On the Nature and Law of Waters

CHAP. III. On the Origin of Hydraulics.

§. 4. It is well established that in the East, springs were so rare that the Patriarchs The "Patriarchs" refers to the early biblical figures like Abraham and Isaac. were forced to dig wells, which neighboring peoples sometimes seized—as happened to Abraham in Genesis 21, verse 24 and Isaac in Genesis 26, verse 20—or even blocked up out of envy (said chapter, verse 15).

§. 5. We also see from the same chapter 26, verses 22, 25, and 32 that they were moved with the greatest joy upon finding water; indeed, we read in Numbers chapter 21, verse 17 that the Israelites sang a special hymn because of the discovery of a spring, namely:

Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people prepared it, together with the Lawgiver, with their scepters. original: "Ascende putee, recinite eum, quem puteum fodere principes, & paravere duces populi, unâ cum Imperatore, suis sceptris." This is the "Song of the Well."

§. 6. It is also apparent from Genesis chapter 24, verse 17 that in the East, wells had to be sought at great depth; there we read that Rebecca, when she wished to draw water, had to descend. To prevent the water from being disturbed by brutes and wild beasts, the mouths of the wells had to be closed with rocks and stones (Genesis 29, verse 3).

§. 7. God himself mentions original: "Thermarum," referring to hot springs or thermal baths. hot springs in Palestine in Joshua 13:6, where among other things he sets two boundaries of the promised land, namely Mount Lebanon and the hot springs in the vicinity of Sidon (Joshua 19:8; regarding which see Matthew Poole’s Synopsis of Sacred Critics original: "Poli. Critic. Sacr." This refers to the Synopsis Criticorum, a massive 17th-century biblical commentary by Matthew Poole.).

§. 8. The first mention of aqueducts From the Latin "aqua" (water) and "ducere" (to lead), meaning structures built to convey water from a distance., and specifically artificial ones, is made in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verse 6, where we read that Solomon prepared pools from which he might lead water into a grove of trees. King Uzziah original: "Usias." of the Jews also dug wells for his cattle (2 Chronicles 26, verse 10); but particularly worthy of note are the things read in 2 Chronicles 32, verse 30 concerning Hezekiah original: "Hiskia.", who blocked the upper springs of the waters of Gihon and diverted the water to the western part of the City of David. Among other things, he is pronounced fortunate/successful precisely because of the successful completion of this aqueduct.

§. 9. A little after those times, Ancus Marcius, the fourth King of Rome, began the work of leading the Marcian water into the city (Pliny, Book 31, chapter 3).

§. 10. In the time of Alexander the Great, Dinocrates, the Macedonian architect, set out to prepare a marvelous aqueduct on Mount Athos—