弗朗提努斯30—103

Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontiers. A novus homo, he was consul three times. Frontinus ably discharged several important administrative duties for Nerva and Trajan. However, he is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially De aquaeductu, dealing with the aqueducts of Rome.

Family

Due to a lack of either a titulus honorarius or sepulcralis, there is no outline of Frontinus' life, the names of his parents, or of his wife. Some details can be inferred from chance mentions: He is thought to be of Narbonese origins, and originally of the equestrian class. From the nomenclature of the name of Publius Calvisius Ruso Julius Frontinus (consul c. 84), it is likely Frontinus had a sister, who was the other's mother. Frontinus had at least one daughter, the wife of Quintus Sosius Senecio (cos. 99, II 107) and mother of Sosia Polla.

Career

In AD 70, Frontinus participated in the suppression of the Rhineland revolt, and later recorded that he received the surrender of 70,000 Lingones. Between that date and being appointed governor of Britain to succeed Quintus Petillius Cerialis a few years later, Frontinus was appointed suffect consul. While governor of Britain, he subjugated the Silures of South Wales and is thought to have likewise campaigned against the Brigantes. He was succeeded by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the father-in-law of the famous historian Tacitus, in 77. Birley believes it "is fair to speculate" that Frontinus was with Domitian during the German campaign of 83. An inscription at Hieropolis in Phrygia, as well as a number of coins of Smyrna, attests that he was proconsul of Asia in AD 86.

In 97, he was appointed curator aquarum (supervisor of the aqueducts) by the emperor Nerva, an office only conferred upon persons of very high standing. In this capacity, he followed another distinguished Roman statesman, Agrippa, the friend, ally and son-in-law of Augustus, who organised in 34 BC a campaign of public repairs and improvements, including renovation of the aqueduct Aqua Marcia and an extension of its pipes to cover more of the city.

The following year Frontinus held a second consulship as suffect in February, with Trajan as his colleague, and two years later he was made consul ordinarius with Trajan. Birley notes, "This exceptional honour underlines the high regard in which he [Frontinus] was held, and suggests, further, that Trajan had a debt to repay." He was also a member of the College of Augurs. He died in 103 or 104, a date based on Pliny the Younger writing to his friends that he was elected to the college of augurs to fill the vacancy Frontinus' death had created.

Selected editions and translations

De aquaeductu

The standard edition of the Latin text of Frontinus' major work, with extensive commentary in English, is now R.H. Rodgers, Frontinus: De aquaeductu urbis Romae (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Rodgers has published his English translation online [1]

An English translation by Charles E. Bennet, edited by Mary B. McElwain, has been published in the Loeb Classical Library.

A translation by Herschel is useful for his commentary on the engineering aspects of the De aquaeductu.

Other works

The latest edition of the Stratagems is by R. I. Ireland (Teubner, 1990 ISBN 3-322-00746-4) (in Latin); English translation in Loeb Classical Library (translated by Charles Bennet and edited by Mary B. McElwain), 1925. ISBN 9780674991927

Extracts from a treatise on land surveying ascribed to Frontinus are preserved in B. Campbell (2000), The Writings of the Roman Land Surveyors: Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary, London.

The Stratagems and The Aqueducts of Rome, translated by Charles E. BENNETT (1858 - 1921), available on Librivox as an audiobook.

In fiction

He appears as a fictionalised character in the Marcus Didius Falco novels The Silver Pigs, Shadows in Bronze, Three Hands in the Fountain, and The Jupiter Myth. He also appears as a character in The Centurions novels Barbarian Princess and The Emperor's Games.