source, how far they were carried underground and how far on arches, the height and size of each, the number of taps and the distributions made from them, the amount of water supplied to public reservoirs, public amusements. State purposes and private persons, and finally what laws regulated the construction and maintenance of aqueducts, and what penalties enforced these laws, whether established by resolutions of the Senate or by edicts of the Emperors. And what he records is based not on hearsay, but on personal examination of all details, supplemented by the study of plans and charts which he had made.
The work is a simple and truthful narration of facts, containing a mass of technical detail essential to a complete understanding of the system described. As an honest and thorough-going exposition of that system, the De Aquis will always remain the starting-point for any investigation pertaining to the water supply of ancient Rome.
