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Sextus Iulius Frontinus
On the Water-Management of the City of Rome

De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae

Translated by R. H. Rodgers

64 B 1925 B 1925 Having discussed what was necessary in regard to pipes used for distribution, I shall now set forth what quantity of water each aqueduct was thought to have up to the time of my appointment, and how much each delivered, in both cases drawing these data from the imperial records. Then I shall reveal the quantity which I myself discovered by scrupulous investigation, undertaken in support of the public interest displayed by the most conscientious Emperor Nerva.

2 The records showed a grand total of 12,755 quinariae for the available supply, and the total of deliveries was 14,018 quinariae: delivery, in other words, exceeded the amount available by 1,263 quinariae. 3 I found these figures quite remarkably astonishing. Because I felt that a chief responsibility of my office lay in monitoring the reliability and abundance of the water supply, I lost no time in devoting myself to a probing audit in an attempt to discover how the expenditures, as it were, could exceed the balance in the treasury. 4 As a first task I set about measuring the intakes of the conduits, and I discovered thereby that the available supply was considerably larger (by some 10,000 quinariae) than that stated in the records. I shall now explain in reference to each of the aqueducts.

65 B 1925 Appia's supply is recorded as 841 quinariae. 2 A measurement could not be taken at the intake, because there it consists of two channels. 3 But at "the Twins," a spot inside Spes Vetus where it joins with the branch called Augusta, I found the water had a depth of 5 feet and a width of 1¾ feet. This gives an area of 8¾ square feet, the equivalent of 22 100‑pipes plus one 40‑pipe,​108 or (expressed in terms of the 5‑pipe) 1825 quinariae — more than it has in the records by 984 quinariae. 4 It delivered 704 quinariae: this is less than it is credited in the records by 137 quinariae, and less still than the measurement at "the Twins" by 1,221 quinariae. 5 Now some is lost because of defects in the conduit. Because it is deeply buried, leaks are not readily apparent; that they exist, however, is plain from the fact that water of good quality is encountered in a number of parts of the City. 6 We also detected some illicit pipes within the City. 7 Outside the City, on the other hand, because of its low level . . .​109 it suffers no loss.

66 B 1925 The supply of Anio Vetus is recorded as 1541 quinariae. 2 At the intake I found 4398 quinariae (excluding the amount which is drawn off into the separate conduit of the Tiburtines​110) — more than the records show by 2857 quinariae. 3 Prior to its settling-tank it delivered 262 quinariae. 4 The amount measured by gauges in place at the settling-tank is 2362 quinariae. 5 Thus between intake and tank there is a loss of 1774 quinariae. 6 After the settling-tank it delivered 3408 quinariae — an amount larger than that I quoted as available according to the records by 69 quinariae, less than that I noted as taken into the conduit beyond the settling-tank by 1014 quinariae. 7 Total loss, then (adding that lost between intake and settling-tank with that after the tank), is 2788 quinariae. I would have suspected an error in my measurement, had I not discovered where these amounts were being diverted.

67 B 1925 Marcia's supply is credited in the records with 2162 quinariae. 2 Measuring at the intake I found 4690 quinariae — more than the records showed by 2528 quinariae. 3 Delivered before it reached the settling-tank were 95 quinariae; and 92 quinariaewere transferred to supplement Tepula, plus another 164 quinariaeto Anio.​111 4 Total deliveries prior to the settling-tank amounted to 351 quinariae. 5 The quantity reckoned from gauges in place at the settling-tank, together with that carried around the tank and taken up in the same channel on arches,​112 is 2944 quinariae. 6 Deliveries prior to the tank and the quantity taken up on arches total 3295 quinariae — more than the figure set down in the records for the supply by 1135 quinariae, but less than the figure reached by measurement at the intake by 1395 quinariae. 7 Delivered after the settling-tank were 1840 quinariae — less than the amount I quoted from the records as that available by 227 quinariae, less than that taken from the tank on arches by 1104 quinariae. 8 Total loss, then (adding that lost between intake and settling-tank with that after the tank), is 2499 quinariae. As in the case of the other aqueducts, we detected in a number of places that this amount was being diverted. 9 That the supply of available water is not diminished is clear, moreover, from the fact that there is at Marcia's source an overflow of more than 300 quinariae (besides that measurement we had calculated from the capacity of the conduit).

68 B 1925 Tepula's supply is credited in the records with 400 quinariae. 2 This aqueduct has no springs; it once consisted of some veins of water, but these were cut off when Julia was built. 3 Its starting-point, then, must be taken to be at Julia's settling-tank. 4 Here it receives its first 190 quinariae from Julia, with 92 quinariae taken immediately thereafter from Marcia, and a further 163 quinariae from Anio Novus near the Horti Epaphroditiani.​113 5 These together comprise 445 quinariae — more than the recorded figure by 45 quinariae. All 445 quinariae, however, appear in the delivery.

69 B 1925 Julia's supply is credited in the records with 649 quinariae. 2 At the intake a measurement could not be taken, because it consists of a number of tributaries. But near the sixth milestone from the City the entire amount is received into a settling-tank where its quantity, according to plainly visible gauges, is 1206 quinariae — more than the recorded figure by 557 quinariae. 3 Besides this, near the City, behind the Horti Pallantiani, it receives 162 quinariae from Claudia. 4 Julia receives, then, a total of 1368 quinariae. 5 Of this amount, it transfers 190 quinariae to Tepula and delivers in its own name 803 quinariae. 6 Deliveries thus total 993 quinariae — more than it has according to the records by 344 quinariae, but less than we noted its quantity to be at the tank by 213 quinariae. This last figure corresponds precisely to the amount which we detected as unlawfully taken by persons who had no imperial grants.

70 B 1925 Virgo's supply is credited in the records with 652 quinariae. 2 Its measurement could not be taken at the source, because it consists of a number of tributaries and water enters the channel with too gentle a current. 3 Towards the City, however, near the seventh milestone, in a property which now belongs to Ceionius Commodus,​114 the water has a swifter flow. Here I took a measurement which shows 2504 quinariae — more than the recorded figure by 1852 quinariae. Confirmation of our finding is quickly to hand: Virgo delivers the entire quantity which we calculated by measurement, that is, 2504 quinariae.

71 B 1925 Alsietina's supply is not included in the records, nor can an exact figure be determined under present conditions, because the water from Lake Alsietinus is supplemented, in the vicinity of Careiae,​115 from Lake Sabatinus​116 as arranged by the water-men. 2 Alsietina delivers 392 quinariae.

