ROMAN ROADS. 7 



cleared, the mountains they severed, the hills they 

 lowered, the valleys they filled up, the marshes they 

 drained, and the bridges which they built." 



Tredgold, in his book on railways, says that " the 

 Roman roads ran nearly in direct lines ; natural 

 obstructions were removed or overcome by the efforts 

 of labour, science, or art, whether they consisted of 

 marshes, lakes, rivers, or mountains. In flat districts, 

 the middle part of the road was raised and embanked. 

 In mountainous districts, the roads were alternately 

 cut through mountains or raised above the valleys, 

 so as to preserve either a level line or a uniform 

 inclination. They founded the road on piles where 

 the ground was not solid, and raised it by embank- 

 ments and strong side walls, or by arches and piers, 

 where it was necessary to gain sufficient elevation. 

 The paved part of the great military roads was 

 sixteen Roman feet wide, with two raised paths of two 

 feet wide on either side." 



Bergiersays, in his " Histoire des Grands Chemins 

 de I'Empire Romain," that "the funds for making 

 roads were so well secured and so considerable, that 

 the Romans were not satisfied to make them con- 

 venient and durable, but they also embellished them." 



They had columns placed from mile to mile to 

 mark the distance of one place from another ; blocks 

 of stone for foot travellers to rest upon, and to assist 

 horsemen to mount their horses ; and also temples, 

 triumphal arches, and even niausoleums and military 

 stations. Such was the solid construction of the 

 Roman highways, that their firmness has not entirely 

 yielded to the effect of fifteen centuries of traffic. 

 They united the subjects of the most distant provinces 

 by an easy and familiar intercourse ; but their primary 



