346 MURAL ARCHITECTURE 
in the construction of their roads, as we see in the 
via Appia, and the streets of Pompeu.* The 
same system is now in use throughout the chief 
cities of Tuscany,f and pavements so constructed - 
are found to outlast any others, and to be much 
less frequently displaced by the heayy loads which 
pass over them. It is worthy of admiration, that 
the most ancient structures should thus be the 
most durable also. Many of these walls are as 
perfect now as they were 2000 years ago, and 
may rival the Pyramids in their boast of an 
earthly eternity. 
2. Such powerful instruments—such combined 
exertion—such command over the mechanical 
powers as are indicated by the ancient fortifications 
we are considering, may well astonish us in a 
people, who lived long before the age when 
authentic history commences, and in times which 
we are accustomed to consider barbarous, and who 
have left no record of their existence, except in 
those stupendous structures, which were regarded 
by subsequent generations as surpassing human 
power. With regard to the means which these 
* Drawing xii. 
+ Drawing xiii. 
