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In 70 he was city praetor, and five years later was sent into Britain to succeed Potillius Cerealis as governor of that island. He subdued the Silures, and held the other native tribes in check till he was superseded by Agricola ( 78). In 95 he was appointed superintendent of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) at Rome, an office only conferred upon persons of very high standing. He was also a member of the College of Augurs.
His chief work is De aquis urbis Romae, in two books, containing a history and description of the water-supply of Rome, including the laws relating to its use and maintenance, and other matters of importance in the history of architecture. Frontinus also wrote a theoretical treatise on military science (De re militari) which is lost. His Strategematicon libri iii is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, for the use of officers; a fourth book, the plan and style of which is different from the rest (more stress is laid on the moral aspects of war, e.g. discipline), is probably the work of another writer (best edition by G. Gundermann, 1888). Extracts from a treatise on land surveyingSurveying is concerned with the accurate measurement and position of points on the Earth's surface, and to the establishment of boundaries. It basically achieves this by measuring the relative horizontal and vertical position of points on the ground, aide ascribed to Frontinus are preserved in Lachmann's Gromatici veteres (1848).
A valuable edition of the De aquis (text and translation) has been published by C. Herschel (Boston, Mass., 1899). It contains numerous illustrations; maps of the routes of the ancient aqueducts and the city of Rome in the time of Frontinus; a photographic reproduction of the only manuscript (the Monte CassinoMonte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft altitude. It is noted as the site where St. Benedict of Norcia established his); several explanatory chapters, and a concise bibliography, in which special reference is made to P. de Tissot, Etude sur Ia condition des agrimensores (1879). There is a complete edition of the works by A. Dederich (1855), and an English translation of the Strategematica by R. Scott (1816).
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica. 1911 Britannica
| Preceded by: Quintus Petillius CerialisQuintus Petilius Cerialis Caesius Rufus (born around 30 AD) was a Roman general of the 1st century. His name suggests that he was an adopted son of a Caesius family into the Petilii. Cerialis was married to Flavia, oldest sister of Vespasian. His first im | Roman governors of BritainThis is a partial list of governors of Britain under the Roman Empire. Britain was a consular province, which means its governors need to be appointed consul by Rome before they could govern it. While this rank could be obtained either as a suffect or ord | Followed by: Gnaeus Julius Agricola |