by an additional stream. This was not accomplished till the time of
Augustus. The source of this latter[23] was on the same side of the Via
Prænestina, but a little nearer to Rome (near the sixth milestone) we are
told, and its course was, like the main stream, entirely underground. It
was more direct, as its length was less than six miles and a-half, while
the original stream, by its windings, required about eleven miles to
complete the same distance[24].
It joined, however, the Appia _at the “Spes (Specus) Vetus,”_ and at the
Gemelli[25], which was _under (infra) the “Old Specus,”_ it could be
measured. This is an important landmark; it is well at once to observe
that the usual interpretation of the passage as referring to a “Temple
of Spes,” and the statement that a temple occupied the site of some
ruins which are marked thus in a few maps, (in most, _Templum Veneris et
Cupidinis_) does not seem to fit the circumstances. It is proposed to
read in both these two instances “Specus Vetus.” The expression occurs,
altogether, five times in Frontinus, and it will be most satisfactory
therefore to consider the passages together, which will be done more
conveniently in connection with the next aqueduct described.
The Torquatian and Plautian, or Pallantian gardens, seem by the context
to have occupied a spot on either side of the point of junction of the
two streams. The Torquatian gardens are not mentioned elsewhere, and
with respect to the Plautian[26] (which is only conjectural, and has the
authority of neither of the early MSS.), it has been suggested to read
_Pallantian_, which gardens are mentioned twice elsewhere by Frontinus in
connection with the Specus Vetus, besides once in such a way as to imply
the same[27].
The Torquatian gardens probably occupied the space between the outer
wall and the modern “Via di Porta Maggiore,” and were probably those
of Titus Manlius Torquatus, a member of an important patrician family;
Livy mentions at least three generations of that name. This ground
shews numerous remains of aqueducts and reservoirs, and here also is
the fine building of the third century called the Minerva Medica,
which was probably the _nymphæum_ of some _thermæ_ of that period[28].
The Pallantian gardens is a natural name for those belonging to the
Sessorium, or the Sessorian fortified Camp and Palace[29], and occupied
the low ground near it. They would therefore be to the south of, but
adjoining to, the Torquatian gardens.
II. THE ANIO VETUS (B.C. 272).
“Forty years after the Appian aqueduct had been completed, and
in the year A.U.C. 481 (B.C. 272), Marcus Curius Dentatus,
who bore the office of censor with Lucius Papirius Cursor,
contracted to bring into the city the water of the Anio,
which is now called the Anio Vetus, from the spoils taken of
Pyrrhus[30].
“The Anio Vetus takes its rise beyond Tibur (now called
Tivoli), outside the gate, at the twentieth milestone, where it
parts with some of its water for the use of Tibur. Its course
has in length, in consequence of the difficulties caused by
the levels, 43 miles. Of this for 42 miles and 779 paces, the
stream is underground, and for 221 paces (about 350 yards) on a
substructure above ground.
“Near the fourth milestone within the new road (_infra novum_)
the Anio Vetus crosses between the arches from the Via Latina
into the Via Lavicana, and has (there?) a _reservoir_ (or
_piscina_). Thence just within the second milestone it gives
a part of its water into the _specus_, which is called the
Octavian, and this comes in the direction of the New Road to
the Asinian Gardens, whence it is distributed through that
neighbourhood; but its direct channel, following the _specus_
(or conduit) coming within the Porta Esquilina, _along_ the
_Spes (Specus?) Vetus_, is drawn off for distribution in the
city, through the high channels[31].
“It held the sixth place in height, but would have been
sufficient for even the higher parts of the city, if it had
been carried across the valleys and the low ground, where
requisite, upon substructure, arches, and buttresses[32].”
Passing on to the second aqueduct, namely, the stream taken from the
River ANIO (and which was called the ANIO VETUS to distinguish it from a
later diversion from the same river), we find that Frontinus is also very
distinct in many of his details; a few only he leaves to conjecture.
The point where a branch was taken from the river Anio can be traced[33].
