A Brief Outline of the History of Libraries

_The Libraries of Augustus, the Octavian and the Palatine. Their Librarians and Custodians._

It was, then, under Augustus that this the first public library was established. Soon there were two others, also due to him. The first, the Octavian, he founded in honour of his sister, and gave it her name. Of this Dion Cassius says, in his chronicle of the year 721, "Augustus built a colonnade and in it established a library, which he named after his sister Octavia. " Plutarch seems to ascribe this work to Octavia herself, when he says, "In honour of Marcellus, his mother Octavia built a library and dedicated it to his memory; Augustus built a theatre and gave to it the name of Marcellus. " I think Plutarch is here in error, for the note of Dion's places the erection of the Colonnade of Octavia ten whole years before the death of Marcellus. He adds that these memorials were erected from spoils of the Dalmatians, and his words draw attention to the remarkable fact that the first and second libraries of Rome were both due, in a certain sense, to barbarians.