FRONTINUS.
(1) LIFE.
Iulius Frontinus (as he is called by Tacitus: inscriptions and some MSS. give the praenomen Sextus) was born at latest A.D. 41, for he was praetor urbanus A.D. 70.
Tac. Hist. iv. 39, ‘in senatu quem Iulius Frontinus praetor urbanus vocaverat ... Mox eiurante Frontino Caesar Domitianus praeturam cepit.’
He served in Gaul during the revolt of Civilis, and received the submission of the Lingones (Front. Strat. iv. 3, 14[92]). Under Vespasian he held the consulship, and preceded Agricola in the command in Britain, where he conquered the Silures, probably A.D. 76-78.
Tac. Agr. 17, ‘Et Cerealis quidem alterius successoris curam famamque obruisset: sustinuit molem Iulius Frontinus, vir magnus, quantum licebat, validamque et pugnacem Silurum gentem armis subegit, super virtutem hostium locorum quoque difficultates eluctatus.’
His knowledge of the tactics of Domitian (Strat. i. 1, 8; i. 3, 10; ii. 3, 23; ii. 11, 7) makes it probable that he took part in the war with the Chatti, A.D. 83. In 97 he became curator aquarum (Aq. 102), and at the beginning of the following year was consul for the second time (C.I.L. iii., p. 862); cf. Martial x. 48, 20, ‘bis Frontino consule.’ In 100 he was once more consul (C.I.L. viii. 7066). He also held the office of augur, in which, A.D. 103 or 104, he was succeeded by the younger Pliny; Plin. Ep. iv. 8, ‘gratularis mihi quod acceperim auguratum ... Successi Iulio Frontino, principi viro.’ His death then may be placed in A.D. 103.
Frontinus was a friend of Martial, who addresses to him Epig. x. 58.
We get a glimpse of his character from Pliny’s words, Ep. ix. 19, 6, ‘Vetuit exstrui monumentum: sed quibus verbis? “Impensa monumenti supervacua est: memoria nostri durabit si vita meruimus.”’
(2) WORKS.
During the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96) Frontinus composed two works. One of these, of which only fragments survive, dealt with the art of land-surveying and the laws relating to land. The other, written after A.D. 84, when Domitian received the title of Germanicus (Strat. ii. II, 7, ‘eo bello quo victis hostibus cognomen Germanici meruit’), is a manual of strategy, in three Books, entitled Strategemata. It is a sequel to a previous work (now lost) on the theory of the art of war, and illustrates its rules by historical examples derived chiefly from Sallust, Caesar, and Livy. The purpose of the book did not require the citation of authorities, and the mention of Livy in ii. 5, 31 and 34, is probably spurious. Frontinus gives either a paraphrase retaining some of the expressions of the original (cf. Strat. i. 5, 16, with Liv. xxxv. 11, 2-13), or a bald summary (cf. Strat. ii. 5, 1, with Liv. i. 14, 6-11). See G. Gundermann, Jahrb. f. class. Philol., suppl. xvi., p. 315 sqq. (1888). Some later hand has added a fourth Book, which not only presents marked differences in style and tone from the original three, but deals with an entirely different subject—the maintenance of discipline, and other duties of a commander.
Under Nerva and Trajan (A.D. 97-98) Frontinus wrote his treatise on the Roman water-supply, De Aquis Urbis Romae. Having been appointed curator aquarum, he considered it his first 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’).