There was a reservoir by the side of the river, of which some ruins
remain; but it was nearly destroyed a few years since by some peasants
in their ignorant and too eager search after hidden treasure which they
expected to find there. The _specus_ is cut in the rock as a tunnel in
the cliff of the valley of the Anio, just below the level of the road;
it follows the line of the cliff, of the river, and of the road: for
they are all the same, the only opening through the rocky mountains of
limestone in this part, obviously made by the river itself. It follows
this line as far as the valley called the “Valle degli Arci,” or of the
Arches, where three later aqueducts cross the river on arcades about
two miles above Tivoli. At this point several aqueducts are visible
crossing the valley on arcades, each on a separate arcade, not three on
one arcade and two on another, as near Rome. The one nearest to Tivoli
is the Marcian, and at the foot of one of the piers of the arch, which
here crosses the road, the _specus_ of the Anio Vetus is visible, partly
underground, but the upper part above ground, on the right-hand side of
the road in going from Tivoli. It then is carried in a tunnel through the
hill, but appears again on the other side with a large reservoir, and
runs gradually downwards in a winding course round part of the hill.
It is not easy to distinguish to which of the aqueducts belongs any one
of the numerous reservoirs, the ruins of which are conspicuous objects
on the roads up to Tivoli on the other side towards Rome, especially
along both sides of that called the “Promenade of Carciano,” for the
distance of about three miles from Tivoli. The _specus_ and reservoir of
the Anio Novus are on a natural terrace above that road, and the Marcia
below it; these have passed through Tivoli, winding round that end of
the hill. The Claudia passed upon a great arcade the valley of the Arci,
and another valley in the direction of Gerocomio. The Anio Vetus was
carried in a tunnel through the hill, and appears on the other side near
Tivoli, at a considerably lower level than the others. The road passes
across the _specus_, and is made upon the surface of the vault, which
is visible about four miles and a-half from Tivoli. A little further
on there are two large reservoirs belonging to it, near a modern villa
called Gerocomio, built by the Cardinal Santacroce in the year 1579, now
a farm-house only, but on the site of an ancient villa, of which some
remains are built into the walls. One of these reservoirs or _piscinæ_
(?) appears to be unaltered, the buttresses remain and apparently the
vault; but it is covered with herbage and shrubs, which conceal it. The
other has been turned into a cottage or an out-house of the villa, and
this is of later date than the other. The Anio Vetus, the Marcian, the
Claudian, and the Anio Novus, all have to be conveyed down this lofty
hill from the high ground on which the remains above mentioned are
situated, to the valley below. The river Anio itself rushes straight
down the celebrated cascades by a fall of about a hundred feet; but the
channels of the aqueducts follow a winding course, which allowed of the
descent towards Rome being very gradual.
This road or promenade of Carciano is rather high on the side of the hill
above the villa of Hadrian, looking towards Rome. The dome of S. Peter’s
is distinctly visible from it. The road is on a ledge on the side of the
cliff, and the aqueducts run along the steep side of the hill or cliff,
until they come to the valley of a small stream winding down to the Anio;
along the cliff of this they are then carried. The Anio Vetus being at a
considerably lower level, is more difficult to trace than the others; but
it seems clear that after the later aqueducts had arrived at the point
where the Anio Vetus emerges from the hill, they all followed the same
line, winding along with the small stream, and their _specus_ or channels
cut in the cliffs as far as they could be made available. The Anio
Vetus has been discovered at the left hand of the modern road to Rome,
and to the right of the promenade of Carciano. It passed, upon a lofty
bridge called the Ponte di S. Antonio, over a torrent, with the Marcia.
Afterwards upon another bridge called Ponte delle Mole di S. Giovanni,
and over the Ponte Lupo it went with the others. Near Gallicano (or the
ancient Pedum) are two _cippi_ of Augustus in two wells of his _specus_;
one is in the country called Le Sette, and another at Obrego[34] dell’
Ermito. The others have all been followed, and an account of them will be
found under their respective heads.
In order to avoid the many small valleys occupied by streams which run
parallel to each other from the hilly ground on the south, down to the
river Anio on the north, (the general course of which river is west and
east,) the course was kept along the higher ground, and in fact wound
round the heads of those valleys in order to retain a level, gradually
becoming more and more depressed, till, by the time it reached Rome,
the base of the _specus_ (according to the computation of Piranesi), was
55 ft. above that of the Appian[35]. The whole course is underground, as
has been said, except for 221 paces (about 360 yards); for this short
distance it was carried on a substructure above ground. It is reasonable
to suppose that this exception to the subterranean course was, as in the
case of the Appian, within the present boundary of the city.
