DOI chapter:
Chap. V: Magnificence of Ancient Rome - its Cloacæ - Aqueducts - Viæ - Forums - Temples - Thermæ - Theatres - Instances of private Magnificence - Greatness, the Characteristic of Roman Taste at all times
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62268#0184
174
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V
additional observations. Authors differ as to
their number, because the same great channel
often branched out into lesser divisions, which,
on account of the quantity of water which they
supplied, were sometimes considered as separate
aqueducts. To this we may add, that the same
aqueduct sometimes bore different names. I
have adopted the number given by Frontinus,
who was employed by the Emperor Nerva to
inspect and repair these important works, and
must of course be considered as decisive authority.
Most parts of the city were supplied by two
aqueducts, in order to prevent the incon-
veniencies occasioned by derangements and re-
parations ; and one aqueduct, which conveyed a
stream of less pure and wholesome water was
appropriated exclusively to supply the Nauma-
chias, Circuses and Cloacse. The number of
public reservoirs of water called from their depth
and extent Lalies, is supposed to have been more
than thirteen hundred, and that of fountains'
scarcely credible ; since Agrippa alone, as has
been noticed elsewhere, opened more than one
hundred in the space of one year. When the
extent, the solidity, the decorations, and above
all, the utility of these immense works are taken
into consideration, the reader will find no diffi-
culty in preferring them with Frohtinus, to the
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V
additional observations. Authors differ as to
their number, because the same great channel
often branched out into lesser divisions, which,
on account of the quantity of water which they
supplied, were sometimes considered as separate
aqueducts. To this we may add, that the same
aqueduct sometimes bore different names. I
have adopted the number given by Frontinus,
who was employed by the Emperor Nerva to
inspect and repair these important works, and
must of course be considered as decisive authority.
Most parts of the city were supplied by two
aqueducts, in order to prevent the incon-
veniencies occasioned by derangements and re-
parations ; and one aqueduct, which conveyed a
stream of less pure and wholesome water was
appropriated exclusively to supply the Nauma-
chias, Circuses and Cloacse. The number of
public reservoirs of water called from their depth
and extent Lalies, is supposed to have been more
than thirteen hundred, and that of fountains'
scarcely credible ; since Agrippa alone, as has
been noticed elsewhere, opened more than one
hundred in the space of one year. When the
extent, the solidity, the decorations, and above
all, the utility of these immense works are taken
into consideration, the reader will find no diffi-
culty in preferring them with Frohtinus, to the