ABSTRACT
Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote: ‘In my opinion, indeed, the three most magnificent works of Rome, in which the greatness of her empire is best seen, are the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the sewers’.1 Strabo too remarked that the major concern of the Romans was with streets, aqueducts and drains.2 On the topic of streets and their maintenance, as well as the traffic using them, we are fortunate in having the detailed rules of the tabula Heracleensis.3 The care of the sewers and drains in the Republic and for the first century or so of the Empire, until it was attached under Trajan to the cura alvei Tiberis et riparum, went along with the supervision of the streets, but this chapter concerns them only so far as was necessary for keeping the surface of the City clean. (They are dealt with in more detail under Public Health-see chapter 8.)
REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE IN THE JULIAN LAW S.74 of the Julian law deals with streets within the City and a mile beyond-i.e. in the built-up area.5 Frontagers are to keep the streets in repair in accordance with the judgement of the relevant aedile in charge of that quarter of the City. This is a matter for the aedile to supervise-naturally enough, if it must be done to his satisfaction. Nor is water to stand in the streets, impeding the passage of the populace. So, clearly, the drains must not be clogged or damaged, even accidentally in the course of repair. One does not know the defence that could be
1 DH 3.67.5. 2 Strabo 5.3.8. 3 FIRA i 13 (p.140ff). Recent discussions of the inscription are referred to in ch. 1, footnote 24; see particularly Frederiksen (1965). I accept the mid-sections as legislation for Rome, proposed by Julius Caesar, which therefore can be referred to as the Julian law. It will be cited in this chapter simply as Tab. Hera. The Latin texts, in the order discussed, are placed as an Appendix to this chapter. 4 Tab. Hera. vv. 20-3. 5 See ch. 1.
