ere allowed to buy the water which escaped from
leaks in the aqueducts. Next, private connections were made with the
public mains, and, finally, reservoirs were built at the expense of
adjoining households, but these reservoirs, although built with private
money, were considered part of the public property. Water rights were
renewed with each change of occupant. The water-supply to a house was
measured by the size of the pipe through which it passed at the in-flow
and at the out-flow of the reservoir.

The _curatores aquarum_ had very responsible duties. Under their orders,
in the time of Trajan, were 460 slaves who were subdivided into various
classes, each of which had its own particular duties to perform in
connection with the maintenance and control of the water-supply. A
supply of pure water and proper drainage are of first importance in
sanitation, and it is evident that the Romans understood these matters
well.

DRAINAGE.

The drains of Athens, built of brick and stone and provided with
air-shafts, ran into a basin from which pipes carried the sewage beneath
the surrounding plain which it helped to fertilize.

The chief drain of Rome was the Cloaca Maxima, and there was a great
network of smaller drains. The privy in private houses was usually
situated near the kitchen, and a common drain from the kitchen and the
privy discharged into the public cloaca. A pipe opened just above the
floor of the closet to supply water for flushing. Ruins of very small
rooms have been discovered in the Via Sacra of the Roman Forum, and it
has puzzled archaeologists to discover their use, but they are thought to
have been sanitary closets. The sewers of Rome drained into the Tiber.

DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.

Both in Greece and Rome earth-burial and cremation were employed for the
disposal of the dead. Near the Temple of Faustina in the Roman Forum,
under the Via Sacra, have been found the graves of some of the dwellers
of the hills before Romulus founded the city. In Rome, burial within the
city was forbidden from the time of the Twelve Tables. Exceptions were
made in the case of emperors, vestal virgins, and famous men, such as
those who had been honoured with triumphs. The large cemetery for the
poor lay on the east side of the city and the tombs of the rich were
along the roadsides. The remains of some of these can now be seen along
the Appian Way. One of these tombs is the Tomb of the Scipios, which, as
Byron wrote, "con