Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/262
Context
Isidore, born to an aristocratic family in Cartagena, was an
influential scholar and Archbishop of Seville at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Beyond his
bold ecclesiastical leadership in the old Roman province and his program to integrate
the Spanish Kingdom of the Arian Visigoths, he wrote an encyclopedia in 20 volumes.
Isidore compiled knowledge in all fields based on research across an extensive range of
classical writings, which he often quoted or paraphrased. In this passage, he describes
the history of Christian libraries, highlighting the one at Caesarea Maritima.
Text
Qui apud nos bibliothecas instituerunt. Apud nos quoque Pamphilus
martyr, cuius vitam Eusebius Caesariensis conscripsit,
Pisistratum in sacrae bibliothecae studio primus adaequare contendit. Hic enim in
bibliotheca sua prope triginta voluminum milia habuit. Hieronymus quoque atque Gennadius
ecclesiasticos scriptores toto orbe quaerentes ordine persecuti sunt, eorumque studia in
uno voluminis indiculo conprehenderunt.1
Textual Note
Ed. Lindsay 1911Translation
Those who established
libraries among (Christians). Furthermore, among us the martyr Pamphilus, whose
Life Eusebius of Caesaerea composed, was the first
who strove to match Pisistratus in his zeal for a sacred library. For he had in his own
library nearly 30,000 volumes. Jerome and Gennadius, searching all over the world for the
writers of the Church, went through them in order and compiled their studies in a catalog of
one volume.
Translation Note
Trans. J. L. RifeWorks Cited
- 1 Isidore of Seville, Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originum. Tomus I, Libri I-X, ed. W. M. Lindsay, vol. 1, 2 vols., Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911), bk: 6, ch: 6.
Additional Bibliography
- Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae Libri I-X: Machine Readable Text, ed. W.M. Lindsay (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006)
- Isidore of Seville, The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, trans. Stephen A Barney et al. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published October 19, 2022, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/262.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2022. Entry published October 19, 2022. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/262.About this Entry
Entry Title: Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 6.6”
Additional Credit:
- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife