Ancient Literacies

oddness of the inscription, wanted a look at the foreword. After reading

the first two lines, he cast the text aside, declaring flatly, ‘‘This is not

Galen’s style, and this book has been falsely labeled.’’ (Kí ªÜæ ôïØ ôfiH

ÓÆíäƺÆæßfiø;ŒÆŁ’‹ äc ðºå~ØóôÆ ôøí Kí~ ‘Ñþì fi Å âØâºØïðøºåßøí KóôØí;KŁåÆóÜìåŁÜ

ôØíÆò IìçØóâÅôï~ıíôÆò;åYô’Kìeí åYÅ ôe ðØðæÆóŒüìåíïí ÆPôü âØâºßïí åYô’¼ººïı

ôØíüòKðåªÝªæÆðôï ªa摈ƺÅíeò NÆôæüò’:TíïıìÝíïı äÝ ôØíïò ‰ò Kìeí •ðe ôï~ı

îÝíïı ô~Åò KðتæÆç~Åò ŒØíÅŁåßò ôØò Iícæ ôøí çغïºüªøí KâïıºÞŁÅ ªí~ øíÆØ ôcí~

KðƪªåºßÆí ÆPôï~ıŒÆd äýï ôïfò ðæþôïıò óôßåïıò Iíƪíïfò åPŁÝøò IðÝææØłå ôe

ªæaììÆ;ôï~ıôï ìüíïí KðØçŁåªîÜìåíïò;‰ò ïPŒ ŠóôØí ™ ºÝîØò ÆRôÅ ˆÆºÅíï~ı ŒÆd

łåıä~øò KðتݪæÆðôÆØ ôïıôd ôe âØâºßïí:)Lib. Propr. 19.8 Ku ̈hn

By contrast with the vignette of Lucullus’s library, books, or a particular

book, is at the center of this anecdote. It does not call into play a literary

culture that assimilates those present, however, but exposes interests

that set them at odds: the shop owner who hopes to make a sale, one or

more customers, a bibliographic expert with a reputation to uphold, and

coincidentally, the supposed author of the book in question. Although the

episode features an ostentatious act of reading, the expert’s performance

is the very opposite of a reciter’s performance. What he puts on show is

his ability to size up a book at a glance, without regard for substantive
content. The histrionic flourish he makes comes not in reading the book,

but in tossing it aside.

Encounters like the one Galen describes, minus participation by the

authors of books, also figure in anecdotes that Aulus Gellius relates. But in

Gellius, the agonistic emphasis is even more pronounced. In one story

that is typical (NA13.31), he hears a grammarian in a bookshop boasting

about his knowledge of Varro’sMenippean Satires. Gellius happens to

have in hand an early copy of that very text, which he passes to the

grammarian, inviting him to read a certain passage aloud. With an ill

grace, the grammarian complies, but bungles the reading. The rankest

schoolboy would have done no worse, says Gellius. Having scored off his

victim once, Gellius then challenges him to explain an idiom in what he

just read. But this time the grammarian forestalls exposure by declaring

that he does not teach for free, and flees the shop. Whereupon Gellius

explains the idiom himself.

In both Galen’s and Gellius’s stories, the participants have come to

bookstores for reasons related to the business carried on there. A purchase

is the explicit occasion of Galen’s story, whereas the antiquarian text that

Gellius holds in the second is more likely to be something he contem-

plates buying than a book he brought with him to the shop. Grammar-

ians, too, had practical motives for being present, if it is correct to think

that they touted their services as consultants. In any case, their profession

gave them a more than ordinary appetite for the acquisition of books. The
truncated readings that take place are likewise appropriate to a place of

business—customers do not normally read entire books when browsing—

and the focus on accidentals like appearance, age, and provenance rather

284 Institutions and Communities