72 B 1925 Claudia, more copious than the others, is most liable to depredation. 2 According to the records, its supply is no more than 2855 quinariae, although I found at the source 4607 quinariae — more than the records show by 1752 quinariae. 3 Our measurement is, however, all the more reliable because at the settling-tank near the seventh milestone from the City, where the gauges leave matters in no doubt, we found 3312 quinariae. This is more than the records show by 457 quinariae, although prior to the settling-tank it makes deliveries according to official grants and we detected a good deal being stolen; the quantity at the tank is less, therefore, than it ought to be by 1295 quinariae. 4 Also in respect to delivery there is clearly fraud, for the delivery figures agree neither with the amount of supply recorded, nor with the measurements we made at the intake, nor yet with the readings taken at the settling-tank. 5 Only 1750 quinariae are delivered — less than the figure given in the records by 1105 quinariae, also less than that shown by measurements at the intake by 2857 quinariae, and less also than the reading at the tank by 1562 quinariae. 6 This, one suspects, is the reason why Claudia's water, although it was brought to the City in a channel of its own and in a pure state, was mixed in the City with that of Anio Novus: intermingling the two would obscure for each of them both the amount available and the amount delivered. 7 But if anyone thinks that I exaggerate the measurements at Claudia's sources, let him be advised that the Curtius and Caerulus springs more than suffice to supply their conduit with the 4607 quinariae which I have indicated, so that there is besides an overflow of 1600 quinariae. 8 I do not deny that this surplus does not rightly belong to these springs, for it comes from the Augusta. That spring was developed as a supplement for Marcia,​117 but when its water is not required we have added it to the springs of Claudia, although not even Claudia's conduit can carry all the water.

73 B 1925 Anio Novus was set down in the records as having 3263 quinariae. 2 Measuring at the intake I found 4738 quinariae — more than the records showed for its supply by 1475 quinariae. 3 That I do not mistakenly arrive at a number larger than the quantity available I can prove in no way more clearly than by observing that the greater part of this water is accounted for as delivered in the records themselves. 4 Deliveries come to 4200 quinariae, although elsewhere in the same records the supply is stated to be no more than 3263 quinariae. 5 Furthermore, we detected the theft of not only 538 quinariae (the difference between our measurements and the figure for delivery) but of a far larger quantity. 6 It is, therefore, clear that the supply exceeds even that we established by measurement: the reason is that the rather rapid current of the water, taken from a broad and swift-flowing river, increases the quantity by its very velocity.

74 B 1925 I have no doubt that some will be surprised that the supply of water reckoned by measurements was found to be far greater than that stated in the imperial records. 2 The explanation is error on the part of those who initially made the calculations for each aqueduct: their performance fell somewhat short of competence. 3 I am unwilling to believe that they deviated so far from the truth out of fear of summer droughts, for I took my own measurements in the month of July and I further ascertained that the amounts of each (as set forth above) remained constant through the remainder of the summer. 4 But whatever the real reason may have been, it is at least disclosed that 10,000 quinariae have been intercepted, while emperors limit their total grants of water to the quantity set forth in the records. 75 B 1925 Closely related is another disagreement: a certain quantity is received at the intakes of the conduits; the quantity at the settling-tanks is considerably reduced, while that remaining for official distribution is smallest of all. 2 The explanation is fraud on the part of the water-men, whom we have detected drawing waters from public conduits for use by private persons. 3 But a number of landholders along the aqueducts' courses also tap directly into the channels, with the result that public conduits are interrupted for the benefit of private individuals.​118 76 B 1925 On misdemeanors of this sort, nothing more need be said nor can I say it better than did Caelius Rufus in a speech entitled "Concerning Waters."​119 2 Would that there were some way other than by taking action even at the cost of personal offenses to prove that all such things are now habitually practiced with comparable impunity: we find fields illicitly irrigated, shops, garrets even, finally all establishments of unwholesome pleasure furnished with constantly flowing public water. 3 The delivery of certain waters in place of others, under false names, is a category of wrongdoing that seemed to require correction, even though this belongs among transgressions less serious than the rest. 4 Such has, indeed, been a general practice in the vicinity of the Caelian and Aventine. 5 These hills, before Claudia was brought in, received water from Marcia and Julia. 6 Later on, the emperor Nero built an arcade to carry Claudia from Spes Vetus to a distributory point near the Temple of the Deified Claudius.​120 The existing supplies were not augmented thereby, but were entirely replaced. 7 He added no new delivery-tanks, using instead the ones already there; and the old designations remained although the water itself was that of a different supply.

77 B 1925 Enough has now been said about the available quantity of each aqueduct, about what may perhaps be likened to an important new acquisition of water, and about the frauds and misdemeanors observed in this connection. 2 It remains to speak of delivery, the data for which we found summarily lumped together and even recorded under false names. We must classify these data according to the names of the aqueducts as matters stand in reality, and according to the wards of the City. 3 I know that these calculations may seem not only tedious but baffling. 4 Yet I shall present them as briefly as possible, that nothing may be lacking in this collection of administrative reference materials. 5 Those who are satisfied with knowing a single total may pass over these trifling details.

78 B 1925 In the distribution of 14,018 quinariae, there are 771 quinariae which represent transfers from one aqueduct to another;​121 these have the appearance of being delivered twice, but are in fact reckoned but once in the computation. 2 Of the grand total, 4063 quinariae are delivered outside the City (1718 quinariae in the name of Caesar, 2345 quinariae to private parties). 3 The remaining 9955 quinariae were distributed to 247 delivery-tanks within the City.​122 Of this number, 1707½ quinariae were delivered in Caesar's name, 3847 quinariae to private parties, and 4401 quinariae for public uses. In the latter category the subtotals are: 279 quinariae to . . . camps, 2301 quinariae to 95 public works, 386 quinariae to 39 munera, 1335 quinariae to 591 streetside basins. 4 But these same categories of distribution must now be applied to each of the aqueducts, with reference made to the wards of the City.

79 B 1925 Of the 14,018 quinariae, then, which we set down as the total distribution from all the aqueducts, only 5 quinariae are granted in Appia's name outside the City (because the channel level is so extremely low​123). 2 Appia's remaining 697 quinariae were apportioned among 20 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 14: in Caesar's name 151 quinariae, to private parties 194 quinariae, for public uses 354 quinariae (these latter are: 4 quinariae to 1 camp, 123 quinariae to 14 public works, 2 quinariae to 1 munus, 226 quinariae to 92 basins).

80 B 1925 Out of Anio Vetus there were delivered outside the City 169 quinariae in Caesar's name and 403 quinariae to private parties. 2 The remaining 1508½ quinariae were apportioned to 35 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 14: in Caesar's name 64½ quinariae, to private parties 490 quinariae, for public uses 552 quinariae (these latter are: 50 quinariae to 1 camp, 196 quinariae to 19 public works, 88 quinariae to 9 munera, 218 quinariae to 94 basins).

81 B 1925 Out of Marcia there were delivered outside the City in Caesar's name 261½ quinariae. 2 The remaining 1472 quinariae were apportioned to 51 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 14: in Caesar's name 116 quinariae, to private parties 543 quinariae, for public uses . . . (these latter are: 42½ quinariae to 4 camps, 41 quinariae to 15 public works, 104 quinariae to 12 munera, 256 quinariae to 113 basins).

