Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

EMISSARIUTM. EMISSARIUM. 457
pieces of funliture. Works of both classes, when Plin. I. IV. xxxvi. 15. s. 24. ~ 11.) For more
in mletal, come under the head of CAELATURA. than a mile the tunnel is carried under a mounTo productions of the former class we may refer tain, of which the highest part is 1000 feet above
all attempts to adorn the walls and floors of houses the level of the lake, and through a stratum of
with the figures of flowers and animals, or with rocky formation (carnelian) so hard that every inch
any other devices expressed upon a common ground required to be worked by the chisel. The remainby the insertion of variously coloured woods or ing portion runs through a softer soil, not much
marbles, all of which were polished so as to be below the level of the earth, and is vaulted with
brought to a plain surface. To such mosaics Luci- brick. Perpendicular openings (putei) are sunk at
lius alludes (ap. Cic. de d'Orot. iii. 43), when he various distances into the tunnel, through which
compares the well-connected words of a skilful the excavations were partly discharged; and a
orator to the small pieces (tesseruzae) which com- number of lateral shafts (cunsiclli), some of which
pose the " emblema vermiculatum." of an orna- separate themselves into two branches, one above
mental pavement. In the time of Pliny these de- the other, are likewise directed into it, the lowest
corations for the walls of apartments had become at an elevation of five feet from the bottom.
very fashionable. (T. IN. xxxv. 1.) Respecting Through these the materials excavated were also
cinbleinta in metal work, see CAELATURA and carried out. Their object was to enable the proCHrnsENDnTA. It may here be added that digious multitude of 30,000 men to carry on their
Athenaeus, iMn describing two Corinthian vases (v.
p. 199), distinguishes between the emblems in
bas-relief (7rpdo-v7,ra) whlich adorned the body
and neck of each vessel, and the figures in high
relief (7repzraii TsTeopevE'Uea ~Cda) which wvere - Ir
placed upon its brim. An artist, whose business
it was to make works ornamented with emblems,',was called crustccaiucs. (Plin. J... xxxiii. 12. -'/ y i//I I
s. 55; Cic. Verr. iv. 23; Martial.'iii. 51; JuI. Jy.
i. 17, v. 38; Dig. 24. tit. 2. s. 23. ~ 1; -leyne,.t..,Ait. A/k vol. i. p. 147.) [J. Y.]
EMISSA'RIUM (ire',rofosse), a channel, natural
or artificial, by which an outlet is formed to carry "i',
off any stagnant body of water. (Plin. Ii. AN.'_, I'
XXxiii. 4. S. 21; CiC. ad >'al. XVi. 18.) Such. I!/
channels may be either open or underground; but' 1 (1
the most remarkable works of the kind are of the'
latter description, as they carry off the waters of
lalkes surrounded by hills. In Greece, the most /
remarkable esample is presented by the subtcr-
raneosis clhannels which carry off the waters of the
lake Copais into the Cephisus, which were part ly ll
natural and partly artificial. (Strab. ix. p. 406;'! i'- — " /
Thiersceb. E,'tat actzuel de la (re'ce, vol. ii. p. 23,! 9l
Miuller, Os-re/omeios, pp. 49, &c., 2nd ed.).S < rf',
Another specimen of such works among thle /Greeks at an early period is presented by the sub-'rJ r -,;; -
terraneous channels constructed by Phaeax at t
Agrigentum in Sicily, to drain the city, about B.C. c,r
480; which were admired for their magnitude, --',although the workmanship was very rude. (Diod.
Sic. xi. 25.)
Some works of this kind are among the most operations at the same time, without incomnmoding
remarkable efforts of Roman ingenuity. Remains one another. The immediate mouth of the tunnel
still exist to show that thle lakes Trasimene, is some distance from the present margin of the
Albano, Nemi, and Fucino, were all drained by lake, which space is occupied by two ample resermeans of eMiiissaria', the last of which is still nearly voirs, intended to break the rush of water before it
perfect, and open to inspection, having been par- entered the emissary, connected by a narrow pas.
tially cleared by the present king of Naples. sage, in which were placed the sluices (epistonzia).
Julius Caesar is said to have first conceived the The mouth of the tunnel itself consists of a spleindid
idea of this stupendous undertakling (Suet. Jl. archway of the Doric order, nineteen feet high and
44), which was carried into effect by the Emperor nine wide, fornmed out of large blocks of stolle, reClaudius. (Tacit. Asln. xii. 57.) sernlbling in construction the works of the Claudian
The following account of the works, from oh- aqueduct. That through which the waters disservations on thle spot, will give some idea of their charged themselves into the Liris was more simple,
extent and difficulties. The circumference of the and is represented in the preceding woodcut. The
lake, including the bays and promontories, is about river lies in a ravine between the arch land forethirty miles in extent. The length of thie emis- ground, at a depth of 60 feet below, and consesary, which lies nearly in a direct line from the quently cannot be seen in the cut. The small
lake to the river Liris (Garigliano), is something aperture above the cmbouchure is one of the cunimnore than three miles. The number of workmenl culi above mentioned. It appears that the actual
employed was 30,000, and the time occupied in drainage was relinquished soon after the death of
thie work eleven years. (Suet. Clcced. 20; colmpare Claudius, either from the perversity of Nero, as the