the town of Subiaco, anciently Sublaqueum, which derives its name from three picturesque lakes, "tres lacus amoenitate nobiles" (Plin. III. 12) which formerly existed there.*

Tivoli is well known to have been the favourite retreat of the wealthy Romans from the turmoil, and what Horace calls the "fumus," of Rome.t The names and the ruins of these villas yet remain, but no trace is left of those which once adorned the banks of the Tiber, and perhaps of the Anio in the lower part of its course.

Pliny the younger calls the Anio "delicatissimus amnium," "softest and gentlest of rivers" (Ep. VIII. 17), and adds "that it was for this reason invited, as it were, and retained by the neighbouring villas " for their own exclusive use. Yet this "delicate river" indulged occasionally in the wildest escapades, and Pliny himself, in this very letter, describes an inundation in which it swept away woods, undermined hills, and committed extraordinary havoc among the neighbouring farms. (See Letter), From this time to the year 1826 it was a constant source of apprehension to the people of Tivoli, and of anxiety to the government at Rome, which expended considerable sums in trying to prevent some great calamity, or in repairing the damage which had been done. Once since the time of Strabo the river is thought to have changed its course, discharging itself at a lower level into the Grotto of Neptune, but still forming a lofty and picturesque cascade.

At different periods it had destroyed buildings, undermined the foundation of others, and defied every effort to control its violence. At length these floods culminated in the great inundation of 1826, which entirely altered the character of the cascade, and necessitated the formation of the tunnel through Monte Catillo. In consequence of heavy and continued rains, * These lakes were artificial and attached to the villa of Nero. Omitte mirari beatæ

Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ. Hor. Car. III, 29.

It is strange that most commentators should hesitate to render "fumum" "smoke" and explain it by vain and empty pomp; as if there were no smoke from wood fires, as well as other disagreeable vapours at Rome.

Adjacentibus villis velut invi atus et retentus."-Plin. Ep. VIII. 17.

which fell in the middle of November, on the sixteenth the Anio rose to an extraordinary height. Trunks of trees and cabins of shepherds, borne along on the surface of the boiling flood, told the story of the havoc which the river was committing in the upper country; while the roar of the waters as they discharged themselves over the cascade struck terror into the hearts of those whose houses adjoined the falls. As they were gazing on the grand but fearful spectacle, on a sudden the river was seen to change its course, and diverging to the right, to open for itself a new channel, which the rush of the waters contributed every instant to deepen. The cascade became a rapid, and as the friable soil yielded to the violence of the current, a ravine was opened nearly thirty feet in depth. The foundations of the houses situated near the river were undermined, and a whole street, the church of St. Lucia, and half the palace of Boschi, sank into the yawning gulf, along with the vineyards and gardens beside them.

Meanwhile the mills and manufactories which had been supplied with water from the river were left dry by the sinking in the level of its bed; their works were suspended, and there was a prospect that for an indefinite period the workmen might be thrown out of employment.

When the flood had subsided, the first care of the authorities was to restore the water to the suspended works; for the stoppage of the flour mills had caused great distress, and the suspension of those for crushing the olives would have entailed great loss on the district, as the last crop of that fruit had been unusually abundant. By means of canals drawn from a higher level the mills were at length set in motion, and the thoughts of the government, after relieving the immediate distress, were turned to the means of repairing the damage and preventing similar disasters in future.*

Among many proposals made to the Papal government, was one for diverting the river by a tunnel through Monte Catillo; but at the time it was considered too difficult and too ex

* Il fiume l'Aniene, by an inhabitant of Tivoli.

pensive, and it was therefore resolved to restore the cascade, with some modification, and to strengthen the natural pillar which supports the roof of the grotto of Neptune, the destruction of which, it was thought, would lead to the fall of the cliff on which stands the temple of the Sibyl, with other monuments of antiquity. The pillar was surrounded with stout oak planks firmly braced with iron, forty great beams of oak, and four others of less thickness; thirteen hundred pounds of iron, and five hundred of lead being employed. But on the twentyeighth of December, 1831, there came another great flood, and the river beat with such fury against the grotto and the pillar, that not a vestige remained of the stout covering of the latter, and further progress was made in the corrosion of the pillar itself. The proposer of this plan of strengthening the support could only exclaim, when he saw the havoc which had been wrought, "It seems impossible, and yet it is a fact.”

At length it was seen that nothing but the diversion of the river could prevent the undermining and fall of the cliff, and with it the destruction of the temple of the Sibyl, and of a portion of the town. For the substance of the cliff is neither the close-grained Travertino used in building, nor the hard secondary limestone of the Apennines, like that of Monte: Castillo, but a porous, spongy deposit, called by the Italians 'tartaro,' which is deposited by the river under certain conditions, and corroded by it under others.

