of the public revenues. These contracts * Inquiry into the State of Slavery among the Romans, by Wm. Blair, Esq., p. 2. t Plutarch's Life of the Gracchi. : Frontinus, chap. ii. CROTON AQUEDUCT. 219 were drawn up in writing, of which Cato has preserved to us a specimen in his book on agriculture." In reference to the Aqua Appia, the same writer makes this statement : " The pride of a princely patrician, Appius, who looked indeed upon his family as his country, but who looked upon his country as his family — a man who may be called the express image of the ancient patriciate — of the sternness, vigor, simplicity and constancy of the old Ro- man nobility — for the first time since the kingly era, employed the revenues of the State, greatly augmented as these were by the possession of Campania and the plunder of Sam- nium, in a gigantic undertaking, in the building of an enormous aqueduct, and the plan- ning of the most remarkable highway of the Roman empire. At this time the Romans as well as the 1 ^atins continued to pay war- taxes, land-taxes, property-taxes ; the tithe of the demesne, lands brought large sums in, and the tolls had become more productive since the domain had received aggrandizement ; the number of slaves, owing to the wars, had greatly increased. Appius therefore could not better oblige the mass of the citizens, than by undertaking an enormous public work, which should oc- cupy them, and give them an opportunity to enrich themselves through the labor of their slaves. At the same time he announced by these means the greatness of Rome to the whole world, and secured immortal glory to himself."* In regard to the receipts from the water of the aqueducts, coll ected from the gardens and buildings to which they were distributed, we find upon a more careful examination of Frontinus, an incidental statement, that this revenue, " amounting to sestertium C. C. L. millium, equal to one million of dollars, which had been diverted to the private purse of Domitian, was by the justice of the godlike Nerva restored to the people."t The Roman aqueducts in Gaul, in Spain, and other conquered provinces, were the works of proconsuls, virtually irresponsible for the exercise of their power ; and the labor by which they were built was that of the legions. Magnificent as were these structures, and fraught with benefit to all within their sphere, they were nevertheless the badge of servitude, the boon of a conqueror to subject peoples. Of modern works, the Canal de L'Ourcq, in France, by its extent and the copiousness of its supply, is among the most remarkable. But that too, was a government undertaking, feebly prosecuted through a period of some thirty years, and completed at last at a great expense, in incurring which, or in the means for its repayment, the people had no voice. The canal cost 24,326,278 francs, or near five millions of dollars, and the distribution of * History of Rome, pp. 126, 7, Carey, Lee & Blanchard's edition , 1837. t Frontinus, chap. ii. 220 MEMOIR OF THE the water about four million dollars more. Its revenue as a navigable canal, is about 60,000 francs, and from its waters consumed in Paris. 1,460,000 francs, altogether a little more than $300,000.* For its bold and lofty arcades, the solidity of its masonry, and the imposing grandeur of the whole structure as it bestrides the beautiful valley of Alcantara, the aqueduct of Lisbon may claim the first place. It is, however, short in its course, and its supply of water is comparatively small. This is wholly a royal work. In Great Britain, all the water-works seem to have been private speculations, in which the hope of gain was the alluring cause — except, indeed, the original undertaking of Hugh Myddleton, to introduce the New river into London. He certainly appears to have acted for the general good, and to have made great personal sacrifices for its promotion. In other instances, the commercial spirit, which looks to a reward for its investments, was at the bottom of the enterprise. The city of New York presents, it is believed, the only instance of a comparatively small community, not exceeding at the time 280,000 inhabitants, deliberately voting that an enterprise should be undertaken, in a style and on a scale greatly beyond their actual or any near future wants, but which, designed to endure for ages, would bear record to those ages, however distant, of a race of men who were content to incur present burdens, for the benefit of a posterity they could never know. Having resolved on the work, they carried it forward with a degree of constancy and energy alike