| Nor shall a man write any accounts upon the pages of a book or
scribble anything on any part of it.
One must be careful not to keep his books in the same receptacle with
food, for fear of the mice nibbling them both.
If one is unable to press the leaves of a book together in order to
fasten the clasp, he shall not place his knees upon it to force it to
close.
If a father dies, and leaves a dog and a book to his sons, one of
the
children shall not say to the other, "You take the dog and I'll have the
book," for what a disgraceful contrast are these two objects!
If one wishes to take a nap, he must first cover his books up, and nor
recline upon them.
If a book has fallen to the ground, and at the same time some money
or a sumptuous garment has fallen also, he shall first pick up the book.
If a fire breaks out in his house, he shall first rescue his books, and
then his other property. Nor shall he ever think the time spent upon
attending to books wasted; and even if he finds a book so full of errors
as that correction of them would be useless, he shall not destroy the
book, but place it in some out-of-the-way corner.
A man is obliged to be very careful as to the respect due to books,
for by not acting thus he is behaving offensively to his fellow-man,
whose brain has produced these books. |