82 B 1925 Out of Tepula there were delivered outside the City 68 quinariae in Caesar's name and 56 quinariae to private parties. 2 The remaining 331 quinariae were apportioned to 14 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 4, 5, 6, and 7: in Caesar's name 34 quinariae, to private parties 237 quinariae, for public uses 50 quinariae (these latter are: 12 quinariae to 1 camp, 7 quinariae to 3 public works, 32 quinariae to 13 basins).

83 B 1925 Out of Julia there flowed outside the City 85 quinariae in Caesar's name and 121 quinariae to private parties. 2 The remaining 548 quinariae were apportioned to 17 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12: in Caesar's name 18 quinariae, to private parties . . ., for public uses 383 quinariae (these latter are: 69 quinariae to . . . camps, 181 quinariae to . . . public works, 67 quinariae to . . . munera, 65 quinariae to 28 basins).

84 B 1925 In Virgo's name there were discharged 200 quinariae outside the City. 2 The remaining 2304 quinariae were apportioned to 18 delivery-tanks within the City, serving wards 7, 9, and 14: in Caesar's name 509 quinariae, to private parties 338 quinariae, for public uses 1167 quinariae (these latter are: 26 quinariae to 2 munera, 51 quinariae to 25 basins, 1380 quinariae to 16 public works, 3 of which the Euripus named for Virgo​124 by itself receives 460 quinariae). 85 B 1925 Alsietina delivers 392 quinariae, the entire consumption being outside the City: in Caesar's name 354 quinariae, to private parties 138 quinariae.

86 B 1925 Outside the City deliveries were made from the separate channels of Claudia and Anio Novus; within the City the two waters were intermingled. 2 Claudia furnished outside the City 246 quinariae in Caesar's name and 439 quinariae to private parties; Anio Novus furnished 728 quinariae in Caesar's name. 3 The remaining 3498 quinariae of the two were apportioned to 92 delivery-tanks within the City, serving all fourteen wards of the City: in Caesar's name 815 quinariae, to private parties 1567 quinariae, for public uses 1015 quinariae (these latter are: 149 quinariae to 9 camps, 374 quinariae to 18 public works, 107 quinariae to 12 munera, 485 quinariae to 226 basins).

87 B 1925 Up to the time of Emperor Nerva, the supply of water was distributed in this quantity, according to the calculation of what was available. 2 But now, thanks to the energetic interest of this most conscientious ruler, the water fraudulently diverted by the water-men or illicitly drawn off because of inattentiveness has increased the supply available, much as if entirely new sources had been developed. 3 The overall abundance has in fact been nearly doubled, and its delivery has been arranged with such careful apportionment that water from several aqueducts is to be furnished in wards which once were served by single waters. An example is seen in the case of the Caelian and Aventine, to which Claudia alone was brought on the Neronian Arches; thus whenever some major repair occurred, it happened regularly that these thickly populated hills were deprived of water. 4 These areas now receive their supply from several waters, most notably by the restoration of Marcia, brought by means of a large-scale project all the way from Spes Vetus to the Aventine.​125 5 Indeed in every part of the City new street basins and a good many of the older ones are fitted with two pipes in constant flow, from separate aqueducts; this as a precaution to ensure uninterrupted service from at least one adequate supply should either of the two be cut off accidentally. 88 B 1925 Thus from day to day Rome, queen and mistress of the world, perceives the watchful care of her Emperor Nerva, and the wholesome environment of this same eternal City will be perceived all the more by an increased number of delivery-tanks, public works, munera, and basins. 2 No smaller is the benefit for private parties which results from an increase in the number of grants made by the same emperor's favor. Those who once ran risks by drawing water illicitly are now untroubled because they enjoy it by right of official grants. 3 Not even overflow waters are without useful purpose. There is now an entirely fresh guise of cleanliness and a cleaner air; gone are causes of unhealthy climate which often gave our City a poor reputation in former times.​126 4 I am aware that this booklet should incorporate data which reflect the new pattern of delivery, but these we shall append along with those for the additional supply: one can understand, of course, that new figures are not to be set down until the various projects are completed.

89 B 1925 As evidence of that conscientious duty which our emperor displays to his citizens by painstaking concern for details, should it go unremarked that he feels such an increase in the water supply is somehow inadequate as a contribution to our needs and pleasures unless he should also improve upon its purity and palatability? 2 It is worth while to review particular instances in which, by taking measures to deal with defects of individual waters, he has enhanced the useful qualities of them all. 3 For when has our citizenry not had turbid and muddy water in consequence of even very moderate rainstorms? 4 It is not because all the waters have this characteristic at their sources. Nor is it because those fed by springs ought to suffer this adverse effect (Marcia and Claudia, especially), for their good quality at the intake is impaired either not at all or only slightly by rainfall, provided that shafts along the conduit are built up and covered over.​127 90 B 1925 Water from the two Anio aqueducts remains less clear, for in both cases it is drawn from a river which often runs muddy even in good weather. The Anio River, although flowing from a lake whose waters are very pure, by the very swiftness of its current carries off dirt from crumbling banks, and by this it is polluted before its water enters the aqueduct channels. 2 It is subject to this adverse effect by storms not only during winter and spring, but also in summer — the season when a more refreshing purity in our water is required. 91 B 1925 One of these two, the Anio Vetus, keeps its muddy condition to itself, being lower in level than most of the others. 2 But Anio Novus contaminated the rest; since its level is highest of all and it is especially copious, it is called upon to remedy shortages in other aqueducts.​128 3 Worse, because of incompetence on the part of the water-men who diverted it into the other channels more often than was needed for making good the deficiencies, Anio Novus polluted even those supplies that were adequate. This fault is clearest of all in the case of Claudia: the water carried for so many miles in its own conduit in the end was intermingled at Rome with that of Anio Novus, and Claudia thus lost — up to the present time, at least — its superior identity. 4 Worse yet, so far was the water of Anio Novus from being a help to the aqueducts into which it was turned that some of these were then called upon for unworthy purposes through the thoughtlessness of those who arranged for distributions. 5 No less a water than Marcia, so very delightful for both its coldness and its clarity, I detected being delivered to baths, to fullers, even for purposes of which it is distasteful to speak. 92 B 1925 A decision, therefore, was made to separate all the waters, and then to arrange for them to be distributed individually. Marcia, as an obvious starting-point, would thus be reserved entirely for drinking. The others would be assigned to appropriate uses, each according to its particular qualities. And so Anio Vetus, for a number of reasons (one being the further downstream a water is received the less wholesome it is), would be delivered for irrigation of large estates and for meaner functions of the City itself.

