Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

Ch. V.

THROUGH ITALY.

171

that have rolled over them, the building's that load
them, and the ruins that encumber them, not one
has given way during the space of more than
two thousand years. To cleanse them, various
streams were introduced, which rolled along with
a rapidity sufficiently violent to weaken any or-
dinary edifice ; when obstructed, the expence of
clearing them was enormous, and upon one oc-
casion amounted to a sum exceeding one hundred
thousand pounds sterling.
The Cloaca maxima was erected, as is well
known, in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus*,
and shews to what a degree of perfection the
arts were carried at Rome then in its infancy.
They were all still unimpaired in the reign of
Theodoric, and drew from that prince some ex-

* . . . . Adalia traducebatur opera foros in circo fa-
ciendos, cloacamque maximam, receptaculum omnium pur-
gamentorum urbis : quibus duobus operibus vix nova haec
magnificentia quicquam adequate potuit. Tit. Liv. 1.
Sed tunc senes aggeris vastum spatium et substructiones
insanas Capitolii mirabantur; preterea cloacas, operum om-
nium dictu maximum .... durant a Tarquinio Prisco
annis prope septingentis inexpugnabiles. C. Plin. Hist. Lib,
xxxvi.