PAVLVS V. PONT. OPT. MAX
FORMIS AQVAE ALSIETINAE
OLIM AB AVG. CAES. EXSTRVCTIS
MOX COLLAPSIS. AB. ADRIANO I. P.M
INSTAVRATIS
IISDEM RVRSVS OB VETVSTATEM
DIRVTIS. OPERE SVBTERRANEO. ET
ARCVATO AQVAM EX AGRO
BRACHIANENSI DITIONIS VRSINORVM
SALVBRIORIBVS FONTIBVS DERIVATAM
IN VRBEM PERDVXIT
ANN. SAL. MDCXI. PONT. SVI VII.
[172] In the life of Hadrian by Spartianus (c. 20), we are told that a number of aqueducts were made in his time and called after him. But his name is not retained in the Regionary Catalogue.
[173] Frontinus, c. 88.
[174] We have seen before that Eadmer mentions the malaria in Rome as early as the twelfth century. (Historiæ Novor., lib. ii. ad calcem S. Anselmi operum, p. 51, D. Lut. Par. 1675, fol.) In the following century, the author of “Sir Bevis of Southampton” gives a strange account of the fevers arising from the Pontine Marshes into the Campagna di Roma. There were, says he, two dragons there; one having fled to Toscan [Tusculum?],—
[175] The fragment of an inscription relating to this aqueduct was found near Gabii, and is described by E. Q. Visconti in his Monumenti Gabini, Roma, 1797, 8vo. maj., p. 14.
IMP. CAESAR DIVI TRAiani
(Parthici filius Trajanus Hadrianus)
AVG. PONTIF[ex Maximus]
AQVAE DVCTVM GABINIS . . .
QVAM . . . . .
The second line appears to be an interpolation of the editor, but this is not material. The aqueduct begun by Nerva was not finished till the time of Hadrian. The aqueduct of Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V. (Felice) (A.D. 1572-1590) receives the water of this aqueduct, but at Colonna other springs are collected and added to it; this was the work of Fontana.
[176] The Torre Pignattara is so called from the earthenware pots (pignatte) of which the vault was built. Other remains of buildings of importance have been found near the Mausoleum of S. Helena, and there is some reason to believe that another imperial villa was situated there during the first three centuries.
[177] Some say the popular name is Torre de Scavi, or of the excavations from some great works of excavation made there in the twelfth century.
[178] Note f, p. 88. “Aquarum ductus etiam infinitas hoc nomine (Hadriani) nuncupavit.” (Spartianus in Hadriano, c. 20.)
[179] It is immediately opposite to the Palatine, and there is a remarkably fine view from the portion of the specus that remains, the vault of which has been removed, and it is used as a terrace.
[180] Mémoire sur les fouilles exécutées à Santa Sabina. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1868, 4to.
[181] EX . FIG . . . . AEAM . . AUGVS . RUST . IT . ET . AQVI . . (Ap. Fea, Fasti Consul., p. cxviii. No. 62.) Junius Rusticus et Aquilinus were Consuls, temp. Marci Aurelii, A.D. 162.
[182] Commodus was emperor from 180 to 192, but was slain at the early age of 31; and it is probable that this great work was left unfinished, and was completed by his successor, Septimius Severus. In the Regionary Catalogue they are mentioned together, and there was probably no division between them.
[183] It was usual to take advantage of the castella aquæ of the great aqueducts to construct bath-chambers of various kinds, both for hot and cold and swimming baths.
[184] This is also mentioned in our account of the Anio Vetus (II.), as the branch at the second mile from Rome according to Frontinus. From the low level, it is more probable that this branch came from the Anio Vetus than from the Marcia, and an itinerant pilgrim of the eighth or ninth century may have been mistaken on this point.
[185] This was probably the branch that now runs under the Via dei Condotti. The main line to supply the Thermæ of Agrippa has been traced beyond the fountain of Trevi to the Piazza di S. Ignazio, very near the Pantheon, which was the entrance-hall to these thermæ. Those of Nero and Alexander Severus were more to the north.
[186] See Aqueduct XI. Trajana.
HERCVLI . CONSERVATORI
INVICTO . COMITI
D. N. SEVERI . ALEXANDRI
PII . VICTORIS . SEMPER
AVG. AC. OPTIMI . PRINCIPIS
M. AVRELIVS . PRISCILLIANVS
V. C. CVRATOR . NYMPHAEI
DEVOT . NVM . M. Q. E.
