Probably if there could be physical measuring rods wherewith to determine it, the sheer quantity of Latin, and also of Greek verses, being thrust upon the world every year would seem prodigious. At Allectus and Company they will tell you that Romanus has just brought out some very acceptable “Old Comedies” in the style of Aristophanes, and some other “New Comedies” in iambics worthy to be classed with Plautus and Terence. The noble Caninius, too, has at last completed and published a remarkable Greek epic: “The Dacian War”--celebrating Trajan’s victories in a manner quite worthy, let us say, of Homer and Hesiod. True, the uncouth names of Dacian barbarians do not fit well into the hexameters, and especially that of their king, “Decebalus,” is metrically almost impossible, but ingenious poetical license has overcome the difficulty. Who can doubt that Caninius’s “long poem” will live across the ages?[118] Such a practical man of affairs as Calvus does not take all the smooth compliments proffered his efforts over-seriously; but even our friendly senator can feel a thrill of pleasure when he dashes off a dozen elegiacs in praise of his mountain villa, and hears the “_Euge! Euge!_” (he hopes not _too_ insincere) of his guests as he reads them at a dinner party. =191. Size of Libraries.=--With such an affectation for books and literary fame there are inevitably great libraries. Long ago the old Hebrew gloomily recorded, “Of making of many books there is no end,” and his sighs would have increased could he have seen the collections in Rome. The small size of the volumes indeed makes it hard to compare these libraries with those of other ages. The largest library in the world is that at Alexandria with some 400,000 rolls, but there are public collections in Rome not very much smaller. As for private libraries, a certain rich and learned senator has about 60,000 rolls.[119] Calvus and his friends make no such boast, and he contents himself with some 4000 volumes. This is respectable, but nowise an unusual collection for a man of refined tastes, and it has plenty of counterparts all over the city. =192. A Private Library.=--The library in the house of Calvus is small but sumptuously furnished. Around a large part of the walls extend great tiers of large pigeonholes made of finely carved wood, and in each hole is a group of rolls, either the complete works of a voluminous author, or a collection of smaller books on a single subject. The bright red lettering on the dangling labels, the gilt ends of the rolling rods, the pleasing soft yellow of the end of the papyri (if these are not also colored red) give a luxurious appearance to the collection.