93 B 1925 But our Emperor was not satisfied with having restored the quantity and quality of the other waters, for he recognized that it was possible to remedy the defects of even Anio Novus. 2 He thus has ordered that its water no longer be drawn from the river but be taken instead at a spot where it is extremely clear, directly from the lake which lies above Nero's villa at Sublaqueum.​129 3 The Anio River rises beyond Treba Augusta​130 and its water is still in a very cold and fresh condition when it reaches this point. This is because the upper course lies among rocky mountains, and in the vicinity of that hamlet there are but few bits of cultivated land along its banks; or because the depths of the lakes into which it has been collected encourage the settling of impurities, while it is shaded as well by the denseness of the bordering forests. 4 Water from the new intake will be of outstanding excellence, such to equal that of Marcia in every point of quality and even to surpass it in abundance; it will replace that which comes now unpleasant and muddy from the lower catchment.​131 The opening lines of an appropriate inscription will proclaim the man responsible for this signal improvement to be Emperor Caesar Nerva Augustus.​132

94 B 1925 Next we are to indicate what is the legal basis upon which water is to be drawn and its supply is to be safeguarded; the former concerns the limiting of private parties to the quantity of their official grants, the latter the maintenance of the conduits themselves. 2 Investigating more distantly into those regulations established with regard to individual persons, I discover that some matters were handled differently in the times of our ancestors. 3 In their days, all water was delivered for public uses, and it was stipulated as follows: "No private person is to draw water other than that which falls from a basin to the ground" (these are the exact words of the regulation), meaning that overflow from the basins which we now call "lapsed water." 4 Even this water was not granted for use other than by baths or fullers' establishments, and it was subject to a fee, the amount of which was legally fixed, to be paid into the public treasury. 5 Some water was granted for delivery into the homes of leading men of the state, with the consent of the others. 95 B 1925 But to which public officials belonged the right to grant water or to sell it, there is no consistency in the statutes themselves. 2 At some times I find that permission was given by aediles, at other times by censors. But apparently whenever there were censors in office, as a rule they dealt with such requests; when there were no censors, the similar power fell upon the aediles. 3 From this it is plain how much more our predecessors cared for benefits to the community than for private pleasures, since even that water drawn by private parties was related to public usefulness.

96 B 1925 The maintenance of the individual aqueducts, I find, was customarily awarded by contract. The contractors were required to have a fixed number of slave workmen here and there along the conduits outside the City and a fixed number within the City; the requirement even included that they register in the public records the names of those whom they were to employ and in what localities they were to be assigned. Responsibility for final inspection of the contractors' work lay with censors, sometimes with aediles; occasionally this duty even fell upon quaestors,​133 as we see in a senatorial resolution passed in the consul­ship of Gaius Licinius and Quintus Fabius [116 B.C.E.]. 97 B 1925 The special care taken that no one should venture to damage the conduits or to draw water which had not been granted can be shown by one out of many possible examples. The Circus Maximus​134 was not watered, even on the days when games were held there, without the express permission of aediles or censors; 2 and we read in the writings of Ateius Capito​135 that this regulation remained in effect even after the institution of water commissioners under Augustus. 3 Indeed, properties which had been irrigated with public water against the law were confiscated. 4 For a contractor, too, a fine was imposed, even if it was established that someone had broken the law without his knowledge.​136 5 In the same regulations this clause was added: "No one with wrongful deceit is to defile with excrement water which issues for public use. 6 If any person should so defile it, the fine is to be 10,000 sesterces." 8 For this reason curule aediles were instructed to appoint two men for each district, out of those who lived there or owned property in that district; these men were to have judicial authority over water which issued for public use.​137

98 B 1925 Marcus Agrippa, after his aedile­ship (a post he held exceptionally, having already been consul​138), assumed responsibility for the works and benefactions he had himself provided and became thereby, so to speak, the first permanent water commissioner. 2 Now that there was an adequate supply, Agrippa apportioned this water to public works, to streetside basins, and as grants to private persons.​139 3 He had also a personal work crew for maintaining the conduits as well as delivery-tanks and basins. 99 B 1925 When Augustus inherited this crew from Agrippa, he transferred its owner­ship to the state. 2 After Agrippa's death [12 B.C.E.], in the consul­ship of Quintus Ælius Tubero and Paulus Fabius Maximus [11 B.C.E.], resolutions were passed in the Senate and a statute was promulgated to deal with the matter of routine administration, for hitherto this had been handled in only a semi-official way and there had been no specific legal basis.​140 3 Augustus also, by an edict, established what right those persons should enjoy who had water according to Agrippa's records, for the entire scheme of distribution had been left to the emperor's own pleasure. 4 He also established the pipe-sizes of which I have spoken;​141 and to be responsible for a comprehensive and rigorous administration he appointed Messala Corvinus​142 as a chief commissioner, to be assisted by Postumius Sulpicius, an ex-praetor, and Lucius Cominius, a junior senator. 5 Trappings were conferred upon these men, as if they were magistrates, and concerning their office there was passed the following senatorial resolution.

2 Although the state treasury continues to this day to disburse monies for these attendants and assistants, they seem nevertheless to have ceased to have any relation­ship to the commissioners, who through idleness and laziness have not been performing the duties of their office. 3 The Senate had granted lictors to accompany commissioners when they left the City, provided that they did so on official business. 4 But when I myself make tours to inspect the channels, my own trustworthiness and the authority granted by the ruler will stand in place of such lictors.

102 B 1925 Since I have brought the matter to the introduction of the commissioners, it is not out of place to insert at this point a list of those who have served as chief commissioners from Messala to myself.

2 Messala's successor, in the consulate of Plancus and Silius [13 C.E.], was Ateius Capito.​145

3 Capito's, in the consulate of Gaius Asinius Pollio and Gaius Antistius Vetus [23 C.E.], was Tarius Rufus.​146

4 Tarius', in the consulate of Servius Cornelius Cethegus and Lucius Visellius Varro [24 C.E.], was Marcus Cocceius Nerva, grandfather of the Deified Nerva and a legal scholar of high repute.​147

5 His successor, in the consulate of Fabius Persicus and Lucius Vitellius [34 C.E.], was Gaius Octavius Laenas.​148

6 Laenas', in the consulate of Aquila Julianus and Nonius Asprenas [38 C.E.], was Marcus Porcius Cato.​149

7 His successor, during that same year, when Servius Asinius Celer and Sextus Nonius Quintilianus were suffect consuls, was . . .​150

. . . Aulus Didius Gallus.​151

8 Gallus', in the consulate of Quintus Veranius and Pompeius Longus [49 C.E.], was Gnaeus Domitius Afer.​152

9 Afer's, in the consulate of Nero Claudius Caesar (for the fourth time) and Cossus, the son of Cossus [60 C.E.], was Lucius Piso.​153

10 Piso's, in the consulate of Verginius Rufus and Memmius Regulus [63 C.E.], was Petronius Turpilianus.​154

11 Turpilianus', in the consulate of Crassus Frugi and Laecanius Bassus [64 C.E.], was Publius Marius.​155

12 Marius', in the consulate of Luccius Telesinus and Suetonius Paulinus [66 C.E.], was Fonteius Agrippa.​156

13 Agrippa's, in the consulate of Silius and Galerius Trochus [68 C.E.], was Vibius Crispus.​157

14 Crispus', in the consulate of Vespasian (for the third time) and Cocceius Nerva [71 C.E.], was Pompeius Silvanus.​158

15 Silvanus', in the consulate of Domitian (for the second time)​159 and Valerius Messalinus [73 C.E.], was Tampius Flavianus.​160

16 Flavianus', in the consulate of Vespasian (for the fifth time) and Titus (for the third time) [74 C.E.], was Acilius Aviola.​161

17 After whom,​162 in the consulate of Emperor Nerva (for the third time) and Verginius Rufus (for the third time) [97 C.E.], the office was transferred to me.

