Edict of Augustus on the Venafrum Aqueduct

Edict of Augustus on the Venafrum Aqueduct — edition Edictum imp. Caesaris Augusti Venafranorum nomineius sit liceatque. Qui riui specus saepta fontesque aquae ducendae reficiundae causa supra infraue libram facti aedificati structi sunt, siue quod aliut opus eius aquae ducendae reficiundae causa supra infraue libram factum est, uti quidquid earum rerum factum est, ita esse habere itaque reficere reponere restituere resarcire semel saepius, fistulas canales tubos ponere, aperturam committere, siue quid aliut eius aquae ducen- dae causa opus erit, facere placet: dum qui locus ager in fundo, qui Q. Sirini L. f. Ter. est esseue dicitur, et in fundo, qui L. Pompei M. f. Ter. Sullae est esseue dicitur, maceria saeptus est, per quem locum subue quo loco specus eius aquae peruenit, ne ea maceria parsue quae eius maceriae aliter diruatur tollatur, quam specus reficiundi aut inspiciendi cau- sa: neue quid ibi priuati sit, quominus ea aqua ire fluere duciue possit. Dextra sinistraque circa eum riuom circaque ea opera, quae eius aquae ducendae causa facta sunt, octonos pedes agrum uacuom esse placet; per quem locum Venafranis eiue, qui Venafranorum nomine, iter facere eius aquae ducendae operumue eius aquae ductus faciendorum reficiendorum causa, quod eius sine dolo malo fiat, ius sit liceatque, quaeque earum rerum cuius faciendae reficiendae causa opus erunt, quo proxume poterit, aduehere adferre adportare, quaeque inde exempta erunt, quam maxime aequaliter dextra sinistraque pedes VIII iacere, dum ob eas res damni infecti iurato promittatur. Earumque rerum omnium ita habendarum colonis Venafranis ius potestatemque esse placet, dum ne ob id opus domi- nus eorum cuius agri lociue, per quem agrum locumue ea aqua ire fluere duciue solet, inuius fiat; neue ob id opus minus ex agro suo in partem agri quam transire transferre transuertere recte possit; neue cui eorum, per quo- rum agros ea aqua ducitur, eum aquae ductum corrumpere abducere auer- tere facereue, quominus ea aqua in oppidum Venafranorum recte duci fluere possit, liceat. Quaeque aqua in oppidum Venafranorum it fluit ducitur, eam aquam distribuere discribere uendundi causa, aut ei rei uectigal inponere consti- tuere, IIuiro IIuiris praefecto praefectis eius coloniae ex maioris partis decuri- onum decreto, quod decretum ita factum erit, cum in decurionibus non minus quam duae partes decurionum adfuerint, legemque ei dicere ex decreto decurionum, quod ita ut supra scriptum est decretum erit, ius po- testatemue esse placet; dum ne ea aqua, quae ita distributa discripta deue qua ita decretum erit, aliter quam fistulis plumbeis dum taxat ab riuo pedes L ducatur; neue eae fistulae aut riuos nisi sub terra, quae terra itineris uiae publicae limi- tisue erit, ponantur conlocentur; neue ea aqua per locum priuatum in- uito eo, cuius is locus erit, ducatur. Quamque legem ei aquae tuendae ope- ribusue, quae eius aquae ductus ususue causa facta sunt erunt, tuendis IIuiri praefecti ex decurionum decreto, quod ita ut supra scriptum est factum erit, dixerint, eamfirmam ratamque esse placet Venafranae s atio quam colono aut incolae is cui ex decreto decurionum, ita ut supra comprensum est, ne- gotium datum erit, agenti, tum, qui inter ciuis et peregrinos ius dicet, iudicium reciperatorium in singulas res HS X reddere, testibusque dumtaxat X denun- tiando quaeri placet; dum reciperatorum reiectio inter eum qui aget et eum quocum agetur ita fiet ut ex lege, quae de iudicis priuatis lata est, licebit oportebit.

