Geography

​These, then, are the natural advantages which the nature of the country provides for the city, but the Romans added also those from foresight. For while the Greeks were thought to have been most successful in their foundations, because they aimed at beauty, strength of position, harbors, and a fertile country, these Romans took forethought especially for those things which those others neglected, namely, the paving of streets, the supply of water, and sewers capable of washing away the filth of the city into the Tiber. They also paved the roads throughout the country , adding cuts through hills and embankments in valleys, so that wagons could receive the cargoes of transport vessels; and the sewers, vaulted with fitted stone, have in some places left ways passable for wagons of hay. And so great is the quantity of water introduced through the aqueducts that rivers flow through the city and the sewers, and almost every house has cisterns, service-pipes, and abundant fountains; of which Marcus Agrippa took the greatest care, having also adorned the city with many other dedications. To speak generally, the ancients neglected the beauty of Rome, being intent upon other greater and more necessary matters; but those of later times, and especially those of today and in our own time, did not fall short in this either, but filled the city with many beautiful dedications. For indeed Pompey, the deified Caesar, Augustus, his sons, his friends, his wife, and his sister surpassed all zeal and expense in their constructions; and of these, the Campus Martius possesses the most, having received, in addition to its natural advantages, also the adornment of foresight. For the size of the plain is wonderful, and at the same time it provides unhindered space for chariot-races and other equestrian exercises for so great a multitude of those who exercise themselves with ball, hoop, and in wrestling; and the surrounding works, the ground which is green with grass throughout the year, and the crowns of the hills above the river, extending down to its bed, presenting a scenic view, make a spectacle from which it is hard to tear oneself away. And near to this plain is another plain, and all around are countless porticoes, groves, three theaters, an amphitheater, and magnificent temples close to one another, so that they would seem to make the rest of the city appear a mere appendix. Therefore, considering this place most sacred, they constructed here the tombs of their most illustrious men and women. The most noteworthy is that called the Mausoleum, a great mound on a high foundation of white stone near the river, shaded to its very summit with evergreen trees; upon the summit is a bronze statue of Augustus Caesar, and beneath the mound are the tombs of himself, his relatives, and his intimates; and behind it is a great grove containing wonderful walks; and in the middle of the plain is the enclosure of his ustrinum, this too of white stone, having an iron railing all around it, and planted inside with poplars. Again, if one should pass into the ancient Forum, and see one forum after another laid out alongside it, and the basilicas, and temples; and if he should also see the Capitolium and the works there, and those on the Palatium and in the Walk of Livia, he would easily forget all that is outside. Such, then, is Rome.