Chapter XII: Appendix: Aqueducts (4)

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVII.

SOURCES OF THE AQUA APPIA[233].

A. Spring in a very ancient stone-quarry on the bank of the river Anio, probably one of those from which Servius Tullius had obtained the stones for his great wall, which had been floated down the river on rafts. The spring is so filled up with broken stones that it looks like merely a pond formed by drippings from the roof and the earth above, but the shepherds are certain that it is a spring, and the water never fails.

B. Central reservoir where two streams meet and are united in one _specus_, which conveyed the water into Rome. The aperture in the rock above is not original, or it has been greatly enlarged. This was probably a well to draw water for the cattle, and to give air to the _specus_.

C. Two streams coming out of a sort of double cave, and meeting at the mouth of it, from whence they are carried across the meadow in a _specus_ open at the top for a certain distance, and having the appearance of a ditch only; but the water from this spring also never fails, and these two streams united gave a certain steady supply to the aqueduct. The meadow through which these streams flow has a clay soil, and the water is always liable to be muddy after rain, and left a large deposit of clay in the _specus_, as is shewn in other plates.

THE AQUEDUCTS.

PLATE XVIII.

AQUA APPIA, OR APPIAN AQUEDUCT.

THE APPIAN AQUEDUCT PASSING OVER THE PORTA CAPENA AND THROUGH THE TOWER.]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVIII.

AQUA APPIA, OR APPIAN AQUEDUCT.

Crossing the valley from the Cœlian to the Aventine upon the _agger_ of Servius Tullius and over the Porta Capena, this was the only part that was above ground, as we are told by Frontinus[234]. In this view the pavement of the Via Appia is seen in the foreground, then the wall of Servius Tullius, twelve feet thick, (as usual with the walls of the Kings;) by the side of this, to the left, is seen the arcade that carried the _specus_ of the aqueduct; this goes as far as the branch of the river Almo (now called the Marrana), which runs through the valley. On the further side of the stream the land is high, and the aqueduct is again underground, but it has been traced not only across the valley, but under the cliff on the northern side of the Pseudo-Aventine, with a branch to the left to supply the Piscina Publica, which was an enormous swimming-bath for the whole population of Rome at that period, extending as far as the north end of the Thermæ of Caracalla, where the hollow with the bank round it can still be seen, and where a great reservoir remains, lined with the cement called _opus signinum_ (or _coccio pisto_). The ruins of another great reservoir rebuilt in the time of Trajan are at the north-west corner, nearly under the Aventine, and are called the Piscina Publica.

THE AQUEDUCTS.

PLATE XIX.

PLAN AND SECTION IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE.

AQUEDUCTS—PLAN AND SECTIONS IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIX.

PLAN AND SECTION IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE.

This is the same cave on the Pseudo-Aventine, nearly under the church and monastery of Santa Sabba, which has been before described when partially excavated (Plate III.[235]), but which has now, in 1875-6, been more thoroughly examined and made accessible.

A A. General Plan of this part of the _specus_ of the Aqua Appia, made into a stone-quarry for many years, and part of it still in use for that purpose, but another large part has been long out of use[236].

B. Entrances to the two parts, the steps distinguish that leading to the part excavated.

C C. Section of part of the cave-quarry.

D. View of that part of the _specus_ of the Aqua Appia which is built of squared stones, and has a terra-cotta water-pipe on each side of it.

E E. Longitudinal Section of this part.

F. Transverse Section of the same.

DETAILS OF THE PLAN A.

a a. Entrance to the cave or quarry.

b b. Via di San Paolo, the carriage-road to that gate.

c c. Via di Santa Sabba, the carriage-road up the hill to the south.

d. Via di Santa Prisca, the road up the hill to the north.

e e. The most perfect part of the _specus_ where it is built, and not merely a tunnel cut in the bed of tufa, as in other parts.

f f f f. Windings of the tunnels for the Aqueducts.

g g. Water-pipes of terra-cotta, by the side of the _specus_ in the part where it is built, and not merely cut out of the tufa.

h. The _specus_ half filled up with the deposit of clay.

i. Steps made to give access to the cave.

THE AQUEDUCTS.

PLATE XX.

THE JUNCTION AT THE WEST END OF THE CŒLIAN, NEAR THE CLAUDIUM.

PLAN AND SECTION.

AQUEDUCTS AT THE WEST END OF THE CELIAN]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XX.

THE JUNCTION AT THE WEST END OF THE CŒLIAN, NEAR THE CLAUDIUM.

PLAN AND SECTION.

A B C. Line of the Section.

a. Colosseum.

b. Claudium.

c. Arch of Dolabella.

d. Reservoir and Spring of water.

e. Aqueduct of Nero.

f. Cave-reservoir and Spring, with ten wells down into it, erroneously called a _vivarium_.

g g g. Porticus of the Claudium.

h. Church of SS. John and Paul.

i. —— S. John of Mata.

k. —— S. Maria in Domnica.

l. —— S. Gregory.

m. Clivus Scauri.

n. House of the family of S. Gregory the Great.

o. Villa Celi-Montana (formerly called Villa Mattei).

p. Vineyard of Marchese Rappini.

q. Ground called Orto Botanico.

r. Place of S. Gregory.

s. Arch of Constantine.

t. Meta Sudans.

u. Via Sacra.

v. Summa Sacra Via.

x. Proposed Drain, for turning off the water of this spring from the Colosseum.

y. Branch of an existing subterranean drain under the Via di S. Gregorio, between the Cœlian and the Palatine.

z. Excavation made in 1876 in the Vigna Rappini, in consequence of a land-slip; but nothing was found beyond an old quarry of tufa, at a great depth, and a branch of an aqueduct at nearly the same depth, the water having come originally from the spring in the cave (?) or quarry (?) called a _vivarium_.

