Greek and Latin MSS. are the main subject. Oriental books we do not even
touch upon, and vernacular books in English or French have to take a
secondary place; and we may treat first of the Greek, for it is by far
the most compact division. In the case of both Greek and Latin books we
shall ask where and when they were chiefly made, when and how they left
their early homes, and where they are to be found now.
We shall rule out the whole of what may be called the classical
period--the libraries of Alexandria and Pergamon, the bookshops of
Martial's time--yes, and even the fourth-century library of Cæsarea--for
of these we have no relics. Our concern is with what exists to-day, or
what did exist until the nation, which has contributed so largely to
learning and history in the past, turned apostate, and to its lasting
shame destroyed and dispersed what more ignorant men had spared. The
mischief Germany has done--and it will be long before we learn the full
extent of it--she has done with open eyes.
We think primarily of Belgium and North-Eastern France as the scenes of
her worst devastations, but she has not confined her work of spoliation
to them. The Balkan provinces and Russia held great masses of Greek and
Slavonic MSS. as yet very incompletely known. The actual invasions of
German troops, and the wars and revolutions which Germany has fostered
in those regions, can hardly have been less mischievous than her
operations in the West.