Talk:Frontinus

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I have found no evidence to suggest that Julius Frontinus was either descended from a remote branch of the patrician Julii, or descended from the Cornelii Scipiones on the maternal side. More than likely Frontinus hailed from Narbonese Gaul; at least the great Ronald Syme thought so (Tacitus, 1958). His paternal ancestors must have received the enfranchisement from a patrician Julius, perhaps Julius Caesar himself many decades before Frontinus was born. By the time Frontinus began his career, many of the wealthy citizens from Spain and Narbonese Gaul were starting to find great political success in Rome. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.98.181.87 (talk) 04:14, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

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Unlike Hera and Vitruvius, who were concerned with a diverse range of subjects, Frantinus concentrated an a specialized area of technology-water supplies and engineering-but we know rather more about him as a person, and about his career outside the field of technology.

His full name was Sextus Julius Frantinus, so he must have belanged (though probably in an obscure and minor branch) to the great aristocratic family of the Julii. He was born about A.D. 35., and held his first major political office in A.D. 70. He reached the highest rank available to him under the emperor when he became consul for the first time in A.D. 73. He was made governor of the province of Britain for about 3-4 years and may have been responsible for the establishment of a legionary station at Isca (Caerleon). We know little of his activities for the next 20 years, except that he composed a work, which still survives, called Strategemata-which is a collection of anecdotes from Greek and Roman history illustrating the value of various tactical measures, a sort of Field Officers' Manual. Surprisingly, it makes no reference to his own military experiences, and is quite different in tone and style from the later treatise on aqueducts.

In A.D. 97 he was given responsibility for the water supply of Rome (cura aquarum) by the emperor Nerva. This, of course, is the period of his life with which We are mainly concerned. We cannot say for certain how long he held the office, but he died in A.D. 103 or 104, so it was probably for most of the remaining years of his life. During that period he was honoured with the Consulship twice more, in February 98 and January 100, each time as a 'colleague' (so the polite fiction maintained) of the emperor Trajan. Frontinus, in fact, presents us with two contrasting images, and something of a problem for the social historian. On the one side we have the patrician, with at least some blue blood in his veins, owning villas near the sea at Formiae and Terracina, and follow­ ing the conventional career of a Roman aristocrat, via political office and military command. Then, after having attained the highest rank, when he was in his early sixties, he took on a totally different, and apparently much less exalted commission. It is true, as he himself says, that the health and well-being of the whole urban community depended on the efficient management of the water-supply, and he adds that the office had regularly been held by 'some of the most outstanding men in the state' (per principes civitatis viros).

From Frontinus' own work De Aquis, particularly the Preface, comes the contrasting image of a man who did not, as a Roman aristocrat was conventionally supposed to do, consider the technical details of water engineering beneath his dignity. His first action on taking over was to make a detailed personal inspection of the entire aqueduct system (one can imagine the dismay this must have caused among the minor officials) and to compile a short treatise on the essential technical details, primarily for his own use, but also for the benefit of his successors. The reasons he gives for doing so, and for starting the work immediately on taking office, show him as a combination of the conscientious public servant and the shrewd officer with experience of commanding men. 'I have always made it my principle', he says (preface 1-2), 'considering it to be something of prime importance, to have a complete under­ standing of what I have taken on (nosse quod suscePi). For I do not think there is any other surer foundation for any kind of under­ taking, or any other way of knowing what to do or what to avoid; nor is there anything more degrading for a man of self-respect than to have to rely on the advice of his subordinates in carrying out the commission entrusted to him.' Of course, he says, subordinates and advisors are a necessary part of the organization, but they should be its servants, not the masters to whom the senior official in his ignorance has to keep running for advice. This calls vividly to mind a phenomenon which could occasionally be observed in technical corps of the Army in the last war-an officer whose technical knowledge was less that it should have been, and who was for that reason held in very scant respect by the N C as and men under his command.

