Stonehenge.
Again, even of some of the more recent erections of antiquity, opinion is divided as to the true cause of carrying out such enterprises. In this predicament antiquarian criticism places the Roman aqueducts—those immense structures, formed often of several miles of arches, on which water was conveyed over valleys. From a passage in Pliny it is argued that the Romans were really acquainted with the hydrostatic truth that water will rise to its own level; that these immense edifices were erected rather from reasons of state policy than from ignorance, the construction of them serving to employ turbulent spirits. All this, however, is doubtful, and it may be that real ignorance stimulated the Romans to carry on and complete these gigantic undertakings which abound in their empire. One, it may be observed, which was begun by Caius Cæsar, but completed by Claudius, and therefore called the Claudian aqueduct, was forty miles in length, and was raised sufficiently to distribute water over the seven hills of the imperial mistress of the world.
Ruins of the Temple at Balbec.
But above all the civil enterprises of the Romans we ought to place their roads; these grand and enduring highways, indeed, stamped Europe with a new feature, and the civilized likeness thus impressed on her was not effaced until railroads gave the initiative to a new civilization. We cannot refrain from quoting Gibbon’s masterly description of the Roman highways; it occurs after he has been depicturing the subordinate Roman capitals in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt:—“All these cities were connected with each other and with the capital by the public highways, which, issuing from the Forum at Rome, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. If we carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus (in Scotland) to Rome, and from thence to Jerusalem, it will be found that the great chain of communication from the north-west to the south-east point of the empire was drawn out to the length of 4080 Roman (or 3740 English) miles. The public roads were accurately divided by milestones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very little respect for the obstacles either of nature or private property. Mountains were perforated, and bold arches thrown over the broadest and most rapid streams; the middle part of the road was raised into a terrace which commanded the adjacent country, consisting of several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large stones, or, in some places near the capital, with granite. Such was the solid construction of the Roman highways, whose firmness has not entirely yielded to the effect of fifteen centuries. They united the subjects of the most distant provinces by an easy and familiar intercourse; but their primary object had been to facilitate the marches of the legions, nor was any country considered as completely subdued till it had been rendered in all its parts pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror. The advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the emperors to establish throughout their extensive dominions the regular institution of posts. Houses were everywhere erected at the distance of five or six miles; each of them was constantly provided with forty horses, and by the help of these relays it was easy to travel a hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads. The use of the posts was allowed to those who claimed it by an imperial mandate; but though originally intended for the public service, it was sometimes indulged to the business or conveniency of private citizens.”
St. Peter’s at Rome.
From other accounts we learn that the Roman roads varied in importance and uses. The great lines were called “Prætorian ways,” as being under the direction of the prætors, and those formed the roads for military intercourse. Other lines were exclusively adapted for commerce or civil intercourse, and were under the direction of consuls. Both kinds were formed in a similar manner. The plan on which they were made was more calculated for durability than ease to the traveller, and for our modern wheel carriages they would be found particularly objectionable. Whatever was their entire breadth the centre constituted the beaten track, and was made of large ill-dressed stones laid side by side to form a compact mass of from twelve to twenty feet broad, and therefore in their external aspect they were but coarse stone causeways.
Some of the Roman roads had double lines of this solid pavement, with a smooth brick path for foot passengers, and at intervals along the sides there were elevated stones on which travellers could rest, or from which cavalry could easily mount their horses. One important feature in the construction of all the Roman roads was the bottoming of them with solid materials. Their first operation seems to have been the removal of all loose earth or soft matter which might work upwards to the surface, and then they laid courses of small stones or broken tiles and earthenware, with a course of cement above, and upon that were placed the heavy stones for the causeway; thus a more substantial and durable pavement was formed, the expense being defrayed from the public treasury. Various remains of Roman roads of this kind still exist in France, and also in different parts of Britain. One of the chief Roman thoroughfares, in an oblique direction across the country from London to the western part of Scotland, was long known by the name of Watling Street, and the name has been perpetuated in the appellation of one of the streets of the metropolis.
In the construction of their amphitheatres and other places of public amusement, the Romans far transcended modern nations, in none of which does a theatre exist of dimensions at all comparable with those of the cities in the Roman empire. The ruins of the Colosseum, in Rome itself, are the source of wonder to every visitor. The beautiful lines of Byron on these magnificent remains of Roman civilization are well known.