On the Nature and Law of Waters

...to have spent myriads of gold pieces and most magnificently completed [it], as read in St. Julius Frontinus, Book 1, page 226; Suetonius in the Life of Caligula, ch. 21; and in the Life of Claudius, ch. 19. He also built an excellent harbor at the mouth of the Tiber. Suetonius, ibid.

§. 16. Suetonius testifies in his Life [of Nero], ch. 19, that Nero attempted certain hydraulic works when he set out to dig through the isthmus in Achaia The Isthmus of Corinth, a famously difficult engineering project attempted by several ancient rulers.; likewise, he built a lake like a sea, surrounded by buildings in the likeness of cities. Suetonius, ch. 31. About which Martial also wrote in Book 1, epigram 2:

Here where we admire the swift gifts, the baths.

§. 17. The Sweating Goal-post original: Meta sudans. A large, conical fountain in Rome that appeared to "sweat" water from many small holes. It stood near the Colosseum. near the Colosseum vomits a great force of water from its peak; although Domitian claimed the glory of this for himself according to Paul the Deacon, it nevertheless honors Titus as its founder according to a coin. This coin is found in the most splendid coin cabinet original: numismatophylacio; a collection or museum of rare coins. of our most August Emperor Leopold the Great—whom may the supreme Architect and governor of this Universe make superior even to his predecessors in happiness, victories, and length of reign, just as he nearly surpasses all preceding Princes in piety, justice, and other virtues. Charles Patin in the Coins of Titus.

§. 18. Domitian prepared a naval combat arena original: naumachiam. A massive basin used for staging mock naval battles for public entertainment. near the Campus Martius, where he presented naval battles with almost full-scale fleets. Suetonius in his Life, ch. 4.

§. 19. The Emperor Nerva Augustus entrusted the duty of the waters—pertaining to the utility, health, and even the security of the City—to Julius Frontinus, as he himself testifies in the preface to Book 1 of On Aqueducts.

§. 20. Trajan added another harbor, even safer, to the Ostian port built by the Emperor Claudius. Both are most elegantly depicted and described by Antonio Labacco in The Marvels of Ancient Rome.

§. 21. The Emperors of Constantinople, namely Constantine the Great, Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, Theodosius, Arcadius, Honorius, Zeno, Anastasius, and Justinian, [issued] various [laws] concerning Aqueducts, both of old and new Rome—that is, Con-