Castelli, Benedetto, Of the mensuration of running waters, 1661

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              bution of Aqueducts is, that as the buſineſſe is now governed, it
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              lieth in the power of a ſordid Maſon to take unjuſtly from one,
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              and give undeſervedly to another more or leſſe Water than be­
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              longeth to them of right: And I have ſeen it done, of my
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              own experience. </s>
              <s>But in our way of meaſuring and diſtri­
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              buting Waters, there can no fraud be committed; and put­
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              ting the caſe that they ſhould be committed, its an eaſie mat­
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              ter to know it, and amend it, by repairing to the Tribunal
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              appointed.</s>
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              <s>Thirdly, it happens very often, (and we have examples there­
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              of both antient and modern) that in diſpenſing the Water after
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              the common and vulgar way; there is ſometimes more Water diſ­
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              pended than there is in the Regiſter, in which there will be regi­
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              ſtred, as they ſay, two hundred inches (for example) and there
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              will be diſpenſed two hundred and fifty inches, or more. </s>
              <s>Which
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              paſſage happened in the time of
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              Nerva
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              the Emperour, as
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              Giulio
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              Frontino
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              writes, in his 2. Book,
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              De Aquaductibus Vrbis Romæ,
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              where he obſerveth that they had
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              in Commentariis 12755. Qui­
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              naries
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              of Water; and found that they diſpenſed 14018.
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              Qui­
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              naries.
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              And the like Errour hath continued, and is in uſe alſo
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              modernly until our times. </s>
              <s>But if our Rule ſhall be obſerved,
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              we ſhall incur no ſuch diſorder, nay there will alwayes be given
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              to every one his ſhare, according to the holy end of exact juſtice,
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              which
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              dat unicuique quod ſuum eſt.
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              As on the contrary, it is
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              manifeſt, that His Divine Majeſty hateth and abominateth
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              Pon­
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              dus & pondus, Menſura & menſura,
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              as the Holy Ghoſt ſpeak­
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              eth by the mouth of
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              Solomon
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              in the
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              Proverbs, Chap. </s>
              <s>20. Pondus
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              & Pondus, Menſura & Menſura, utrumque abominabile eſt apud
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              Deum.
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              And therefore who is it that ſeeth not that the way of
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              dividing and meaſuring of Waters, commonly uſed, is expreſly
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              againſt the Law of God. </s>
              <s>Since that thereby the ſame meaſure
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              is made ſometimes greater, and ſometimes leſſer; A diſorder ſo
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              enormous and execrable, that I ſhall take the boldneſs to ſay, that
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              for this ſole reſpect it ought to be condemned and prohibited like­
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              wiſe by human Law, which ſhould Enact that in this buſineſs there
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              ſhould be imployed either this our Rule, or ſome other that
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              is more exquiſite and practicable, whereby the meaſure
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              might keep one conſtant and determinate tenor, as we make it,
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              and not, as it is now, to make
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              Pondus & Pondus, Menſur a &
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              Menſura.
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              </s>
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            <p type="main">
              <s>And this is all that I had to offer to Your moſt Illuſtrious
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              Lordſhip, in obedience to your commands, reſerving to my ſelf
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              the giving of a more exact account of this my invention, when
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              the occaſion ſhall offer, of reducing to practice ſo holy, juſt, and </s>
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