pons

pontem in flumine faciendum curavit
he took charge of building a bridge on the river

pōns, pontis, m.: a bridge; a bridge connecting battlements and towers, 9.530; gangway, bridge for embarking, 10.288.

pons, ntis, m. [kindred with Sanscr. pathi, a path; Gr. πάτος; old Germ. phat, pfat; mod. Germ. Pfad; Angl.-Sax. padh; hence prop. a board across a ditch, brook, etc.], a bridge across a river, ditch, or marsh, between towers, etc.

• I In gen.: pars oppidi mari disjuncta angusto, ponte rursus adjungitur et continetur, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 52, § 117: pontem in Arare faciendum curat, to throw a bridge over the stream, Caes. B. G. 1, 13: in Isarā, flumine maximo, ponte uno die facto, Planc. ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 15, 3: in Histro flumine, Nep. Milt. 3, 1; so, inicere pontem, Liv. 26, 6; Tac. A. 15, 19: flumen ponte jungere, Liv. 21, 45; Curt. 3, 7, 1: amnem ponte junxit, id. 4, 9, 9: imponere pontem flumini, id. 5, 1, 22: pontibus palude constratā, Hirt. B. G. 8, 14: pontem navibus efficere, Tac. A. 6, 37: ponte flumen transgredi, id. ib. 13, 39; also: ponte flumen transmittere, Plin. Ep. 8, 8; and: ponte flumen traicere, Flor. 4, 12, 22: interscindere pontem, to break down, Cic. Leg. 2, 4, 10; also, rescindere, Nep. Milt. 3, 4: interrumpere, Plaut. Cas. prol. 66; Planc. ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 23, 3: rumpere, Quint. 2, 13, 16; Tac. A. 2, 68: abrumpere, id. H. 3, 6: recidere, Curt. 4, 16, 8: solvere, Tac. A. 1, 69: dissolvere, Nep. Them. 5, 1: vellere, Verg. A. 8, 650: partem pontis rescindere, Caes. B. G. 6, 29.—Esp., as a stand for beggars, Juv. 5, 8; cf. id. 4, 116: aliquis de ponte, i. e. a beggar, id. 14, 134.—Plur.: plures dies efficiendis pontibus absumpti, a bridge of several spans, Tac. A. 2, 8; 11, 13; Planc. ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 23, 3; cf. id. ib. 10, 18, 4.—
• II In partic.
• • A The bridge at the Comitia, over which the voters passed one by one to the septum, to deposit their votes, Cic. Att. 1, 14, 5; Auct. Her. 1, 12, 21; Ov. F. 5, 634. Hence the proverb: sexagenarios de ponte; v. sexagenarius.—
  • B A wooden drawbridge, to be let down from besieging towers to the walls of a town or fortress, Tac. A. 4, 51; Suet. Aug. 20.—
  • C A plank bridge thrown from a vessel to the shore, Verg. A. 10, 288 and 654; Liv. 21, 28.—
  • D The deck of a ship on which the military engines were placed, Tac. A. 2, 6.—
  • E A floor of a tower, Verg. A. 9, 530; 12, 675.—
• F A wooden bridge on a narrow wall between two towers, Verg. A. 9, 170.

1. pōns, pontis, m. (vgl. altind. panthā-s, Pfad, Weg, Bahn, griech. πάτος, Pfad), die Brücke, der Steg, über einen Fluß, Morast usw., I) im allg.: pons sublicius, Pfahlbrücke, Liv. u.a.: pontem facere in flumine, Nep., in Tiberi, Liv., per Nilum, Liv.: pontes facere in fluminibus, Liv.: amnem lungere ponte, Liv.: pontes iungere per amnem Euphratem, Tac.: flumini pontem imponere, Curt.: pontem erigere, Curt.: pontem inicere, Liv., od. indere, Tac.: pontem rumpere, Quint., od. rescindere, Nep., od. interscindere, Cic., od. dissolvere, Nep., od. (poet.) vellere, Verg.: pontem scindere a tergo alcis, Lact. – Plur. pontes v. einer Brücke mit vielen Jochen, Planc. in Cic. ep. 10, 23, 3 (vgl. 10, 18, 4 v. ders. der Sing.). Tac. ann. 2, 8 u. 11; 13, 7. – II) insbes.: A) die vom Schiffe nach dem Ufer geschlagene Verbindungsbrücke, Schiffbrücke, Landungsbrücke, Verg. Aen. 10, 288 u. 654. – B) eine Fallbrücke, um Mauer u. Turm zu verbinden, Verg. Aen. 9, 170: od. Belagerungsmaschine u. feindl. Mauer, Hirt. b. G. 8, 9. § 3 u. 4. Sall. fr. 3, 20 (21). Suet. Aug. 20. Tac. ann. 4, 51. – C) pontes, die in den Zenturiatkomitien auf dem Komitium, in den Tribuskomitien auf dem Forum nach den saepta führenden Stege, Zugangsstege, auf denen sich die Votierenden einzeln zur Abstimmung nach den saepta begaben, Cornif. rhet. 1, 21. Cic. ad Att. 1, 14, 5. Ov. fast. 5, 634. Vgl. sexagenarius. – D) ein Tabulat, u. zwar: a) das Schiffstabulat, Verdeck, worauf das schwere Geschütz stand, Tac. ann. 2, 6. – b) ein Tabulat des Turmes, Verg. Aen. 9, 530; 12, 675. – Dav.