Edict of Augustus on the Venafrum Aqueduct — translation

Venafrum marble block (ll. 1–15)

The edi[ct of the Emperor] Caesar [Augustus —] (more than six lines have perished) [—] in the name of the people of Venafrum [— let there be the right and let it be lawful]. As to the channels, conduits, enclosures, spr[ings and —] which have been [made, bui]lt and constructed, above or below the level, for the conducting and the repair of that water; or any other work which has been made above or below the level for the conducting or repair of that water — it is decreed that whatever of those works has been made shall so be and be held, and [it be lawful] so to repair, replace, restore and mend it once or more often, to lay pipes, channels and tubes, to make an opening, or to do whatever else shall be needed for the conducting of that water: provided that, in the plot of land in the estate said to be or to have been the property of Q. Sirinus son of Lucius, of the Teretine tribe, and in the estate said to be or to have been the property of L. Pompeius Sulla son of Marcus, of the Teretine tribe, where a dry-stone wall encloses the place through or under which the conduit of that water passes, neither that wall nor any part of it be demolished or removed otherwise than for the purpose of repairing or inspecting the conduit; [nor let there be anything] in private hands there to prevent that water from going, flowing or being conducted [—].

Venafrum marble block (ll. 16–31)

On the right and the left, around that channel and around the works which have been made for the conducting of that water, [it is decreed that] a strip of land eight feet [wide be kept clear]; and through that place [it is decreed that] the people of Venafrum, or anyone acting [in the name] of the Venafrans, have the right, and that it be lawful, to make a way for the conducting of that water and for the making and repair of the works of that aqueduct, provided it be done without wrongful deceit; and to convey, bring and carry, by the nearest route possible, whatever shall be needed for the making or repair of any of those works; and to lay whatever is dug out from there as evenly as possible, eight feet to right and left — provided that, in respect of those operations, a guarantee against threatened damage be promised on oath. And it is decreed that the colonists of Venafrum have the right and the power to hold all those things in this way — provided that, on account of that work, the owner of any field or place through which that water customarily goes, flows or is conducted be not deprived of passage; nor be the less able, on account of that work, rightly to cross, carry or turn from his own field into another part of his field; nor let it be lawful for any of those through whose fields that water is conducted to spoil, divert or turn aside that aqueduct, or to act so as to prevent that water from being rightly conducted and flowing into the town of Venafrum.

Venafrum marble block (ll. 32–45)

And as for the water which goes, flows and is conducted into the town of Venafrum, it is decreed that the duumvir or duumvirs, the prefect or prefects of that colony have the right and the power to distribute and allot that water, for the purpose of sale, or to impose and fix a charge upon it, by decree of the greater part of the decurions — a decree passed in such a way that not less than two-thirds of the decurions were present — and to lay down a regulation for it by decree of the decurions passed as written above: provided that the water so distributed and allotted, or in respect of which it shall have been so decreed, be conducted not otherwise than in lead pipes, and that only as far as fifty feet from the channel; and that those pipes or channels be set and laid only under ground, where the ground is that of a path, a public road or a boundary-strip; and that the water be not conducted through a private place against the will of the owner of that place. And it is decreed that whatever regulation [the duumvirs or prefects] shall have laid down, by a decree of the decurions passed as is written above, for the maintenance of that water and of the works which have been or shall be made for the conduit or the use of that water, that [—] shall be [fi]rm and valid [—].

Venafrum marble block (ll. 46–53)

(eleven lines are missing) [— of the colony] of Venafrum [—] than to a colonist or to an inha[bitant —]; then it is decreed that the magistrate who administers justice between citizens and peregrines grant, to the person to whom the business shall have been entrusted by decree of the decurions as is set out above, a court of recuperatores for each matter, the sum at issue being HS 10,000, and that the case be tried with the summoning of not more than ten witnesses; provided that the challenging of recuperatores between the one who brings the suit and the one against whom it is brought shall be done as it shall be lawful and proper under the statute which was passed concerning private judges.

Edict of Augustus on the Venafrum Aqueduct — commentary

The edict opens with a heading — edictum imperatoris Caesaris Augusti — and then a deep loss: ‘more than six lines have perished.’ When the text resumes, it is regulating the physical fabric of the aqueduct of Venafrum: the channels (riui), the underground conduits (specus), the pipes and tubes, the springs. Everything already built is confirmed, and the right to repair and re-lay it is granted (Crawford, in Girard & Senn, Les lois des Romains, no. 1).

