the water, and by eventually raising its level, occasioned breaks in the channel, whence the waters escaping, not only destroyed it, but the sub-structures of every kind in the vicinity.* All work of repair, was however, as much as possible suspended in the summer sea- son, as then the free use of the water was most needed and agreeable.t The spring and au- tumn were the working periods. Moreover, a moderate temperature was deemed advan- tageous, as permitting the masonry to be laid with the degree of humidity deemed essen- tial to its perfection and ultimate solidity, excessive heat and cold being alike unfavorable to such a result. Above all, it was a rule, before beginning any reparation, to provide on the spot, every thing that could be required, and in sufficient quantity to ensure a rapid execution. Whenever any of the Arcades within seven miles of the city, and by means of which several streams were at once conveyed, were undergoing repair, the stream was continued unbroken through leaden pipes, across that portion of the mason work.J To preserve these noble structures from dilapidation, Agrippa, who was the first na- tional superintendent, formed a class of slaves, who were solely employed on the repairs. * Front, p. 203. Stuart, art. Aqueducts. t Ibid. I Front, 204, 24 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. These at first numbered 250 — but at his death he bequeathed them to Augustus, who transferred them to the public. Claudius established another company of fountaineers, during the erection of his aqueduct, amounting to about 460 persons, divided into differ- ent classes, and with distinct duties. There were the comptrollers, the keepers of the castellum, inspectors, paviours, stuccoers, and other workmen. A portion of these were lodged in the city, in order to execute with promptness such repairs, as, without being ex- tensive, demanded immediate attention. Others were stationed near the reservoirs or castella, or in the neighborhood of the public shows, to supply water to any point where it might be more particularly needed. Their maintenance was paid by the public, by a rate on domains and houses.* In later days of the Empire, it would seem, five additional aqueducts were construct- ed, of which the Alexandrian^ as the ruins remain to testify, was the chief, and most magnificent. When, A. D. 535, Rome was besieged by the Goths under Vitiges, Procopius,l the historian of the Gothic war, records that fourteen streams flowed into the city. It was of course among the means employed by the barbarian invaders to induce submission, to cut off the accustomed supply of water, and Rome, in her 1289th year, and after enjoy- ing for many centuries the lavish prodigality of her fountains and aqueducts, was again reduced to dependence on natural springs, the wells that had not been neglected and suffered to be filled up, and the yellow waters of the Tiber. The great and permanent changes which such a calamity must have brought about in the habits of a numerous and luxurious people, can hardly be measured. The popula- tion, indeed, had been sensibly diminished from the period of Rome's ascendancy, for Gothic and Vandalic conquerors had already despoiled her of most of her wealth, and dese- crated the lofty Capitol with the presence of victorious hordes of barbarians. But at the period of which we speak, it is conjectured that the city still had more than 600,000 inhabitants. This barbarian interruption of these accustomed and hitherto unfailing streams, cut- ting off not only the luxuries of the baths, and of the fountains in all their daily and hourly uses for domestic purposes, in the gardens and the pools, necessarily changed at once the whole internal economy and arrangements of the city. Perhaps, among the causes which mark the final decay and fall of Rome, few exercised really greater influence than the Gothic destruction of the aqueducts. * Front., p. 201 — Stuart, art. Aqutducta. t Vide Fabretti de Aquis and Aquiduc, dig. ii. Burgess, vol. ij., p. 336. } Procopius, de bello. Gothico. lib. 1., chap. 15. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 35 There does not remain, so far as we have been able to discover, any memorial of the cost of these magnificent erections — nor of the periods respectively occupied for their con- struction— nor of the nature ot the labor employed upon them. Of the Anio Vetus, Frontinus merely relates, that it was built from the spoils taken from Pyrrhus — and of the Marcia, he says, the Senate appropriated by decree. " Sestertium mille octingenties," equal in our money to $3,240,000. But whether this sum sufficed to complete the undertaking, or whether slaves or the soldiers were employed on such works } does not appear. Concerning all the other aqueducts, we are left without any indication of their cost,