Prof. Thomas Smith says: "The library had been collected at
fabulous expense of labor and money, from all countries of the
world. Its destruction was a wanton act; but its perpetrator
showed, like the loving spouse 'of another noted personage, that
'though on pleasure he was bent, he had a frugal mind.' He did not
consume the books on their shelves, or in whatever repositories
contained them, although doubtless they would have made a beautiful
blaze. He utilized them as fuel for heating the baths of the city;
and we are told that they sufficed to heat the water for four
thousand such baths for six months. With an average share of
persuasibility, when it is not against our will to be convinced, we
stagger at the statement that seven hundred and thirty thousand
furnaces could have been supplied with fuel from the contents of
even that magnificent palace, and therefore venture to suggest that
the papyri and palm-leaf manuscripts were used rather as
fire-lighters than as fuel.
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