Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/73

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Of Libraries
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and Latin languages as he could bring together, and to give to Marcus Varro the duty of organizing and managing them." This was truly the plan of a generous spirit, and of a wise one also; for who in all the world was better fitted than Varro, most learned in Greek and Roman letters, to carry out such a scheme? But Caesar was not destined to realize his thought. Augustus, his adopted son, added a library to the other adornments and glories he gave to the city. At his suggestion and inspired by him, Asinius Pollio, orator, senator, and noble, erected a temple of liberty, so Suetonius says, and placed in it a library which he made free to all. Isidore says, "Pollio was