On the Invention oJVire Engines. $39 



this application of the forcing pump foon became common, 

 and whether the antient Romans were in poiVcllion of this 

 ufeful machine. xVll that I know on the fubjert is as fol- 

 lows : 



Pliny the voimcrer informs the emperor Trajan in one of 

 his letters, that the citv of Nicomedia in Btthynia had been 

 almoit entirciv dcftrovcd bv fire ; and that the devaftatioa 

 had been greater becaafe a violent ftorm had taken placo* 

 during the conflagration, and becaufe there was no apparatus 

 in the city for extingiiifliing fires *. The y?/).?'^ here men- 

 tioned by Pliny Iccms, beyond doubt, to have been the fire 

 engine of Ctefibius; though among the other articles we are 

 to underftand water conduits, and "pipes cmplcA'cd for con- 

 veying water into the citv. I murt however confefs that the" 

 word ///>/"5 fi^nifies alfo pipes of this kind : raid particularly 

 in a palflige of Strabo t, where l>e fj>eaks of the fubterraneait 

 conduits at' Rome, and favs, tliat almoft all the houfes had 

 ciderns, Jiph^jnes, or water pipes, and running ftreams. But 

 Pliny mentions at the fame time water buckets, which 

 are to be confidered as an appendage abfolutely neceffary to 

 fire engines. It is alfo hardly jiollible to believe that a city 

 fituated as Nicomedia was, clofc to a bay %, fliould be in 

 want of water. 



But I can produce, and I believe I am the firft to do fo, 

 for I do not find that it has ever been mentioned bv any 

 other writer, a very ftrong jn-oof from a cotemporary author. 

 Apollodorus the architcft, who was employed bv the emperor 

 Trajan in conltrutling the celebrated bridge on the Danube, 

 and ill completing fome extenfive works at Rome ; and who, 



poculo b':bei. Moie inforniation rcrpe6ting Hero may be fouiul in Heroii'/s 

 Ciifihii Beloli'A'eku, lioc ij} telifticii'ua, Bancifdiiio Buldo UrbhiMe GuajhiliiC 

 Abhate lUujirfitore et bitaprete. htm Haonis Fit a eodan Ait£ior£. Au- 

 gullae VindL-i. 161C. 4C0. Sec alio Heron'is Alex. Vita,et S.ripia tt qua- 

 darn Inventa, Prajidc R- A. W^u^iiero, AufloreJ. A. Sibmidt. Helmftadii 

 1714. 4to. 



• £/»//?. 42. lib. X. Incendium latius fparfum ; primum violcntia venti, 

 deirtdt- inerti;i hominiim, q'jod fatis conftat, otiolbs tt immobilcs tanti mali 

 fpetkatores pcrftitiire, ct aiioqui iiullus ufquam in publico fipho, nulk 

 hama, nullum dcnujae inltrumcntunj ad incendia compcfcenda, et lut. 

 quijem ut jam prxctpi, pnrabintur. 



\ Lib. V. edit. Almc-1. p. 360. Tor-suTov S'eo to EKrayaiyijuw JSa'p Jia T4'V 

 lifxyteyiiaiy, ifs TrsTautuf iio. Tn; n-'K'a'^ y.xi Txt iTrnofXHV fiiv, iwaray Si tnnar 

 rj(i>.)i JlJajuEVa; Kai iri4)i'va;, y.a.\ itfov:'Oi-( l^^iv aifflwsuj. I'antuni aqUJU p..r 

 aquxdiictus in urbcni dcrivHtur, ut riuniiiia per urbem et clo.icam l.ibnn- 

 lor, et quflibet prop.vmodum domus ciiiernas, tubules ac canalcs h.ibcat 

 eopiofos. Compare Lipfius dd Magniludine Rormwa, Antwerp 1598. fol. 

 lib. iii. c, II. p. i^i. 



J P.'iniui V. cap. ult. Eft in intimofinu (.Iftaccno) Nicomedia Bithy- 

 ui?" pruclara. 



as 