Before it reached Rome, two circumstances have especially to be noted.
Just within the fourth milestone we are told it had a reservoir and
_piscina_ or filtering-place, and at the second milestone it parted[36]
with some of its water, which was conveyed to Rome in a separate channel.
This fourth milestone was clearly on the Via Latina, as Frontinus in
the previous paragraph had referred to some _piscinæ_ at the seventh
milestone on the same road; and it appears, although the sentence is
exceedingly corrupt, that the course of the Aqueduct left the Via
Latina at this point, and crossed towards the Via Labicana “amongst the
arches[37]” at the fourth milestone. The _specus_ is here visible, and
appears to be perfect; it is very near to the Torre Fiscale[38], between
that and the Osteria, called the Tavolato (which itself appears to be
made out of another, but a later, reservoir belonging to the aqueducts,
as many of the houses in the Campagna have been). The vault of the old
_castellum aquæ_ or _piscina_ is now covered with turf, but the side of
it forms a sort of cliff like the edge of a quarry.
This place, where the Anio Vetus leaves the Via Latina, is near the great
junction and crossing of the aqueducts, over which the tall medieval
tower called the Torre Fiscale has been built. Here six aqueducts meet
and cross each other. The Marcian arcade, with three of these, makes one
of its many angles, and the lofty Claudian arcade, with two more, is
carried over it. The expression that it passed amongst the arches is a
very natural one, to any person who knows the locality, as there are many
arches at this point. It then goes on to another angle and crossing of
the great aqueducts, where there is a gate called Porta Furba, about two
miles and a-half from the Porta Maggiore. There is a _castellum aquæ_ of
the time of Nero, with an ancient _piscina_ under it, and a fountain of
Sixtus V. by the side of it. At the second milestone it parted with some
of its water into the _specus_ called the _Octavian_, which enters Rome
at the Asinian gardens, following the direction of the new road.
By referring to the maps it will be seen that the original line of the
Via Latina united with the Via Appia within the outer wall and before
reaching the old southern entrance of the city (the Porta Capena); but,
in joining this latter road (the most convenient course to pursue in the
then state of the fortifications), the Via Latina swerved rapidly to the
south-west. Had it been continued in a direct line, it would have reached
the Cœlian Hill, near the Porta Asinaria, as the Via Appia Nova still
does, following the line of the old Via Asinaria.
At this second milestone also is another _castellum aquæ_[39], mentioned
by Frontinus as two miles from Rome. This is near the Porta Furba; it is
entirely buried, but the vault of it is not many feet underground. In the
spring of 1871, some excavations were made under my direction in a large
vineyard hard by, and another subterranean reservoir was found near the
road to Tusculum and Frascati, with a _specus_ cut in the rock going in
the direction of that road, and apparently passing under it, on the line
of a cross-way to the Via Appia Nova, a short distance only. On the other
side of that is the “Albergo dei Spiriti,” near the junction with the
Via Latina; and, in the garden at the back of that house, a _specus_ was
found in a stone quarry, the vault of which had fallen in and brought the
_specus_ to view. It seems to have passed underground along the southern
side of that ancient Via for a short distance, and then crossed it to a
_piscina_, of which there are remains at the foot of the bank on which
the road runs in that part. It then goes along the edge of some higher
ground, and for a short distance underground again towards a by-lane
(_diverticulum_), parallel to the Via Latina; remains of a brick arcade
can be seen on the bank of that lane, which is a deep foss-way, and
goes on to Rome about a mile distant. It is cut by the railway before
it arrives at the wall of Rome. It then passes through that wall and
underground again as far as the arch of Drusus, over which it passes; and
thence on an arcade, part of which only remains, to the great _piscinæ_
at the back of the _thermæ_ of Caracalla[40].
