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.
That a part of the eastern side of Rome went by the name of _Spes
Vetus_, is said to be proved by a curious graffito upon the bottom of an
amphora, found in 1871 in the excavations in the Exquiliæ, near the Porta
Maggiore, of a cobbler’s stall, in that district:—
TYCHICI
SVTORIS
A. SPEM VE
TERE.
This piece of _terra-cotta_ is of the first century of the Roman Empire;
but _at what period_ the name and address of the cobbler was scratched
upon it, is a question not so easily answered.
[55] The Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus enter Rome at the extreme eastern
point on a lofty arcade, which formed the northern boundary of the
Sessorian gardens, and was incorporated in the Wall of Aurelian. This
extends for about a quarter of a mile; it then turns at a sharp angle to
the north, and passes over the Porta Maggiore, to its final reservoir
in a tower at an angle to the north of that gate. But part of the water
of the Claudia and the Anio Novus united, was carried straight on along
the bank on which the arches of Nero stand, to the Cœlian Hill and the
reservoirs at the west end of it. The temple, called by Canina _Spes_,
stood near the angle where the water was divided into two distinct
channels, between that point and the Porta Maggiore.
[56] The name of _Porta Esquilina_ is here given to the Porta Maggiore,
the outer gate on the road to the Esquiline. The same name was also given
to the inner gate in the _agger_ of Servius Tullius; but there must
always have been an outer gate also in the outer _mœnia_, or bank and
wall for enclosure, which was a necessary part of every fortified city.
(The same name, _Porta Angelica_, is still given to both the inner and
the outer gate of the Leonine City, near the Vatican.) The high streams
were carried on this bank to the Porta Viminalis of Frontinus, now
called the _Porta di S. Lorenzo_. The remains of these three aqueducts
can be plainly seen on entering through the city wall close to the Porta
Maggiore, on the north side, and going along on this bank to the Porta
di S. Lorenzo. The _specus_ is visible at both ends, carried on arches.
In the middle the ground is higher, and the _specus_ pass through it
underground, and then emerge and are carried again upon arches, exactly
as described by Frontinus. The Aqua Felice is carried _over_ the three
aqueducts of the Marcian arcade; it is on arches twenty feet from the
ground at each end, and in the middle, where these three are underground.
The lower part of the _specus_ of the Aqua Felice almost touches the
ground, while the other three are underground.
[57] The _gemelli_ are, in all probability, the large twin reservoirs
just outside the western wall of the Sessorium, now in a large vineyard
near the Porta Maggiore, through which the Neronian arches pass. These
reservoirs are below the level of the _specus_ of the Anio Vetus, as was
shewn by some excavations made in them under my direction in 1869.
[58] Some of the water had been thrown into the old _specus_ at the
junction of the Claudian with the Neronian arches.
[59] There are remains of more than one _specus_ crossing the valley
from the Cœlian to the Aventine upon the _agger_ of Servius Tullius, and
passing over the Porta Capena at the foot of the Cœlian. One of these
was the Marcia, from the reservoir over the Arch of Dolabella, which is
near the site of the Claudium and Temple of Claudius. There were great
reservoirs for the aqueducts at this point on different levels; one of
them underground is still in use, the remains of the others are among the
most picturesque objects in Rome. This passage cannot apply to the temple
of Hope, which is full a mile away from the Aventine.
[60] “Quum hæc accepta clades esset, jam C. Horatius et T. Menenius
consules erant. Menenius adversus Tuscos, victoria elatos, confestim
missus. Tum quoque male pugnatum est, et Janiculum hostes occupavere:
obsessaque urbs foret, super bellum annona premente, (transierant enim
Etrusci Tiberim) ni Horatius consul e Volscis esset revocatus: adeoque id
bellum ipsis institit mœnibus, ut primo pugnatum ad Spei sit æquo Marte,
iterum ad Portam Collinam. Ibi quanquam parvo momento superior Romana res
fuit, meliorem tamen militem, recepto pristino animo, in futura prœlia id
certamen fecit.” (Livii Hist., lib. ii. c. 51.)
[61] “Romæ fœdum incendium per duas noctes ac diem unum tenuit: solo
æquata omnia inter Salinas ac Portam Carmentalem cum Æquimælio Jugarioque
vico. In templo Fortunæ ac matris Matutæ et Spei extra portam late vagans
ignis, sacra profanaque multa absumpsit.” (Ibid., lib. xxiv. c. 47.)
[62] “Comitia deinde a prætore urbano de senatus sententia plebisque
scito sunt habita: quibus creati sunt quinqueviri muris turribusque
reficiendis: et triumviri bini; uni sacris conquirendis donisque
persignandis; alteri reficiendis ædibus Fortunæ et matris Matutæ intra
Portam Carmentalem, sed et Spei extra portam, quæ priore anno incendio
consumptæ fuerant.” (Livii Hist., lib. xxv. c. 7.)
