his plan was to continue them to the eastern and western extremities of Europe. He gave orders for making an infinite number in Spain; he enlarged and extended the Via Medina to Gades. At the same time, and through the same mountains, there were opened two roads to Lyons; one of them traversed the Tarentaise, and the other was made in the Alphenin.

Agrippa seconded Augustus ably in this part of his government. It was at Lyons he began the extension of roads throughout all Gaul.

"There are four of them particularly remarkable for their length, and the difficulty of the country through which they passed. One traversed the mountains of Auvergne, and penetrated to the bottom of Aquitaine. Another

was extended to the Rhine at the mouth of the Meuse, and followed the course of the river, to the German Ocean; the third crossed Burgundy, Champagne and Picardy, and ended at Boulogne-sur-Mer; the fourth extended along the Rhone, entered the bottom of Languedoc, and terminated at Marseilles. From these principal roads there were an infinity of branch roads, namely, to Tréves, Strasburg, Belgrade, &c.

"There were also great roads from the eastern provinces of Europe to Constantinople, and into Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, and to the mouth of the Danube at Torres.

"The seas were able to cut across the roads undertaken by the Romans, but not to stop them. Witness Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, England, Asia and Africa, the roads of which countries communicated with the roads of Europe by the nearest ports. What labours! when we embrace in one point of view the extent and the difficulties which opposed themselves; the forrests opened, the mountains cut through, the hills lowered, the valleys filled up, the marshes drained, and the bridges which were built!” *

The following description of the manner in which the Roman roads were made, is taken from the same work:

"Les grands chemins étoient construits selon la diversité des lieux: ici ils s'avançoient de niveau avec les terres; là ils s'enfonçoient de niveau avec les terres; là ils s'enfonçoient dans les vallons; ailleurs ils s'élevoient à une grande hauteur; partout on les commençoit par deux sillons tracés au cordeau; ces parallèles fixoient la largeur du chemin; on creusoit l'intervalle de ces parallèles; c'étoit dans cette profondeur qu'on étendoit les couches des matériaux du chemin. C'étoit d'abord un ciment de chaux et de sable de l'épaisseur d'un pouce; sur ce

* French Encyclopædia, folio edit. vol. iii. p.387.

ciment, pour première couche, des pierres larges et plates, de six pouces de hauteur, assises les unes sur les autres, et liées par un mortier le plus dur; pour seconde couche, une épaisseur de huit pouces de petites pierres rondes, plus tendres que le caillou, avec des tuiles, des maellons, des plâtras, et autres décombres d'édifice, le tout battu dans un ciment d'alliage; pour la troisième couche, un pié d'épaisseur d'un ciment fait d'une terre grasse, mêlée avec de la chaux; ces matières intérieures formoient depuis trois piés jusqu'à trois piés et demi d'épaisseur. La surface étoit de gravois lié par un ciment mêlé de chaux; et cette croûte a pu résister jusqu'à présent en plusieurs endroits de l'Europe."

"The Roman roads," says Mr. Tredgold, "ran nearly in direct lines; natural obstructions were removed or overcome by the effort of labour or art, whether they consisted of marshes, lakes, rivers, or mountains. In flat districts, the middle part of the road was raised into a terrace.

"In mountainous districts, the roads were alternately cut through mountains and raised above the valleys, so as to preserve either a level line or a uniform inclination. They founded the road on piles where the ground was not solid, and raised it by strong side walls, or by arches and piers where it was necessary to gain eleva

tion. The paved part of the great military roads was sixteen Roman feet wide, with two side ways, each eight feet wide, separated from the middle way by two raised paths of two feet each."*

The funds for making roads were so well secured and so considerable, that the Romans were not satisfied to make them convenient and durable, but they also embellished them.

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They had columns placed from mile to mile to mark the distance of one place from another; blocks of stone for foot travellers to rest upon, and to assist horsemen to mount their horses; and also temples, triumphal arches, mausoleums, and military stations.

Such was the solid construction of the Roman highways, that their firmness has not entirely yielded to the effect of fifteen centuries.

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They united the subjects of the most distant provinces by an easy and familiar intercourse; but their primary object was to facilitate the marches of their legions."†

After enumerating all the cities in the different parts of the empire, Mr. Gibbon says, "All these cities were connected with each other and

* See Tredgold on Railways, p. 6.

† See Bergier, Histoire des grands Chemins de l'Empire Romain, liv.ii. cap. 1. p. 28.

with the capital by the public highways, which, issuing from the forum of Rome, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire.

The public roads were

"If we carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus (in Britain) to Rome, and from thence to Jerusalem, it will be found that the great chain of communication from the north-west to the south-east part of the empire was drawn out to a length of 4080 Roman miles, or 3740 English miles. accurately divided by milestones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very little respect for the obstacles either of nature or private property: mountains were passed, and bold arches thrown over the broadest and most rapid streams. The middle part of the road was raised into a terrace, which commanded the adjacent country, and consisted of several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large stones, which in some places near the capital were of granite."

The following are Mr. Pinkerton's observations on the Roman roads :

"One of the grand causes of the civilisation introduced by that ruling people (the Romans) into the conquered states, was the highways, which form, indeed, the first germ of national