 It is one of the rare references in Roman literature to water mills used to cut stone, but is a logical consequence of the application of water power to mechanical sawing of stone (and presumably wood also).Earlier references to the widespread use of mills occur in Vitruvius in his" De Architectura" of circa 25 BC, and the" Naturalis Historia" of Pliny the Elder published in 77 AD.Such applications of mills were to multiply again after the fall of the Empire through the Middle Ages into the modern era.