A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

an artist of considerable talent and renown, was, together with Severus, the principal architect of Nero's immense building, the golden house, of which only a few remains are now visible in the baths of Titus, and perhaps at the foot of the Palatine near the arch of Titus. Not satisfied with the completion of this colossal palace, both artists, whose daring and talent did not shrink from the mightiest works, undertook a still more gigantic enterprise. Since the sea-ports of Ostia and Portus were small and dangerous, so that all larger vessels entered the port of Puteoli, they got the emperor's consent to dig a canal from the lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber, and began actually by working a way through the hills near the lake, but were probably prevented from executing their intention by the death of their employer. (Tac. Ann. 15.42; Osann, Kunstblatt, 1830, No. 83.)

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