irst duty to acquaint himself
with the details of his department, and published the result of his
inquiries in the hope that they might be useful to his successors (cf.
the preface). The book was begun under Nerva (praef. 'cum ... sit nunc
mihi ab Nerva Augusto ... aquarum iniunctum officium'), but Nerva had
been succeeded by Trajan before it was completed (118, 'divus Nerva';
93, 'Traianum Augustum').

JUVENAL.

The sources for Juvenal's life are (1) his works; (2) an inscription
found at Aquinum; (3) thirteen extant _vitae_; (4) information of the
scholiasts; (5) references in Martial and other writers.

The inscription at Aquinum has been much debated; but it is safe to
follow the opinion of Mommsen, whose experience in identifying people
mentioned in inscriptions with historical characters depends upon a
width of knowledge that no other person possesses. The _vitae_ are all
early mediaeval works, probably founded on a brief account of the
poet's life composed by some unknown ancient writer, and existing at
the early Renaissance. The extant _vitae_ contain a very few facts
which appear to be derived from this source, together with a number of
inferences gathered, often incorrectly, from Juvenal's works. The most
important statement is that regarding Juvenal's birth, which is
contained in the _vita_ in the Codex Barberinus, 8, 18, discovered by
J. Duerr. The date is given in such precise and accurate terms, and is
in itself so probable as solving so many of the questions connected
with the poet's works, that to invent it requires an amount of
knowledge with which we cannot credit the writer of this otherwise
very poor account. The statements of the _vitae_ must be carefully
weighed, and accepted only when rendered probable by other
considerations.[93]

Juvenal's name is given in some of the MSS. as Decimus Iunius
Iuvenalis. He was born A.D. 55.

_Codex Barberinus_, 'Iunius Iuvenalis Aquinas Iunio Iuvenale patre,
matre vero Septumuleia ex Aquinati municipio Claudio Nerone et L.
Antistio consulibus natus est. Sororem habuit Septumuleiam, quae
Fuscino nupsit.'

The statement about his sister and mother is very doubtful; that about
Fuscinus is a bad inference from the fact that _Sat._ 14 (on the
education of children) is addressed to him. The name _Septumuleia_ may
be invented from 14, 105, _septima lux_. Juvenal's sister must have
been called Iunia after her father; the naming of a girl after her
mother wa