of a princely patrician, Appius, who looked indeed upon his family as his country, but who looked upon his country as his family a man who may be called the express image of the ancient patriciate of the sternness, vigor, simplicity and constancy of the old Roman nobility for the first time since the kingly era, employed the revenues of the State,

greatly augmented as these were by the possession of Campania and the plunder of Samnium, in a gigantic undertaking, in the building of an enormous aqueduct, and the planning of the most remarkable highway of the Roman empire.

At this time the Romans as well as the 1 ^atins continued to pay war- taxes, land-taxes, property-taxes the tithe of the demesne, lands brought large sums in, and the tolls had ;

become more productive since the domain had received aggrandizement the number of ;

slaves, owing to the wars, had greatly increased. Appius therefore could not better oblige the mass of the citizens, than by undertaking an enormous public work, which should occupy them, and give them an opportunity to enrich themselves through the labor of their slaves. At the same time he announced by these means the greatness of Rome to the whole world, and secured immortal glory to himself."*

In regard to the receipts from the water of the aqueducts, coll ected from the gardens and buildings to which they were distributed, we find upon a more careful examination of " Frontinus, an incidental statement, that this revenue, amounting to sestertium C. C. L. millium, equal to one million of dollars, which had been diverted to the private purse of Domitian, was by the justice of the godlike Nerva restored to the people."t