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
The Roman aqueducts in Gaul, in Spain, and other conquered provinces, were the works of proconsuls, virtually irresponsible for the exercise of their power ; and the labor by which they were built was that of the legions. Magnificent as were these structures, and fraught with benefit to all within their sphere, they were nevertheless the badge of servitude, the boon of a conqueror to subject peoples.
Of modern works, the Canal de L'Ourcq, in France, by its extent and the copiousness of its supply, is among the most remarkable. But that too, was a government undertaking,
feebly prosecuted through a period of some thirty years, and completed at last at a great expense, in incurring which, or in the means for its repayment, the people had no voice. The canal cost 24,326,278 francs, or near five millions of dollars, and the distribution of
* History of Rome, pp. 126, 7, Carey, Lee & Blanchard's edition , 1837. t Frontinus, chap. ii.