THE AQUEDUCTS.

PLATE XXI.

SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE FIFTEEN AQUEDUCTS OF ROME.

SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE 15 AQUEDUCTS OF ROME]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXI.

SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE FIFTEEN AQUEDUCTS OF ROME.

The names of each are given under the section of it, and it will be observed that no two are alike; this was no doubt done in order that the workmen might always know which aqueduct each belonged to, at the points where they cross each other, so that if there was any obstacle in one of them it might be readily removed. Some of those which came from a clay soil, as the Appia and the Virgo, were liable to get choked up by the quantity of deposit left by the water, and it was necessary to have them cleared out from time to time, as is still the case with the Virgo, now called the Aqua di Trevi. One of the small streams that were collected to form the Aqua Hadriana, which comes from near Gabii, was a petrifying spring, which quite choked up the _specus_ in the course of a century. It was restored by Alexander Severus, but the same water seems still to have been used. The Aqua Felice comes from the same sources, but the petrifying spring was carefully excluded, and now runs in a ditch, giving a coat of stone to the sticks and the weeds.

PLAN OF THE AQUEDUCTS. ON THE CŒLIAN.

PLAN OF THE AQUEDUCTS.

ON THE CŒLIAN[237].

Three branches diverge from the great central reservoir at the Arch of Dolabella,—one goes straight on, nearly due north to the Palatine, the second north-east to the Colosseum, and the third west to the Aventine.

AND ON THE ESQUILINE.

From the other great reservoir called the Sette Sale, or the Thermæ, and from thence to the Colosseum.

A.A.A. The drain under the road between the Cœlian and the Palatine, now called Via di S. Gregorio, leading to the Via Appia.

B. Arch of Constantine.

C. Meta Sudans.

D. Thermæ of Titus on the Esquiline, with the great _piscina_ called Sette Sale, and the aqueduct leading from it to the Colosseum.

E. Monastery and Church of S. Gregory.

F. Site of the Porta Capena, with the aqueduct over it, leading to the Piscina Publica under the Aventine: and on to the mouth at the Porta Trigemina, in the bank of the Tiber.

G. Church and monastery of SS. John and Paul.

H. Church and monastery of S. Clement.

I. The great reservoir and Piscina of Nero over the Arch of Dolabella, and reservoir of the Aqua Appia to the left of it; this is underground in the garden of the Villa Celimontana, and from thence the _specus_ goes underground to the cliff of the Cœlian, where another _piscina_ is shewn, near the bottom of the plan, to the left.

Under that part of the Cœlian Hill on which the Claudium stood are seen four _piscinæ_, two on the western side opposite to the Palatine, and two on the northern side opposite to the Colosseum; of these latter the one at the corner is of the time of Nero, that in the middle of the northern front is of the time of Alexander Severus, when the upper storey of the Colosseum was building of stone.

MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF ROME.

Whiteman & Bass, _Photo-Litho’ to the Queen_, 236, Holborn]

This map is reduced by photography from one made for this work on a very large scale, which was thought necessary in order to shew the line of the course of each aqueduct, which, being to a large extent subterranean, are not shewn in the usual maps of the country. In the immediate neighbourhood of Rome the lines are so complicated that they could only be shewn on this large scale. (At the Tor Fiscale, for instance, they remind English travellers of the railways at Clapham Junction near London. There are many coincidences between the aqueducts and the railways; both are carried at different levels in order to cross each other; both are in some parts in tunnels, and in other parts carried on embankments, or on arches). This map was made by Signor De Mauro, an engineer and surveyor, who took much interest in the work, and is generally very careful and accurate, under the direction chiefly of Dr. Fabio Gori, who is a native of Subiaco, near which the principal aqueducts have their sources. The author of this work went with them from time to time to verify what they had done, but as it was a work of several months, and necessarily done in the summer, it was not practicable for him to do more than to go to the source of each aqueduct and follow it down to its mouth. The large map, which covers one side of a room, being 135 ft. long and 90 ft. wide, has been reduced by photography to three different sizes; the first makes eighteen photographs of the usual size, called the “normal size,” and the whole on this scale is about 15 ft. long and 10 ft. wide; this again has been reduced to two sheets[238], 21 ins. long and 14 ins. wide; and then to the same size as this outline; but on this small scale the lettering requires a powerful magnifying-glass, and therefore the bare outline has been taken from it to shew the general features of the line of the great aqueducts. The reservoir at the source of each is marked by a dark circle, and from each of them the line can be traced into Rome. Within the walls a separate and careful examination was required, as so much of the work is subterranean; this examination has been made, and the line of each of the aqueducts has been traced to its mouth. It will be observed that the _specus_ or conduit of each aqueduct is of a separate form, and this was no doubt necessary to distinguish one from the other, as they frequently intersect and cross one another in a very singular manner, and in case of repair being necessary, it would have been very difficult for the workmen to know which aqueduct was at fault, or how to find the part that wanted repair, without this arrangement.

1. The earliest aqueduct, the APPIA[239] (B.C. 312), being entirely underground at a considerable depth, is marked by a dotted line. It comes from old stone quarries on the bank of the river Anio, just beyond the Caves of Cervaro, about eight miles from Rome, near the ancient Via Collatina, called by Frontinus Prænestina, because in his time the road to Præneste went through Collatia.

2. ANIO VETUS[240] (B.C. 272), comes also from the bank of the river Anio, but at a much higher level than the Appia, between Tivoli and Subiaco, near the village of Agosta, twenty miles from Rome, but the winding course makes the whole length of the aqueduct 42 miles, 779 paces underground, and 221 paces (about 350 yards) above ground on a substructure. It is brought at a considerably higher level than the Appia, but still underground for the most part, though near the surface, and sometimes only half underground. It was not legal to build over an aqueduct anything but another aqueduct, consequently the later aqueducts are all brought on the same line, each on a higher level, so that the line of the Anio Novus, carried on the arches of Nero, shews at the same time the line of the Anio Vetus nearly under it.

