The Stratagems, and the Aqueducts of Rome, with an English Translation
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Jyau'M ^«voi Presented to the LIBRARIES of the UMVERSITY OF TORONTTO by MARGARET PHILLIPS THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY p:j)iTKn UY E. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. 1', E. PAGE, mtt.d. \V. H. D. ROUSE. LiTT.i). FRONTIXUS FRONTINUS THE STRATAGEMS AXl) THE AQUEDUCTS OF ROME WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION P.V CHARLES E. BENNETT I.ATK GOI.DWltJ SMITH PROFESSOR OF LATIN IS CORNELL UNIVERSITY TlIK TliA.VSLATION OF THE AQUEDUCTS BEING A REVISION OF THAT OF CLEMENS HERSCHEL EDITED AND PREPARED FOR THE PRESS BV MARY B. M(ELWAIN PROFESSOR OF LATIK IN SMITH COLLEGE LONDON : W1LLL\M HEINEMANN NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS MCMXXV Printed in Great Britain PREFACE Befoke his death in May 1921, Professor Bennett had finished the draft of his translation of the Strategemala and of liis revision of Clemens Herschel's transhition of the De Aquia. He had also, through various footnotes, indicated clearly his attitude toward the texts he had adopted as the basis for his trans- lation. For the editorial revision of the versions, the introductory material, the index, many of the footnotes and the general matters of typography, the responsibility should rest with the undersigned. The references to the sources of the Strategemala have been selected for the most part from those cited in Gundermann's conspectus locoriim. The translation of the Sfrafegemata is based upon Gundermann's text, Leipzig, 1888, with ver\' few changes, which are indicated in the footnotes. The brackets indicating glosses or conjectures have been omitted for the sake of appearance. Professor Bennett's translation is the first English rendering of the Slrategemata with any accuracy of interpreta- tion, the only other English version, published in London in 1811 by Lieutenant Robert B. Scott, leaving much to be desired both in the matter of interpretation and the manner- of expression. A French version, prepared under the direction pf .M. Xisard, is a careful piece of work, well annotated, and indicating knowledge of the sources as well as of the standard editions of the Siralesemata. PREFACE Tlie text of the De Atjiiis is that of Biiclielei', Leipzig, 1858, with certain changes in spelling and punctuation and with the omission of his diacritical marks. Some variants in readings have been ad- mitted, and where the text is unreadable, conjectures have been accepted and the translation bracketed. The translation is a revision of that of Herscliel, 1899, since the credit for the first English version of this treatise must go not to a Latinist but to an hydraulic engineer. In the preface to his book, Mr. Herschel thus explains his undertaking of this " translation : Having had the study of Frontinus for my pastime and hobby for many years, it has seemed to me fitting that others should be enabled likewise to partake of the instruction and pleasure this has given me. We laymen have been wait- ing for a long time for Latin scholars to do this thing for us, and they have not responded." Mr. Herschel was very familiar with the translations of the French architect, Uondelet, and the German builder, Dede- rich, and he resolved to add an English rendering to these translations by men Avhose interests were primarily scientific. But though not a Latin scholar, Mr. Herschel achieved what few Latin scholars can hope to do. In his quest for first-hand information about his subject, he went to Rome, studied the aqueducts in pei'son, conferred with Lanciani and others, and finally went to the monastery at Monte Cassino and succeeded in having this, the sole original manu- script of the De Acjuis, photographed for publication in his book. This is an excellent facsimile, and a most valuable gift to the student of this work. During the preparation of his translation, Mr. PREFACE Herschel found in Professor Bennett an interested and helpful adviser. In the conclusion of his preface '" he says ; Professor Charles E. Bennett gave me active aid, countenance and encouragement at every stage of the work, and ended off by reading the proofs and correcting the copy of the translation to an extent that makes the translation fairly his own." When, therefore. Professor Bennett was considering the preparation of this volume, Mr. Herschel gener- ously turned over to him for revision his translation, which for twentj'-five years has continued to be the only English version of the De Aijuis. And within the past year this pioneer translator has given further proof of his continued interest in Frontinus and his spirit of co-operation with the students of the classics by patiently solving for the writer some of the technical difficulties encountered in proof reading. For this help grateful acknowledgment is here made. Mary B. McElwain. Smith College, Northampton, Mass. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE V LIST OF ILIA'STRATIONS xi THE LIFE AXD WORKS OF SEXTUS JULIUS FKONTINUS . xiii THE MANUSCRIPTS : OF THE STRATEGEMATA XXviii OF THE DE AQCIS XXxii BIBLIOORAPHY . XXXV SIOLA xl THE STRATAGEMS 3 BOOK I 9 BOOK II 89 BOOK III 205 BOOK IV 267 THE AQUEDUCTS OF ROME 331 BOOK I 339 BOOK II 389 INDEX 469 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACK PAGE PORTA ma(;giore Frontispiece MAr OF AQtTEDrCTS 341 RUINS OF AQUA CLAUDIA 355 THE SEVEN' AQUEDUCTS AT THE PORTA MAGGIOIJE . 361 AD SPEM VETEKEM 363 RUINS OF AQUA CLAUDIA NEAR THE APPIAN WAY . 407 MAP OF ROME AND VICINITY At Ciul TABLES SHOWING THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE CJTY OF ROME At end - THE LIFE AND WORKS OF SEXTUS JLILIUS FRONTINUSi Of the details of the life of Frontinus we are but scantily informed. His personality, as will be shown, stands out in his works in no ambiguous fashion, but the events of his career, so far as we can glean them, are few, disjointed and indefinite. Even the year of his birth is not known, but since Tacitus speaks of him as praetor iirbuiii/s in the year 70 a.d., we may infer that he was born not far from the year 35. Of his family and of his birthplace we know as little. His family name, Julius, and the fact that he held the office of water commissioner, which, as he tells us,^ was from olden times administered by the most eminent men of the State, would point to patrician descent. His writings on surveying,* so tar as we have knowledge of them, betray the teachings of the Alexandrian school of mathematics, especially of Hero of Alexandria, and it is not unlikely that he was educated in that city. He was three times elected consul, first in 73 or ^ Tlie biograpliical sketch here given is taken hirgely from Professor Bennett's article, "A Roman Waring" {Atlantic Monthly, March 1902), to which the reader is referred for a fuller and very sympathetic account of Frontinus as water commissioner, and from Herschel's Life and Jf'orks of Fro'iUiiius. » Hist. iv. 39. ' De Aquh, 1, p. 331. * C/. p. xviii. LIFE AND WORKS OF FRONTINUS 74/ again in 98,^ and a third time in 100.^ After his first incumbency of this office, lie was dispatclied to Britain as provincial governor.^ In this post, as Tacitus^ tells us, Frontinus fully sustained the tra- ditions established by an able predecessor, Cerialis, and proved himself equal to the difficult emergencies with which he was called upon to coj)e. He sub- dued the Silures, a powerful and warlike tribe of VVales, and with the instinct for public improvements which dominated his whole career, at once began in the conquered district the construction of a highway, named from him the \'ia Julia, the course of which can still be made out, and some of whose ancient pavement, it is thought, may still be seen.^ From this provincial post he returned to Rome in 78, after which the next twenty years of his life are a blank. But to this period, from his forty-third to his sixty-second year, we attribute a large part of his writings. His treatise on the Art of War ' may have been written immediately after his return from Britain in 78. His Slrategemata is assigned by Gun- dermann to the years 84-90.^ Within this period ^ C. Xipperdej-, Opuscula (Berlin, 1877), p. 520 ff., places the date of his first consulship in T-^. 2 C.T.L. iii. 2. p. 802 ; Ma/-t. x. xlviii. 20. 3 C.I.L. viii. 7066; vi. 2222. * His exact tenure of office there is uncertain. Cf. E. Hiibner, Die rmnischcii Legatcn von Britannien. Rhein. Mus. xii. (18i")7), p. 52 ; Nipperdey, Opuscida, lot. cit. ^ Agricola, xvii : su&tinuitque m(Aem, lulias Frontinus, vir magmis, quantum licebat, validainque et pagnocein Hilunim gentem arrnis subegit, siq^er viriutchi hostium locorvm qnoque difficultates eluctatus. * Cf. Wni. Camden, Britannia, iii. p. 113: D. Williams, History of Monmouthshire, p. 36 ff. ' Cf. p. xviii. * Cf. p. XX. LIFE AND WORKS OF FRONTINUS also his services as Augur doubtless began, an office in which the younger Pliny succeeded him at his death in 103 or 104.1 In 97 he was appointed to the post of water com- missioner, the office whose management gives him probably his best title to eminence, and during the tenure of this he wrote the De Aquis. The office of water commissioner he held ))resumably until his death. The De Aquis is primarily a valuable repository of information concerning the aqueducts of Rome. But it is much more than that. It gives us a picture of the faithful public servant, charged with immense responsibility, called suddenly to an office that had long been a sinecure and wretchedly mismanaged, confronted with abuses and corruption of long stand- ing, and yet administering his charge with an eye only to the public service and an economical use of the public funds.