law. This collection, which appeared about the end
of the sixteenth century, was edited by François Sen-
tis ("Clementis Papa VIII Decretales", Freiburg, 1870).
PHILLIPS, Kirchenrecht, IV (Ratisbon, 1851), 378 sqq.; Lau- RIn, Introductio in Corpus juris canonici (Freiburg, 1889), 196 99., 277; SCHERER, Handbuch des Kirchenrechts, I (Graz, 1886), 253; SCHNEIDER, Die Lehre v. d. Kirchenrechtsquellen (Ratis- bon, 1902), 156 sqq., 177; text-books of WERNE, SAGMULLER, etc. A. VAN HOVE.
Liber Sextus Decretalium, the title of the canon- ical collection compiled under order of Boniface VIII by Guillaume de Mandagot, Bishop of Embrun, Beren- ger Fredoli, Bishop of Beziers, and Ricardo Petroni, of Siena, vice-chancellor of the pope, by whom it was approved as an authentic and official collection in the Bull "Sacrosanctæ" of 3 March, 1298. Like the “De- cretals of Gregory IX", the "Liber Sextus" comprises five books, subdivided into titles and chapters. It contains in addition eighty-eight rules of law (reg- ulæ juris) borrowed from the Roman law, and com- piled probably by Dino de' Rossoni, professor of civil law at the University of Bologna. It is an obli- gatory code of laws, abrogating all previous general Laws enacted from the time of the publication of the "Decretals of Gregory IX" till the accession of Boni- face VIII (5 September, 1234, to 24 December, 1294), with the exception of those that were reserved (re- servata) that is to say, maintained in vigour either by decretals inserted in the "Sextus", declar- ing that these laws were to remain in force, or by their Incipit being included in the collection. The "Decre- tals of Gregory IX" were revoked, in so far as they were inconsistent with the new statutes. Although Laurin holds the contrary, we believe that the eighty- eight rules of law are also real ecclesiastical laws, be cause they form part of the collection as approved by Boniface VIII. The glossators of the "Sextus" were Johannes Andreæ, author of the ordinary gloss, to which he made some additions later (Additiones ad apparatum super Sexto); Johannes Monachus (d. 1313), and Guido de Baysio (d. 1313). As to the man- ner of citing the "Sextus", the revision of its text by the Correctores Romani of 1582, and the best editions, see CORPUS JURIS CANONICI.
This canonical collection was called by Boniface VIII himself the "Liber Sextus", firstly, because it is a continuation of the five books of the "Decretals of Gregory IX", and secondly, because six is a perfect number. This title will indicate, he says in the Bull of approbation ("Sacrosanctæ"), that the complete body of canon law, henceforth collected into six books (i. e. a perfect number of books), will furnish a perfect rule of action and be a safe guide in morals. According to Euclid, the number six is perfect, because it is equal to the sum of all its factors (1+2+3=6). Ac- cording to Boethius, a number is to be compared to an organized body, all the parts of which (factors, quo- tients, or aliquot parts) represent the members. A perfect number thus denotes a body, the members of which are in perfect harmony with that body. So also in the moral order, the perfect number is the em- blem of virtue (virtutis æmulator), and, calling this new compilation the "Liber Sextus", the pope wished to signify the happy effects which this collection of canonical legislation would produce.
NILLES, Ueber den Titel der Dekretalensammlung Bonifaz vill: Lib. Sert. Decretal. Bonif. PP. VIII. in Archiv für kath. Kirchenrecht, LXXXII (Mains, 1902), pp. 425 sqq.; LAURIN, Introductio in Corp. Jur. Can. (Fribourg, 1880). 176 49.; SCHNEIDER, Die Lehre von den Kirchenrechtsquellen (2nd ed., Ratisbon, 1892), 151 sq.; WERNZ, Jus Decretalium, I (Rome, 1898), 328 sqq.; SCHERER, Handbuch des Kirchenrechts, I (Gras, 1886), 252. A. VAN HOVE.
Liberties, GALLICAN. See GALLICANISM.
Libraries, that is to say, collections of books ac- cumulated and made accessible for public or private use, were known to the ancients before the coming of Christ. Probably the most ancient library of which LIBRARIES we have any precise knowledge is that of Tello in Mesopotamia, discovered through the excavations of M. de Sarzec and now in great part removed to the Louvre. It seems to have consisted of more than 20,000 tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing and belonging to the time of Gudea, ruler of Lagash, about 2500 B. C. Still more extensive was the royal library of Nineveh, formed by Sargon, King of As- syria from 722 to 705 B. C., and by his great-grandson Ashurbanipal (668 to 628 B. c.). The latter monarch sent scribes to the ancient cities of Babylonia and Assyria, where libraries existed, to make copies for him of rare and important works, and it seems cer- tain that the collection comprised texts, impressed of of learning and science known to the wise men of his course upon clay tablets, dealing with every branch day. More than twenty thousand of these tablets have been brought to Europe and are now preserved in the British Museum. All the more important texts are marked with a formula attesting that they belong to the palace of Ashurbanipal, and the formula con- cludes with an imprecation interesting to compare with those so often found in the manuscripts of medi- eval libraries: "Whosoever shall carry off this tablet, or shall inscribe his name upon it side by side with mine own, may Ashur and Belit overthrow him in wrath and anger, and may they destroy his name and pos- terity in the land" (Wallis, Budge, and King, "Guide to Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities", 1908, p. 41). In Egypt collections of papyrus rolls must un- doubtedly have been made, though the more perish- able nature of the material has not permitted any considerable remains to be preserved from the earlier ages of Egyptian history. Of collections of books among the Jews little is known, though certain pass- ages in the historical books of the Old Testament (e. g., II Kings, i, 18; III Kings, xi, 41; xiv, 19; xv, 23, etc.) suggest that there must have been reposito ries where books might be consulted. Moreover, we find in II Mach., ii, 13, a distinct statement that Nehemias founded a library and "gathered together out of the countries, the books both of the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings, and concerning the holy gifts.
With regard to pagan Rome and Greece we have formed a library which was carried off to Persia by more precise evidence. Pisistratus is said to have Xerxes and afterwards restored. Aristotle, the philosopher, as his writings prove, must certainly have had some sort of library at his command, and this collection, after coming to Athens, is said to have been ultimately taken by Sulla to Rome. But by far the most famous libraries of the Greek world were those of Pergamum and Alexandria. The former, which had been formed by the kings of the family of Attalus from about the year 200 B. C., must have been a very remarkable collection. Modern archæological exploration has identified the site of this library with certain rooms in the precincts of the temple of Athene (see Conze in the "Sitzungsberichte" of the themselves, we learn from Plutarch that two hundred Berlin Academy, 1884, 1259-70). As for the books Mark Anthony to Alexandria and given to Cleopatra thousand volumes, or rather rolls, were removed by to replace the library which had been accidentally destroyed by fire in Julius Caesar's Egyptian campaign. The library so destroyed, which was known as that of the Museum, was formed by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 260 B. c. It is to this library that the legend attaches of the origin of the Septuagint (q. v.), as recorded in the apocryphal, but very ancient, "Letter of Aristeas". According to this legend, Demetrius Phalereus, the keeper of the library, advised his master, King Ptolemy, to endeavour to obtain for it a translation of the Law of the Jews. Envoys were accordingly despatched to the High Priest Eleazar of Jerusalem, who sent seventy (or, more exactly,
