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PONS.

of Trajan at Rome ; which has

PONS.

•which Trajan built across the Danube, which is one of the greatest efforts of human ingenuity, must not pass immentioned. A full account of its construction is given by Dion Cassius (Ixviii. p. 776, b.) ; and it is also mentioned by the younger Pliny (Ep. viii. 4 ; compare Procopius, De Aedi-

•ficiis). The form of it is given in the annexed woodcut, from & representation of it on the column

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given rise to

much controversy, as it does not agree in many respects with the description of Dion Cassius. The inscription, supposed to have belonged to this bridge, is quoted by Leunclav. p. 1041. 6, and by Gruter, 448. 3.

SUB JUGUM ECCE RAPITUR ET DAN0VIUS.

It will be observed that the piers only are of stone, and the superstructure of wood.

The Conte Marsigli, in a letter to Montfaucon (Giornale de? Letterati d"1 Italia, vol. xxii. p. 116), gives the probable measurements of this structure, from observations made upon the spot, which will serve as a faithful commentary upon the text of Dion. He considers that the whole line consisted of 23 piers and 22 arches (making the whole bridge about 3010 feet long, and 48 in height), which are much more than the number displayed upon the column. But this is easily accounted for without

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impairing the authority of the artist's work. A few arches were sufficient to show the general features of the bridge, without continuing the mono­tonous uniformity of the whole line, which would have produced an effect ill adapted to the purposes of sculpture. It was destroyed b}>" Hadrian (Dion Cass. /. c.), under the pretence that it would facili­tate the incursions of the barbarians into the Roman territories, but in reality, it is said, from jealousy and despair of being able himself to accomplish any equally great undertaking • which is supposed to be confirmed by the fact that he afterwards put to death the architect, Artemidorus, under whose directions it was constructed.

The Romans also denominated by the name of ponies the causeways which in modern language are termed " viaducts." Of these the Pons ad Nonam, now called ponte Nono, near the ninth mile from Rome on the Via Praenesiina is a fine specimen.

Amongst the bridges of temporary use, which were made for the immediate purposes of a cam­paign, the most celebrated is that constructed by Julius Caesar over the Rhine within the short period of ten days. It was built entirely of wood, and the whole process of its construction is mi­nutely detailed by its author {De Bell. Gall. iv. 17). An elevation of it is given by Palladio, constructed in conformity with the account of Caesar, which has been copied in the edition of Oudendorp and in the Delphin edition.

Vegetius (iii. 7), Herodian (viii. 4, 8), and Lucan (iv. 420) mention the use of casks (dolia^ cupae) by the Romans to support rafts for the pas-

sage of an army ; and Vegetius (I. c.) says that 5t was customary for the Roman army to carry with them small boats (monoxuK] hollowed out from the trunk of a tree, together with planks and nails, so that a bridge could be constructed and bound to­gether with ropes upon any emergency without loss of time. Pompey passed the Euphrates by a similar device during the Mithridatic war. (Floras, iii. 5.) The preceding woodcut, taken from a bas-relief on the column of Trajan, will afford an idea of the general method of construction and form of these bridges, of which there are several designs upon the same monument, all of which greatly re­semble each other.

When the Comitia were held, the voters, in order to reach the enclosure called septum and ovile, passed over a wooden platform, elevated above the ground, which was called pons sujfragiorum^ in order that they might be able to give their votes without confusion or collusion.

Pons is also used to signify the platform (eVi-€d6f)a, airogdOpa) used for embarking in or dis­embarking from, a ship.

" Tnterea Aeneas socios de puppibus altis

Virg. Aen. x. 288.

Pontibus exponit."

The method of using these ponies is represented in the annexed woodcut, taken from a very curious intaglio representing the history of the Trojan war, discovered at Bovillae towards the latter end of the 1 7th century ; which is given by Fabretti, Syntaama, de Column. Trajani, p. 315. (See further, Hirt, der Geb'dude, § x.) [A. R.]

PONTIFEX (iepoSiSacr/m/Vos, je/xW/xoy, tepo-tepotydvTTis). The origin of this word is explained in various ways. Q. Scaevola, who was himself pontifex maximus, derived it from posse and/acere, and Varro from pons, because the pon­tiffs, he says, had built the pons sublicius, and afterwards frequently restored it, that it might bo