GREEK ROADS. 5 



Under the heading of Roads in the French 

 Encyclopaedia are the following interesting facts: 



"The policy of road maintenance does not begin 

 to show itself as worthy of consideration until the 

 prosperous times of Greece. The Senate of Athens 

 watched over them. They were by the Lacedae- 

 monians, Thebans, and other states, confided to the 

 care of their most eminent men. It does not, however, 

 appear that this display of wisdom produced any con- 

 siderable effect in Greece. It was reserved for a 

 commercial people to benefit by facility in travelling 

 and transporting goods ; hence it is that the invention 

 of paved roads is attributed to the Carthaginians. 



"The Romans did not neglect the example of the 

 Carthaginians, and this particular industry is most 

 creditable to the Romans. The first road they made 

 was the Via Appia/'^ the second the Via Aurelia, the 

 third the Via Flaminia. 



"The public and the senate held the roads in such 

 estimation, and took so great an interest in them, that 

 under Julius Caesar the principal cities of Italy all 

 communicated with Rome by paved roads. The 

 Roman roads from that period began to be extended 

 into the provinces. 



" During one of the last great wars in which the 

 Romans were engaged, they made a road with rect- 

 angular broken stones {' de cailloux tallies en quarre '), 

 from Spain through Gaul to the Alps. 



" Domitius CEnoberbus paved the Via Domitia, 

 which led to Savoy, Dauphiny, and Provence. The 

 Romans made in Germania another paved road. 

 Augustus, when emperor, paid more attention to the 

 great roads than he had done during his consulate. 



* The Appian Way. 