1 pons [CL], 2 pontus 1 bridge; b (w. ref. to brycgbot); c (w. name of spec. bridge); d (in place name); e (passing into surname); f (fig.). pontibus aut ratibus fluvios transire feroces Aldh. Aen. 38 (Tippula) 5; hominum multitudinem ‥ quae ‥ fluminis ‥ occupabat ~em Bede HE I 7 p. 20; ~s, brycg GlC P 563; in Hantunescyre quae est ultra ~tem DB I 336vb; c1165 unam hidam juxta ~tum de Bladene Cart. Osney I 6; unus solus fluvius in partibus Anglie borealibus septem ~tes ligneos et lapideos magnos dissipavit M. Par. Maj. V 607; s1347 caput in palo fixum super ~tem Londoniarum in signum prodicionis manifeste Ad. Mur. Chr. app. 253.  b †680, s748, 770 (v. arx 2b); c801 instructio ~tuum et arcis CS 201; c840 nisi ~tum faciat et arcem et expeditione solacium CS 429; 955 ab omni seculari servitio liberam preter arcem, ~tum, expeditionem CS 917.  c in ingressu ~tis qui Stanfordbrigge dicitur W. Malm. GR II 228; 1387 ibat super quamdam puntem vocatam Braundounbruge RCoron 189 m. 1; 1387 ~s que vocatur Hungersbrigge ‥ dirruta est (Anc. Indict.) Pub. Works I 149.  d monachus factus apud ~tem Fractum, cellam Cluniaci W. Malm. GP III 125; in loco qui tunc Steinfordebrigge nunc autem ex rei eventu etiam ~s Belli dicitur Ailr. Ed. Conf. 778C; transivimus ‥ a castro predicto versus ~tem Stephani Gir. IK II 3; prefuit jure hereditario ~ti Ysare comes illustris Neckam NR II 188; 1203 vj m. sunt super monachos de ~te Roberti de tribus feodis Pipe 195; 1203 de xliiij li. ‥ de firma de ~te Burgi Ib. 222; s1066 tempore quo applicuit rex Haraldus fuit in partibus Eboraci ‥ in loco qui nunc dicitur ~s Belli Wykes 6.  e R. de Petro ~te DB II 399; Willelmus de ~te Arcarum, vir ‥ regi Henrico ‥ fidelissimus G. Steph. 77; 1169 Willelmus de ~te Pipe 94; 1228 sciatis nos inspexisse cartam Roberti de Veteri ~te ChartR 20 m. 4; 1230 Reginaldo de ~tibus Pipe 37.  f commisit ei Lundoniensem aecclesiam ‥ quo plurimo civitatis illius populo ‥ ~tem etiam ad alta polorum cacumina scandendi praepararet B. V. Dunst. 25; a tui cordis cubiculo ~s subtilis ut capillus capitis mihi in aurem porrectus est, in quo tua cogitatio gradiens ad me usque pervenit Alex. Cant. Mir. 25 p. 212; huc ‥ ut vulgo dici solet, per argenteum ~tem transitur a sordibus que transeuntem vel ~te aureo prosequuntur J. Sal. Pol. 678B; ex discipulo factus magister in via morum ~tem fecit pontifici Canon. G. Sempr. f. 43v.. 2 drawbridge or swingbridge. b gangway (of ship). c part of siege-engine (in quot. fig.). ~tem pendulum pre foribus oppidi suspendebant; erat enim pro foribus ~s qui catenis vel funibus demitti seu suspendi consueverat R. Cold. Cuthb. 67 p. 136; a1172 sic perambulatum est et signis signatum, sc. a superiore capite ~tis pendentis usque in Ribbil, ex capite ejusdem ~tis per quercus crucibus signatas usque ad proximum cloh cadentem in Sunderland broc Cart. Sallay 222; 1196 in operatione ~tis tornatilis castelli de Roncestr’ Pipe 281; 1218 sub britaschia illa est unus ~s turnarius Eyre Yorks 394; 1250 in barbicana inter duos ~tes vertibiles CalIMisc I 91 p. 30; 1271 in ~te turnicio ad magnam portam de novo planchando, cum iij cordis ad ~tes turnicios tractandos emptis MinAc 1087/6 r. 5d.; cinxit totum boscum largo fossato cum ~e tractabili Swafham 120; 1316 pro una corda de x brach[iis] ‥ ad inde trahendum dictum ~em tornantem KR Ac 468/20 f. 8; de puteo exteriori ~tis tornicii versus London’ Ib. f. 9; 1323 portam cum ~te versatili ‥ facere Cl 141 m. 39; 1395 ad ~tem levabilem ‥ construendum (v. levabilis 1); 1461 usque ad exteriorem pedem unius ~tis vocati a draght brigge (v. custodia 4e).  b 1189 quod habeant unum ~tem ad proprios equos suos ponendos in navem (Cart. Ric. I) Rec. Templars 142; 1229 ~tes et maeremium ad naves suas (v. cleta 1c); 1284 pro xlviij claiis ‥ ad faciend’ ~tes super quos equi possent ingredi in navibus KR Ac 351/9 m. 5; 1388 ij ~tes mobiles ad aquam de Trent pro transeuntibus ad batellam IMisc 239/3M; 1391 pro portagio ~tis usque naves ad tractandum equos extra naves apud Dovere Ac. H. Derby 15.  c erit ergo sancte sinodus vel concilii legittima constitutio, ~s idoneus, qui a facie machine levi allapsu descendit super iniquorum propugnacula R. Niger Mil. III 73. 3 causeway. s1087 ~s magnus ad septemtrionalem plagam Oxonie ‥ factus est Chr. Abingd. II 15; venientes ergo aurige quidam itinerantes eam ante se flagellis suis egerunt, quousque ~temAslaci [i. e. Bridgend Causeway] transissent Canon. G. Sempr. f. 167v.. 4 bridge-tree (of mill). 1314 in j ~te ad molendinum empto in quo fusillus currit et in eodem imponendo (Ac. Milton) DCCant..