The Via Appia Nova was probably made in the time of Frontinus, and is the
road which he calls Via Nova. The part nearest to Rome was previously
called the Via Asinaria, and extended from the Porta Asinaria to the
junction with the Via Latina, at three miles from Rome, which name was
then dropped. The new road continues parallel to the Via Appia Antiqua as
far as the eleventh milestone, and there forms a junction with it. Both
of these roads are now open. The railway to Capua and Naples passes near
to this point of junction. The short Via Lateranensis, going out of the
Porta Lateranensis (excavated in 1868), ran into the Via Asinaria, and
so joined the Via Appia Nova, which has tombs of the first century along
the line, and none of any other period. Those which were of stone have
been used as a quarry by the farmers to build the low walls that line the
road on both sides, the foundations only being left in the banks; but
those which were built of concrete faced with brick, would not pay for
the trouble of destroying them, and have therefore been left standing
in their places. One of these, a very fine one, faced with brick of the
time of Trajan, with moulded pilasters, remains nearly perfect near
the seventh mile, just where a path turns off to the left across the
fields to the _piscinæ_, which are near the line of the old Via Latina
in this part, about half-a-mile from the Via Appia Nova, and forming
the carriage-road to Albano through Marino. It left Rome by the Porta
Asinaria as it now does by the modern Porta S. Giovanni, which is close
to the old gate, but at a much higher level. The Via Latina crosses it
in a diagonal line, and runs nearly parallel to it as far as the Torre
Fiscale, that is, for about a mile gradually diverging from it.
Wherever the exterior of the _specus_ of the Anio Vetus is visible, it is
faced with _Opus Reticulatum_. The reservoirs of this Aqueduct are of the
same construction, and this may serve to distinguish those on the slope
of the hill at Tivoli from the other aqueducts there.
“The water of this straight branch,” says Frontinus, “coming within the
_Porta Esquilina_ along the _Spes [specus] Vetus_, was carried down into
the city in the high streams[41].”
This _specus_ is on the high bank of the Tarquins, the outer and lofty
line of defence on the eastern side of Rome. On this the wall of Aurelian
was afterwards built. After its entry into Rome, the Anio Vetus was
divided into several branches, in the same manner as the later aqueducts
were.
The right-hand branch, in crossing the Campagna, appears to have run
nearly under the Marcian arcade, which was afterwards built on the same
line and nearly over it. As we approach near to Rome, there are remains
of a reservoir built of large stones a little way down the road, about
a hundred yards from the Porta Maggiore. It enters Rome under the wall,
almost on the level of the ground; the upper part of the _specus_ was
visible in 1868, but in 1869 was studiously concealed by a modern brick
wall. It is visible again inside the wall, on the other side of the road,
going into the vineyard in which the Minerva Medica stands, while one
branch went to the great reservoir near to it, westward of the gate.
Another branch passes along the bank under the wall of Aurelian, and is
not visible again until it reaches the Prætorian Camp, where a portion
of it was excavated in May, 1868, built of large stones of tufa, under
the Porta Chiusa. It may then be traced all round the three sides of the
Prætorian Camp, and near the north-east corner there was, in 1868, an
opening into it, now closed by a modern wall. It is distinctly visible in
several places, especially on the north side of the Camp, where the wall
of Tiberius remains perfect, faced with the fine brickwork of his period,
whereas the _specus_ under it is faced with _Opus Reticulatum_, probably
of the time of the Republic. The wall of Tiberius distinctly stands on
the old _specus_. There was an opening into it here also in 1868; but
this was also carefully walled up in 1869 under the influence of the
Garibaldian panic, which had a bad effect upon the Roman authorities at
that period. Remains of a reservoir or _castellum aquæ_ were also found
on the surface of the ground on the bank near the Porta Chiusa, with the
present wall of Rome built right across it, but this part of the wall has
been rebuilt of old materials, and is not exactly in the same line. There
are remains of several other reservoirs on the bank at intervals outside
the wall in the modern road, and in many places all along the eastern and
southern sides of Rome.
Beyond this, near the Porta Nomentana, are the ruins of another reservoir
or _piscina_ on the surface of the ground, against the wall. From near
the Porta Chiusa another branch went along the old road, which passed
through that gate across the inner foss to the Thermæ of Diocletian,
where a part of the _specus_ and two _cippi_, with two inscriptions upon
them, naming this aqueduct the Anio Vetus, were found in the year 1861,
when the railway was made[42]. These _cippi_ are now in the Vatican
Museum.
