Libraries.

        Eusebius himself speaks of a public library at Rome where one could find Philo's book On Virtues (Church History ii. 18. 8) as well as the writings of Josephus (iii. 9. z). He wrote his own works, however, in reliance on the church libraries at Jerusalem and Caesarea. The first of these libraries had been founded by Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem (212-250), pupil of Pantaenus and Clement of Alexandria and friend of Origen. Eusebius used this library himself and listed some of the Christian writings he found there-works by Beryllus of Bostra, Hippolytus, and Gaius of Rome (vi. 20). To judge from a fragment of the Cesti of Julius Africanus (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus iii. 412), the library also contained at least the Odyssey of Homer. Unfortunately we knows little about what else was there. Isidore of Seville may have exagerated when he said there were 30,000 volumes, but we have no real basis for guessing.[99]

        The second library Eusebius used was in his own see city of Caesarea.[100] Indeed, he acquired most of his materials there, partly by employing scribes to copy extracts for him. This library had been established by Origen and his admirer Pamphilus and contained as large a collection of early Christian literature as could be obtained. Eusebius himself added a good deal to the library. He assembled more than a hundred letters by Origen (vi. 36. 3) and was responsible for a collection of acts of the early martyrs (iv. is). In addition, he made use of other “collected works” or volumes of tracts, as H. J. Lawlor demonstrated.[101] A later notice about this library tells us that Euzoius, bishop of Caesarea about 367, “renewed” some of the works of Philo on skins; we thus see that Eusebius knowledge of Philo was presumably derived from this library. It was destroyed by the Arabs in 637.