3. MARCIA[241] (B.C. 145). This stream also comes from near Subiaco, 39 miles from Rome, 36 on the Via Valeria, and 3 off it on a cross-road, near the village of Arsoli. There is a small lake 38 miles from Rome on the same road (which is another source of this aqueduct), into which the water gushes out from under the limestone rock; it is intensely cold in all weathers, and the water is of a light green colour in the lake. “The length of the course is 61 miles 710 paces, of which 54 miles 247 paces are underground, 7 miles 463 paces above ground, on an arcade for 6 miles 472 paces, on a substructure for 528 paces,” and in several places on bridges across the gorges in the hills. This water was brought into Rome again in 1860-70 by a new line, and was then called Aqua Marcia Pia, from Pius IX.; the name of Pia has since been dropped.

4. VIRGO[242] (B.C. 21), made by Agrippa for his Thermæ, restored to use by the popes in the eighth century, and frequently repaired; now called the Aqua di Trevi, from the fountain so named. The source is on the Via Collatina, 8 miles from Rome and 1 mile beyond the source of the Appia. There are several springs, each with a separate small reservoir, collected in one large reservoir, now under the road. “The length of the course is 14 miles 105 paces.”

5. TEPULA[243] (B.C. 126). The sources of this are 12 miles from Rome, near Grotta Ferrata and Marino, 2 miles from the old Via Latina.

6. JULIA[244] (B.C. 34). This source is on the cross-road from Grotta Ferrata to Marino, on the old Via Latina, 14 miles from Rome, and also 2 from the Via Latina (there are still washing-places at each of these two sources). The two streams, when they arrived on the level ground at the foot of the hill, were carried on the same arcade as the Marcia for 6 miles into Rome.

7. AUGUSTA[245]. This name is a mistake of the artist for Aurelia; it is the aqueduct made by Marcus Aurelius for the Villa de Quintilii on the old Via Appia, and united with the Severiana to supply the Thermæ Aurelianæ et Severianæ in Rome.

8. ANIO NOVUS[246] (A.D. 52). “The source of this is 42 miles from Rome, on the Via Sublacensis; the length of the channel is 58 miles 700 paces, of which 49 miles 300 paces are underground, 9 miles 400 paces above ground, 2 miles 3 paces in the upper part and near the City, 609 paces on substructure, 6 miles 491 paces on an arcade of the highest arches, in some places 109 ft. high.” This stream was part of the river Anio itself; a great dam was made across the river in a rocky part, about 2 miles above Subiaco. A great loch (_lacus_) was formed between this dam and a natural cascade about a hundred yards higher up the river, and a _specus_ was cut in the rock by the side of it at rather a lower level than the top of the dam, so that the water of the river must go into the _specus_ and so into Rome, before any of it could fall over the artificial cascade made by the dam. From this cause the water of this aqueduct never failed in the hottest and driest weather, but it was sometimes muddy after a flood in the upper country, and had many _piscinæ_ or filtering-places for that reason; there is usually one at each half mile in the arcades near Rome, and a _castellum aquæ_, or reservoir along with it, at each of the angles, made to break the force of the water.

9. CLAUDIA[247] (A.D. 38). The source of this is 38 miles on the Via Sublacensis, just above Subiaco, about 2 miles nearer to Rome than the Anio Novus. They are carried in two distinct _specus_ as far as Tivoli and to the foot of the hill, but on the level ground; both _specus_ are carried on a lofty arcade, which turns at an angle at every half-mile, and there has a _piscina_, and at each of these points it was carried across the lower arcade, which served for the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia.

10. HADRIANA or TRAJANA[248] (A.D. 120), and ALEXANDRINA (?). The sources of this are under La Colonna, about three miles from Gabii. The _specus_ is carried on a fine arcade for two or three miles between the two great roads. The same water was afterwards used for the Felice, with the exception of one of the springs, which was found to be of a petrifying quality, and had choked up the _specus_ of the old aqueduct. It seems probable that the stalactite produced by the petrifying spring had choked up the _specus_ of Trajan and Hadrian before the time of Alexander Severus, that he restored it to use, and it was then called by his name. The construction of the Piscina and Castella Aquæ near the source is distinctly of the time of Hadrian, but in some parts the arcade which carries the _specus_ is of the time of Alexander Severus.

11. SEVERIANA[249] (A.D. 190). The sources of this are in a swampy ground on the lower part of one of the Alban Hills, under Marino and Grotta Ferrata, nearly the same as those of the small river Almo, and the Tepula and Julia. The course is at first underground as far as the Torre di Mezza Via di Albano; from thence it is carried on a fine arcade of the third century to the Villa de Quintilii, and from thence into Rome for the Thermæ of Aurelius Commodus and Septimius Severus, near the Porta Latina.

12. ALEXANDRINA (?)[250]. There is some doubt about the source and the line of this aqueduct.

13. ALGENTIANA[251]. This aqueduct went to the Thermæ of Diocletian, where the _specus_ has been found, but it is almost the same as the last. Both were probably branches from the great early aqueducts.

14. AQUA FELICE[252], A.D. 1587. Made by the Pope, Felice Peretti, or Sixtus V. Its source is the same as that of the Hadriana, which was mistaken in his time for the celebrated Aqua Marcia.