2 pons [cf. ME pound, pount] , pound, pinfold. 1364 vi et armis animalia predicta cepit et ~tem inde fregit Rec. Nott. I 184.

1 pōns, (8) tis, m. , ¶ 1 pont : Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 117 ; pontem in Arare facere Cæs. G. 1, 13, 1, construire un pont sur lʼArar ; flumen ponte jungere Liv. 21, 45, 1 ; imponere pontem flumini Curt. 5, 1, 22, jeter un pont sur une rivière ; pontem interscindere Cic. Leg. 2, 10 ; rescindere Nep. Milt. 3, 4 ; rumpere Quint. 2, 13, 16 ; interrumpere Pl. Cas. 66 ; solvere Tac. Ann. 1, 69 ; dissolvere Nep. Them. 5, 1, couper un pont ¶ 2 pont volant [pour les sièges] : Tac. Ann. 4, 51 || pont, planche pour communiquer dʼun navire au rivage : Virg. En. 10, 288 ; Liv. 21, 28, 7 || étages des tours : Virg. En. 9, 530 || pont de communication entre les tours : Virg. En. 9, 170 || pont sur lequel passaient les électeurs pour aller voter : Cic. Att. 1, 14, 5 ; de ponte dejici Fest. 334, perdre le droit de vote [à soixante ans].

pons , tis. m. plur. es, ium.
橋。梁。De ponte dejicere eum 壞其官。De ponte aliquis 乞人。乞丐一名。

Suggest a Translation
See an image

pōns ontis, m

• 1 PAT-, a bridge: pars oppidi ponte adiungitur: pontem in Arare faciendum curat, has a bridge built over, Cs.: velut ponte iniecto transitum dedit, L.: Campanus, a bridge on the Appian Way leading into Campania, H.: amnem ponte iunxit, Cu.: ratis religata pontis in modum, L.: interscindere pontem, break down: recidere, Cu.: vellere, V.: partem pontis rescindere, Cs.: nusquam pons? (bridges being the resort of beggars), Iu.—Plur: dies efficiendis pontibus absumpti, a draw-bridge, Ta.: pontīsque et propugnacula iungunt, V.—A bridge, walk, connecting passage, scaffolding, gallery: operae Clodianae pontīs occuparant, i. e. the narrow gallery admitting voters to the saepta at the Comitia: socios de puppibus Pontibus exponit, planks, V.: Turris erat pontibus altis, galleries, i. e. stories, V.: naves pontibus stratae, decks, Ta.