103 B 1925 I shall now continue with matters which require watchful care of the water commissioner, including the statute and senatorial resolutions which contain directions for the performance of his duties. 2 Concerning the right to draw water in the case of private parties there are two points to be noted. No one is to draw water without the written authorization of Caesar (that is, no one is to draw public water unless it has been granted); and no one is to draw more than he has received by grant. 3 For in this way we shall bring it about that the quantity we spoke of as being newly added​163 may be distributed to new fountains and put to use for new grants from the emperor. 4 On both points, indeed, the commissioner will need to be specially watchful to counter various and shifting forms of fraud. The channels outside the City must be inspected with painstaking attention and at frequent intervals, to check the accuracy of granted deliveries; and the same must be done at delivery-tanks and in public fountains to ensure that water flows without interruption both day and night. 5 The commissioner's instruction in this regard is that of a senatorial resolution, the text of which follows.

3 In this senatorial resolution I believe it should be noted that the Senate forbade either increase or decrease in the number of public fountains. 4 This was done, I think, because the quantity of water coming into the City in those times (before Claudia and Anio Novus were brought in) seemed inadequate for more widespread delivery.

105 B 1925 Anyone who wishes to draw water for private use must follow a procedure of making official application and delivering in person to the commissioner a written authorization from the emperor. The commissioner must thereupon give timely consideration to the grant issued by Caesar and forward it in writing to the appropriate imperial deputy (a freedman of Caesar).​165 2 Tiberius Claudius seems first to have created this post of imperial deputy, after he brought in Anio Novus and Claudia. 3 The contents of the imperial document ought also to be made known to foremen of the work-crews, that they may not use ignorance as a plea to excuse negligence or fraud on their own part. 4 The imperial deputy, calling upon the levellers, is to provide for stamping a calix​166 of the size specified in the grant, with precise attention to the quantity as represented by the measurements we have spoken of earlier, and he is to be aware of the setting, so that it is not left to the decision of the levellers to approve a calix sometimes larger in aperture, sometimes smaller, in relation to the influence of the parties involved. 5 Neither is it to be left completely to option as to the size of lead pipe which is directly attached: this must conform to the size stamped on the calix for a distance of fifty feet, as stipulated in the following senatorial resolution.

3 In this senatorial resolution it is worthy of note that permission is for water to be drawn only from a delivery-tank, so that neither the channels nor public pipes may be damaged by numerous tappings.

107 B 1925 The right to draw granted water passes neither to an heir, nor to a buyer, nor to any new proprietor of the property. 2 In former times a special right was permitted to bathing establishments used by the populace, whereby water once granted should remain theirs forever. 3 This we learn from old senatorial resolutions, one of which I have given below. (Nowadays a grant of any water is renewed whenever the occupant changes.)

109 B 1925 As soon as the right to any water becomes vacant, this fact is reported and entered in the records, which are examined in order that from vacant water-rights grants may be made to applicants. 2 It was customary for the water-staff​169 to cut off such waters immediately, so that between grants they might sell water either to the occupants of the property or indeed to other parties. 3 But a more considerate policy has appealed to our emperor: so that properties may not suddenly be deprived entirely of water, he bestows a grace-period of thirty days, within which the interested parties <may make whatever arrangements are needed>.​170 4 I find no formal procedure in place with regard to water granted to property held by a syndicate. 5 Yet it is the customary practice, just as if it were legally prescribed, that the entire quantity allotted to a property shall continue to flow so long as there survives any one of those who received the grant in common, and the grant is to be renewed only when every one of those to whom the grant was issued has ceased to occupy the premises. 6 It goes without saying that granted water is not to be drawn for use elsewhere than on the property for which it was granted, or from a delivery-tank other than that designated in the written authorization of the emperor; but this is also forbidden by imperial regulations. 110 B 1925 Also subject to grants are those waters which are called "lapsed" (that is, overflow from delivery-tanks or emissions​171 from pipes), 2 although such grants are customarily given very sparingly by the rulers. Yet these offer opportunity for fraud on the part of the water-men; and how much care should be devoted to preventing such fraud will be clear from a section of the imperial regulations which I quote below.

112 B 1925 Now that I have set forth those things which relate to regulating the use of water by private parties, it is not out of place to touch, by way of example, upon some of the practices used to circumvent these most wholesome enactments, ones that I have detected in the routine performance of my duty. 2 Certain calices larger than the size granted I found in place in a number of delivery-tanks, and some of these had not even been stamped. 3 Now whenever a stamped calix exceeds the legitimate measurement, the fact is proof of favoritism on the part of the imperial deputy who stamped it; 4 but when it has no stamp at all, the blame plainly rests on all involved — the recipient most of all, but also the foreman. 5 In some instances, although calices of legitimate measurement had been stamped, pipes of larger gauge were attached to them immediately; in consequence, the water is not restrained for the legitimate distance, but is forced instead through a short narrow passage and readily fills the larger adjoining pipe. 6 For this reason, competent supervision will further require that, whenever a calix is stamped, the adjoining pipes should also be stamped for the distance which we said was stipulated in the senatorial resolution. 7 Only when he knows that pipes are not to be set in place unless they are stamped will the foreman be deprived of any opportunity for making excuse. 113 B 1925 Also, as to setting the calices in place, it should be the practice to arrange them in a straight line, not to place one party's calix lower and another's higher. 2 The lower one takes in more, while the higher one draws less because the flow of water is carried off by the lower one. 3 In the pipes of some parties there were no calices set in place at all. 4 Such pipes are called "uncontrolled," and at the whim of a water-man they are expanded or contracted. 114 B 1925 There exists yet another intolerable method of cheating used by the water-men. When a water right has been transferred to a new proprietor, they create a new aperture in the delivery-tank; but they leave the old one in place to draw out water which they sell. 2 This, I should have thought, is another practice demanding special correction on the part of the commissioner, 3 for it involves not only the custody of the water-supply itself but also the maintenance of the delivery-tank, which is damaged by such frequent and needless taps. 115 B 1925 Also to be abolished is the profit-making scheme of the water-men which is called "puncturing." 2 Pipes in the City extend long distances and in many directions concealed beneath the pavement. 3 I discovered that these were furnishing water in privately owned branch pipes to all the commercial establishments located along their path, and that they had been tapped for that purpose here and there by the man known as "the puncturer."​172 The effect was that only a small quantity of water arrived for public uses. 4 How much of the quantity lost has now been reclaimed I estimate from the fact that a considerable volume of lead has been collected by the removal of that kind of branch pipes.

