House and Garden 
Lutetia was also the main road to Belgium 
and Britain. 
The river communication east and west 
thus crossed the north and south current by 
land at Lutetia. A glance at any map of 
France will show how logically the direction 
of the rivers and the conformation of the 
country, under the simple conditions of 
early civilization, made Lutece , as the mod¬ 
ern French call the Gallo-Roman city, the 
strategic and commercial key between north¬ 
ern and southern France. We may well 
remind ourselves at this moment that not 
before the nineteenth century did these con¬ 
ditions undergo any radical change. 
The great Orleans road came into Lutece 
by way of Arcueil, and, in the city, followed 
the line of the Rue de Saint-Jacques. The 
old pavement has been discovered far below 
the surface. The road crossed the southern 
arm of the Seine by a wooden bridge near 
the Petit-Pont and left the island by another 
wooden bridge, traces of which have been 
found near the Pont Notre-Dame. From 
the Pont Notre-Dame it turned to the left 
and, passing through the site of the Halles 
Centrales and near the Bourse, Opera and 
Avenue de Clichy, formed the main artery 
via Beauvais ( Bellovaci ) to western Belgium 
and Britain. A branch turned off to Rouen 
( Rotomagnus) and Normandy. Where this 
THE CHURCH OF THE VAL-DE-GRACE 
Plan showing the substructures 
road crossed the Rue Saint-Denis it threw off 
a branch which followed the present line of 
that street northward to Senlis ( Silvanectes ), 
Soissons ( Suessiones ), and the north. The 
Roman pavement has been found in the Rue 
Saint-Denis near the Rue de Turbigo. 
The strong north and south current led 
to the duplication of the main artery. A 
magnificently built road was brought up 
from Montrouge along the line of the old 
Rue de la Harpe, now merged in the Boule¬ 
vard Saint-Michel. In 1839 a long section 
of this fine Roman pavement was uncovered, 
which reached from the Hotel Cluny to the 
Rue Soufflot. The road from Montrouge 
crossed the river by the two bridges with the 
Orleans road. Hoffbauer’s map gives a par- 
53 
