The Greek nation is generally acknowledged to have been one of the most intellectual of ancient times, yet it is a peculiar fact that only the boys were given an education, the intellectual development of women being considered unnecessary. Copying of manuscripts was often a labor of love. Demosthenes, the great philosopher, is said to have transcribed with his own hands the eight books of Thucydides on the history of the Peloponnesian War. Many of the Greek manuscripts were written by scribes and copyists who were slaves, and some of these slaves developed much talent of a literary kind. The Greeks imported papyrus as a writing material, until one of the Ptolemies, in the interests of the Alexandrian library, decreed that no papyrus should go out of Egypt. This led to the development of parchment, so named from the city of Pergamus, where it was first made. Parchment is the skin of calves, goats or sheep, cleaned and smoothed. In the days of militant Greece, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and in the year 332 B.C. founded Alexandria. When at his death Alexander’s empire was divided among his generals, Egypt fell to the lot of Ptolemy, surnamed Soter. Thus began a dynasty of Egyptian kings known as Ptolemies, ending in 30 B.C. with the death of Cleopatra, the last of the line. The second Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, founded the great Alexandrian library, which accumulated over five hundred thousand rolls of manuscript, mostly brought from Greece. The length of the rolls varied from small ones of two hundred lines to massive scrolls of one hundred and fifty feet when unwound. There is a legend that Ptolemy Philadelphus was so impressed with the appearance of a roll of parchment containing in gold letters the sacred scriptures of the Hebrews, that, about 270 B.C., he caused their translation to be made into Greek. This, it is said, was done in Alexandria in seventy-two days by seventy-two learned Jews from Jerusalem. Hence the name “Septuagint,” which has always been applied to that Greek version of the Old Testament. [Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN READING A MANUSCRIPT ROLL From a painting found at Pompeii ] Julius Cæsar, the Roman conqueror, whom Shakespeare designated “the foremost man of all this world,” about the year 30 B.C. visited the city of Alexandria and became interested in Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen. This led to a war with King Ptolemy, and during a fierce battle Cæsar set fire to the Egyptian fleet. Unfortunately the flames extended to the Alexandrian library and destroyed the greater part of its magnificent collection of manuscripts.