[188] The great Thermæ of the third century in the Esquiliæ, where the building known as the Minerva Medica stands, and to which the other building, called after the Trophies of Marius, is supposed to have been the entrance; this has been identified as a Nymphæum of Alexander Severus, by the representation of it on one of his coins.
[189] SOPRA TREBIA (TREVI) VICINO ARCINAZZO (upon Trevi, near Arcinazzo).
MINERVAE . MEMORI
COELIA . IVLIANA
INDVLGENTIA . MEDICI
NARVM . INFIRMITATE . EIVS
GRAVI . SANATA . D. P
[191] There is a subterranean reservoir under it, and there are several other subterranean reservoirs in this ground.
[192] This great Pantheum was a temple of all divinities, and also a hall for the men, being connected by a large vaulted passage at the back with the thermæ, of both of which there are visible remains.
[193] This spring is considered by some authors as the one source of the river Almo; but it is only one of many, and it falls into the deep bed of the river, coming from some miles beyond that point.
[194] In the valley of the Caffarella, a stone specus has been made by the side of the natural bed of this branch; it is open at the top, has lochs in it, and is on a higher level than the natural stream. The object of this was obviously to keep a supply of water from the springs in dry weather.
[195] The two arches of the Porta Metronia remain, both built of brick of the time of Aurelian. The outer arch is visible in the city wall; the inner one is concealed by a medieval tower built up against it. In the year 1871, Signor Rosa made a new gate on the east side of the Porta Metronia for his carts to pass through, in which the earth, excavated from the Palatine, is carried out into the meadow beyond, outside of the walls. This is certainly better than continuing to fill up the valley between the Aventine and the Pseudo-Aventine, and thereby concealing more of the Wall of the Kings under S. Balbina and burying more of the Aqua Appia, than has already been done under his orders.
[196] Cicero, Epist. ad Q. Fratrem, lib. iii. ep. 7.
[197] “Hic etiam derivavit aquam de antiquis Formis, et ad Portam Lateranensem conduxit, ibique lacum pro adaquandis equis fieri fecit. Plurima quoque molendina in eadem aqua construxit, et multas vineas cum fructiferis arboribus secus ipsum lacum plantari studiosissimè fecit.” (Muratori, Rerum Italic. Script., tom. iii. p. 420, col. 2, E.)
[198] “Aquam ad Urbem reduxit, molendina cum vineis juxta lacum aptavit,” &c. (Pandolphus Pisanus, ibid., p. 419, col. 1, E.)
SIXT. V. PONT. MAX. PICENVS.
AQVAM . EX . AGRO . COLVMNAE.
VIA . PRAENEST . SINISTRORSVM.
MVLTARVM . COLLECTIONE . VENARVM.
DVCTV . SINVOSO . A. RECEPTACVLO . MIL. XX.
A. CAPITE XXII. ADDVXIT.
FELICEMQVE . DE . NOMINE. ANTE PONT. DIXIT.
COEPIT . ANNO. PRIMO. ABSOLVIT III. M.D. L. XXXVII.
[200] See Aqueduct XI.
[201] The Pope insisted on the work being completed at the time originally fixed, notwithstanding that the blunder of his engineer made it necessary to rebuild the whole arcade for seven miles.
[202] “Nunc autem in urbem influunt: 1. Aqua Appia, 2. Anio Vetus, 3. Marcia, 4. Tepula, 5. Julia, 6. Virgo, 7. Alsietina (quæ eadem vocatur Augusta), 8. Claudia, 9. Anio Novus.” (Frontinus, 4.)
[203] Id., c. 19.
[204] See Aqueduct III.
[205] Frontinus, c. 15, in both cases called by him, Herculaneus.
[206] Frontinus, c. 12.
[207] Id., c. 5.
[209] “In formis autem Romanis utrumque præcipuum est ut fabrica sit mirabilis et aquarum salubritas singularis. Quod enim illuc flumina quasi constructis montibus perducuntur, naturales credas alveos soliditates saxorum, quando tantus impetus fluminis tot sæculis firmiter potuit sustineri. Cavati montes plerunque subruunt, meatus torrentium dissipantur, et opus illud veterum non destruitur, si industria suffragante servetur.”—(Cassiodori Variar., l. vii. c. 6.)
