2^0 On (he Antiquity and 



as we are told by Dio Caflius, was put to death by Trajan'» 

 fjicceflbr, Adrian, on account of a fneering anfwer which he 

 gave to that priuce, tells us, in the ren)ains of his work on 

 warlike machines, what methods are to be employed when 

 the upper part of an edifice is on fire, and the machine called 

 Jipho is not at hand. In this cafe, favs he, leather bags filled 

 with water mult be fjiflened to long pipes in fuch a manner 

 that, by prcifing the bags, the water may be forced through 

 the pipes and thrown on the place which is on fire *. The 

 fipho^ therefore, was a machine by means of which water 

 could be thrown to a height on places on fire, and which 

 could not be reached in any other manner. 



That in the fourth centurv, at Icafi, a fire engine properly 

 fo called was underftood by the term Jipho, is fully proved by 

 Ilefvchius t ; as alfo by Ifidore, who lived in the beginning 

 of the feventh century %. The latter remarks, that luch en- 

 gines were employed in the eaft. for extinguifiiing fires; and 

 thence there is almoft reafou to conclude that they were not 

 then ufed in the weft. 



It now remains to determine the queftion, at what time 

 fuch apparatus for extinguifliing fires began to be employed 

 at Rome. From the regulations for guarding againft acci- 

 dents by fire, and in regard to extinguifiiiug fires, which 

 occur in the Roman code §, one might be induced to fuppofe 

 that this capital muft have been furnifhed with thofe necef- 

 fary machines, of the want of which, in a provincial city, 



* PoUorrfiicn, p. 32. in Veterum Mathematic. Open. Kiv tt-.u axpaiTifio 



ilS-Jtl^ U T2UV l^EUTDV, opy.C^.VTai, OTTOll itl ipEfflV aVTOU; VCWJ, ftO-XOl T£ TrXufSlf TTIE^O- 



^£vo; ly.B'Kii'Mc-i Ji' auraiv etti tov Kai.ofA.ivov tottov. Si forte exticmitas aliqua, ad 

 tjuam difficilis fit al'ctnlus, aidcat, necpra-ftofit inrtruincnuim illudquod vo- 

 catiir fipho, arundines rurfus perforata^, cujufmodi lunt aucupum, aptantur 

 in lis locis quo aquam ferre eas oportet, et utres aqua pleiii prelli aquam 

 tjaculaniur in locum qui igni confumitur. 



f 2i<J)a)V spyavov ti eij 7rpo£5-»v iSarav sv tot; ti^irfr.a-fAtu;, Inf.ramtntum ad 

 ejaculandas aquas adverhis incendia. 



J Origines xx. 6. Siphon vas appellatum quod aquis fufflando fundat ; 

 wtuntur enim hoc Orientalcs. Nam ubi fcnfcrint domum ardwre, cur. 

 runt cum fiphonis plenis aquis et txtini;uunt incendia, fed ct cum aras ex- 

 prelfis ad fuperiora aquis emundant. In many places hand engines are 

 ufed in the like manner for wafliing the windows of the upper ftories. 



§ See Digefl. i. tit. m.. where it is recommended to all perfcnis to keep 

 water by tlu-m in their houfts. Ut aquam unulijuifque in cocnaculo (the 

 \;pper Itorics?) habeat, jubctur admonere. Alfo Digrjl. xlvii. tit. 9. many 

 thini^s relating to this fubjcdt may be fmnd m ].,. A. Hambtrgeri 0/>ufcida, 

 Jense et Lipf. 1740. Svo. p. 12. in the dilfertation <k Incendih. The fol- 

 lowing dtficrtations, which I have not fcen, contain alio information rc- 

 lpe<Aing the pol'ce regulations of the Ronnns in regard to fires. G C. 

 Marquarti ri(r ('i'Vii Romanoruvi (Ir.alr.ccndta, Lipl'. 1689.410. E. Ot- 

 (onis Dijfcrt. dc Otjf.clo Prajc£ti Vtgilum circa Incendia, Ukrajetti, lys- 



Pliny 



I 



