6 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



He conducted roads into the Alps ; his stupendous 

 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 xA.lphenin. When 

 Agrippa succeeded, he seconded Augustus ably in this 

 respect. It was at Lyons he began the extension of 

 roads throughout Gaul. 



" There are four of them particularly remarkable 

 for their length, and the obstructive nature 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 termi- 

 nated at Marseilles. From these principal roads there 

 were an infinity of branch roads, namely to Treves, 

 Strasbourg, Belgrade, etc. 



" 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. 



" In Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Britain, Asia, and 

 Africa the roads to a certain extent communicated with 

 the roads of Europe by the nearest ports. The industry 

 of the Roman road-makers will ever remain unsur- 

 passed, when we consider the extent of their highways, 

 and the difficulties they encountered, the forests they 