PONS

PONS(γέφυρα), a bridge. One central idea, round which many curious beliefs and pieces of ritual are grouped, is that the erection of a bridge is an impious act--an injury done to the god of the river, who, by the substitution of a safe method of crossing instead of the primitive fording or swimming, is robbed of a certain number of victims--travellers who without a bridge would have been drowned. This belief has existed among many different races at an early stage of their religious development, and, vaguely understood, still survives in many parts of Europe and Asia. In Greece, Albania, and other countries traditions even now exist of the offering of human sacrifices at the founding of a new bridge; and in many parts of the Moslem world the inhabitants look upon the erection of a bridge as an extremely impious act. Mr. J. G. Frazer, in the Journal of Philology, xiv. pp. 156-7, has collected a curious list of examples of this wide-spread belief. Thus, in Germany, when a man is drowned the people say, The river-spirit is getting his annual victim (see Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 499); and in part of England the superstition exists that the spirit of the Ribble receives and is satisfied with a human victim every seven years (see Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 265). Thus, in ancient Rome, the most primitive duty of the pontifex or bridge-builder was to propitiate Father Tiber by regular annual sacrifices; and also by special extra sacrifices whenever the one early bridge of Rome, the Pons Sublicius, required repairs (see Varro, L. L. 5.15; Dionys. 3.45; and Plut. Num. 9). In early times human victims were offered annually by being flung into the Tiber from the Sublician bridge; but in later times thirty figures or dummies called ARGET, made of rushes, were solemnly thrown into the Tiber by the Pontifices and Vestal Virgins on the Ides of May, as is recorded by Ovid (Ov. Fast. 5.622): Tune quoque priscorum virgo simulacra virorumMittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet.

Another notion, connected with the same class of ideas, is that a light and, as it were, temporary structure is less offensive to the rivergod than a more permanent bridge. Hence the primitive reason for building the Sublician bridge of wood, not fastened together with iron in any form, having, as Pliny records, its contignatio sine ferreis clavis (H. N. 36.100). Dionysius (Dionys. 3.45) goes further, and speaks of it as τὴν ξυλίνην γέφυραν, ἣν ἄνευ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου θέμις ὑπ' αὐτῶν διακρατεῖσθαι τῶν ξύλων: but in sacred matters the use of iron was often specially prohibited, as being a more recent invention than bronze, and therefore devoid of its hieratic associations (cf. Plutarch's Life of Numa). Thus the college of the Fratres Arvales were obliged to offer an expiatory sacrifice if ever an iron tool were used within the precincts of their sacred grove, near Rome (see Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, 3. p. 459; ARVALES). In a similar way the use of flint knives for sacrificial purposes survived long ages after the Stone period had passed away.

It should be observed that the Romans themselves had, by the first century B.C., forgotten what appears to be the main reason for the rules and ritual connected with their ancient bridge, and explain its unsubstantial character by the risk of attack; as had happened when Horatius Cocles with so great difficulty held the Etruscan army at bay while the bridge was being demolished. And this may possibly have been at one time a secondary reason for the same thing, though not the chief one.

The oldest bridge of which we have any record, that at Babylon, was also of wood, though built on stone piers. This, according to Herodotus (Hdt. 1.178-186), was built across the Euphrates to unite the two portions of Babylon by Queen Nitocris, c. 606 B.C. The piers were of large blocks of stone fixed with iron clamps, run with lead; and the river is said to have been temporarily diverted from its course during their construction. The superstructure was of wood, part of which was arranged so as to be removed every day at nightfall. The same queen also built a massive river embankment made of burnt brick.

Temporary floating bridges (σχεδίαι) for military operations appear to have been used in very early times, boats being used for the points of support, with cables of twisted flax (λευκολίνου) and papyrus (βυβλίνων), tightly strained by the help of windlasses, to support the intermediate planking. A bridge of this kind was thrown across the Thracian Bosporus by Darius; its engineer being a Samian Greek, named Mandrocles (see Hdt. 4.83, 85, 87, and 88). A similar bridge, constructed for Xerxes across the Hellespont between Sestos and Abydos, was immediately destroyed by a storm (Hdt. 7.34, 35). Xerxes decapitated its constructors, and ordered another bridge to be made of more careful construction. This was done by the help of 674 triremes and penteconters, moored by anchors, and united by six strong cables tightly strained from ship to ship. On these cables the roadway rested, made of thick planks covered with brushwood and earth beaten down. On each side was a high bulwark to prevent the horses from being frightened at the sea (see Hdt. 7.36). The Persian army crossed safely on this second bridge; and thus Xerxes was enabled to accomplish, for a time, his projected invasion of European Greece.

In Greece, partly owing to the insignificant size of the rivers, permanent bridges do not appear to have been constructed till after the Roman conquest. No remains now exist which can be attributed to the period of Hellenic autonomy. And yet it appears probable, from the mention of bridges by various Greek writers, that in some form wooden structures for crossing streams when swollen by rain were of no uncommon occurrence. Simple trestles with movable boarding are even now used in some parts of Italy for temporary emergencies; and most of the Greek bridges were probably structures of this light and unsubstantial class. The religious ideas already described may have tended to prevent any more solid structures from being erected in Greece during its most flourishing period.

