. Farther, if by the divme library we understand the sacred scriptures,
we shall charge Jerom with a trifling tautology in his chapter of Euse-
bius : and
it is observable that Jerom, commending ancient christian writers,
often mentions their diligence in studying the scriptures, or their skill in them,
but never useth this plirase, except in the chapters
and always speaks plainly ;
of Pamphilus and Eusebius : probably therefore he refei-s to their care in furnishing
the library at Caesarea, which consisted of copies of the scriptures, and
commentaries upon them, and other works of christian writers, as well as works
of profane authors. A passage of Jerom in a letter to Marcella, speaking of
that library, leads us directly to this sense. Beatus Pamphilus, quum Demetrium^in
sacrae bibliothecae studio vellet aequare,—tunc vel maxime Origenis
libros impensius prosequutus, Caesariensi ecclesiae dedicavit. Ad Marcell. T.
ii. col. 711. In my edition of Moreri's Dictionary, which is called the tenth,
printed in 1717, the article of Pamphilus begins in this manner: S. Pam-
phile avoit tant 'd'amour pour les livres, qu'il recuillet una tresbelle
bibliotheque. St. Pamphilus was so great a lover of books, that he collected
a very handsome library ; which in short, I think, is what Jerom intends to
say; that ' Pamphilus was so ambitious of making a numerous collection
' of authors, and especially of having a large and well furnished library of
* christian ecclesiastical writings, that he spared no cost or pains to obtain
' his end, and even wrote out with his own hand many copies of such books.'
Therefore, finally, the connexion confirms my interpretation.
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