15. AQUA MARCIA PIA. The real old Marcian water was brought into Rome by a Company in 1860-70. The course as far as Tivoli is in a stone _specus_, like the old aqueduct, but after it reaches the level ground it is carried in cast-iron pipes on the other side of the river Anio, and passes under it by a great syphon. This was to avoid repeating the great circuit made by the old aqueduct, and was also done to escape the necessity of crossing the mouths of the number of small streams that fall into the river Anio and drain the Campagna; these are often flooded in the wet season, and would have been likely to injure the bridges of the aqueducts where they crossed the stream; the iron pipes avoid them by being on the other side of the river.

MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF ROME[253].

Whiteman & Bass, _Photo-Litho’ to the Queen_, 236, Holborn]

The account given of the map of the eastern side of Rome applies almost equally to this, but the difficulty to be surmounted was here greater. Neither Dr. Gori, nor Signor De Mauro, nor the author knew the ground; we had only Frontinus and Fabretti to help us, and the course is much more subterranean on this side than on the other. There are none of the great arcades to carry the _specus_ for five or six miles; the only portion where they are carried on an arcade for any distance is on the side and upon the wall of the garden of the villa Pamphili-Doria, and there the arcade as seen is the work of Pope Paul V. (Borghese), who restored them to use in the sixteenth century, making use of the old subterranean _specus_ and the ruins of the old arches, which can be seen against the wall of that garden. From this point they are mostly subterranean, we traced them to the three lakes which served as reservoirs for them. The first _specus_ on this side of the Lacus Alsietinus has been kept separate from the one on the other side. In the time of Augustus the water came from the two upper lakes, but it was brought at a very low level, and the water from these being always muddy and bad, Frontinus, under Trajan, rejected it, and brought the water only from the Sabatina; Pope Paul returned to the use of the upper lake, Alsietina.

This map is also reduced by photography from one on a much larger scale, though not so large as the one for the eastern side, as that was found inconveniently large, and on this side there was less complication to examine and explain. Great credit is due to Signor de Mauro for the tact with which he traced the subterranean lines. He found that there are wells and air-holes at intervals, not always regular, but nearly so, and that when they are in grass-land or barren land, shrubs have always grown over the top of each well on account of the moisture that remained in it, and by means of these shrubs he was able to follow the line.

These aqueducts, which supplied the fountains in the Trastevere, all come from the lakes on the hills. The Alsietina of Augustus comes from the lake of that name (now called Martignano), between the Via Claudia and the Via Aurelia, but not very near to either, being 6½ miles from the Via Claudia at the fourteenth milestone, as Frontinus states. This was made to supply the Naumachia of Augustus, which were near the present monastery of S. Cosimato in Trastevere; the water was very abundant, but not fit for drinking. It entered Rome at a lower level than any of the other aqueducts, because the Naumachia were very little above the level of the Tiber. At the small town called the Cariæ (near the present Osteria Nuova), about fifteen miles from Rome, it received an additional supply of water from the Lacus Sabatinus. Trajan restored to use that part which came from the latter lake; this is better water than the Alsietina. Pope Paul III., A.D. 1540, again restored this to use, and it is now called Aqua Paola. His engineers brought the water from three lakes, the two before mentioned, and a smaller one above the Alsietina, called Stracciacappe. The object of bringing the water from this very high level, 500 ft. above Rome, was to supply the splendid fountains in front of S. Peter’s, the water of which rises to a great height. This lake was drained in 1870, and at the same time the water in the Alsietina was also much lowered, by which means the three _specus_ were brought to light on the bank, and the sites are shewn on this map. The Aqueduct of Trajan was carried at a much higher level than that of Augustus, and entered Rome on the top of the Janiculum. Procopius, in the sixth century, admired the profuse supply of water at that point; and the water was then, as it is now, used for a series of mills on the slope of the hill. The engineers of Pope Paul made use of the water of all the three lakes, and a most abundant supply still flows into Rome through the Fountain, above the Church of S. Pietro in Montorio. How far the old _specus_ was used it is difficult to tell, but most probably that of Trajan was used for a large part of the distance; it is almost entirely underground until the last mile into Rome, where it was carried on an arcade of the time of Trajan. The Aqua Paola is there also carried on an arcade, parallel to it and near to it, but not the same.

FOOTNOTES

[1] During the first season that I was resident in Rome, it was my habit to go with my friend Mr. William Long, of Balliol College, Oxford, then resident in Rome, into the Catacombs every Monday morning, and along the line of the Aqueducts also once or twice a-week, when the weather permitted. We procured all the best maps of the Campagna that were to be had, but could find none that would enable us to trace the course of the Aqueducts. Moltke’s map is the best as far as it goes; but, being intended as a military map only, he paid no attention to the antiquities. The one known in England by the name of Gell, and in Rome by the name of Nibby, is made especially for the Antiquities; but it is on a small scale, and we found it impossible to trace the Aqueducts upon it. Eventually I have had one made on a large scale, to make it clear, have added the other Antiquities, and then had it reduced by photography to two smaller sizes: one very small, to give the general lines only; the other on a size convenient for the pocket; and, by using the portion near Rome separately, it makes a good and convenient map for the purpose.

[2] Frontinus is usually said to have died A.D. 106.

[3] See notably Plutarch, Vita Anci Marcii; Dionys., Hal. Ant. Rom., lib. iii. c. 679, sect. 9; Strabo, lib. v.; Cassiodorus, lib. vii. cap. 6, &c.

[4] These wells may have included the cisterns for holding rain-water, one of which exists on the Palatine.