[63] “Theatrum et proscenium ad Apollinis, ædem Jovis in Capitolio,
columnasque circa poliendas albo locavit: et ab his columnis, quæ
incommode opposita videbantur, signa amovit: clipeaque de columnis, et
signa militaria affixa omnis generis dempsit. M. Fulvius plura et majoris
locavit usus: portum et pilas pontis in Tiberim; quibus pilis fornices
post aliquot annos P. Scipio Africanus et L. Mummius censores locaverunt
imponendos; basilicam post argentarias novas et forum piscatorium,
circumdatis tabernis, quas vendidit in privatum; et forum, et porticum
extra Portam Trigeminam, et aliam post navalia, et ad fanum Herculis, et
post Spei ad Tiberim ædem Apollinis Medici.” (Ibid., lib. xl. c. 51.)
[64] “Sive autem medii montes erunt inter mœnia et caput fontis, sic erit
faciendum, uti specus fodiantur sub terra librenturque ad fastigium,” &c.
(Vitruv., _De Architectura_, lib. viii. c. 6. § 3.)
[65] “Alexandria est fere tota suffossa, specusque habet ad Nilum
pertinentes, quibus aqua in privatas domos inducitur.” (Aulus Hirtius,
_De Bello Cæsaris Alexandrino_, cap. 4.)
[66] Frontinus, lib. i. c. 7. He also quotes from Fenestella concerning
the delays which occurred, and speaks of the Decemvirs consulting the
Sybilline books, and being supposed to have found that it was not the
Marcian but rather the Anio which should be brought into the Capitol:
(“Invenisse dicuntur, non esse aquam Marciam, sed potius Anionem in
Capitolium perducendam.”) Eventually, however, Marcius prevailed, and his
plan was carried out.
Pliny also refers to the work of Marcius: “Sed dicantur vera æstimatione
invicta miracula; Q. Marcius Rex jussus a senatu aquarum Appiæ, Anienis,
Tepulæ _ductus reficere_, novam a nomine suo appellatam cuniculis per
montes actis intra præturæ suæ tempus adduxit.” (Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi.
c. 121; see also further details in Plin., xxxi. 41, and ibid.)
[67] “Qui lapide quadrato ampliores ductus excitavit, perque illos aquam
quam acquisiverit rei publicæ commodo, trium millium opera fabrorum duxit
cui ab auctore,” &c. These words are wanting in the best manuscript,
that of Monte Cassino. In place of them we have “( ... priores ductus
restituit et tertiam illam aquarum in urbem perduxit) cui ab auctore,”
&c. This does not agree with the opinion of the learned, that the Urbinas
Manuscript is a copy of the one at Monte Cassino, unless great liberties
were taken with it. The fact that the arcade with the _specus_ of the
aqueduct is always built of large squared stones, is strongly in favour
of the Codex Urbinas. It is also certain from the nature of the work,
that a large number of men must have been employed upon it. This passage
seems to have been omitted in the Codex Cassinensis, which is a proof
that the Codex Urbinas is not a _copy_ from it. Dederich, p. 15, suggests
after “commodo,” the words “trium millium opera fabrorum.”
[68] Frontinus, lib. i. c. 7.
Frontinus states in another chapter (c. 12) that Augustus brought
underground another stream, which should be supplementary to the Marcian
whenever the dryness of the season rendered extra supply necessary. It
was called from the name of the contriver, Augusta, and had its rise
above the spring of the Marcian. This additional _ductus_, or Specus
Augusta, was 800 paces long.
[69] Frontinus, c. 18.
[70] “Salientibus aquis instruxit urbem.” Ibid., c. 9.
[71] Ibid., c. 87.
[72] Ibid., c. 8.
[73] Ibid.
[74] Ibid., c. 9.
[75] Ibid.
[76] Frontinus, c. 19.
[77] ‘The three aqueducts’ in this passage may mean either the Anio
Vetus, the Marcia, and the Claudia, all of which come from the
neighbourhood of Subiaco, and follow the same line on the bank of the
river Anio, and the cliffs above it as far as Tivoli, but diverge
considerably between Tivoli and the Piscinæ; or it may mean that the
Tepula and the Julia coming from near Marino, and the Marcia coming from
Tivoli, meet at this point—both are true. The _piscinæ_ of the Claudia,
the Anio Novus, the Marcia, the Tepula, the Julia, are all within
half-a-mile of each other.
[78] Dr. F. Gori says that the lake of S. Lucia, in the territory of
Arsoli, near Subiaco, is _not_ the source of the Aqua Marcia, but of the
Aqua Claudia only, and that the sources of the Aqua Marcia are nearer to
Subiaco, and are called by the people _Acque Serene_. He also considers
that the branch of the Aqua Augusta added to the Marcian by Augustus, now
called _Le Rosoline_, comes from near the village of Agosta, and that the
spring, now called _La Fonte_ (_Fons novus Antoninianus_), added to the
Marcian by Antoninus Caracalla, is under the same village of Agosta. One
of the inscriptions on the Porta S. Lorenzo records this. See Delle varie
Sorgenti dell’ Acqua Marcia, &c., pp. 56, 57.