The most impressive features of the Campagna as we view it from the car window or in a stroll along either the old Appian Way or the modern Appian Way, are the ruins of aqueducts. The one here illustrated is the Claudia, named after Emperor Claudius, who completed it. Its sources were more than forty miles distant; while crossing the Campagna the water flowed in a channel supported by a series of gigantic arches. It provided Rome not only with her best water, but her most abundant supply, amounting to more than 400,000 cubic meters daily. All the aqueducts together poured into the city each day more fresh water than the Tiber now empties into the sea. As we view this work of great utility, we naturally wonder what sort of man was the builder. At the time of his accession he was fifty years old, and had devoted his earlier life zealously to study and writing. Grotesque in manner and eccentric in his habits, he was generally considered a learned fool; and yet he made an admirable ruler. When acting as judge he often slept during the pleas of the lawyers, waking at the close of the trial to give his decision in an equitable and humane spirit. It was unfortunate for the case, however, if he chanced to smell anything good cooking in a neighboring restaurant; for he would adjourn court to refresh himself. He was far more liberal than his predecessors in bestowing Roman citizenship on subject peoples. To keep the city population supplied with cheap food, he subsidized and insured grain ships at the cost of the government; and his activity in erecting public works is illustrated by the completion of this magnificent aqueduct. It is a fact of great importance that the early emperors, whatever their private characters, almost uniformly devoted themselves to the public good. Personal service to the empire was their chief title to office and the basis on which successive rulers built up their power. [Illustration: HOW THE FORUM PROBABLY LOOKED Temple of Julius Cæsar Palace of the Cæsars Basilica Julia Temple of Vesta Temple of Castor and Pollux] THE FORUM