Stratagems and Aqueducts of Rome (Loeb Classical Library) by Frontinus

by Frontinus

Frontinus, Sextus Iulius, ca. 35-103 CE, was a capable Roman civil officer and military commander. Praetor of the city in 70 and consul in 73 or 74, 98 and 100, he was, about the year 76, sent to Britain as governor. He quelled the Silures of Wales, and began to build a road through their territory; his place was taken by Agricola in 78. In 97 he was given the highly esteemed office of Manager of Aqueducts at Rome. He is known to have been an augur, being succeeded by his friend Pliny the younger.The two sides of Frontinus's public career are reflected in his two surviving works. 'Strategemata', "Stratagems, " written after 84, gives examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, for the instruction of Roman officers, in three books; the fourth book is concerned largely with military discipline. 'De Aquis urbis Romae', "The Aqueducts of Rome, " written in 97-98, gives some historical details and a description of the aqueducts for the water supply of the city, with laws relating to them. Frontinus aimed at being useful and writes in a rather popular style which is both simple and clear.

Genres: Classics, Roman History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1925

Reviews

[Kristopher Swinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The star rating is an average of the two portions: 4 for Stratagems, 2 for Aqueducts. Frontinus is incredibly punctilious; his final book of stratagems was composed of instances that he feared "persons should . . . run across" and "imagine that these examples had been overlooked" (267). This carried over into his civilian duties, whereby he assumed charge of the aqueducts and personally acquainted himself with the city's entire waterway. It's the confounded, interminable measurements that drove down his rating, and I wasn't terribly impressed with his astonishing ignorance as to water velocity (402).

No wonder he seems to approve of severe military discipline, as he embarked on his civilian duties with the final comment, "It will be advisable for me to maintain the honour of my office even at the risk of giving offence" (467; see 449). While often shuddering at the caprice of many acts, I enjoyed two examples: "The Spartan general Clearchus used to tell his troops that their commander ought to be feared more than the enemy, meaning that the death they feared in battle was doubtful, but that execution for desertion was certain" (275). "When Iphicrates, the Athenian general, was holding Corinth with a garrison and on one occasion personally made the rounds of the sentries as the enemy were approaching, he found one of the guards asleep at his post and stabbed him with his spear. When certain ones rebuked this procedure as cruel, he answered: 'I left him as I found him'" (245, 247).

As for method, his military text is very orderly. Without making needless commentary, he selects short, instructive accounts and allows the application to emerge on its own. Two strong points emerge: Sun Tzu's summation that war is the art of deceiving the enemy; and the improvement of morale.

The aqueduct tract is less exciting, though actually an interest of mine. He appropriately marks the importance of his responsibilities: "With such an array of indispensable structures carrying so many waters, compare, if you will, the idle Pyramids or the useless, though famous, works of the Greeks!" (357, 359; see 451). The man is clearly concerned about waste, and he resolves to put an end to all the "illicit pipes" (391), "depredation" (399), and puncturing (447, 461) evident at nearly every turn.

I learned that the Appian Way was one official's ill-gotten glory (341). To entertain myself as he discoursed on various branches--industriously provided multiple apertures in the event of shutdown--which were given people's names, I recalled the oft-exploited fact that there was a Roman cult of Sewer. Those deluded individuals (on the testimony of Lactantius and Tertullian) lavished their attentions on a statue named for her place of origin (though Pliny credited her with a purifying nature).

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the record, I think the strategems alone are worth reading. The stuff on the aqueducts is interesting, but not nearly so fascinating to me.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the historical insights into how the aqueducts were first created and then managed by Rome. There was a lot of more technical jargon that I personally did not find as appealing but it was interesting nonetheless.

The military strategies were equally interesting but the format threw me off a bit. It is an essentially a string of one paragraph summaries about various times throughout history that something occurred. He mentions that he did this deliberately so as to make the reader recall them in a time of need. However, I personally would have liked a few pages or at least a page dedicated to each example. A desire to be brief, to create a manual that would travel well in scroll form while on a campaign is most likely the reason for the text in its current form.
At any rate, it is always fascinating to read something that was written almost 2,000 years ago.

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book - like sports strategy or poker strategy but it's all military

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the most boring four-star book I've ever reviewed, but its main value is historical rather than literary. Frontinus was three-times consul of Rome in the Imperial era, governor of Britain, conqueror of Wales, accomplished general and administrator. At some point he wrote an Art of War, but it has not survived. As a sequel to that work, he wrote what is essentially a bullet list of stratagems for dealing with various military situations, grouped by situation. The bullet list survived, and somebody added a fourth volume (included in this volume) of them. Based on a Greek model, basically we get a one-paragraph description of a situation and how a particular general dealt with it.

Most of the incidents are also known to us from other Roman or Greek sources, and one thing we learn is that Frontinus didn't have a good library readily to hand, because he gets many of the names wrong.

Lots of amusing details in Stratagems, but it gets tedious to read.

Trajan appointed Frontinus to take charge of the entire aqueduct system of Rome, basically picking up an office that Agrippa held before him, and that Pliny would take over after him. Agrippa had made many important improvements to the system, but Frontinus discovered that there was a lot of graft, theft and fraud going on, and that nobody had a detailed knowledge of the system, or a manual for how to run it. So, he decided to do a detailed survey of the nine aqueducts of his day, and to write the manual. He lists the source of each one, and its specific location. He tells us how long it is, how much is below ground, how much on a raised platform, now much on arches. We get the gauges of all the pipes. (That's where he found a lot of the fraud.) He lists the reservoirs, the interconnections, the quality of the water from the different lines, and on and on. Over the years the numbers were corrupted in the copies, so that's a bit of a mess, but it's amazing that this technical manual for one of the great works of engineering survived.

Frontinus sneers at the Pyramids, and at the "useless though famous works of the Greeks" compared to the feat of engineering that he was in charge of, and why shouldn't he?

Historically interesting.

[AB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stratagems was just as it seemed: a catalogue of famous actions by generals. Very classic Roman teaching style of lessons through exemplum. Condensed moments that to the modern reader, at least, refer back to authors like Livy, Thucydides, Herodotus, Arrian, and Polybius . While there are some interesting examples, a few even about contemporary emperors actions, the bulk tend to fall under: Punic wars, Alexander/the successors, Greece and Persia.

What really drew my attention was his books concerning aqueducts. As someone who loves Roman aqueducts, this was for me. The books could be described in three parts: a history of the building of the aqueducts, an indepth guide on water flow/pipe fittings/where the water goes, and an overview of Frontinus own position/ catalogue of pertinent decrees.

Frontinus himself was interesting. He stressed the importance of the aqueduct system in the greater scheme of the Roman state. Rome's crown jewel was her aqueducts. The positive effects on health was stressed throughout. The aqueducts themselves were complex creations and they needed constant repair. Frontinus goes as far as comparing the aqueducts feeding Rome to other feats of engineering: With such an array of indispensable structures carrying so many waters, compare, if you will, the idle Pyramids or the useless, though famous, works of the Greeks!. These miles of pipes, arches, tunnels, basins, and conduits are on the same level as any of the wonders of the ancient world.

[Philip Wdowiak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what you'd expect from this book. "Strategems" provided strategy, while "De Aquaeductu" provides information about aqueducts, just as the name implies. While the part about aqueducts may not have been nearly as interesting, it served its purpose as a comprehensive report concerning the state of the Roman aqueduct system.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting material here about the roman structure and architecture.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of military stories with 'lessons', drawn from antiquity, by a Roman writer.