water, but her most abundant supply, amounting to more than 400,000 cubic meters daily. All the aqueducts together poured into the city each day more fresh water than the Tiber now empties into the sea.

As we view this work of great utility, we naturally wonder what sort of man was the builder. At the time of his accession he was fifty years old, and had devoted his earlier life zealously to study and writing. Grotesque in manner and eccentric in his habits, he was generally considered a learned fool; and yet he made an admirable ruler. When acting as judge he often slept during the pleas of the lawyers, waking at the close of the trial to give his decision in an equitable and humane spirit. It was unfortunate for the case, however, if he chanced to smell anything good cooking in a neighboring restaurant; for he would adjourn court to refresh himself. He was far more liberal than his predecessors in bestowing Roman citizenship on subject peoples.

To keep the city population supplied with cheap food, he subsidized and insured grain ships at the cost of the government; and his activity in erecting public works is illustrated by the completion of this magnificent aqueduct. It is a fact of great importance that the early emperors, whatever their private characters, almost uniformly devoted themselves to the public good. Personal service to the empire was their chief title to office and the basis on which successive rulers built up their power.

HOW THE FORUM PROBABLY LOOKED

Temple of Julius Cæsar Palace of the Cæsars Basilica Julia

Temple of Vesta Temple of Castor and Pollux

THE FORUM

The city of Rome itself abounds in places and objects of interest more easily reached than the Campagna. It requires at least a teaspoonful of information to appreciate the features of Rome; and to those who are mentally equipped no spot furnishes keener enjoyment than the Forum. An impressive view can be had looking eastward from the Capitol, one of the “seven hills” on which the early city sat. It can be seen that the Forum lies in a valley nearly surrounded by hills. In the tenth and ninth centuries B. C. these hilltops were occupied by villages and the valleys between them were marshes. In the eighth century the villages united to form one city,—Rome,—and the marshes were gradually drained by means of sewers. The low area became at that time the Forum, “marketplace” of the new city. It is an approximate oblong, on the north side of which one of the kings marked off a space,—the comitium (assembly-place),—in which all the citizens met to vote on questions of public importance. Adjoining the comitium was the senate-house. King (afterward two consuls), senate, and popular assembly constituted the government. The Forum was therefore the political center of Rome, and from this circumstance it derives all its interest. When one reflects that for nearly five centuries after the downfall of the kings (509-27 B.C.) Rome was a republic, that during that time she conquered and organized in her empire practically the whole Mediterranean basin, we begin to understand that this spot must have been the scene of stupendous political conflicts, the birthplace of far-reaching legislative and administrative measures. Here worked the brain of the best organized and most enduring empire the world has known.

CLOACA MAXIMA

An essential feature of the Roman government was religion, which the senate and magistrates