Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/393

Galba and Lucius Aurelius Cotta, when the conduits of Appia and Old Anio had become leaky by reason of age, and water was also being diverted from them unlawfully by individuals, the Senate commissioned Marcius, who at that time administered the law as praetor between citizens,^[1] to reclaim and repair these conduits; and since the growth of the City was seen to demand a more bountiful supply of water, the same man was charged by the Senate to bring into the City other waters so far as he could.… He restored the old channels and brought in a third supply, more wholesome than these,…which is called Marcia after the man who introduced it. We read in Fenestella,^[2] that 180,000,000 sesterces^[3] were granted to Marcius for these works, and since the term of his praetorship was not sufficient for the completion of the enterprise, it was extended for a second year. At that time the Decemvirs,^[4] on consulting the Sibylline Books for another purpose, are said to have discovered that it was not right for the Marcian water, or rather the Anio (for tradition more regularly mentions this) to be brought to the Capitol. The matter is said to have been debated in the Senate, in the consulship of Appius Claudius and Quintus Caecilius,^[5] Marcius Lepidus acting as spokesman for the Board of Decemvirs; and three years later the matter is said to have been brought up again by Lucius Lentulus, in the consulship of Gaius Laelius and Quintus

1. Praetor urbanus.
2. A Roman historian; he died in 21 A.D.
3. About £1,500,000. The sesterce at this period was worth about two pence.
4. A board of ten men who had charge of the Sibylline Books.
5. 143 B. C.