05-26-2010, 01:01 PM
I recall a year or two ago (actually I think it was about five years ago) there was much talk of the Villa of the Papyri and the possibility that there might have been a second and so far undiscovered library.
Now, leaving aside the fact that there may not have really been a second library and the possibility that the works we might have been interested in may have been in the extant library but may have been flung into the sea by workmen who thought them to be lumps of coal, I wonder what work we might like to imagine might be contained in a second, so far undiscovered library. I think we can leave philosophy and poetry out, as that seems to make up the bulk of what has survived from the extant library, meaning it would probably be absent from out hypothetical library. We also need to limit ourselves to works which would have existed prior to AD79, when the villa was buried.
Pliny's 'Natural History' could be present, but would probably be about the latest work there. He certainly didn't write anything else after AD79.
I'll start the ball rolling by suggesting:
-Caesar's letters, speeches and poems (okay, I mentioned poems above, but Caesar's poems might interest us more)
-Sertorius's campaign dairies
-Drusus, Germanicus and Tiberius's campaign dairies
-Cato's Treatise on Military Discipline
-Pompey's campaign diaries and letters
-Livy's entire history
-Vitruvius' works on artillery
-Archimedes' geometry (okay, I know this has already been identified in a pamplimsest, but a complete copy with no gaps would be so much better) and his artillery writings.
-Terrence's complete collection of plays
-Aristophanes' complete works
-Sophocles' complete works
-Aeschylus' complete works
-Euripides' complete works
Well, that lot should fill a few shelves already but there must be more things other people would like to see in our pre-AD79 library. Over to you then.
Crispvs
Now, leaving aside the fact that there may not have really been a second library and the possibility that the works we might have been interested in may have been in the extant library but may have been flung into the sea by workmen who thought them to be lumps of coal, I wonder what work we might like to imagine might be contained in a second, so far undiscovered library. I think we can leave philosophy and poetry out, as that seems to make up the bulk of what has survived from the extant library, meaning it would probably be absent from out hypothetical library. We also need to limit ourselves to works which would have existed prior to AD79, when the villa was buried.
Pliny's 'Natural History' could be present, but would probably be about the latest work there. He certainly didn't write anything else after AD79.
I'll start the ball rolling by suggesting:
-Caesar's letters, speeches and poems (okay, I mentioned poems above, but Caesar's poems might interest us more)
-Sertorius's campaign dairies
-Drusus, Germanicus and Tiberius's campaign dairies
-Cato's Treatise on Military Discipline
-Pompey's campaign diaries and letters
-Livy's entire history
-Vitruvius' works on artillery
-Archimedes' geometry (okay, I know this has already been identified in a pamplimsest, but a complete copy with no gaps would be so much better) and his artillery writings.
-Terrence's complete collection of plays
-Aristophanes' complete works
-Sophocles' complete works
-Aeschylus' complete works
-Euripides' complete works
Well, that lot should fill a few shelves already but there must be more things other people would like to see in our pre-AD79 library. Over to you then.
Crispvs