Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/21

 also his services as Augur doubtless began, an office in which the younger Pliny succeeded him at his death in 103 or 104.

In 97 he was appointed to the post of water commissioner, the office whose management gives him probably his best title to eminence, and during the tenure of this he wrote the De Aquis. The office of water commissioner he held presumably until his death.

The De Aquis is primarily a valuable repository of information concerning the aqueducts of Rome. But it is much more than that. It gives us a picture of the faithful public servant, charged with immense responsibility, called suddenly to an office that had long been a sinecure and wretchedly mismanaged, confronted with abuses and corruption of long standing, and yet administering his charge with an eye only to the public service and an economical use of the public funds. It is this aspect of the De Aquis which lends it, despite its generally technical nature and its absolute lack of stylistic charm, a certain literary character. It depicts a man; it depicts motives and ideals, the springs of conduct.

The administration of which Frontinus was a part was essentially one of municipal reform. Nerva and Trajan alike aimed to correct the abuses and favouritism of the preceding régime. They not only chose able and devoted assistants in their new policy; they themselves set good examples for imitation.

In Frontinus they found a loyal and zealous champion of their reforms. Realizing the importance of his office, he proceeded to the study of its Rh