260 Ancient Supply of Water to Toivns. 



aqueducts which, has never since been equalled by any 

 people. 



From Frontinus, who, in the time of Nero, was nominated 

 to the honourable post of Curator aquarum (a.d. 97), we have 

 a most ample account of ancient Roman water supply. Ac- 

 cording to this writer, the date of the first aqueduct is 

 assigned to the year A.u.c. 441, or B.C. 313 ; others gradually 

 were constructed, partly at the public cost, partly by the munifi- 

 cence of private persons, till, in the time of Frontinus, they 

 numbered nine, and were afterwards increased to fourteen in 

 the time of Procopius (circ. a.d. 360). The most remark- 

 able of these aqueducts were the Aqua Appia, the old and 

 new Anio, the Aqua Marcia, and the Aqua Claudia. The 

 sources of the Aqua Appia (so called because commenced by 

 the censor Appius Claudius Caecus) were near the Prgenestine 

 road, about eight miles from Rome. The aqueduct, after 

 making a circuit of about 780 paces to the left, was carried 

 under the ground for about eleven miles, till it entered the 

 city at the Porta Capena, from which place to the Porta 

 Trigemena, about sixty paces, it was on arches ; it delivered its 

 water into the Campus Martius. 



The old and new Anio aqueducts took their names from 

 the river of that name ; the water of the former was taken 

 from the river about thirty miles from Pome, not far above 

 Tibur. It should be borne in mind that the Romans, with a 

 view to check the too rapid flow of water in straight channels, 

 used to take them by circuitous routes ; so that the length of 

 aqueduct was generally considerably more than the distance 

 of the source from the city. The old Anio aqueduct was very 

 winding, and its whole length about forty-three miles, scarcely 

 a quarter of a mile of which was above ground. Remains of this 

 aqueduct are still to be seen near the Porta Maggiore, near 

 Tivoli. The new Anio aqueduct was commenced by Caligula 

 (a.d. 36), and finished by Claudius (a.d. 50). It began 

 at the forty-second milestone, and was about fifty miles long ; 

 for the greater part of its length the Aqua Anio was subter- 

 ranean. Some of its arches were more 100 feet high. 



The Aqua Claudia was also finished by Claudius ; it 

 derived its water from two springs of most excellent water, 

 called Ccerulus and Curtius, about thirty-eight miles from 

 Rome. For the space of thirty-six miles it formed a subter- 

 ranean stream ; for nearly eleven miles it ran along the surface 

 of the ground, and it was supported on arches for the space of 

 about seven miles. Near Rome these two aqueducts were 

 united, forming two separate channels on the same arcades, 

 the Anio Novus above and the Claudia below. The Aqua 

 Claudia still forms one of the chief supplies of water to the 



