Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/364

 350 STRABO. CASAUB. 235. besides. The Grecian cities are thought to have flourished mainly on account of the felicitous choice made by their found- ers, in regard to the beauty and strength of their sites, their proximity to some port, and the fineness of the country. But the Roman prudence was more particularly employed on matters which had received but little attention from the Greeks, such as paving their roads, constructing aqueducts, and sewers, to convey the sewage of the city into the Tiber. In fact, they have paved the roads, cut through hills, and filled up valleys, so that the merchandise may be conveyed by carriage from the ports. The sewers, arched over with hewn stones, are large enough in some parts for waggons loaded with hay to pass through ; while so plentiful is the supply of water from the aqueducts, that rivers may be said to flow through the city and the sewers, and almost every house is furnished with water-pipes and copious fountains. To effect which Marcus Agrippa directed his special attention ; he likewise bestowed upon the city numerous ornaments. We may remark, that the ancients, occupied with greater and more necessary concerns, paid but little attention to the beauti- fying of Rome. But their successors, and especially those of our own day, without neglecting these things, have at the same time embellished the city with numerous and splendid objects. Pompey, divus Caesar, and Augustus, with his chil- dren, friends, wife, and sister, have surpassed all others in their zeal and munificence in these decorations. The greater num- ber of these may be seen in the Campus Martius, which to the beauties of nature adds those of art. The size of the plain is mar- vellous, permitting chariot-races and other feats of horseman- ship without impediment, and multitudes to exercise themselves at ball, 1 in the circus 2 and the palsestra. The structures which surround it, the turf covered with herbage all the year round, 1 There were five modes of playing at ball ; ]. Throwing it up and catching it ; 2. Foot-ball ; 3. A throwing of the ball from one to another in a large party of players ; 4. A dashing of the ball to the ground with force enough to rebound, when it was struck down again with the palm of the hand, and a reckoning was kept of the number of times the feat was repeated ; and 5. A ball thrown among the players, who all en- deavoured to obtain possession of it ; this was a game of which we have no accurate account, it was called apTraarbv, and Galen speaks of it, TTfpt /jucpac or^aipaf, c. 2, p. 902, 2 Coray proposes to read didcy. at quoits.