Agrippa's Pantheon

There was something inside the man that had to be expressed. Rising from humble origins, Marcus Agrippa was an extraordinarily gifted Roman. His great talent was for diagnosing a problem, devising the solution, bringing together the required resources and getting the work done. As an astute politician, he understood the social contract that came with privilege. He had the flair of a natural showman and acted by design - as the poet Horace wrote, "Agrippa gains, like a cunning fox imitating a generous lion?" Perhaps not a man outside of his time. More generously, Pliny the Elder wrote: "He formed 700 wells, in addition to 500 fountains, and 130 reservoirs, many of them magnificently adorned. Upon these works, too, he erected 300 statues of marble or bronze, and 400 marble columns - and all this in the space of a single year!" From these fountains poured near limitless pure cold water, which delighted thirsty Roman citizens. However, the enormous volume of water stressed Rome's sewers, which Agrippa upgraded masterfully. Undeniably, he had overseen the largest social welfare improvement programme since the building of the city's first great sewer. All of the beauty he created no longer stands, but the unseen endures. His sewer system continues to serve the people of Rome and his aqueduct now feeds the Trevi fountain. Perhaps all that should be said, is that at heart Agrippa was an engineer and an artist who aspired to something greater than himself. What kind of sentient beings would we be if we did not try to make our small world better?