TEE ROMAN EIGEWATS. z^j 



these layers, aggregating more than two feet in thickness, were placed 

 bowlders of basalt or granite, from the size of a man's head to that 

 of a half barrel. The sides were roughly trimmed to make the 

 joints even; the tops were hammered to present a smooth surface to 

 the foot of the traveler, and the whole was cemented together with 

 such skill that after two thousand years of wear many of these roads 

 may still be used. Near the cities more pains were taken; the granite 

 blocks were hexagonal, carefully trimmed and evenly jointed. On 

 the Appian Way the pieces were so neatly fitted together that even 

 to-day it is difficult to detect a joint. The center of the road was 

 the highest; on each side were gutters to carry off the water; if the 

 road ran through a flat country, the gutter became a ditch ; if through 

 a country where the fidelity of the inhabitants was doubted, a breast- 

 high wall on either side of the road made it an almost unassailable 

 fortification. In country districts no house might stand within two 

 hundred feet of any road, nor were any trees or bushes allowed to 

 grow in the same limits, for the Roman highway must be safe, and 

 robbers and evildoers must have no place of concealment in its imme- 

 diate vicinity. 



The country roads had at every half mile a block of stone placed 

 by the wayside for the convenience of the traveler in remounting. 

 On the Appian Way, for a distance of twenty miles from Rome, stone 

 seats were placed for travelers at every forty feet ; wherever a spring 

 sprang from the earth near a road, a well was hollowed out and a 

 cup provided at the well, and chained to a large stone, in order that 

 travelers might quench their thirst and leave the cup for the next 

 comer. 



The roads were military in their character, the prime object 

 being to facilitate the march of the legions. No country was con- 

 sidered conquered until roads had been constructed in every part, 

 and an evidence of their value may be found in the fact that the 

 first step taken by rebels in every local insurrection against the 

 Roman power was to tear up the roads and destroy the bridges. 

 These efforts were generally unsuccessful, for only gunpowder can 

 prevail over such layers of stones and cement as constituted a Roman 

 road, and the barbarians had no powder. In times of peace, the 

 legionaries were employed in road building to keep the men out of 

 mischief, but soldiers were not the only road workers. Criminals 

 and slaves were set to work to make and mend the highways, and, 

 where none of these were available, persons were hired to repair and 

 construct the roads. Every governor of a Roman province had the 

 strictest orders to see to the roads, and when a new line was pro- 

 jected through provincial territory it sometimes happened that the 

 whole male population was summoned to assist in the undertaking. 



TOL, LIII. — 19 



