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Of Libraries
43
itself, and consumed it utterly.
Shame be to Caesar for having brought about, even though without intent, this irreparable loss! Yet he himself does not mention it in the third book of his History of the Civil War; and, later, Hirtius did not speak of it. But others did; Plutarch, for example, and Dion; and Livy also, as may easily be shown by a reference to Seneca, who says, after the words above quoted, "Another has praised the library, even Livy, who says that it had been a splendid monument to the culture and the enlightened zeal of kings." These are the very words used by Livy in speaking of the fire, and of the praise due the library itself and the kings