[5] In the best text, that of the MS. at Monte Cassino, and in the best printed edition of the text, that of Buecheler (Lipsiæ, 1858), the passage runs “Salubritatem enim ægris corporibus afferre creduntur, sicut _Camænarum, et Apollinis, et Juturnæ_.” The spring of the Camænæ or Muses referred to, is that which existed in the grove outside the Porta Capena, and beneath the western slope of the Cœlian. There was an Area Apollinis in the same Regio, and possibly there was a spring there; but no writer refers to it. A stream, now subterranean, still exists, and is very copious, running into and through the Cloaca Maxima; it may be seen in the excavations of the Forum Romanum. This subterranean stream comes from three different springs; the source of one is near the Arch of Titus, or more immediately in front of the usual entrance to the Palatine;—a second has its source near the foot of that part of the Quirinal Hill on which the Torre de’ Conti and the Torre delle Milizie are situated; it now emerges in a cellar under a shop behind the church of S. Hadriana;—a third comes from the prison of S. Peter, at the foot of the Capitol. These streams meet near the church of S. Maria Liberatrice and the celebrated three columns of the temple of Castor and Pollux; by their union they formed the lake usually called after Curtius, but by Ovid the Lacus Juturnæ (Ovid. Fasti, l. i. ver. 708). This is not the same as the stream so called on Nolli’s Map. The lake was between that part of the Velabrum of the Palatine on which the church of S. Maria Liberatrice and S. Teodoro are situated, which formed the southern side of the lake, and the Forum Romanum the northern side.

The Aqua Juturnæ, marked 1056 in Nolli’s Map, is the stream that gushes out in great volume from the rock at the foot of the Palatine in the Lupercal of Augustus, which is now in a very ruinous state, the cave being used as a mill-head to a modern mill, between that point and the Cloaca Maxima. This cave is close to the Carceres of the Circus Maximus. The authority for the name of this stream is doubtful; it is now usually called Aqua Argentina, and falls into the Cloaca Maxima, near the church of S. Giorgio in Velabro and the arch erected by the silver-smiths in honour of Septimius Severus.

[6] The Augustan is a name applied also to a branch of the Marcian close to its source, as well as to one supplementary to the Appian within the city.

[7] Frontinus, c. 5.

[8] Ibid.

[9] “Jungitur ei ad Spem [Specum] veterem in confinio hortorum Torquatianorum et Pallantianorum ramus Augustæ, ab Augusto in supplementum ejus additus, ... loco nomen respondenti Gemellarum.” (Ibid.)

[10] “Incipit distribui [Aqua] Appia imo Publicii clivo ad portam Trigeminam.” (Ibid.)

And again: “Rivus Appiæ, sub Cœlio monte et Aventino actus, emergit, ut diximus, infra clivum Publicii.” (Ibid., c. 22.) The cave reservoir which formed the mouth of this stream, where it was distributed, has been found near the Marmorata, or marble-wharf. The Porta Trigemina was between that and the Salaria, or salt-wharf. Both of the wharves are still in use. Some good antiquaries consider that the Porta Trigemina consisted of three double gates, at intervals along the narrow strip of ground between the Aventine and the Tiber, and that the one of which remains have been found near the Sublician bridge was the middle one of the three: if so, this cave would be literally _in_ the Porta Trigemina. In any case, it must have been close to it.

[11] That is, in the reservoir, or _castellum aquæ_, through which the conduit or _specus_ passed. This reservoir exists, or rather considerable remains of it, just within the Porta Maggiore, between that and the church of S. Croce, and just outside the _agger_ of the Sessorium, on which the road from S. Croce to this gate now runs.

[12] “... Cujus aquæ ad caput inveniri mensura non potuit, quoniam ex duobus rivis constat. Ad Gemellos tamen, qui locus est infra Spem (_Specum_) veterem, ubi jungitur cum ramo Augustæ, inveni altitudinem aquæ pedum quinque, latitudinem pedis unius, dodrantis: fiunt areæ pedes octo, dodrans: ... quas esse ex eo adparet quod in plerisque urbis partibus perdita aqua observatur, id est quæ ex ea manat, sed et quasdam fistulas intra urbem illicitas deprehendimus, extra urbem autem propter pressuram libræ, quam vidi infra terram ad caput pedibus quinquaginta, nullam accipit injuriam.” (Frontinus, c. 65.)

[13] There is good reason to believe that such tombs were not _exclusively_ Etruscan, but were also used by the Latins and other nations at the same period, and this one may very well be early Roman.

[14] The modern carriage-road, so called, was called Via Gabina in the time of Frontinus. The old Via Prænestina is now a bridle-road only for the first three miles out of Rome, to the Torre de’ Scavi; it is then a cart-road, called Via Collatina, with a branch road into it from the present carriage-road.

[15] In the Map of Gell and Nibby, along the Via Prænestina will be seen the name _Pupinia_. The spot is just north of this, and not far off from the piece of road marked in the same map as the Via Collatina.

[16] Frontinus, c. 22.

[17] In the _Bullettino dell’ Instituto Archeologico_, and the _Civiltà Cattolica_, for the year 1861, it is stated that for the works of the iron railroad between the Via Labicana and the Via Gabina the _specus_ of the Aqua Appia was found, 450 yards (metres) from the Porta Maggiore. It was constructed of square stone of tufa, and was incrusted with _tartar_, had an acute vault, which was 5 ft. 9 in. high, and 2½ ft. wide.

[18] This is on the line of the wall of Servius Tullius. It appears that Trajan made a reservoir here over the old one. The _specus_ of the Appia passes through the present gardener’s house lengthwise, from east to west. This _specus_ was found again in another excavation to the west of it, by the side of the present road.

[19] “Substitit ad veteres arcus _madidamque_ Capenam.” (Juvenal, sat. iii. ver. 11.) “Capena grandi porta qua _pluit gutta_.” (Martial, lib. iii. epigr. 47.) The distance from the foot of the Cœlian to the Marrana is just a hundred yards along the line of the wall of Servius Tullius, across this part of the valley or great primitive foss. The ground on the side of the wall is all made earth and rubbish, and two aqueducts are carried on arcades against the wall, one on either side. These arcades have not been traced beyond the Marrana, the ground there being higher. At the Piscina Publica, where another pit was dug 20 ft. deep, the wall is built against the tufa rock, and there is a third _specus_ in a tunnel in the rock under the wall.