Throughout the Roman dominions, especially during the Imperial period, stone bridges with wide-spanning arches of the most massive kind were erected in great numbers. Many of these bridges were of remarkable size, and show in a very striking way the great constructional skill of the Roman engineers. The bridge over the Acheron, which was a thousand feet in length (Plin. Nat.4.1), and that which united the island of Euboea to the mainland, must have been striking examples of this. The Roman bridges were as a rule rather narrow in proportion: the central roadway for horses and vehicles was called the iter; at the sides were slightly raised foot-paths (decursoria), defended on the outside by a low parapet wall. In the more handsome bridges, such as the Pons Aelius in Rome, pedestals for statues or honorary columns were set at regular intervals along the parapet. The main arches were decorated with simple mouldings adapted from Greek buildings; and between them, over each pier, a smaller arch was very frequently introduced to relieve the pressure of water during flood-time. Rows of corbels were very commonly inserted at the springing of each arch, the use of which was to support the wooden centering while the arch was being built; thus doing away with the necessity of tall supports resting in the water. In most cases these corbels were not cut away at the completion of the bridge, but were left, so that repairs or rebuilding could be easily carried out. This very useful system was applied not only to bridges, but to all lofty arched structures, such as aqueducts or tall palaces, like that of Severus on the Palatine hill in Rome. In many cases a gate-tower was built as a defence at each end of the bridge: this was the case with more than one of the bridges in Rome, though no remains of these towers now exist.

The chief Roman bridges were built either of brick and concrete, or of solid stone masonry, carefully fixed with iron clamps and lead. In many cases, as for example in Rome itself, a hard weather stone was used for the facing, the inner masonry being of some softer and less expensive stone.

