nel also is not exactly what we now call a tunnel, but is hewn in the rock of the cliff, with a few feet of stone only as an outer wall to it, and in this manner runs along the edge of the valley of the Anio, and on its left bank, for many miles. The Claudian came from springs upon the right bank, and ran on that side to the point where it crossed the river in company with the Marcia, half-way to Tivoli. At the bridge called Ponte Lupo, the Anio Novus seems first to have been united with the Claudian; from that point they continue one upon the other for the rest of their course, finishing upon the long arcade of solid stonework. This portion of the work, under two Emperors, was completed in fourteen years. Before reaching Rome the Claudian arcade crosses the Marcian at the Tor Fiscale, and re-crosses it again at the Porta Furba. The space enclosed within the intersecting lines was occupied by the Goths as one of their camps while they besieged Rome.

The arcade terminates at the Porta Maggiore, and here an inscription upon the face of the specus itself, over the archway, records that Claudius, son of Drusus, caused the water of the Claudian conduit from the Cerulean, or Curtian springs, to be brought into Rome from forty-five miles distance, and that of the Anio Novus from sixty-two miles. The length of the three lochs above Subiaco has to be added to that of the actual specus, as given by Frontinus, to make up the whole distance.

Within the city wall the water of the two aqueducts was united into one, in order to be carried upon the arcade of Nero. This lofty structure, of the finest brickwork, partly remains; it first crosses the foss of the Sessorium on a double row of arches, one above the other; then is carried on to the Lateran upon a high bank and as a single arcade, and on another bank across the old foss which divided the Lateran from the city, to the Cœlian, and on that hill to

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the Arch of Dolabella. This arch formed the principal entrance to that portion of the hill where the Claudium was situated. Over the arch are fine ruins of a large Castellum and Piscina, faced with the same excellent brickwork. As each successive aqueduct came to this point new reservoirs were needed, and at different levels; the highest, being that of Nero, was fifty feet from the ground. Thence the water was distributed in different directions; by one branch to the Claudium itself, and thence again northward to the Stagnum Neronis, at the site of the Colosseum, and afterwards retained under it for the exhibition of Naumachiæ. A second branch led to the Palatine, passing down the western side of the Cœlian by the slope called Clivus Scauri, and crossing the valley upon the arches attributed to Nero, but more properly to Domitian, who thus provided a supply of water for the Therme of the new Imperial palace on that hill. Part of this lofty structure still remains. The third branch was to the Aventine, but the plan for this was not carried out till the time of Trajan, when another lofty arcade was made across the valley to the PseudoAventine; some of the brick piers of this work are still visible. On the Aventine itself remains of the aqueduct are seen in front of S. Prisca: the surprise of the people at seeing copious streams of water pouring over the heights and slopes of the Aventine is recorded by a contemporary author. There was also a branch from the Palatine to the Capitoline, of which two tall piers are standing; upon this, it seems, the aqueduct was conducted at the highest level, while at a lower level it served as a bridge, with a road for horses and passengers. We are unable to trace the course of these two great channels through the city otherwise than by the Neronian arcade; but we know that all the fourteen Regiones were supplied by them, and it is probable that, to convey their waters to the northern and western districts, the conduits of the older aqueducts were used.

It will be seen that of all the nine aqueducts up to the time of Frontinus only two remain in operation, the Virgo and Trajana. The additional modern supply is from the Aqua Felice and the revived Aqua Marcia. The firstnamed, which is partly the same as the Aqua Hadriana, was brought from Labicum (La Colonna), by Felice Perretti, Pope Sixtus V. (1585), and runs upon the piers sometimes of the Claudian, sometimes of the Marcian, as best suited the engineer's purposes, and sometimes on its own separate arcade. From the Porta Maggiore it is taken off to the west in underground pipes laid in the old channels, and goes to the Lateran, thence descending to the lower parts of the city, and supplying water to the Ghetto, or Jews' quarter, and the streets along the Tiber. The main channel follows the line of Aurelian's wall, in company with the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia, to the Porta S. Lorenzo, where its arcade turns westward, and goes on to the high plateau of the Viminal, and round three sides of the Thermæ of Diocletian. It yields a copious supply, the Specus being three feet wide and usually from three to four feet deep, and the water flowing with a current of five miles an hour. The different reservoirs and fountains of the upper town are fed by this aqueduct. It is not, however, of good drinking quality.

The newest aqueduct, introduced under Pius IX. (1870), in order to provide more water and of the purest kind for the eastern districts, in which a new town is now springing up, brought in again the waters of the Marcian from their true fountain-heads. These form a small lake in the valley, and when the surface of this was lowered by draining for the new works, the old specus was laid open. The course as far as Tivoli is in a stone specus upon the old Roman principle, but on reaching the lower ground it is taken in cast-iron pipes, passing beneath the bed of the Anio by

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a great syphon. The use of these enabled the constructors to carry the work in a more direct line, and to preserve the fresh qualities of the springs. Within the city its distribution begins on the high plateau of the Viminal, opposite the Thermæ of Diocletian, where it issues in a magnificent fountain and basin.

CHAPTER X.

THE THERMÆ.

CLOSELY connected with the Aqueducts are the Thermæ, the great bathing establishments of the citizens of Rome. The earliest bath constructed for their use in common was the Piscina Publica, in the valley between the Cœlian and Aventine, and close under the cliff of the latter. It was of very large dimensions, being intended as a swimming-bath for the whole people: the outline of it can be traced for about a quarter of a mile, from the northern corner of the hill on which S. Balbina stands to the north end of the Therme of Caracalla. This pool was fed by the Aqua Appia which crossed the valley here: from its main line, after passing over the Porta Capena, a branch has been traced turning off to the left, and running into the subterranean chambers of the Piscina. It is obvious that the flat ground between those two hills offered the first eligible site within the walls for receiving so large a body of water. With this earliest bathing-place were connected gymnastic entertainments, as we learn from Festus, who also says that, though the Piscina itself no longer existed in his time, the name was still retained; and in fact the twelfth Regio of the city was named after it. This seems to have been the only provision of the kind during the whole period of the Republic, and in it no warming-apparatus was used. The hot bath was introduced into the private houses of great men before the Empire, but only on a small scale. Seneca describes those of earlier times as narrow and dark, and the bathchamber of Scipio Africanus, in his villa at Liternum, he says, was lighted only by small slits in the stone wall.