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 204 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Ohap. xxxix the mouths of fourteen aqueducts, a pure and copious stream was diffused into every part of the city ; among these the Claudian water, which arose at the distance of thirty-eight miles in the Sabine mountains, was conveyed along a gentle though constant declivity of solid arches, till it descended on the summit of the Aventine hill. The long and spacious vaults which had been constructed for the purpose of common sewers, subsisted, after twelve centuries, in their pristine strength; and the subterraneous channels have been preferred to all the visible wonders of Home. 75 The Gothic kings, so injuriously accused of the ruin of antiquity, were anxious to preserve the monuments of the nation whom they had subdued. 76 The royal edicts were framed to prevent the abuses, the neglect, or the depredations of the citizens themselves ; and a professed architect, the annual sum of two hundred pounds of gold, twenty- five thousand tiles, and the receipt of customs from the Lucrine port, were assigned for the ordinary repairs of the walls and public edifices. A similar care was extended to the statues of metal or marble of men or animals. The spirit of the horses, which have given a modern name to the Quirinal, was applauded by the Barbarians ; 77 the brazen elephants of the Via sacra were diligently restored ; 78 the famous heifer of Myron deceived the cattle, as they were driven through the forum of Peace ; 79 and an officer was created to protect those works of art, and his descriptions are not unworthy of the reader's perusal. According to the modern prices, the Abbe Barthelemy computes that the brickwork and masonry of the Coliseum would now cost twenty millions of French livres (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, torn, xxviii. p. 585, 586). How small a part of that stupendous fabric ? 75 For the aqueducts and cloacae, see Strabo (1. v. p. 360), Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 24), Cassiodorius (Var. iii. 30, 31 ; vi. 6), Procopius (Goth. 1. i. c. 19), and Nardini (Roma Antica, p. 514-522). How such works could be executed by a king of Rome, is yet a problem. 76 For the Gothic care of the buildings and statues, see Cassiodorius (Var. i. 21, 25 ; ii. 34 ; iv. 30 ; vii. 6, 13, 15), and the Valesian Fragment (p. 721 [§ 70 sqq.]). [Square bricks (tegulae) have been found with Theodoric's name. Reg. I)N. Theodorico Felix Roma. See Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, i. 294.] 77 Var. vii. 15. These horses of Monte-Cavallo had been transported from Alexandria to the baths of Constantine (Nardini, p. 188). Their sculpture is dis- dained by the Abb6 Dubos (Reflexions sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture, torn. i. section 39), and admired by Winckelmann (Hist, de l'Art, torn. ii. p. 159). 78 Var. x. 10 [leg. 30]. They were probably a fragment of some triumphal car (Cuper, de Elephantis, ii. 10). 79 Procopius (Goth. 1. iv. c. 21) relates a foolish story of Myron's cow, which is celebrated by the false wit of thirty-six Greek epigrams (Antholog. 1. iv. p. 302-306, edit. Hen. Steph. Auson. Epigram, lviii-lxviii).