How much care was taken that no one should venture to injure the conduits, or draw water that had not been granted, may be seen not only from many other things, but especially from the fact that the Circus Maximus could not be watered, even on the days of the Circensian Games, except with permission of the aediles or censors, a regulation which, as we read in the writings of Ateius Capito,[1] was still in force even after the care of the waters had passed, under Augustus, to commissioners. Indeed, lands which had been irrigated unlawfully from the public supply were confiscated. Whenever a slave infringed the law, even without the knowledge of his master, a fine was imposed.[2] By the same laws it is also enacted as follows: "No one shall with malice pollute the waters where they issue publicly. Should any one pollute them, his fine shall be ten thousand sestertii." [3] Therefore the order was given to the Curule Aediles to appoint two men in each district from the number of those who lived in it, or owned property in it, in whose care the public fountains should be placed.
Marcus Agrippa, after his aedileship (which he held after his consulship) [4] was the first man to become the permanent incumbent[5] of this office, so to speak—a commissioner charged with the supervision of works which he himself had created. Inasmuch as the amount of water now available warranted it, he determined how much should be allotted to the public structures, how much to the basins, and how much to private parties. He also
- ↑ An eminent Roman jurist under Augustus and Tiberius.
- ↑ The meaning of this sentence is clear, though not its construction.
- ↑ A very large sum for those days, approximately £85.
- ↑ The aedileship usually preceded the consulship by six years. In 33 B.C. Octavian was anxious that the people should be amused by shows and buildings of more than usual splendour, and Agrippa, in his loyalty to the Triumvir, descended from the rank which he had attained as a consular to serve in the inferior office of aedile.
- ↑ Under the Republic, these special of offices had been of a temporary nature; now Agrippa, and certain others following him, held this office for life.
