Here are the facts,--the legend at least; for at such a distance, and
in such a twilight, history is legendary:--
There was a king of Egypt, named Ptolemy Euergetes, brother-in-law to
Antiochus the god.
Let us mention it en passant, all these people were gods:--gods Soters,
gods Euergetes, gods Epiphanes, gods Philometors, gods Philadelphi,
gods Philopators. Translation: Gods saviours, gods beneficent, gods
illustrious, gods loving their mother, gods loving their brothers,
gods loving their father. Cleopatra was goddess Soter. The priests and
priestesses of Ptolemy Soter were at Ptolemais. Ptolemy VI. was called
"God-love-Mother" (Philometor), because he hated his mother, Cleopatra.
Ptolemy IV. was "God-love-Father" (Philopator), because he had poisoned
his father. Ptolemy II. was "God-love-Brothers" (Philadelphus), because
he had killed his two brothers.
Let us return to Ptolemy Euergetes.
He was the son of the Philadelphus who gave golden crowns to the
Roman ambassadors,--the same to whom the pseudo-Aristeus attributes
by mistake the version of the Septuagint. This Philadelphus had much
increased the library of Alexandria, which, during his lifetime,
counted two hundred thousand volumes, and which, in the sixth century,
attained, it is said, the incredible number of seven hundred thousand
manuscripts.
This stock of human knowledge, formed under the eyes of Euclid, and
by the care of Callimachus, Diodorus Cronos, Theodorus the Atheist,
Philetas, Apollonius, Aratus, the Egyptian priest Manetho, Lycophron,
and Theocritus, had for its first librarian, according to some,
Zenodotus of Ephesus, according to others, Demetrius of Phalerum, to
whom the Athenians had raised three hundred and sixty statues, which
they took one year to put up and one day to destroy. Now, this library
had no copy of Æschylus. One day the Greek Demetrius said to Euergetes,
"Pharaoh has not Æschylus,"--exactly as, later on, Leidrade, archbishop
of Lyons and librarian of Charlemagne, said to Charlemagne, "The
Emperor has not Scæva Memor."
Ptolemy Euergetes, wishing to complete the work of the Philadelphus
his father, resolved to give Æschylus to the Alexandrian library. He
declared that he would cause a copy to be made. He sent an embassy to
borrow from the Athenians the unique and sacred copy under the care of
the recorder of the republic. Athens, not over-prone to lend, hesitated
and demanded a security. The king of Egypt offered fifteen silver
talents. Now, those who wish to realize the value of fifteen talents,
have but to know that it was three-fourths of the annual tribute of
ransom payed by Judea to Egypt, which was twenty talents, and weighed
so heavily on the Jewish people that the high priest Onias II., founder
of the Onion temple, decided to refuse this tribute at the risk of a
war. Athens accepted the security. The fifteen talents were deposited.
The complete copy of Æschylus was delivered to the king of Egypt. The
king gave up the fifteen talents and kept the book.
Athens, indignant, had some thought of declaring war against Egypt. To
reconquer Æschylus was as good as reconquering Helen. To recommence
Troy, but this time to get back Homer, it was a fine thing. Yet, time
was taken for consideration. Ptolemy was powerful. He had forcibly
taken back from Asia the two thousand five hundred Egyptian gods
formerly carried there by Cambyses, because they were in gold and
silver. He had, besides, conquered Cilicia and Syria, and all the
country from the Euphrates to the Tigris. With Athens it was no longer
the day when she improvised a fleet of two hundred vessels against
Artaxerxes. She left Æschylus a prisoner in Egypt.
A prisoner-god. This time the word _god_ is in its right place. They
paid Æschylus unheard-of honours. The king refused, it is said, to let
a copy be made of it, stupidly bent on possessing a unique copy.
Particular care was taken of this manuscript when the library of
Alexandria, enlarged by the library of Pergamus, which Antony gave to
Cleopatra, was transferred to the temple of Jupiter Serapis. There it
was that Saint Jerome came to read, in the Athenian text, the famous
passage in "Prometheus" prophesying Christ: "Go and tell Jupiter that
nothing shall make me name the one who is to dethrone him."
Other doctors of the Church made, from the same copy, the same
verification. For, at all times, the orthodox asseverations have been
combined with what have been called the testimonies of polytheism,
and great efforts have been resorted to in order to make the
Pagans say Christian things,--_teste David cum Sibylla._ People
came to the Alexandrian library, as on a pilgrimage, to examine
"Prometheus,"--constant visits which deceived the Emperor Adrian, and
made him write to the consul Servianus: "Those who adore Serapis are
Christians: those who profess to be bishops of Christ are at the same
time devotees of Serapis."
Under the Roman dominion the library of Alexandria belonged to
the emperor. Egypt was Cæsar's property. "Augustus," says Tacitus,
"seposuit Ægyptum." It was not every one who could travel there. Egypt
was closed. The Roman knights, and even the senators, could not easily
obtain admission.
It was during this period that the complete copy of Æschylus could be
consulted and perused by Timocharis, Aristarchus, Athenæus, Stobæus,
Diodorus of Sicily, Macrobius, Plotinus, Jamblichus, Sopater, Clement
of Alexandria, Nepotian of Africa, Valerius Maximus, Justin the Martyr,
and even by Ælian, although Ælian left Italy but seldom.
In the seventh century a man entered Alexandria. He was mounted on
a camel and seated between two sacks,--one full of figs, the other
full of corn. These two sacks were, with a wooden platter, all that
he possessed. This man never seated himself except on the ground. He
drank nothing but water and ate nothing but bread. He had conquered
half of Asia and of Africa, taken or burned thirty-six thousand towns,
villages, fortresses, and castles, destroyed four thousand Pagan or
Christian temples, built fourteen hundred mosques, conquered Izdeger,
King of Persia, and Heraclius, Emperor of the East, and he called
himself Omar. He burned the library of Alexandria.
Omar is for that reason celebrated. Louis, called the Great, has not
the same celebrity, which is unjust, for he burned the Rupertine
library at Heidelberg.
[Illustration] _Anne Hathaway's Cottage._
Photogravure.--From Photograph.