ABCHTPECTirRE. 



17 



LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURE. X. 



ABCHITKAVES, ABCHE8, AND VAULTED BOOFS. 



IN oar last louaoii wo attributed tho application, if not the in- 

 vfiitiuii, of the aroh to tho Romans, and allowed how this 

 ingenious people employed it in all their great and remarkable 

 edifices. According to Frontinus, who was appointed the curator 

 or superintendent of public works by tho Emperor Norva, Borne 



>m the city, in the neighbourhood of Palestrina, made 

 a circuit of nearly a mile, and then pasting through a deep sub- 

 terranean drain, discharged the main body of its water into th 

 Campus Martiui, or field of Han, at I tome, whore the a* 

 sembliea of the people were held for elections, etc. There are 

 no remains of this aqueduct existing at the present time. The 

 next was the Anio Vetut or old Aniu aqueduct, constructed about 

 273 B.C., which received this name because it brought the 



THE RUINS OF THE ROMAN AQUEDUCT, ANIO NOVUS. 



was supplied by water by nine great aqueducts ; to these ho 

 added five more, and the number was increased by succeeding 1 

 emperors to twenty altogether. The arches required in the 

 construction of these aqueducts may bo more easily conceived 

 than described. The most remarkable of them may be hero 

 noticed. 



The first was the Aqua Appia, or Appian water, so called 

 because it was constructed by the censor Appiua Claudius, in 

 442 A.u.c., that is in the 442nd year from the building of tho 

 city (Ab Urbe Condita), this being tho year 311 B.C., or before 

 the birth of Chrisk This aqueduct commenced about seven 



54- -N ' 



waters of the Anio, a tributary of tho Tiber, into the city of 

 Borne. The commencement of this aqueduct was at tho dis- 

 tance of 30 miles from the city, and it consisted chiefly of a 

 winding dram which was carried through an extent of 43 miles. 

 The third was the Aqua Marcia, so called because it owed its erec- 

 tion to Qnintus Marcius Bex, about 115 B.C., which originated 

 in a spring about 60 miles distant from Borne, made a circuit 

 of three miles, and then, forming a vault of 16 feet in diameter, 

 ran 60 miles along a series of arcades at the elevation of 

 70 feet. At certain intervals of this aqueduct vents were 

 formed for disgorging the collected air, and .it was occasion 