116 B 1925 Still before us is the topic of maintenance of the conduits. But before I speak of this, a few comments should be set forth on the working-crew established for that purpose. 2 There are in fact two such crews, one belonging to the state, the other to Caesar. 3 The public crew is the older, left (as we said) by Agrippa to Augustus and by him turned over to state owner­ship;​173 it is comprised of about 240 men. 4 The number of Caesar's crew is 460; it was created by Claudius when he brought his aqueducts into the City. 117 B 1925 Each of the crews is divided into several categories of workers: foremen, men in charge of delivery-tanks, inspectors, stone workers, plasterers, and other workmen. 2 Of these some are to be outside the City to deal with projects which do not involve major construction but which nevertheless seem in need of prompt attention. 3 Men stationed within the City at delivery-tanks and munera will pursue a variety of routine tasks, especially in case of sudden emergencies, so that a reserve of plenti­ful water from several wards may be turned into the ward where difficulty threatens. 4 It was customary for members of each of these large crews to be withdrawn for use in private construction, through favoritism or negligence on the part of those in charge. I determined to recall them all to some orderly management, and I organized these public servants that I myself should prescribe a day in advance what each crew was to do and by having a record kept of their daily accomplishments. 118 B 1925 Monies for the public crew are paid from the state treasury, an expense which is offset by revenue collected from properties associated with the water system: 2 these consist of lands or buildings situated near the conduits, delivery-tanks, munera, or basins. 3 This income, close to 250,000 sesterces, had been lost to its intended purpose and credited to some other account (most recently, indeed, turned into the coffers of Domitian​174); but the Deified Nerva with a due sense of right restored it to the populace, and I have given painstaking attention to bringing it under fixed rules, that it might be entirely clear which places were subject to this tax. 4 Caesar's crew receives monies from the imperial treasury, from which payments are also made for all lead and for all expenses relating to the conduits and delivery-tanks and basins.

119 B 1925 Since we have set forth that which seemed pertinent to the working-crew, we shall now turn (as I promised) to maintenance of the conduits: this is a matter worthy of the most earnest attention, for it serves as a particularly impressive symbol of the greatness of the Roman Empire.​175 2 Many, sometimes large-scale, tasks are constantly arising, which should have prompt attention before extensive remedy may be required; much of the time, however, tasks of maintenance are to be deferred through wisdom and restraint, for one should not always put trust in those who urge work of construction or extension. 3 For this reason the commissioner ought not only to avail himself of the knowledge of specialists, but he ought also to be equipped with some practical experience of his own. He ought not only to consult the engineers in his own office, but also to call upon the reliable judgment and expertise of numerous others, that he may in the end determine which tasks are to be undertaken without delay and which are to be postponed, and, again, which are to be carried out by independent contractors and which by workmen of the domestic staff. 120 B 1925 Maintenance tasks arise for the following reasons: damage occurs from wear and tear, from wrongful behavior on the part of landholders, from violent storms, from faulty workman­ship (which happens rather often in the case of recent works).​176 121 B 1925 Wear due to age or damage from weather plagues for the most part those parts where conduits are carried upon arches or contoured to mountainsides and, of the arches, parts where the aqueducts cross over rivers. 2 Repairs on these stretches ought therefore to be accomplished with diligence and dispatch. 3 Subterranean portions, protected from exposure to extremes of cold or heat, are less liable to suffer harm. 4 Damages are either of the sort that can be remedied without interrupting the flow; or else they are of the kind that cannot be corrected without diverting the water, as, for example, those which occur within the channel itself. 122 B 1925 There are two causes of damage within the channel. One is that the passageway for water becomes constricted by deposits which build up eventually into a solid crust. The other cause is injury to the concrete lining:​177 this produces leaks, which lead inevitably to deterioration in the sides of the channels and in the substructures. 2 Sometimes even the piers built of tufa give way under their great load. 3 Repairs which involve the interiors of channels should not be scheduled for summer, to avoid interruption in the season when demand for water is especially high. The time for such repairs is in spring or fall; and they should be carried out with maximum speed, with all preparations of course made in advance, so that the channels may be out of service for as few days as possible. A moment's thought reveals that repairs such as this should be done on one aqueduct at a time: if several were cut off simultaneously, the metropolitan area would be without water. 123 B 1925 Repairs to be carried out without interrupting the flow of water are primarily those involving the use of concrete, work with which should be done in appropriate seasons and the product should be of durable quality. 2 The suitable time for working with concrete is from the 1st of April to the 1st of November; but it is best, nonetheless, to leave off temporarily during the hottest part of summer, because moderate weather is needed for adequate absorbency of moisture and for cohesive solidity (intense sunlight causes premature setting no less than does frost).​178 3 No material requires closer attention than that which is required to withstand the action of water; a reliable quality must therefore be demanded in such work, in accord with the rule which all know but few observe. 124 B 1925 No-one, it seems to me, would question that the conduits closest to the City (those from the sixth milestone, where the construction is of ashlar masonry) require the most careful upkeep: these are structures of the greatest magnitude and each of them carries several channels.​179 2 If it were necessary to interrupt these arcades, the City would be deprived of the greater part of its water supply. 3 Yet there are remedies to be applied to this difficulty: a temporary structure is erected up to the level where there is damage, and a continuous channel is formed with leaden troughs along the distance of the interrupted conduit.

4 Furthermore, inasmuch as most of the conduits had been laid out through the property of private persons and it was foreseen that there might in future be difficulty in gathering necessary materials unless this process was somehow accommodated by a legal formality; in order, too, that contractors might not be prohibited by landholders from having access to channels which needed repairs, there was enacted the following senatorial resolution.

126 B 1925 Not infrequently, however, damages are occasioned by wrongful behavior on the part of landholders, who cause injury to the channels in a variety of ways. 2 For one thing, they occupy with buildings or trees the spaces alongside the aqueducts which are to be left vacant in accordance with a senatorial resolution. 3 Trees are more harmful, for their roots dislodge the vaulted coverings and sides of the conduits. 4 For another thing, they lay out neighborhood roads and country paths over the aqueduct structures themselves. 5 Finally, they deny access for maintenance. 6 Against all these offenses provision was made in the following senatorial resolution.

