Chapter III. Of the Ways without the city

THE ways without the city ought to be made ample, commodious, having trees on either I side, by which travellers may be defended from the scorching heats of the sun, and their eyes receive some recreation from the verdure. The antients took great care of these ways: that they might therefore always be in good repair, they established proveditors and curators of them; by whom many of them were made, of which there still remains some memory of their beauty and conveniency, although they have been impaired by time. But the Flaminian and the Appia are the most famous of them all; the first was made by FramiN1us, while he was contul, after the victory he had over the Genoese, This way began from the gate Flumentana, now called del Pool, and passing through Tuscany, and through Umbria, led to Rimini; from which city it was afterwards continued to Bologna by M. Lepripus, his colleague; and near the foot of the Alps, by windings, to avoid the fens, he carried it to Aquileia. The Appia took its name from Appius Claudius, by whom it was made with much skill and at great expence: thence, for its magnificence and wonderful artifice, it was by the poets called the Queen of ways. ‘This street began from the Colises, and through the gate Capena reached to Brindisi. It was continued only to Capua by Appius; from thence forwards, there is no certainty who made it; and it is the opinion of some, that it was Caesar: because we read in Plutarch, that the care of this way being given to CEs AR, he spent thereon a great deal of money. It was lastly repaired by the Emperor Trajan, who (as I have said before) by drying up fenny places, levelling mountains, filling up valleys, and by making bridges where it was necessary, made the travelling thereon both expeditious and agreeable, The Fiz Aurelia is also very much celebrated. It was so called from Aurelius, a Roman citizen, who made it, It began from the gate Aurelia, now called San. Pacratio, and extending itself through all the maritime places of Tuscany, led to Pie, Tue Via Numentana, the Praenefiina, and the Libicana, were of no less renown. The fust began from the gate Viminalis, now called S, Agnesa, and reached to the city of No-mentum; the second began from the gate Esquilina, which is now called S. Lorenzo; and the third from the gate Neve, that is, from the Porta Maggiore; and these ways to the city of Prcenejle, now called Pelejlrino, and to the famous city of Labicana.

There were also many other ways mentioned and celebrated by writers, that is, the Solar, the Collarino, the Latina, and others; all which took their names either from those who ordered them, or from the gates where they began, or from the places whither they led. Bat among them all, the ¥7a Portuenfe must have been of the utmost beauty and conveniency, which led from Rome to Ossia; because (as ALBERTI faith he has observed) it was divided into two streets; between the one and the other of which there was a course of stones a foot higher than the remaining part of the way, and which served for a division: by one of these ways people went, and by the other they returned, avoiding thereby the inconvenience of meeting; an invention very commodious for the very great concourse of pole thar, from all parts of the world, was at Rome in those times.

The antients made these their military ways in two manners; that is, either paving them with stones, or by covering them all over with sand and gravel. The ways after the first manner, from what one has been able to conjecture by some vestigia) were divided into three spaces. Upon that in the middle, which was higher than the other two, and which was somewhat raised toward the middle, that the water might run off and not settle there, those who were on foot travelled, This was paved with irregular stones, that is, of unequal sides and angles; in which manner of paving (as it has been elsewhere said) they made use of a leaden rule, which they opened and shut according to the sides and angles of the stones: they therefore joined them exceeding well together, and that with great expedition. The other two spaces that were on each side, were made somewhat lower, and were covered with sand and small gravel, and on these went the horses,

Each of these margins were as wide as half the breadth of the space in the middle, from which they were divided by rows of stones placed edge-ways, and there was at every such distance some stones placed” end-ways, a foot higher than the remaining part of the street. Upon these the antients stepped when they were willing to mount on horse-back, as they did not make use of stirrups.

Besides these hones placed for the said use, there were other stones much higher, upon which, from place to place, were marked the miles of the whole journey; and these ways were measured, and the said stones fixed by Cyrus Gracchus.

The military ways after the second manner, that is, made of sand and gravel, were made by the antients somewhat raised in the middle, by means of which the water could not lodge there; and being of a substance apt to dry quickly, and of itself, they were always clean, that is, without dirt or dust. Of this sort there is one to be seen in Friuli, which is called by the inhabitants of those places Ja Posthuma, and leads into Hungary. There is another allo in the Padua, which beginning from the said city, in the place named I Argere, passes through the middle of Gigogna, a villa belonging to Count Opoarpo, and to Count THEODORE DE Them, brothers, and leads to the Alps, which divide Italy from Germany.

The following design is of the ways according to the first manner, from which one Plate may know how the Fie Hostienfis must have been made. It did not appear to me necessar to give a design of the second manner, because it is a very easy thing, as there is no need of any industry, provided they are but made rising in the middle, that the water may possibly not stand there.

A, is the space in the middle, on which the people on foot travelled. C, are the’ margins covered with fund and gravel, on which the horses went.