[20] Or perhaps the road was a deep foss-way, and the _specus_ passed over the arch of the gate at this point, where four roads meet.

[21] In the spring of the year 1870, another excavation was made close to this point, and a way was found into another old subterranean stone-quarry long out of use. Through this cave, or quarry, the _specus_ of five different aqueducts pass on their way to the Tiber. Some of these come down at a steep decline, and the water of the whole seems to have been carried into the lowest one, the Appia, at this point. This _specus_ must have been carried over the deep foss-way upon or under the arch of the gate of the old wall of _the city_, where four roads meet. It is also visible again in another old subterranean stone-quarry on the other side of the road, nearly under S. Prisca, and from thence it must have gone to the old cave, used as a reservoir near the Marmorata, and the Porta Trigemina, immediately under the monastery of S. Maria del Trinita di Malta, where the _specus_ is again visible, and where the wells of other aqueducts run into the same cave reservoir at the mouth of the aqueducts in this part of Rome. One of these runs down a vertical pipe from the reservoir nearly over this cave, but under S. Sabina on the hill above, excavated in 1865, and described by M. Descemet (Sect. xi.) There is another large reservoir in the interior of the hill, still full of water, supplied by a spring rising there; the water from this still passes through the same passage to the Tiber. This is also said to have been called the cave of Faunus by the poets. It is probably also the same as that of Cacus, being a large natural cave, with a spring of water, and a natural reservoir of considerable size in it about knee-deep, the entrance to which is by a narrow passage made into the _specus_ of the aqueduct. Such a cave might very well have been used to drive cattle into for concealment, and a resolute, well-armed man standing at the entrance might defend it against any number. Solinus (i. 7) says that the cave of Cacus was at the Porta Trigemina, and that he dwelt in the Salinæ, which are close by this spot. “Qui Cacus habitavit locum cui Salinæ nomen est, ubi Trigemina porta.”

[22] On the wall of the smaller reservoir, the fragment of an inscription, relating to the Thermæ of S. Helena, now in the Vatican Museum, is said to have been found:—

D. N. HELENA ... VEN. ... AVG. MAT.
AVIA ... BEATIS ...
THERMA ... SI ... ESTRV ...

[23] Frontinus says, c. 5, at the sixth milestone on the Via Prænestina, about nine hundred and eighty paces off to the left, and near the Via Collatina, this stream has its source. The sources both of the Aqua Appia and of the Augusta were traced by Signor Fabio Gori and Mr. J. H. Parker, in March, 1868, and were afterwards shewn to the British Archæological Society of Rome.

[24] The source of the _Appia_ was 780 paces off the road, between the 7th and 8th milestone. That of the _Augustan_ 880 paces off, and by the 6th milestone. The former was measured to its termination, giving 11⅛ miles. The latter went only to the “Specus Vetus” (which is two miles less) and gave 6⅓ miles. Two miles is the distance from the Porta Maggiore to the Porta Trigemina and the Salaria. In all probability the Augustan branch was carried for the six miles into Rome along the bank of the Via Prænestina, here a deep foss-way between two high banks; and at a later period the Aqua Virgo was carried over it at a higher level, till within about half a mile of Rome, where it arrives at the outer bank of the great foss, and is carried at a sharp angle to the north to the Pincian. The Appia, being much deeper, was carried straight on at the bottom of the great foss into Rome, and entered at the extreme eastern corner, under the line afterwards taken by the Claudian arcade, to the two great reservoirs or _gemelli_ before mentioned; the main line running here parallel to it, a little to the south, till it reached the Piscina of S. Helena, the two lines converging at the _gemelli_.

[25] There are considerable remains of two large reservoirs in a garden just outside of the boundary-wall of the Sessorium, which wall is of the time of S. Helena, on its western side. Some excavations made in them in 1869 under my direction shewed that they went to a great depth, the workmen being stopped by water. These two great reservoirs, so close together in the line of the Aqua Appia, seem to have been the Gemelli mentioned by Frontinus. From this point the _specus_ can be traced along the Cœlian, and the reservoirs are below the level of that _specus_ (_infra specum veterem_).—F. ii. 65.

[26] If the “Plautian” be the better reading, they may have been the gardens of Plautius Lateranus, which were near those of the Sessorian Palace.

[27] Frontinus, cap. 19: “Marcia autem partem sui post hortos Pallantianos in rivum qui vocatur Herculaneus, dejicit.” Cap. 20: “Finiuntur arcus earum (Anionis Novi, et Claudiæ), post hortos Pallantianos.” Cap. 69: “Præterea (Julia) accepit prope urbem, post hortos Pallantianos.” In the _Notitia_ and the _Curiosum Urbis_ the “Horti Pallantiani” are given as being in the Regio V. or the “Esquiliæ.”

[28] Remains of these _thermæ_ were accidentally brought to light in 1871, during some excavations made by a building company, who had bought the ground on speculation. They are of great extent, and on both sides of the present road from S. Maria Maggiore to S. Croce in Gerusalemme, which was made in the sixteenth century by Sixtus V.

[29] “Exquiliæ locus in quo sepeliebantur corpora extra portam illam in qua est Sessorium.” (Acron ad Horat., lib. i. Sat. viii.)

“Eodem tempore fecit Constantinus Augustus basilicam in palatio Sessoriano, ubi etiam de ligno S. crucis D. N. Jesu Christi posuit.” (Anastasius in vita S. Silvestri papæ, xxxiv. § 41.)

[30] Frontinus, c. 6. Pyrrhus was king of Epirus, and came to the aid of the Samnites against the Romans; he was conquered _c._ B.C. 272.