Under the later Roman Empire the city of Rome possessed the following bridges:-- 1. The Pons Sublicius, so called from the sublicae or wooden beams of which it was constructed. Till the second century B.C. this was the only bridge in Rome: some of the sacred rites which were connected with it have already been described. According to tradition, the Sublician bridge was originally erected by Ancus Martius, its special purpose being to connect the main city with the long walls which led from the right bank of the river up to the isolated fortress on the Janiculan hill, where the church of S. Pietro in Montorio now stands. The approach to the bridge on the other side was close by the Porta Trigemina, just inside the line of the Servian wall. No traces of it now exist: the ruined piers visible in dry summers by the Marmoratum, under the Aventine hill, belong most probably to the bridge of Probus, the last mentioned in the Catalogue of the Curiosum. The epithet roboreo, used by Ovid in the passage quoted above, shows that even in the time of Augustus the bridge was still of oak. In A.D. 69 it was carried away by a flood (Tac. Hist. 1.86), and appears not to have been rebuilt. The mistaken notion that the Pons Sublicius was identical with that known as the Pons Lapideus or Aemilius arose from the misunderstanding of a passage in Plutarch (Plut. Num. 9), and from the statement of the spurious Publius Victor, whose catalogue is a mediaeval forgery. The Roman bridges appear to have been a favourite resort for beggars (see Senec. de Vita beata, 15): hence Juvenal (14.134) uses the phrase aliquis do ponte, as meaning a beggar (cf. Juven. 4.116).2. The first stone bridge in Rome, called on that account the Pons Lapideus, was also known as the Pons Aemilius. It was begun in 179 B.C. by M. Fulvius Nobilior and the censor M. Aemilius Lepidus, when the conquest of Etruria and the defeat of Hannibal had put an end to all fears of invasion. It was not, however, completed till the time of the censors Publius Scipio Africanus and L. Mummius (Achaicus): see Liv. 40.51; Juven. 6.32; and Plut. Num. 9. The Fasti Capranici describe it as being ad theatrum Marcelli; and the Cosmographia of Aethicus as ad Forum Boarium. These indications, and the recent discovery of an ancient basalt-paved road leading up to the mediaeval Ponte Rotto, show that the last-named bridge occupies the site of the Pons Aemilius. The three arches which still exist of the broken bridge appear not to be older than the thirteenth century; the present bridge having been mainly rebuilt after its destruction by a flood during the pontificate of Honorius III., 1216-1227. In 1598 about half was swept away by another flood, and the gap is now bridged over by a modern iron structure. The name Palatinus, as applied to the Pons Aemilius, appears to be a mediaeval invention.3. The Pons Fabricius, which unites the Insula Tiberina to the left bank of the river, was built in 62 B.C. by L. Fabricius, one of the curatores viarum, as is recorded in inscriptions deeply cut in large letters across the face of its arches. Part is now illegible, but the full inscription (repeated over both arches) is given by Pirro Ligorio in his MS. notes on Ancient Rome, c. 1570 (Bodleian, Cod. Canoniciani Ital. 138): L. FABRICIVS C. F. CVR. VIAR. FACIVNDVM COERAVIT EIDEMQVE PROBAVIT; and in smaller letters over the intermediate arch for stormwater, Q. LEPIDVS M. F. M. LOLLIVS M. F. COS. S. C. PROBAVERVNT. This last inscription records its restoration by the consuls Q. Aemilius Lepidus and M. Lollius in 21 B.C. Like the other existing bridges of Rome, this is built of peperino and tufa, faced on both sides by massive blocks of travertine, which is also used for the corbels at the springing of each arch. A fragment still exists of the parapet namely, a marble pilaster crowned by a quadruple head, Janus quadrifrons, from which the bridge takes its modern name of the Ponte dei quattro capi. The pilaster is grooved to receive an open bronze screen or cancellus, which formerly filled up the intermediate spaces between the pilasters. This bridge is shown on the reverse of a contemporary denarius, c. 62 B.C., with the legend L. FABRICIVS, and a snake to indicate the proximity of the Temple of Aesculapius on the Tiber island. It is also represented on a bronze medallion of Antoninus Pius (see Froehner, Med. Rom. p. 52; also Dio Cass.). During the Middle Ages this bridge was often called the Pons Judaeus, from its proximity to the Ghetto or Hebrew quarter.4. The Pons Cestius, which joins the Insula Tiberina to the right or Janiculan side of the Tiber, was probably built by L. Cestius, Praefect of the City in 46 B.C. (see Dio Cass.). On one of the large marble slabs which form the parapet is a long inscription recording the restoration of the bridge in A.D. 370 by Valentinianus, Valens, and Gratian. The Pons Cestius consists of one arch only, with an opening for flood-water on each side of it. At present it is called after the adjacent church of S. Bartolommeo, which probably stands on the site of the Temple of Aesculapius.5. The Pons Aelius, modern Ponte di S. Angelo, was built in A.D. 135 by Hadrian to connect his mausoleum and circus with the Campus Martins (see Dio Cass.; and Spartian, Hadr. 19). It is shown on bronze coins of Hadrian dated from his third consulship. The Einsiedeln MS. gives its dedicatory inscription, which is now lost, IMP. CAESAR DIVI TRAIANI PARTHICI FILIVS DIVI NERVAE NEPOS TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG. PONT. MAX. TRIB. POT. XVIIII. (A.D. 135) COS. III. P. P. FECIT. The name of the bridge was derived either from Hadrian's family name Aelius, or else from his son Aelius Caesar, who died before his father. The five arches of this noble bridge are of peperino faced with travertine; near it, along the left bank, are extensive remains of the ancient embankment wall, built of massive blocks of peperino, now doomed to destruction for the sake of the new quay. This is the bridge mentioned by Dante, Infer. 18.28-33, as being thronged with pilgrims in the Jubilee year 1300.6. The Pons Aurelius, mentioned in the Notitia, was probably on the site of the modern Ponte Sisto. The date of its foundation is not known, but Marlianus (Topogr. Rom. cap. cxxi.) gives an inscription (now lost) which recorded its restoration in the reign of Hadrian. The names Janicularis and Antoninianus, which are sometimes given to this bridge, appear to be inventions of the mediaeval topographers. This is possibly the bridge which, in a recently discovered inscription, is called the Pons Agrippae; see Bull. Com. Arch. Rom. 1888, p. 92.7. The Pons Neronianus or Vaticanus was begun by Caligula and completed by Nero, to give access to the Horti Agrippinae and the great circus which stood by the present Basilica of St. Peter. The foundations of its piers still exist, and are visible in summer a little way below the Pons Aelius. It is probable that this is the bridge to which the title Pons triumphalis was sometimes applied.8. The Pons Mulvius, modern Ponte Molle, is about a mile and a half outside the Aurelian wall of Rome, higher up the river, where the Via Flaminia crosses the Tiber. It was built by the censor M. Aemilius Scaurus, 109 B.C. (see Aur. Victor, de Viris illust. 27.8). It was on this bridge that Cicero arrested the ambassadors of the Gaulish Allobroges during the Catiline conspiracy (Cic. in Cat. 3.2). And in A.D. 312 it was the scene of the utter defeat of Maxentius by Constantine. As at the present day, the Pons Mulvius was under the Empire a favourite pleasure resort for the lower classes of Rome (see Tac. Ann. 13.47).

A very large number of fine stone bridges still exist throughout the greater part of the Roman empire, in various states of preservation. One of the most perfect in Italy is that at Ariminum (modern Rimini), consisting of five massive stone arches, as is shown in the annexed cut. An inscription on it records that it was begun by Augustus and completed by Tiberius.

The bridge over the Nera, at the modern town of Narni, to the north of Rome, though partly destroyed, is still a very noble piece of engineering. The arches are more than 100 feet high, and their spans are of unusual width. The combined aqueduct and bridge which crosses the river Gard near Nîmes (Nemausus), commonly called the Pont du Gard, is remarkable for its size and stately height, consisting of three superimposed tiers of arches, still well preserved, to a height of 190 feet. Another fine Roman bridge still exists near Brioude, over the Allier; it consists of one arch with a very wide span, and 70 feet high from the water to the soffit of the arch.