128 B 1925 This senatorial resolution would seem to be entirely just, even if these spaces were reclaimed by reason of usefulness to the state alone. Its fairness is all the more apparent in light of the fact that our forefathers, with remarkable equity, did not seize from private parties even those lands which were of necessary interest to the state; but when they were bringing in waters, if a landholder was recalcitrant about selling a part of his property, they paid for the whole, and then after fixing boundaries for the land that was needed they sold the property in their turn, it having been clearly established that the state as well as private parties, each within respective boundaries, should have full and absolute right.​186 2 But many, not content to have encroached beyond the boundaries, have laid hands upon the conduits themselves. By penetrating the side walls here and there . . . no less those who have a granted right of water, than those who take advantage of the slightest opportunity for an imperial favor to get control of the channels. . . .​187 3 What would happen besides, were not all such actions forbidden by a statute drafted with exceptional diligence and were not the willfully disobedient threatened with a penalty more than moderately severe? 4 For this reason I quote the words of the statute:

130 B 1925 I should not deny that those who show no respect for a statute of such excellent justice are worthy of the penalty which is threatened. But those who had been lulled into confidence by administrative neglect over a long period of time deserved to be brought back to their senses with gentleness. 2 Thus with special care I have sought, so far as it lay within my power, to preserve the anonymity of those who had erred. 3 Those who took my admonition seriously and sought the Emperor's pardon may look upon me as the means whereby they now enjoy an official grant with imperial favor. 4 Against the others, indeed, I hope that execution of the statute may not be necessary, since in the end it is better to uphold the trust placed in my office even at the risk of provoking indignant reactions.

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The Editor's Notes:

108 Area of 2240 square digits = 22 × 100 (the cross-section of the 100‑pipe) plus 40 (that of the 40‑pipe).

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109 The manuscript offering is grammatically irregular. It has been taken to mean something like "since at the source it lies 50 feet below the ground" — but this is a statement that strains credibility.

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110 Chapter 6 above.

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111 Anio Vetus is meant, it being lower in level.

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112 A puzzling expression, but perhaps related to the fact that Marcia's delivery to Tepula had to take place while the latter's channel was at a lower level.

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113 Horti Epaphroditiani: property which had belonged to Nero's freedman Epaphroditus.

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114 Either Lucius Ceionius Commodus (consul in 78 C.E.) or his son of the same name (consul in 106 and grandfather of the emperor Lucius Verus).

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115 The now deserted village of S. Maria di Galeria, fifteen miles from Rome on the Via Clodia.

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116 Modern Lago di Bracciano.

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117 See Chapter 12 above.

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118 There is a textual uncertainty here, but it does not affect the overall sense.

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119 Marcus Caelius Rufus (82‑48 B.C.E.), a lively and urbane figure in the Ciceronian era. In 50 B.C.E. he held the curule aedile­ship, and in a letter to Cicero in February of that year he writes [ad Fam. 8.6.4], "If it were not for my own squabbles with tavern-keepers and water-men, life in the City would have been too intolerably palling." It is tempting to see in the sentence which follows here ("Would that . . . public water") a direct quotation from Caelius' speech, but vocabulary and tone may be no more than allusive.

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120 See Chapter 20 above.

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121 The 771 quinariae are accounted for as follows: Marcia to Tepula, 92 (Chapters 67, 68); Marcia to Anio Vetus, 164 (Chapter 67); Julia to Tepula, 190 (Chapters 68, 69); Claudia to Julia, 162 (Chapter 69); Anio Novus to Tepula, 163 (Chapter 68).

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122 Only a few of the figures in Chapters 78‑86 are demonstrably correct; for the rest too little is known to be sure where the errors lie.

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123 The Latin is woefully corrupt; the sense is taken from Frontinus' explanation in Chapter 65.

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124 The Euripus ("canal") in question is one that played an important part in Agrippa's fashionable development of the Campus Martius. It flowed from a moderately large pool west and north into the Tiber. The poet Ovid, from his exile on the Black Sea, fondly recalled "the lawns of the Campus bordering on comely parks, the pools and canals and the flowing streams of Virgo" (Ex Ponto 1.8.37).

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125 Marcia is said to be "restored" because it once served the Caelian and Aventine (Chapter 76 above). Mention of "a large-scale project" with a starting-point at Spes Vetus suggests a high-level arcade rather like the Neronian Arches (Chapter 20 above). No remains of such a work have been identified and (despite the past tense) the project may have been no more than a plan, subsequently modified into a major pipe line or abandoned altogether.

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126 There is uncertainty in the Latin text at this point. For the sense, see Chapters 110‑111 below.

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127 These were shafts made to facilitate the tunneling process when the aqueducts were constructed; they subsequently were used for inspection and cleaning. Piles of debris near these openings have enabled scholars to trace the aqueducts' courses in long stretches of subterranean channel.

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128 For example, at Grotte Sconce (not far below Tivoli) there was a large tank from which water from Anio Novus could be diverted into the conduits of Claudia, Marcia, and Anio Vetus (all of which were lower in level).

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129 Modern Subiaco. There were actually three lakes, artificially created in the Neronian period. One of the dams reached a height of nearly 40 meters — a record that stood till late in the sixteenth century.

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130 An ancient community of the Aequi (modern Trevi). The epithet Augusta is not otherwise attested.

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131 Archaeological evidence confirms that the project outlined here was in fact completed.

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132 The manuscript includes the name Traianus, giving the credit to Trajan (under whom Nerva's undertaking would have had to be completed). But "the man responsible" was really Nerva, and Frontinus will not have failed to appreciate that duti­ful devotion required Nerva's heir to record that fact. Trajan's name, I think, is an ill-considered addendum by a later reader.

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133 The quaestor­ship was the lowest of the regular magistracies; holders were busied with financial matters. They were not inappropriately involved in registering final approval of contracted work, for it was at this point that final payment was made.

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134 The earliest and grandest circus ("course for chariot-racing") at Rome, located in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine.

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135 The writings in question were legal in nature, for Ateius was a distinguished lawyer (himself water commissioner 13‑23 C.E.: see Chapter 102 below).

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136 This seems to be the sense, although there are textual blemishes.

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137 There is a similarity, probably no more than superficial, to the neighborhood custodes ("watchguards") appointed in the aftermath of Nero's fire (Tacitus, Annals 15.43).

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138 See Chapter 9 above.

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139 Note the resemblance to the three-fold division sketched by Vitruvius (8.6.1): baths, streetside basins and fountains, private houses. Expanding and regularizing the practice of making grants to private persons is an important facet of Agrippa's management, but the signal achievement was system-wide coherence.

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140 Agrippa's personal management (dating from 33 B.C.E.) was not that of the olden days (the Republican constitution was now in shambles), nor was it yet the formalized system of commissioners acting as deputies of the Emperor.

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141 Chapters 27‑63 above.

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142 Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus (64 B.C.E.-13 C.E.), a scion of high nobility, but most likely chosen for this post because of the close relation­ship he had enjoyed with Agrippa. The associates are relatively obscure persons, and it seems clear that from the outset the chief commissioner (who was always an ex-consul) eclipsed the assistants.

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143 Reference is to the Prefects for the Distribution of Grain, a senatorial agency established in 22 B.C.E. (somewhat modified in 18) as the first stage in the evolution of Augustus' new system of civil service under imperial direction.