[210] It is possible that the number of nineteen was made up by adding the different branches that supplied the Thermæ of the later Emperors, (Septimius) Severus, Antoninus, Alexander (Severus), (Aurelius) Commodus, Constantinus.
To these must now be added the two modern aqueducts, the Marrana and Aqua Crabra [XVII.], united and brought through Rome in the twelfth century in the bed of that branch of the river Almo, and the Aqua Felice [XVIII.], made in the sixteenth; also the Aqua Marcia-Pia, made between 1860 and 1870, which now brings the water of the Aqua Marcia into Rome by a different line.
[211] This was also the principal gate of the Sessorian Palace, and was sometimes called the Porta Sessoriana.
[213] See the Plans and Sections of this, Plate XXI.
[214] The water pumped out by the steam-engine employed by Signor Rosa was always good clear drinking water, and had all the appearance of coming from an aqueduct; it was sent along an open channel the whole length of the Colosseum, and made a great swamp round the arch of Constantine for several months in the spring of 1875, the outlet for it being made on the outer side of the drain under that arch, which had been constructed by the Municipality about 1866. At last it was observed that an aperture into that drain might easily be made on the inner side, and so avoid the swamp in the road, and washing the foot of the arch. Soon after this the steam-engine was stopped on account of the enormous expense of it, after it had gone on for more than a year, always pumping out good drinking water, and sending it to waste.
[215] This article will be found in the Annales de l’Institut de Correspondance Archéologique, 1873.
[216] Near the Porta Maggiore, and under the arches of Nero. There are two large reservoirs close together in this vineyard, probably the Gemelli of Frontinus.
[217] Descending from the reservoir into the old specus under the arches of Nero.
[218] The Aqua Marcia was brought again into Rome by a new water company in the year 1870, after several years of very arduous work, and overcoming many difficulties. The company who made this great aqueduct consisted chiefly of English shareholders, with a mixture of French and Italian. It was long under the direction of the late Mr. Shepherd, an Englishman, whose loss was much regretted in Rome, and latterly under a Belgian engineer.
[219] See Frontinus de Aqueductibus, c. 5.
[220] There is a large and deep reservoir for it near the arch of Dolabella, under the garden of the Villa Mattei, now called the Villa Cœlimontana, and from thence it passed, still underground, to the cliff of the Cœlian, opposite to the Aventine. A short tunnel was made from this deep reservoir to a Nymphæum under the Cœlian, now S. Stefano Rotondo, called of Septimius Severus. The ruins of it are shewn in 895; a specus has been traced from one to the other.
[221] See Frontinus de Aqueductibus, c. 6.
[222] Ibid., c. 125, and 93.
[223] Frontinus de Aqueductibus, c. 6.
[224] Frontinus, c. 125.
[225] Ibid., c. 93.
[226] They remind English people of the Clapham Junction of the railways near London, where trains crossing each other at different levels can be seen.
[227] Supra Portam Capenam, F. i. 19.
[228] See Frontinus de Aqueductibus, caps. 11, 18, 22, and 71.
[229] Frontinus de Aqueductibus, cap. 13, 14, 18, 20.
[230] Cohen. Méd. Imp. Alex. Sev., (Nos. 239, 334).
[231] This water is not mentioned in the Regionary Catalogue, and its whole history appears doubtful. Some think the name is a corruption of Argentina, the short stream that rises in the Lupercal or Wolf’s Cave, under the north-west corner of the Palatine, as before mentioned.
[232] These sources are on the cliffs above the river Anio, at from five seven miles from Rome, and two miles from Ponte Nono, in swampy meadows called “the meadows of Lucullus,” and some in old stone quarries.
[233] See also the Photo-engravings, Plates I. and II.; and Historical Photographs, Nos. 865, 866, 867.
[234] See page 3, and Historical Photographs, Nos. 632, 710, 1138, 1139, 1140, 1141, 1142, 1253; and Plates X. and XI. of the Supplement to Part I.
[235] See Photos., Nos. 1116 and 889.
[236] This is now, in 1876, taken possession of by the British and American Archæological Society, with the consent of the owner of the ground, who has allowed a door to be put up at the entrance.
[238] This map is to be had on either of these two larger scales, for those who require more minute information.