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, or of the time employed on them.* The regulations under which these works were, and the laws for their protection, are more known to us. Respect for private property, in tracing the course of an aqueduct, seems to have been so scrupulous, that it is related t>y Livy, when, in the year B. C., 179, the Censors, M. Emilius Lepidus, arid M. Flaccus Nobilior, proposed the building of another aqueduct, that the scheme was defeated, because Licinius Crassus refused to let it be carried through his lands.t It is also remarked by Frontinus, that so " admirable was the equity of our ancestors, that when on the line of an aqueduct, any owner of lands was unwilling to sell the por- tion required for the public work, the whole farm was bought by the State, and after taking what was requisite, the rest was resold."]: At subsequent periods, it would seem, from a Senate decree, to be presently noticed, that the practice of our own country, on such occasions, was adopted — that of taking private property for public purposes, upon an estimate to be made by " good men." We have already seen, that the general charge and control of all the aqueducts, was confided to a national superintendent, who was generally of high rank, and who, by a decree of the Senate, was to be accompanied, when going out of the city on official duty, by two lie tors, three slaves, architects, secretaries, &c.§ He also, it appears, sometimes had two adjuncts, who were entitled to like honors. In the earlier period of the aqueducts, all the water was for the use of the people, except what overflowed from the fountains or pools ; and it was expressly enacted, " that no private person should divert any water, other than that which overflowed." II Even this surplus of waste water was appropriated to baths, fullers, dyers, &c., and for it * Frontinus, p. 160. t Liv. xl., 51. t Frontinus, p. 207. 5 See decree, in Frontinus, p. 194. II Front. 192. 7 26 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. a stated tax was paid into the public treasury ; sometimes by general consent, a portion of this aqua caduca was appropriated to the houses of the chief citizens. The laws are uncertain, as to what magistrate exercised the right of giving, or selling water. Sometimes the Censors, sometimes the ^Ediles are found doing so — though it would seem as long as the Republic had Censors, they, rather than others, exercised this power. The caution with which the distribution of the water was conducted, and the fairness with which its use seems to have been granted, are apparent from many passages in Frontinus. On the latter point particularly he states, that the Curule .ZEdiles were required to select two persons in each street from those who inhabited it, or owned property in it, who should determine where the public fountain, or hydrant should be placed. Another strong proof of the regard paid to the comfort and wants of the people, in respect of the use of the waters, is furnished by a Senate decree in the time of Augustus, directing among other things, "that the superintendents of water, whom Caesar Augustus, by authority of the Senate, had appointed, should give special heed that the public fountains, or hydrants, (salientes,} should pour forth uninterruptedly night and day, water for the use of the people."* While the people were thus gratuitously supplied, and without limit as to quantity from the public fountains, there was a tax levied upon that portion of the waters diverted to private houses and gardens.t It is remarkable, and quite an object of regret, that Frontinus, whose details as to the aqueducts are in other respects so copious, has left no record of the rate of this tax, of the principle on which it was assessed, or of its productiveness ; such a table at this period would have been both curious and instructive. A grant of water for private use was in all cases personal, and ceased with the life of the grantee. The residents of the same neighborhood united in building a private castellum, into which the