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Of Libraries
83
reign of the Emperor Commodus, "The lightning struck the Capitol and started a great fire, which consumed the library and the houses near it." Orosius relates the incident more at length: "Upon the city falls the punishment for the crimes of the emperor. The Capitol was struck by lightning, and a terrible conflagration burst forth, which devoured both the library, which had been gathered by men of old with so much zeal and care, and all the adjoining dwellings."
Who was the founder of this library? We cannot be sure, but we may surmise that it was Domitian. At one time he narrowly escaped death in the Capitol, and there, after he became emperor,