In Spain remains exist of a very magnificent bridge across the Tagus at Alcantara, which when perfect consisted of six arches, reaching nearly 200 feet in height and 670 feet in length.

The temporary bridges of the Romans, built for military purposes, were no less remarkable for the engineering skill shown in their construction. Julius Caesar describes (Bell. Gall. 4.17) a wooden bridge which he constructed across the Rhine in the almost incredibly short space of ten days. It was supported on a series of double piles, formed of two baulks of timber, each 18 inches square (in section), pointed at one end, and driven into the bed of the river by machines called fistucae; they were set in a sloping direction, so as to resist the force of the current. A corresponding parallel row of piles was driven in at a distance of 40 feet, thus forming a very wide roadway for the Roman army. The crosspieces were 2 feet thick, and were supported by cross struts so as to diminish the bearing. A

(a) Rough joists.

(b) Wattle-work.

(c) Roadway of earth.

little higher up the stream a third row of piles was fixed to support fenders, to secure the main structure from injury in case the enemy set heavy trees to float down the river and strike against the supports of the bridge. Fra Giocondo of Verona, Palladio, and other architect-scholars of the sixteenth century have published drawings of this bridge, devised from Caesar's description; but not as a rule with much success (see Giocondo's edition of the Commentaries, dedicated to Giuliano de' Medici in 1510; and Palladio, Architettura, Venice, 1570, lib. iii. cap. 6).

Other temporary bridges were supported on floating casks (dolia or cupae): see Herodian, 8.4, 8; and Lucan (Luc. 4.420. Vegetius (3.7) states that it was customary for the Roman army to carry with them small boats or dug-outs (monoxyli), hollowed out of a tree-trunk, together with planks, ropes, and nails to form the roadway. During the Mithridatic war Pompey crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of this kind (Florus (Flor. 3.5). [RATIS]

The annexed woodcut, from a relief on Trajan's Column, shows the construction of this sort of floating bridge. Another relief on the same column shows a more permanent kind of military bridge, which was constructed by Trajan across the Danube (Dio Cass.. p. 776, and

Plin. Ep. 8.4). This bridge consists of stone piers supporting very skilfully designed trusses of wood, framed like a low-pitched roof. Much ingenuity is shown by the way in which the engineer has spanned wide spaces with short pieces of timber. The engineer who designed this bridge was the celebrated Apollodorus of Damascus, whose criticism on Hadrian's design for the Temple of Venus and Rome by the Sacra Via is said to have irritated the emperor so much that he put the critic to death (see Dio Cass.).

There appears to be no truth in this story: on the contrary, it is evident that Hadrian had the good sense to adopt the suggestions of Apollodorus. According to Dio Cassius, Hadrian demolished Apollodorus' bridge on the pretence that it might facilitate the incursions of the barbarians into the Roman provinces, but really from jealousy at the success of so great an undertaking. This latter supposition is probably quite untrue.

The reverses of many first brasses of the Empire have representations of important bridges: as, for example, one of Gordianus III. with the bridge over the Maeander at Antiochia ad Maeandrum in Caria (see Head, Num. Hist. p. 520).

The word pons was also applied to any sort of wooden gangway, such as the pons suffragiorum by which the file of voters at the Comitia passed into the enclosure (ovile or saepta); and also to the movable gangway used to give access to the deck of a ship: hence in modern Italian ponte has come to mean the deck itself. (See Mayerhöfer, Die Brücken in alten Rom, 1884; Zippel, Jahrbücher für klass. Phil. 1886, p. 481; Becker, De Romae vet. muris, &c. 1842; Jordan, Topog. der Stadt Rom, 1875-80; Piale, Antichi Ponti in the Atti d. Pont. Acad. 1831. Urlichs, Codex Rom. topog. 1871, gives the various Regionary Catalogues, with lists of the bridges in Rome.

[J.H.M]

Pons

(γέφυρα). A bridge. The earliest bridge mentioned in history is one built at Babylon across the Euphrates. It was of wood, and was constructed in the reign of Queen Nitocris, about B.C. 606 (Herod.i. 178-186). In Greece the earliest bridges were temporary ones resting on floats like a pontoon, with cables of flax and papyrus tightly strained by windlasses to support the planking. These bridges were called σχεδίαι, and were for military purposes only. Such was the high bridge thrown across the Thracian Bosporus by a Samian Greek named Mandrocles at the order of the Persian king Darius (Herod.iv. 83, 85, 87, 88), and such also, though more carefully built, was that over the Hellespont connecting Sestos and Abydos, built for Xerxes when he invaded Greece in B.C. 480 (Herod.vii. 36). It was not, in fact, until Greece had fallen under Roman influence that permanent bridges were built over its streams, partly because these were so very narrow, and partly perhaps because of the feeling that to span a river with a bridge was an insult to the rivergod. Later, however, the Roman engineers erected massive structures of stone of remarkable size, as that over the Acheron which was a thousand feet in length (Pliny H. N. iv. 1), and that which united the island of Euboea to the mainland.

