ABSTRACT

Writing a book like this drives home to the author how uneven our information is, how many questions we cannot answer, how many problems we wish we could solve, how many loose ends remain. For example, were there litters or chairs for hire as taxis? If only…I have mentioned the problems raised concerning the organisation of construction work, the enforcement of legal restrictions on traffic, the location of the harbour-master’s office, the disposal of excrement and other refuse, the disposal of human corpses, the distribution of bread rather than grain, the back-stage organisation at shows and spectacles, the policing role of the Urban cohorts, to name the most obvious. There are, however, some particular areas of importance in Rome’s public law which have not been touched upon, but should be mentioned briefly here.