208 



THE FOUNTAIN. 



the means of arches and aquedu6ts admirably constru6led. 

 This assertion is, however, destitute of all probability, such a 

 magnificence being utterly incompatible with the poverty of 

 Romulus, and with the huts of the shepherds which w^re con- 

 sumed by the fire of the Gauls. Other writers, on the autho- 

 rity of the fifth law of the twelve tables, affirm that the decem- 

 virs were the first to constru6t aquedu6ls ; but without recur- 

 ring to the indigence of the Romans at that epoch, it is simply 

 necessary to pay a little attention to the context of the above 

 law, to regard this opinion as an unreasonable conje6ture, 

 since it does nothing more than treat of the trenches that were 

 to be dug in the plains, to serve as receptacles for the water 

 which was at the same time to be made to communicate with 

 other grounds. 



Aqueducts were, according to Justus Lipsius, invented by 

 the censor Appius Claudius, who, by the means of subterra- 

 neous canals, brought from the river Tiber to Rome, water of 

 an excellent quality, which was discharged at the gates Ca- 

 pena and Trigemina, and thence dire6led to the Campus 

 Martis. The successful issue of these early attempts stimu- 

 lated the Romans to undertake the magnificent works, having a 

 reference to the same obje6l, which at this time attra6l the 

 admiration of the most celebrated architedls. Casiodorus more 

 particularly celebrates the surprizing stru6ture of their aque- 

 du61;s, and the singular salubrity of the waters they conveyed, 

 describing with astonishment those canals, fabricated in solid 

 rocks of a great elevation, which appeared to be the produc- 

 tions of Nature herself. On this account they were justly con- 

 sidered by Julius Frontinus as incontestable tokens of the gran- 

 deur of the Roman empire. 



The 



