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Of Libraries
41
brarian I have mentioned, was once asked by Philadelphus how many books he had in the library, and replied that he had two hundred thousand volumes, and hoped soon to have five hundred thousand.
So you see how the library grew under his hands; then consider how much larger it must have grown to be in later years, under other kings, successors of Philadelphus. A. Gellius frankly says that the number rose to seven hundred thousand. To quote him exactly, "A prodigious number of books was collected, either by purchase or by copying, by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, nearly seven hundred thousand volumes." Ammianus,