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144 There are severe problems with the Latin text, and my translation is therefore itself problematic.

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145 See note 135 above. He may have been chosen because of a family relation­ship to Agrippa.

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146 Possibly Lucius Tarius Rufus, an admiral at Actium in 31 B.C.E. (when Agrippa and Octavian, the future Augustus, defeated the forces of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra). By this date he would have been very senior indeed.

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147 Also an intimate associate of the Emperor Tiberius. He committed suicide in 33.

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148 Perhaps the Laenas whose daughter was mother of the Emperor Nerva. If so, the choice may have been prompted by his relation­ship to the predecessor. (And, incidentally, it would lend to Nerva's concern for Rome's water-system the added interest that both his grandfathers had held the post of chief commissioner.)

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149 Tacitus tells us that he was among the ex-praetors who came to a bad end for incautious behavior under Tiberius and Gaius (Annals 4.68 and 4.71).

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150 A name seems to have dropped out here. It is most unlikely that Didius Gallus could have been appointed until after his own consul­ship (in 39 C.E.), and he was absent from Rome until the middle 40's.

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151 His distinguished career included the governor­ship of Britain (52‑57).

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152 Shared with Didius Gallus a suffect consul­ship in 39; was an orator of high standing; died at an advanced age in 59.

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153 Consul ordinarius (i.e., at the year's beginning) in 57; proconsular governor of Africa in 69/70; died in 70. With Piso, apparently, begins a new pattern of appointing commissioners for short terms, at first following their consul­ship by a few years, then at a point closer to the pinnacle of a senatorial career, the proconsular governor­ship of Asia or Africa.

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154 Consul in 61; killed in 68.

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155 Consul in 62; otherwise unknown.

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156 Consul in 58; proconsular governor of Asia 68/69; died in 69/70.

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157 Consul under Nero (perhaps in 62); governor of Africa in either 70/71 or 72/73 (the governor in the other year being Tampius Flavianus, himself also a water commissioner).

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158 Consul in 45; governor of Africa in 53/54. With Emperor Vespasian we observe that appointments were given to older ex-consuls.

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159 Domitian's name is missing in the manuscript, but this is more likely a scribal slip than a reflection of the official condemnation of Domitian's memory enacted subsequent to his death.

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160 Consul under Claudius (perhaps in late 40's); governor of Africa in the early 70's. He seems to have been closely linked with his predecessor Silvanus: Tacitus (Histories 2.86) scornfully speaks of them as "rich old men."

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161 Consul ordinarius in 54; governor of Asia in 65/66. He was among the members of Domitian's privy council.

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162 The transmitted text thus indicates that Acilius Aviola served as commissioner from 74 to 97 (presumably until his death). There are grounds for grave uncertainty: an abrupt change in the pattern of tenure, for one thing; for another, individuals attested in the post of curator aquarum who could plausibly have held this office in the reign of Domitian (81‑96). In my view, the names of a series of intervening commissioners have dropped out at this point.

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163 That "discovered" by Frontinus' own investigations (Chapters 65‑73).

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164 Contiguous to, but not part of, the City proper (a legal distinction that is not precisely understood).

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165 The procurator, appointed by the Emperor and acting as his deputy within the imperial (as opposed to public, or senatorial) administration.

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166 See Chapter 36 above.

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167 Grants to a number of private persons may be combined in a single pipe (compare Chapter 27 above) for conveyance from one delivery-tank to another. Distribution to the separate grantees takes place from the second of these tanks.

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168 A right to haul up water (haustus) which "runs with the land," that is, which remains in force despite changes in owner­ship.

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169 The Latin text apparently omits an explicit indication of who cuts off the water. I insert "the water-staff" because this kind of action is consistent with their behavior in so many other instances.

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170 The phrase is supplied to fill an obvious gap in sense.

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171 The Latin word manationes normally means "leaks." But these would have been repaired without delay, and what is meant here must be some kind of regulated discharge made directly from the pipes.

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172 Probably an informal title, but its form is akin to those used by official department-heads in the imperial service.

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173 Chapters 98‑99 above.

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174 Into what was called the fisc (imperial treasury), that is, funds under the personal control of the Emperor. Nerva's restoration to "the populace" means that monies were hereafter to be paid into the state treasury (aerarium).

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175 Frontinus means that the aqueducts retain their symbolic grandeur only so long as they reliably function as parts of a coherent system for public utility.

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176 Possibly a reference to the two Claudian aqueducts (Chapters 14‑16 above), but better taken more loosely and as an indication that faulty workman­ship is testimony of administrative incompetence.

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177 Opus signinum (see note 149 above). Stress from various causes (settling due to weakened supports, abnormal pressures from above, even thermal tension) would have a tendency to produce cracks.

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178 Vitruvius (2.3) speaks in similar terms of the precautions to be taken for making bricks.

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179 Chapters 19‑20 above.

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180 Omission of Virgo is certainly deliberate, and it may safely be imagined that Agrippa himself had seen that appropriate legal arrangements were made when the aqueduct was built (Chapter 10 above).

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181 In his Res Gestae 20 Augustus reports, "I rebuilt the water channels which were collapsing from wear in many locations." The "promise" was essentially Augustus' assurance that he would shoulder the expense of major repairs (routine upkeep having been turned over to the state: see Chapter 99 above). "From his private funds" set the precedent by which subsequent emperors paid for major renovation and new construction.

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182 Itinera and actus were rights-of-way for access by foot and for driving animals or vehicles; they did not include the right to build a permanent road or pathway.

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183 The manuscript reading is unclear and something seems to have been lost; the restoration is the simplest that sense allows.

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184 The distinction between spaces of 30 feet and 10 feet seems to have been largely practical, acknowledging realistic requirement for access as well as the value of the space (especially in populated areas). In accordance with this senatorial resolution, Augustus set up a series of terminal boundary-markers (cippi); those which have been found in situ conform precisely to the measurements prescribed.

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185 An excellent example of a procedure the Romans devised for cases of "victimless" crime, when a lure of sorts seemed the most effective method of motivating an informer to come forward and serve as prosecutor (in this case before the water commissioners).

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186 Roman law apparently had no provision for outright expropriation of necessary land. The interpretation of this passage is highly controversial.

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187 A very troublesome passage, for which the Latin cannot be restored with any confidence.

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188 Held office in 9 B.C.E.

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189 In the comitia tributa ("assembly by tribes"). Tribes were an ancient form of community groupings, by this date surviving primarily as a means of registration for franchise.

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190 The formulaic heading of a Roman lex is here preserved in unusually full form. Note the name of the convening magistrate, the Senate's related action, the place and date, the precedence in voting.

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191 See Chapter 127 above.

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192 A wheel, screw or water-auger (coclea, literally "snail", my own emendation for the word calice which appears in the manuscript), and similar mechanical means would have made possible the removal of large quantities of water.

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