ABSTRACT
There is a legend that a Roman soldier fell in love with a native princess, who, as proud as Dido, would have nothing to do with him; she would never marry him, she said, until the waters of Zaghouan flowed to Carthage. The impossible condition was fulfilled, the fifty-mile aqueduct which still strides across the plain of the River Miliana was built; the Roman claimed his bride, who threw herself in despair from the aqueduct's summit. The story perfectly illustrates that the Roman genius for the art of the possible extended to the improbable. The Romans saw possibilities where none had seen them before. Where others had seen them but had been overwhelmed by difficulty, they saw only a job to be done, and did it. Carthage needed more water.
