'
Constantinople, he tells us, became for several centuries the main centre
for the production of manuscripts. Outside the domain of art we find
little among the Romans of the East that can in any sense be called
original. They were excellent at an epitome or a lexicon, and were very
successful as librarians. The treasures of antiquity, as Gibbon has said,
were imparted in such extracts and abridgments 'as might amuse the
curiosity without oppressing the indolence of the public.' The Patriarch
Photius stands out as a literary hero among the commentators and critics
of the ninth century. That famous book-collector, in analysing the
contents of his library for an absent brother, became the preserver of
many of the most valuable classics. As Commander of the Guard he led the
life of a peaceful student: as Patriarch of Byzantium his turbulence rent
the fabric of Christendom, and he was 'alternately excommunicated and
absolved by the synods of the East and West.' We owe the publication of
the work called _The Myriad of Books_ to the circumstance that he was
appointed to an embassy at Bagdad. His brother wrote to remind him of
their pleasant evenings in the library when they explored the writings of
the ancients and made an analysis of their contents. Photius was about to
embark on a dangerous journey, and he was implored to leave a record of
what had been done since his brother had last taken part in the readings.
The answer of Photius was the book already mentioned: he reviews nearly
three hundred volumes of the historians and orators, the philosophers and
theologians, the travellers and the writers of romance, and with an even
facility 'abridges their narrative or doctrine and appreciates their
style and character.
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