=260. The Police System Instituted by Augustus.=--Almost as important, however, as the excellent water supply came the blessing of the firm police system instituted by Augustus. There was an end at last to the fearful riots and even private wars of the later Republic, as when those cheerful desperadoes Clodius and Milo played at being the “Hector and Achilles of the Streets,” and ordinary crime soon became comparatively rare. The city has also been divided into 14 “regions” (_regiones_) and these into 262 “precincts” (_vici_) distributed among the “regions.” Each vicus is in theory a religious unit. It has its own little _ædicula_ (petty temple) containing the images of the two guardian Lares of the neighborhood plus inevitably a statue of the Genius of the Emperor. Each vicus also has its two special curators, worthy tradesmen usually, elected by their fellow wardsmen and clothed with enough importance to make the office desirable. Their chief official duty is to keep up the sacred rites at the central shrine and to help to compile the census lists, but they are also a kind of local arbitrators or justices of the peace who assist the police and look after the general weal of the precinct. =261. The Police-Firemen of the Watch (_vigiles_): the _Præfectus Vigilum_.=--However, the actual security of Rome is not intrusted to any such unprofessional guardians. Augustus understood clearly the need of an effective police force apart from a mere armed garrison; besides he had to protect the capital against the fearful and incessant fires; as a result his new _vigiles_ (“watchmen”) were a combination of policemen and firemen. The fourteen regions of Rome have now been coupled together into seven police districts, each possessing a regular police station (_excubitorium_) and two subordinate watch houses. Each district is intrusted to a separate cohort of vigiles about 1000 men strong, thus giving Rome a total force of some 7000. The vigiles are not actually soldiers, and not being honorable legionaries they are recruited almost entirely from the freedmen. However, after faithful service they can be transferred to the army. They are under a rigid discipline, nevertheless, and are divided into “centuries,” each under a centurion, with a tribune over the entire cohort. They have various weapons for an emergency, but the crowd usually mocks them for the fire-fighting apparatus with which they often hurry down the streets--hooks, ladders, axes, simple hand-pumps, and above all, many buckets made of rope rendered water-proof with pitch. By their promptitude, discipline, and daring, even with such inadequate apparatus, these patrolmen can often stop very dangerous fires, and their familiar equipment gives them their nickname. “The ‘_Bucketmen_’ are coming!” is the yell that frequently disperses a knot of thieves or of turbulent bullies.