Even books and learning — the most proper way for a gentleman to spend money — only make sense if you keep them reasonable. What's the point of owning thousands of books and huge libraries when you can't even read all the titles in your lifetime? A student gets overwhelmed by too many books, not educated by them. It's much better to focus on a few good writers than to skim through hundreds. Forty thousand books burned in the great fire at Alexandria. Some people, like the historian Livy, praised that library as a wonderful monument to royal wealth and refined taste. But it had nothing to do with taste or care. It was just showing off with books — and not even smart showing off, since they collected books not to learn from them, but to impress people. Many men today know less about literature than their slaves do, yet they use their books not for study but as dining room decorations.
Even literary pursuits, the most becoming thing for a gentleman to spend money upon, are only justifiable as long as they are kept within bounds. What is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries, whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime? A student is overwhelmed by such a mass, not instructed, and it is much better to devote yourself to a few writers than to skim through many. Forty thousand books were burned at Alexandria: some would have praised this library as a most noble memorial of royal wealth, like Titus Livius, who says that it was "a splendid result of the taste and attentive care of the kings." It had nothing to do with taste or care, but was a piece of learned luxury, nay, not even learned, since they amassed it, not for the sake of learning, but to make a show, like many men who know less about letters than a slave is expected to know, and who uses his books not to help him in his studies but to ornament his dining-room.