'SOUNDING feet: 47 



those mighty works which surpassed all the other monu- 

 ments of this people. Made at immense labour and ex- 

 pense, they extended, it may be said, from the Pillars of 

 Hercules, through Spain and Gaul, to the Euphrates and 

 the most southern parts of Egypt. Everything was sacri- 

 ficed in their construction ; hills were sometimes perfor- 

 ated, and mountains and great rocks were deeply cut for 

 their passage, as at Terracina. Those of Italy, if we are 

 to judge by their remains, were the best made ; the Ap- 

 pian Way is perhaps the most solid. These admirably 

 formed highways were elaborately and curiously built. 

 The centre, being subjected to the greatest amount of 

 wear, was higher than the sides, and consisted of strata of 

 sand, gravel, and excellent cement, overlaid by the pave- 

 ment, in the form of not very large flat stones, laid 

 close together and firmly bound by the cement, thus 

 making a hard smooth causeway. Near Rome the flags 

 were of granite. From their very even surface, and their 

 passing between banks, mounds, and through valleys, the 

 hard hollow hoofs of prancing steeds would sound loud 

 enough, when compared with the noise made by other 

 quadrupeds. Hence the epithet of ' sounding feet ' was 

 very appropriate, and naturally suggested itself, according 

 to Bracy Clark. 



Montfauqon says the surface was very smooth, like 

 glass, a circumstance which must have made the horses 

 in wet weather slide about very much ; even in the best 

 weather, travelling must have been uncommonly slow, 

 had horses worn iron shoes, because of their slipperiness. 

 Besides, they would not have lasted nearly so long, and so 

 far as I can ascertain there are no traces of horse-shoe 



