On the Grandeur of Rome, is a collation of NH III.v.66-67, NH
XXXVI.xxiv.101-110, NH XXXVI.xxiv.121-123. The direct links to the Latin text of this
section of Pliny are possible due to the advice of Bill Thayer at the University of
Kansas.
[Davis Introduction]
The following short sketch of Rome, its streets, buildings, etc., is given us by a
careful author, writing in the reign of Vespasian (69-79 A.D.). While the area of Rome was
far inferior to various great modern capitals, probably the masses of the population were
so compactly housed that the inhabitants in Pliny's time numbered well up to 1,500,000,
although any estimates must be very uncertain.
[From Natural
History III.v.66-67]
Romulus left the city of Rome, if we are to believe those who state the very greatest
number, with only three gates, and no more. When the Vespasians' were Emperors and Censors
in the year of the building of the city, 826 [73 CE], the circumference of the walls which
surrounded it was thirteen and two-fifths miles. Surrounding as it does the Seven Hills,
the city is divided into fourteen districts, with 265 crossroads under the guardianship of
the Lares [i.e., a little shrine to the Lares would stand at each crossing].
If a straight line is drawn from the mile column placed at the entrance of the Forum to
each of the gates, which are at present thirty-seven in number---taking care to count only
once the twelve double gates, and to omit the seven old ones, which no longer exist---the
total result will be a straight line of twenty miles and 765 paces. But if we draw a
straight line from the same mile column to the very last of the houses, including therein
the Praetorian camp [in the suburbs] and follow throughout the line of the streets, the
result will be something over seventy miles. Add to these calculations the height of the
houses, and then a person may form a fair idea of this city, and surely he must confess
that no other place in the world can vie with it in size.
On the eastern side it is bounded by the mound (agger) of Tarquinius
Superbus---a work of surpassing grandeur; for he raised it so high as to be on a level
with the walls on the side on which the city lay most exposed to attack from the
neighboring plains. On all the other sides it has been fortified either with lofty walls,
or steep and precipitous hills; yet it has come to pass, that the buildings of
Rome---increasing and extending beyond all bounds---have now united many outlying towns to
it.
[from Natural
History XXXVI.xxiv.101-110]
(adapted and excerpted)
In great buildings as well as in other things the rest of the world has been outdone by
us Romans. If, indeed, all the buildings in our City are considered in the aggregate, and
supposing them---so to say---all thrown together in one vast mass, the united grandeur of
them would lead one to imagine that we were describing another world, accumulated in a
single spot.
Not to mention among our great works the Circus Maximus, that was built by the Dictator
Caesar---one stadium broad and three in length---and occupying with the adjacent buildings
no less than four iugera [about 2 acres] with room for no less than 160,000 spectators
seated---am I not, however, to include in the number of our magnificent structures the
Basilica of Paulus with its admirable Phrygian columns [built also in Julius Caesar's
day], the Forum of the late Emperor Augustus, the Temple of Peace erected by the Emperor
Vespasian Augustus---some of the finest work the world has ever seen? [and many others].
We behold with admiration pyramids that were built by kings, while the very ground
alone that was purchased by the Dictator Caesar, for the construction of his Forum, cost
100,000,000 sesterces. If, too, an enormous expenditure has its attractions for any one
whose mind is influenced by money matters, be it known that the house in which Clodius
[Cicero's enemy] dwelt was purchased by him at a price of 14,800,000 sesterces---a thing
which I for my part look upon as no less astonishing than the monstrous follies that have
been displayed by kings.
Frequently praise is given to the great sewer system of Rome. There are seven
"rivers" made to flow, by artificial channels, beneath the city. Rushing onward
like so many impetuous torrents, they are compelled to carry off and sweep away all the
sewerage; and swollen as they are by the vast accession of the rain water, they
reverberate against the sides and bottoms of their channels. Occasionally too the Tiber,
overflowing, is thrown backward in its course, and discharges itself by these outlets.
Obstinate is the struggle that ensues between the meeting tides, but so firm and solid is
the masonry that it is able to offer an effectual resistance. Enormous as are the
accumulations that are carried along above, the work of the channels never gives way.
Houses falling spontaneously to ruins, or leveled with the ground by conflagrations are
continually battering against them; now and then the ground is shaken by earthquakes, and
yet---built as they were in the days of Tarquinius Priscus, seven hundred years
ago---these constructions have survived, all but unharmed.
Passing to the dwellings of the city, in the consulship of Lepidus and Catulus [78
B.C.] we learn on good authority there was not in all Rome a finer house than that
belonging to Lepidus himself, but yet---by Hercules!---within twenty-five years the very
same house did not hold the hundredth rank simply in the City! Let anybody calculate---if
he please---considering this fact, the vast masses of marble, the productions of painters,
the regal treasures that must have been expended in bringing these hundred mansions to vie
with one that in its day had been the most sumptuous and celebrated in all the City; and
then let him reflect that, since then and down to the present, these houses had all of
them been surpassed by others without number. There can be no doubt that the great fires
are a punishment inflicted upon us for our luxury; but such are our habits, that in spite
of such warnings, we cannot be made to understand that there are things in existence more
perishable than even man himself.
[from Natural
History XXXVI.xxiv.121-123]
But let us now turn our attention to some marvels that, if justly appreciated, may be
pronounced to remain unsurpassed. Quintus Marcius Rex [praetor in 144 B.C.] upon being
commanded by the Senate to repair the Appian Aqueduct and that of the Anio, constructed
during his praetorship a new aqueduct that bore his name, and was brought hither by a
channel pierced through the very sides of mountains. Agrippa, during his aedileship,
united the Marcian and the Virgin Aqueducts and repaired and strengthened the channels of
others. He also formed 700 wells, in addition to 500 fountains, and 130 reservoirs, many
of them magnificently adorned. Upon these works too he erected 300 statues of marble or
bronze, and 400 marble columns, and all this in the space of a single year! In the work
which he has written in commemoration of his aedileship, he also informs us that public
games were celebrated for the space of fifty-seven days and 170 gratuitous bathing places
were opened to the public. The number of these at Rome has vastly increased since his
time.
The preceding aqueducts, however, have all been surpassed by the costly work which has
more recently been completed by the Emperors Gaius [Caligula] and Claudius. Under these
princes the Curtian and the Caerulean Waters with the "New Anio" were brought a
distance of forty miles, and at so high a level that all the hills---whereon Rome is
built---were supplied with water. The sum expended on these works was 350,000,000
sesterces. If we take into account the abundant supply of water to the public, for baths,
ponds, canals, household purposes, gardens, places in the suburbs and country houses, and
then reflect upon the distances that are traversed from the sources on the hills, the
arches that have been constructed, the mountains pierced, the valleys leveled, we must
perforce admit that there is nothing more worthy of our admiration throughout the whole
universe.
