[GSlob]

"In the ancient world books were rare. If you had a book, you were probably wealthy. If you got your hands on a book, you had to remember what you read because you might not ever see that particular book again. "
Ancient Roman world had numerous libraries - both lending libraries and reading halls. Since reading aloud would make such a hall into a Bedlam, reading quietly had to be a much more common skill than Fr. John Zuhlsdorf would suggest. But then, I wouldn't be amazed if he is reading while tracking his index finger along the lines.

[siunevada]

Ancient Roman world had numerous libraries - both lending libraries and reading halls.

Of course, that depends on the time period.

And with the capital transferred from Rome to Constantinople, and Rome in decay, Amianus Marcellinus described the libraries as "closed like tombs".

And, of course, Ambrose was the bishop in Milan, not the capital.

A Brief History of Roman Libraries
"Augustus, conscious that "a man is remembered by his works", created in Rome two great libraries with corresponding sections of Latin and Greek: one on the Campus Martius, the Portico of Octavia, in the year 33 b.C. It was one of the architectually most beautiful buildings of Rome, locked by one double colonnade, in the interior of which there were two temples, one dedicated to Jupiter and another one to Juno. The other, founded in the year 28 b.C., was on the Palatine, next to the temple of Apollo, and was constructed, like the temple, to commemorate the battle of Actium. It contained on a great porch, pictures of famous writers and a colossal statue of Apollo."

"Roman libraries were not important to education, being generally small collections, and because the demand of public reading was limited, since the Romans preferred to work in their private libraries or those of their friends. Private libraries became widespread thoughout the empire in the 1st Century AD. . . . The disintegration of the Roman Empire also brought about the collapse of the old traditional social order, and the light of the world that represented Rome first languished and finally it was extinguished for always. The cities were left, and the libraries that conserved were set ablaze, destroyed or simply left to ruin. Many of the works that filled the libraries disappeared for always, and only few books, by different ways, was preserved until today."

[Dumb_Ox]

Since reading aloud would make such a hall into a Bedlam, reading quietly had to be a much more common skill than Fr. John Zuhlsdorf would suggest.

Augustine's text cited here itself doesn't suggest reading aloud was common, just that Augustine, the trained orator, thought Jerome's silence particularly noteworthy.