Another branch went from the reservoir near the Porta Maggiore before
mentioned, across the road into the bank on which the arches of Nero
stand, near the Lateran, and passed under them apparently into the old
_specus_ of the Appia, which runs parallel to and nearly under the
arches on the other side. Two small _specus_ or stone pipes can be still
seen (in 1872) passing obliquely into that bank; and, as they came from
this large reservoir and _piscina_, (or from this direction,) they
seem to have belonged to two aqueducts at different levels. A branch
of the Marcian may have been brought to the same filtering-place for
distribution, and the surplus water carried into the old _specus_ at the
lowest level, which was evidently used for receiving and carrying off the
surplus water of all the other aqueducts in the same line.
The fifty yards outside the wall added to the three hundred yards between
the Cœlian and the Aventine, make up the three-hundred-and-fifty yards
above ground, mentioned by Frontinus. In this valley we found it again,
in 1869, parallel to the Appia, sometimes on the _agger_ or bank of
Servius Tullius, which was used as a substructure for it, in other places
on an arcade built up against the tufa wall of Servius Tullius, and faced
with reticulated-work.
APPENDIX.
ON SPĒ OR SPC̄.
For the supposed Temple of Spes, the ruins of an apse in the gardens of
S. Croce, of “Venus and Cupid,” (as it is marked in most maps, and as
“Speranza Vecchia” in others,) was fixed upon by Piranesi, who carefully
examined all that he could with a view of mapping out his aqueducts,
according to the knowledge possessed in his time. This building was no
doubt a hall belonging to the Sessorian Palace. Others, again, have
suggested the so-called temple of Minerva Medica, but this again is a
_nymphæum_, or _pantheum_, and not a temple at all. Besides, a further
difficulty lies in one being too far south, while the other is too far
north.
Canina, in his account of the results of the excavations at the Porta
Maggiore[43], and of the tomb of Eurysaces the baker there discovered,
just outside of the gate, gives a plan in which he inserts a temple
just inside the gate on the southern side, which he calls the Temple
of Spes[44]. It is quite possible that this was a Temple of Spes.
There certainly was a temple on the site indicated, where the modern
guard-house stands; and during excavations carried on there, fragments of
a temple of the time of the early Empire were found, consisting chiefly
of a fine cornice of travertine.
When, however, the words of Frontinus have to be applied, the
difficulties of the theory of his referring to a temple are increased.
In the case of the expression last referred to, “_following the specus
(spes)_, or, according to one manuscript, _the old specus_, which is
obviously the sense,” it is very difficult to imagine what circumstances
there were in connection with a temple which could warrant the use of
such words; and even in the instance mentioned, where we were noticing
the Appian aqueduct, “the expression, the Gemelli, which is a place
under the _old specus_ (Spe̅s̅ Vetus),” is somewhat singular. Granting
that a temple once existed just within the wall of the city (which, from
the context, must have been its position if any) it is singular that he
should use it as a landmark when describing the junction of two streams
of water. The remaining three expressions are simply “at the _old specus_
(Spe̅s̅ Vetus[45]).”
With these difficulties to contend with, it has been thought well to
seek a different solution, and this is found in the reading of “Specum
Veterem” for “Spe̅m̅ Veterem,” i.e., the “old _specus_.” With this
reading, it naturally follows that it would refer to the old _specus_,
or the _specus_ of the Appia and the Anio Vetus; and it is singular
that the first time it occurs in Frontinus, the Codex Urbinas[46], only
second in authority to the Codex Cassinensis, has the reading “Anienem
Veterem,” instead of “Spem Veterem.” What was the true reading of the
Codex or Codices from which these two copies were made, it is impossible
to say; they are the earliest we have, and it is clear from several
other instances that the scribes did not copy with much knowledge of the
matter in question: then it was easy to mistake _Spc̄_ for _Spē_. That
it was the Specus Vetus which was meant, must rest therefore upon the
circumstances which allow of its application to the passages named, and
it remains to shew that this is the case.