Frontinus: Stratagems. Aqueducts of Rome. (Loeb Classical Library No. 174) [Hardcover]

Frontinus (Author), C. E. Bennett (Translator), Mary B. McElwain (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674991923 | ISBN-13: 978-0674991927 | Publication Date: January 1, 1925

Frontinus, Sextus Iulius, ca. 35–103 CE, was a capable Roman civil officer and military commander. Praetor of the city in 70 and consul in 73 or 74, 98 and 100, he was, about the year 76, sent to Britain as governor. He quelled the Silures of Wales, and began to build a road through their territory; his place was taken by Agricola in 78. In 97 he was given the highly esteemed office of Manager of Aqueducts at Rome. He is known to have been an augur, being succeeded by his friend Pliny the younger.

The two sides of Frontinus's public career are reflected in his two surviving works. 'Strategemata', Stratagems, written after 84, gives examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, for the instruction of Roman officers, in three books; the fourth book is concerned largely with military discipline. 'De Aquis urbis Romae', The Aqueducts of Rome, written in 97–98, gives some historical details and a description of the aqueducts for the water supply of the city, with laws relating to them. Frontinus aimed at being useful and writes in a rather popular style which is both simple and clear.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: Latin, English (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library (January 1, 1925)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674991923
• ISBN-13: 978-0674991927
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,313,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ROman equivalent of Sun Tzu, November 25, 2000

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H. Lim (Carlingford, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frontinus: Stratagems. Aqueducts of Rome. (Loeb Classical Library No. 174) (Hardcover)

The Strategems is a little-known work that is filled with cunning tricks used by ancient generals. Unfortunately Frontinus' other work, the "Art of War" doesn't survive. But the Strategems is still a very interesting piece of literature, reminding me of Sun Tzu in many ways. Also look out for Aeneas Tacticus, Onasander and Asclepiodotus in Loeb, for other military manuals from ancient times!

4.0 out of 5 stars Two-thousand-year-old gem, January 22, 2012

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Douglas Brown (Alexandria VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frontinus: Stratagems. Aqueducts of Rome. (Loeb Classical Library No. 174) (Hardcover)

I was first directed to Frontinus on the basis that the "Aqueducts" section was one of the earliest recordes of project management practice. That is absolutely incorrect; one could stretch it to say that it discusses some early program-level management considerations. What it is in fact is a remarkable picture of the complexity of the engineering and political arrangements that brought water from a wide distance to serve a city whose population was likely nearly equal to the entire rest of the Italian peninsula at that time. There is no question that such a feat would be impossible in the USA in 2012 due to regulations alone, and one wonders whether the construction competence exists either.

"Aqueducts" is the last quarter of the book. The first three quarters, "Strategems", does not offer much really to anyone with even a rudimentary military background. A lot of the strategems are very much localized tactics or means of dealing with rather small bodies of troops, in many cases with at least one side under the control of someone with little or no military experience and/or common sense - i.e. an aristocrat sent out to lead the troops off to a battle, with no "boot camp" but plenty of often-dangerous concepts of "honor". Remember that at the time, even in Rome most military generals were inexperienced politicians who put up with a general's appointment as a required step on the ladder to the Senate, and as the opportunity to build an actual treasure chest through campaign booty (takes the concept of campaign funding to a new level, or maybe not). The experienced generals became governors and eventually Emperors; most of the rest died as a result of early critical mistakes. So, how to gain the experience needed at least to survive, except natural talent or sheer luck? It is for these amateurs that Frontinus has prepared his compendium of "what other military leaders did successfully in typical situations". Regardless of the quality of the actual suggestions, many of which required conditions that would be unlikely to recur even in those days, this little book represents an astounding feat of scholarship, pulling details from military actions across the then-known world [not just Roman engagements] over a period of some five hundred years [roughly 400 BC to 75 AD].

In short, this short book is quite fun and very illuminating. Give it to your favorite historian or engineer!

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One perspective on the Aqueducts, December 30, 2003

By 

Erik G Olson (Greenfield, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontinus: Stratagems. Aqueducts of Rome. (Loeb Classical Library No. 174) (Hardcover)

The famous quote of Frontinus, commissioner of public water works under Trajan:
"With such an array of indispensable structures carrying so many waters, compare, if you will, the idle Pyramids or the useless, though famous, works of the Greeks!" Perhaps the Aqueducts of Rome, with its scientific shortcomings, does not have the audience of the Strategems. But it shows that those Romans knew how to get things done: a city of one million had a water supply comparable to a metropolis today. The famous quote recalls the effort of the Romans to distinguish their culture by outdoing all others in utility and sheer size.