[31] The passage is corrupt, as will be explained. The following is the reading, as given by Buecheler, whose text is _an exact copy_ of the best manuscript, that of Monte Cassino:—“Anio Vetus citra quartum milliarium _infra Novum_, _qui_ a via Latina in Lavicanam _inter_ arcus trajicit, et ibi piscinam habet. Inde intra secundum milliarium partem dat in specum, qui vocatur Octavianus, et pervenit in regionem _viæ Novæ_ ad hortos Asinianos, unde per illum tractum distribuitur. Rectus vero ductus, _secundum Spem_ (_Specum_) veniens intra portam Exquilinam, in altos rivos per urbem deducitur.” (Frontin., c. 21.) _Infra Novum_, therefore, signifies within the fourth mile on the Via Nova, the New Road of the time of Frontinus, the Via Appia Nova (?).

[32] Frontin., c. 18.

[33] Signor F. Gori, who is a native of Subiaco, and has followed the line of the aqueducts on foot from Subiaco to Rome, says that he has found the source of the Anio Vetus in the river Anio, at three miles from Subiaco, on the _Via Sublacensis vetus_, twenty miles from the old gate of Tibur or Tivoli, in the district called _Le Connotta_, where he finds two _specus_, the higher one the Anio Novus, the lower one the Anio Vetus. He traces the same _specus_ near Marano, a village thirty-eight miles from Rome, on the Via Sublacensis Neroniana, near _Vico-varo_; and again near Tivoli, on the bank of the _Valle degli Arci_. “Delle vere Sorgenti dell’ Acqua Marcia e delle altre acque allacciate dai Romani presso le Vie Valeria e Sublacense,” per F. Gori. Roma, 1866, 8vo., pp. 53, 54.

[34] The local _patois_ for _Albergo_ or _Auberge_.

IMP. CAESAR
DIVI. F. AVGVST. EX . S.C.
dclix. P. CCXL.

IMP. CAESAR .
DIVI. F. AVGVST. EX . S.C.
dclxix. P. CCXL.

[35] By the side of a plan of Rome in the first volume of his magnificent work (pl. xxxviii.), Piranesi gives a section of the relative heights of the Aqueducts, as compared with each other. The figures refer to the base of each _specus_ above that of the Appian, and the following is the result, according to his measurements, reduced to English feet:—

Above Specus of Appian. Palmi. Feet.

Anio Novus 173.8 127
Claudian 163.2 119
Julian 145.1 106
Tepulan 138.7 101½
Marcian 128.7 92½
Anio Vetus 75.4½ 55½
Virgo 9.3 7
Appian — —

At a lower level than Specus of the Appian.

Alsietina in the Trastevere 37.6½ 27½

He gives as the total full range, i.e. from the _specus_ of the Alsietina (the lowest), to that of the Anio Novus (the highest), as 211.2½ _palmi_, or 154½ English feet. The height of the Appian, he shews by his diagram to be about 24 English feet above the Quay of the Tiber. The points at which Piranesi obtained his measurements, and the mode employed, are not recorded. It seems hardly possible that the Appia is 55 ft. under the Anio Vetus in Rome.

[36] See ante. Frontinus, cap. 21.

[37] The passage, as it stands in the Codex Cassinensis, is, “Anio Vetus _citra_ quartum miliarium _infra_ novum _qui_ a Via Latina in Lavicanam _inter_ arcus trajicit, et ipse piscinam habet.” This piscina is visible at the third modern milestone on the Via d’Albano, and at the fourth on the Via Latina. The Codex Vaticanus is an inferior copy of the Codex Cassinensis; but the Codex Urbinas, now also in the Vatican Library, is distinct. No other MS. is of any authority.

[38] Remains of the tombs on the Via Latina are distinctly visible and rather prominent objects, close to the Torre Fiscale. The Marrana, or Almo, the small stream that received the surplus water of the aqueducts, also washes the foot of the tower.

[39] This _castellum aquæ_ is exactly two miles from the Porta Maggiore, another proof that the entrance _to Rome_ (though not to the City) was considered by Frontinus to have been at that gate. All the aqueducts on the eastern side of Rome are measured by him from this gate, and the inscriptions put over that gate as the entrance into Rome indicate the same thing. The level of this _castellum_ above the sea is about 153 ft.; at the Porta Maggiore, where the Anio Vetus enters Rome, it is about 146 ft., allowing a descent of about 3 ft. 4 in. for the two miles, which is natural. The Via Appia Nova, in the part near Rome, was made out of the old Via Asinaria. Frontinus says that this branch “was conveyed to the Asinian gardens,” which were between the Lateran and the Sessorium, and to which the Porta Asinaria (or gate of the Asinii) was the entrance. Between that gate and the Amphitheatrum Castrense are remains of an ancient reservoir or _castellum aquæ_, cut in the rock at the foot of the wall and half underground, as was very usual with the Anio Vetus. The branch that goes along the Via Latina appears to have gone from the same reservoir, but to be distinct from the one mentioned by Frontinus, and to have been made after his time. This last branch seems to be the same as the Aqua Antoniniana of the Regionary Catalogue, having been made in the third century to supply the great Thermæ of the Antonines. In the Middle Ages, this was considered to have been a branch of the Aqua Marcia; but if this had been the case, there must have been some remains of the arcade for it across the valley.

[40] This branch is believed to have been called AQUA ANTONINIANA, as it conveyed water to supply the great Thermæ of the Antonines, called after Antoninus Caracalla. But it seems doubtful whether it may not be the SEVERIANA, which conveyed water to the Thermæ of Septimius Severus. There appear to have been two aqueducts along this point of the Via Latina at different levels, and the higher one, passing over the Arch of Drusus, is said to have been a branch from the Marcia.