What kind of a post was the cura aquarum, and how well fitted was Frontinus to take it on? On the technical side, he had no special training. Such knowledge as he shows must have been derived from his own reading, mainly from Greek authors who dealt with the elementary principles. The limitations of that know­ ledge he shared with virtually all the scientists of antiquity, and it would be unreasonable to expect a Roman administrator to be able to solve problems in which Archimedes himself had apparently no interest. Frontinus' military experience would be of great help in pre­ paring him for the task of handling a large organization, and dealing with the kind of large-scale operations which went on continuously. The whole system involved about 250 miles (400km) of conduit, most of it underground, but some on substructiones (p. 38) and some on arches. Frontinus obviously visited almost every part of this system in person, and gives his equivalent of map­ references for the location of the sources (e.g. 'The intake of the Aqua Claudia is on a turn-off to the left from the Sublacensian Way at the 38th milestone, about 300 paces along'). He gives exact measurements of the conduits in 'paces'* even down to half a pace in two cases. Every part of this system had to be inspected at regular intervals, and a considerable work-force was kept permanently employed in maintaining it.

This work-force consisted of two contingents of slaves. One (numbering about 240) was maintained from the public funds, supplemented from the water-rates charged to private consumers. The other, numbering about 460, was the personal property of the emperor. Frontinus was therefore in charge of a total labour force of about 700, including overseers, 'reservoir-keepers', stonemasons, plasterers and others. At the start of his duties he had not only to see to the renovation of various parts of the system which had fallen into disrepair, but also to get back some members of his work force who, as a result of bribery, had been taken off their proper work and put onto odd jobs for private individuals. What is more, the income from the water rates, which should have been used to support the 'public' force, had been diverted into the private funds of the emperor Domitian.

For all these tasks, it must have been difficult to find anyone more admirably suited than Frontinus. His seniority and authority gave him the power to check corruption and raised him above any need to involve himself in it. In his military commands he was used to dealing with many thousands of troops, and all the problems of supply, finance and administration which that in­ volved. But above all, his keen interest and deep sense of duty, which made him research his job, both in the history books, the legal records (which he quotes extensively) and 'on the ground', gave him an understanding which must have commanded respect in all his subordinates, and fear in those with guilty consciences.

And if he strikes us as perhaps a little ponderous, and a little obsequious towards his emperor, two points should be remembered. The formulae he uses at the start of his work were polite conventions, and had no more real meaning than (say) 'I remain Sir, your obedient servant'. And just occasionally he shows a touch of ironical Roman humour. He tells ill Bk II. Chapter 115 that the official in charge of branch-pipe connected up underground allowed illegal pipes to be connected up underground (in return for a bribe) was known as 'a punctis'. The joke consists of giving a high-sounding official name to an illegal activity, as one might say in English, 'senior commissioner for water-theft in the ministry of Punctures'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.117.152.123 (talk) 00:38, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Descendant of Scipio Salvito?
Is he the grandson of the consul of 16 BC and his mother that consul's daughter Cornelia Africana the Younger? If this is so then his great grandfather is Scipio Salvito, which means he might be a Scipio Africanus descendant. Could someone answer whether his father was Aulus Julius Frontius? --I am the Blood 15:22, 5 August 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Blood3 (talk • contribs)

"the gold mine of Dolaucothi, worked by numerous aqueducts"
In the introduction. I don't think the sentence explains itself, and it is odd. Midgley (talk) 21:33, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

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Criticism
This article is seriously unbalanced. As a discussion of his writings, it's probably okay; as a discussion of the man, it needs help. Frontinus has quite a profile, he compiled a lot of achievements, & has a number of high-profile relations (for example, Quintus Sosius Senecio was his son-in-law). -- llywrch (talk) 19:57, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

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"In this capacity, he followed another distinguished Roman statesman, Agrippa, the friend, ally and son-in-law of Augustus, who organised in 34 BC a campaign of public repairs and improvements, including renovation of the aqueduct Aqua Marcia and an extension of its pipes to cover more of the city."

All of which is quite irrelevant. Just some random info that happened to be available. What does this predecessor's actions 140 years earlier have to do with Frontinus? 2A02:AA1:1625:5FF0:B42F:B0AB:27E6:B2C2 (talk) 21:10, 10 November 2023 (UTC)