It was decided, therefore, that the tunnel should be commenced. The work was let on contract to two rival firms, and pushed forward with such vigour that, though it was considered a most arduous undertaking in those times, it was completed in 1836, during the Pontificate of Gregory XVI.

From the Anio, or its tributaries, was drawn the water which supplied the principal aqueducts of Rome, the Anio Vetus, the Marcia, the Anio Novus, and the Claudia. When the original Aqua Appia and Anio Vetus were found insufficient for the increasing wants of Rome, it was resolved to seek for a fresh supply. This was found in a stream of limpid water rising about thirty-six miles from Rome in the Marsian

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mountains, and flowing into the Anio. As the water of the Anio Vetus was often turbid after rain, and even the Piscina, or reservoir, through which it was made to pass, often failed to purify it, Quintus Marcius Rex, who was appointed to superintend the work, was desirous that the water of the new aqueduct should be taken from one of the tributaries of the river, and as near as possible to its source. The scheme, Frontinus tells us was nearly failing owing to a superstitious scruple. The work had actually been commenced, when the decurions fancied that they had discovered in the Sibylline books a prohibition against using the stream in question, and a command, that the water required should be taken from the river. The matter was debated for some days in the Senate, but the influence of Marcius prevailed, and the work was allowed to proceed. As the source was in the country beyond the Anio, the aqueduct was of course more expensive than any of the preceding ones, and the entire length was no less than sixty-one miles, of which six were on arches, the rest being subterranean. But, if the expense was greater, the quality of the water was superior to that of any other with which Rome was acquainted. Strabo . (v. c. 240) describes it as "distinguished for its excellence above all other waters,"* and Plinyt observes: "that the Marcian, most limpid of all the waters in the world, and by the verdict of the city carrying off the palm for coolness and salubrity, is undoubtedly a gift of heaven to the State." Both authors describe it as passing from lake Fucinus through a subterranean channel, which had its opening in the valley of the Anio. Pliny makes it perform a longer and stranger pilgrimage‡— "It rises in the farthest mountains of the Peligni, crosses the Marsi, and the lake Fucinus, making straight for Rome. Bye-and-by it sinks into caverns, and comes to light again in the territory of Tibur." It is needless to observe that all this is fanciful, and that the springs of le Serene, from which

* 66

Παρὰ τὰ ἄλλα ἐυδοκιμοῦντος ὕδατα.”—Strabo, V. c. 240. † Pliny, XXI. 24.

‡ “Oritur in ultimis montibus Pelignorum, transit Marsos et Fucinum lacum, Romam non dubie petens. Mox in specus mersa in Tiburtina se aperit."

the larger portion both of the ancient and modern Aqua Marcia is derived, have no connexion with lake Fucinus. A short description of the modern aqueduct may be found in the last edition of Murray. The Aqua Marcia was valued for its limpidity and freshness, and Statius describes it as bringing with it to Rome the coolness of the Marsian hills in which it rose.

Marsasque nives, et frigora ducens

Marcia, 1, 5, 26. Balneum Claudii Etrusci.

Tibullus also, III. Eleg. 6, 58, alludes to its potable qualities: Temperet annosum Marcia lympha merum.

Subsequently, when the Anio Novus and Aqua Claudia were brought to Rome, great abuses began to prevail. The Aquarii, or watermen (Frontinus, Art. 91), used to supplement, more freely than was required, the deficiency of the Aqua Marcia, and the Aqua Claudia-which also was supplied from springswith the abundant, but more turbid water of the Anio Novus. The fullones, or fullers, also took a fancy to the Aqua Marcia, thinking that it improved the appearance of their cloth, and it was also employed, as Frontinus complains, for purposes too foul to be mentioned. A regulation, therefore (Frontinus 92), was made that the Marcia should be reserved exclusively for drinking, "potui tota serviret," and that the waters of the other aqueducts should be applied, according to their qualities, to the purposes for which they was best suited, the Anio Vetus, for instance, to watering gardens, and to the requirements of cleansing a city.

The aqueducts of the Anio Novus, and the Aqua Claudia, of which I have spoken, were completed in the reign of Claudius. The Aqua Claudia, which came from springs, was nearly equal in quality to the Marcia, while the two Anios were often turbid, even in fine weather, from the falling in of their banks (Frontinus, Art. 90). But Claudius improved the quality of the Anio Novus, by abandoning the river at the point from which the water had been drawn, and taking it from a lake, out of which the stream issues limpid, after having deposited the greater part of its impurities.