[41] Frontinus, c. 21. On the subject of the word _Spes_ (?) or _Specus_ (?), see the Appendix to this Chapter.

[42]

ANI_o_
IMP . CAESAR
DIVI . F . AVGVST . EX . SC
VII PCCXL

_i_MP . CAESAR
DIVI . F . AVGVST . EX . SC
VI_i_ PCCXL
C

[43] “Descrizione del luogo denominato anticamente Speranza Vecchia, del monumento delle Acque Claudia ed Aniene Nuova, e del Sepolcro di Marco Virgilio Eurisace, dell’ architetto cav. Luigi Canina.” 8vo., Roma, 1839, with six Plates; extracted from the Annali dell’ Instituto Archeologico.

[44] There are two other temples known to have been dedicated to Spes, and the one near the Porta Carmentalis is thus entered in the _Notitia_ and _Curiosum Urbis_: “Fortunæ et Spei Templa _Nova_.” We know that there had been a great fire here, and that these temples were rebuilt, and therefore the _Nova_ has reference only to the new structure. Besides, to be analogous, it should have been “Spes Nova,” or “Templum Spei Novæ.” According to Dionysius, another Temple of Spes was a mile or eight _stadia from the City_. (Dion. Hal., ix. 24.) “Having in the first battle, which was fought at the distance of eight stadia from _the City_, near the temple of Hope, overcome the enemy and beaten them out of the field, and after that fought them again near the gate called Collina,” &c. The Porta Maggiore, in the outer wall of _enceinte_, is just a mile from the Porta Esquilina, in the inner wall of _the City_, and the Arch of Gallienus. On the other hand, the line of the _specus_, with the foss-way by the side of it, must have been important ground for a battle. The modern theory that the whole of the eastern side of Rome was called after Spes, has no ancient authority. Another instance is on all accounts very puzzling. It is a passage in Lampridius, in the life of Heliogabalus: “Ipse secessit ad hortos Spei Veteris, quasi contra novum juvenem.” (Lampridius, Antoninus Heliogabalus, 13.) It would almost appear that there were some gardens called by the name of Spes, unless indeed in transcribing some such error should have been made as in the case of the transcriber of Frontinus, and “Spei” written for “Specus,” by a scribe to whom the former word was familiar but the latter not, who had mistaken _Spc̄_ for _Spē_. It is a strong passage in favour of the temple theory; but still there is strong evidence on the other side. This garden was that of the Sessorium, one side of which was enclosed by the arcade carrying the _specus_ of the Claudian aqueduct.

[45] The seven places where the abbreviation of _spem_ or _specum_ occurs in Frontinus are given in another page, with tracings of these passages from the best manuscript.

[46] Polenus and Buecheler have demonstrated that the Codex Cassinensis is the earliest and best. It was discovered at Monte Cassino by Poggio in the fourteenth century. The Codex Vaticanus is a copy of the above; but the Codex Urbinas, though of later date, is not a copy from that manuscript. Probably both are copies from an earlier one, not now extant. Some of the various readings in the Codex Urbinas are better than those of the Codex Cassinensis. See the edition of Frontinus by Polenus, Prolegomena, p. 20. Patavii, 1722, 4to.

[47] Other excavations, made in 1871 in the large vineyard near the Porta Maggiore, near the building called Minerva Medica, shewed the aqueducts very distinctly passing through the higher ground and going along the line of the wall towards the Porta di S. Lorenzo.

[48] Frontinus, c. 87.

[49] Piranesi, Le Antichità Romane, vol. i. pl. x.

[50] I am indebted to the kindness of the abbot of the monastery at Monte Cassino, for the tracings of these passages here reproduced by the process of photo-engraving.

[51] The manuscript called _Codex Urbinas_ reads, _jungitur ei ad anionem veterem_. In the present instance, the true reading is evidently _specum_. Frontinus is describing the Aqua Appia, the oldest of the aqueducts, and the junction of the Augusta with the old _specus_. This could have nothing to do with the Anio Vetus.

[52] _ascus_ (?): Buecheler reads this _ad spem_.

[53] The Torquatian Gardens were near the Porta Maggiore, and probably the same as those of the Sessorium, now those of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

[54] Canina published a volume on what he considered to be the Temple of Spes, by the side of the Porta Maggiore (as before mentioned); but a few years afterwards those ruins were pulled down to make room for a modern guard-house. In doing so, the inscription of the dedication to HERCULES was found by the architect, Felice Cicconetti, and sent to the Vatican Museum. This statement was made to me some years since by Signor Cicconetti himself, and was confirmed by his friend, Signor Simelli, the photographer, who said he had seen it.

The fact is now denied by the Roman archæologists, and when challenged by the Cavaliere Visconti to shew him the inscription in the Vatican Museum, they say they cannot now remember anything about it; and the stone with the inscription upon it has not been found. It is printed by Dr. Henzen in his collection of Inscriptions as _then_ in the warehouse of the Vatican Museum; but he considers it to have belonged to a wayside altar only, not to a temple.

The twin reservoirs are very near the same spot; but the place where the Aqua Appia enters Rome is in the gardens of the Sessorium, some distance from the gate, to the east of it. An old _specus_ certainly runs along the Cœlian Hill, nearly under the Neronian Arcade, and part of it is now used for the Aqua Felice. I have been along it for more than a quarter of a mile, from near the Porta Maggiore to the Lateran. The Aqua Felice is carried down a sharp incline into that old _specus_, and the metal pipes on the slope are still supported on brickwork of the first century, probably part of the Marcian Arcade, when rebuilt in that part by Frontinus. The old _specus_ runs on (or ran on, it is said to be now interrupted,) to the reservoir on the Cœlian Hill, at the Arch of Dolabella.