The clause is strikingly concrete. It even names two landowners — Q. Sirinus and L. Pompeius Sulla — across whose estates the conduit runs, and protects the dry-stone walls (maceriae) on their land, which may be breached only to repair or inspect the conduit. The Roman state, here, legislates at the level of a particular wall on a particular farm.

The edict creates, in effect, a servitude. An eight-foot strip of clear land is reserved on either side of the channel; through it the people of Venafrum may pass, carry materials by the nearest route, and dump the spoil — all sine dolo malo, ‘without wrongful deceit’, the standard Roman safeguard, and all secured by a sworn guarantee against damnum infectum, threatened damage (Crawford, in Girard & Senn, no. 1).

The clause then balances the public interest against the private landowner: the aqueduct's needs are paramount, but the owner keeps his passage and the use of his own land, and no one may divert or spoil the channel. It is a careful, lawyerly settlement of the perennial conflict between a public utility and the property it crosses — an Augustan edict doing the work of a modern statute of eminent domain.

Having secured the aqueduct, the edict hands its management to the colony. The duumvirs may distribute and sell the water and set a charge on it — but only by decree of the decurions, and only when at least two-thirds of the council are present. The technical limits are exact: lead pipes only, no further than fifty feet from the main channel, laid underground beneath roads and boundary-strips, never across private land against the owner's will (Crawford, in Girard & Senn, no. 1).

This is the edict's constitutional core. The emperor does not run the aqueduct; he authorises the colonia to run it, within a framework he lays down — and within the colony, power rests with the council, acting by quorum and by decree. The Augustan edict and the municipal decretum decurionum interlock: imperial regulation, local administration.

After a second deep loss — ‘eleven lines are missing’ — the edict's close turns to enforcement. Disputes are to go before a court of recuperatores — a panel of lay judges used for speedy cases — convened by the magistrate who judges between citizens and peregrines. The sum at issue is fixed at HS 10,000; no more than ten witnesses may be summoned (Crawford, in Girard & Senn, no. 1).

The procedure is deliberately cross-referenced to ‘the statute passed concerning private judges’ — the edict slotting its own enforcement into the existing machinery of Roman civil law. An imperial edict on a provincial town's water-supply ends, characteristically, by handing the policing of itself to the ordinary courts.

Critical apparatus [Ed]ict[um im]p. Ca[esaris Augusti] — The edict's heading. The lettering names it as a proclamation of Augustus; immediately after, more than six lines have perished. [--- ---] — A lacuna: the source notes evanuerunt versus amplius sex — 'more than six lines have vanished' — between the heading and the resumption of the operative text. Q. Sirini L. f. Ter. ... L. Pompei M. f. Ter. Sullae — Two private landowners, of the Teretine tribe, named because the aqueduct conduit crosses their estates. The source reads Q. Sirini as a doubtful reading. quod eius s(ine) d(olo) m(alo) fiat — 'provided it be done without wrongful deceit' — sine dolo malo, the standard Roman safeguard attached to a grant of right. dum ob eas res damn[i] infecti iurato promittatur — A sworn guarantee against damnum infectum — 'threatened damage' — must be given before the works proceed: a regular institution of Roman property law. fistulis plumbeis d(um) t(axat) ab riuo p(edes) L — The technical limits on private off-takes: lead pipes only, and only as far as fifty feet (p. L) from the main channel. [--- ---] — A second lacuna: the source notes desunt versus undecim — 'eleven lines are missing' — before the edict's closing clauses on procedure. iudicium reciperatorium in singulas res HS X — Disputes go to a court of recuperatores; the sum at issue is fixed at HS 10,000 (HS X = decem milia). The procedure is tied to the statute on private judges.

Editions and commentary M. H. Crawford, in P. F. Girard & F. Senn, Les lois des Romains, 7th ed., Napoli 1977, no. 1 (the text followed here). Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum X 4842; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 5743. Bruns, Fontes iuris Romani antiqui I, no. 77; Riccobono, FIRA I, no. 67. Abbott & Johnson, Municipal Administration in the Roman Empire, Princeton 1926, no. 33. Ehrenberg & Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, Oxford 1955, no. 282.