They say Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: ‘If the books of this library contain matters opposed to the Quran, they must be burned. If they contain only the doctrine of the Quran, burn them anyway, for they are superfluous.' Suppose Gregory the Great was there instead of Omar and the Gospel instead of the Quran. The library would still have been burned, and that might well have been the finest moment in the life of this illustrious Pontiff.