The Romans, in fact, were great bridge-builders, employing brick and concrete, or solid stone masonry fastened by iron clamps and lead. Roman bridges were usually quite narrow in proportion to their length. The central roadway for horses and vehicles was called iter. By the side of it ran footpaths, slightly raised and protected on the outside by a low wall. In the most elaborate bridges, such as the Pons Aelius at Rome, statues and columns were set at regular intervals along the parapet, while the main arches were decorated with mouldings. In some cases a tower was built as a defence at each end of the bridge.

Under the later Roman Empire the following bridges existed in the city of Rome:

(1) The Pons Sublicius, which got its name from the wooden beams (sublicae) of which it was built. Until the second century B.C. this was the only bridge in Rome. It was said to have been built by Ancus Martius, and it connected the main city with the long walls leading from the right bank of the Tiber to the fortress on the Ianiculum. No traces of it now exist.

(2) The Pons Aemilius, also called the Pons Lapideus, which was the first stone bridge built in Rome. It was begun in B.C. 179 and completed about 146. It spanned the river near the theatre of Marcellus on the site now occupied by the Ponte Rotto.

(3) The Pons Fabricius, built in B.C. 62 by L. Fabricius, as is recorded in inscriptions cut across the face of its arches. It unites the Insula Tiberina with the left bank of the river. During the Middle Ages this bridge was called Pons Iudaeus, from its proximity to the Jewish quarter (Ghetto).

(4) The Pons Cestius, which unites the Insula Tiberina to the right side of the river. It was probably built in B.C. 46, and an inscription upon it records its restoration in A.D. 370.

(5) The Pons Aelius, built in A.D. 135 by the emperor Hadrian to connect his Mausoleum with the Campus Martius. (See illustration, p. 1018.)

(6) The Pons Aurelius, of uncertain date and probably on the site of the modern Ponte Sisto.

(7) The Pons Neroniānus or Vaticānus, begun by Caligula and completed by Nero. The foundations of its piers are still visible in summertime a little below the Pons Aelius.

(8) The Pons Mulvius, now called Ponte Molle, continues the Via Flaminia across the Tiber. It was built in B.C. 109 by the censor, M. Aemilius Scaurus. On this bridge Cicero caused the arrest of the ambassadors of the Allobroges at the time of Catiline's conspiracy, and in A.D. 312 it was the scene of the rout of Maxentius by Constantine. Under the Empire the Pons Mulvius was a favourite pleasure-resort for the lower classes of Rome (Tac. Ann. xiii. 47). Bridges in general were thronged by beggars who importuned the passersby. See mendicus.

Among the best-preserved stone bridges built by the Romans and still preserved are the bridge at Rimini (Ariminum), shown in the accompanying illustration; the combined aqueduct and bridge near Nîmes, in France (see illustration under Nemausus); the single-arched bridge near Brioude over the Allier; and (in a less complete condition) the bridges at Narni near Rome and at Alcantara across the river Tagus in Spain, this last being 670 feet in length.

The Romans showed great skill in constructing temporary bridges. The most famous of these was the bridge built by Caesar over the Rhine and described by him in a passage (B. G. iv. 17) whose translation and explanation are the terror of school-boys, and of some schoolmasters as well. This bridge was finished within ten days, and may be described as follows:

It was supported on a series of double piles, formed of two baulks of timber, each eighteen inches square (in section), pointed at one end, and driven into the bed of the river by machines called fistucae; they were set in a sloping direction, so as to resist the force of the current. A corresponding parallel row of piles was driven in at a distance of forty feet, thus forming a very wide roadway for the Roman army. The cross-pieces were two feet thick, and were supported by cross struts so as to diminish the bearing. A little higher up the stream a third row of piles was fixed to support “fenders,” to secure the main structure from injury in case the enemy set heavy trees to float down the river and strike against the supports of the bridge.

Other temporary bridges were supported by floating casks (dolia, cupae) or on boats (Veget. iii. 7; Florus, iii. 5). The accompanying illustration shows one of the latter bridges.

See Mayerhöfer, Die Brücken im alten Rom (1884); Zippel in the Jahrbücher für klass. Philologie, pp. 481 foll. (1886); and Middleton, Remains of Ancient Rome, ii. 362-371 (1892).

The word pons also denotes any sort of wooden gangway, such as the pons suffragiorum through which the voters passed at the Comitia (see illustration under ovile); and was applied to the gangplank (ἀποβάθρα) of a ship whence, by a species of metonymy, the deck itself is called ponte in modern Italian and pont in French.