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Presents information on Pliny the Younger, a Roman senator who gained attention when he donated a library to Comum. Background information on Pliny; Combination of evidence from a letter by Pliny, with evidence from other libraries, to ascertain Pliny's reason for donating the library; Identity of the library's potential users; Cost of library's construction; Operation and purpose of library maintenance fund.

Considers the meaning of the ideology of public access to libraries in Ancient Rome. Reality of general access to libraries; Reliability of library reference in `Historia Augusta'; Use of libraries for public recitations; Libraries in the baths; Preservation of authors' works; Official recognition of literary merit.

Examines and suggest answers to the two riddles in Vergil's third `Eclogue'. Discussion of efforts to solve the riddles from ancient times to the present; Two components of the riddles; Use of aetiologies to solve the riddles of Damoetas and Menalcas; Hyacinth growing in the Grynean Grove as answer to Menalcas's riddle; Proposed answers to the riddle of Damoetas.