These Roads Were Formed In The Most
Substantial Manner, And With Astonishing Labour And Expence; They Were
Raised So As To Command A Prospect Of The Adjacent Country; On Each Side
Was A Row Of Large Stones For Foot Passengers.
The miles were reckoned from
the gates of the city and marked on stones:
At shorter distances there were
stones for travellers to rest on, or to assist those who wished to mount
their horses: there were cross roads from the principal roads. The care and
management of all the roads were entrusted only to men of the highest rank.
Augustus himself took charge of those near Rome, and appointed two men of
praetorian rank to pave the roads: at the distance of five or six miles
houses were built, each of which was constantly provided with forty horses;
but these could only be used in the public service, except by particular
and express authority. By means of the relays thus furnished, the Romans
could travel along their excellent roads 100 miles a day: they had no
public posts. Augustus first introduced public couriers among the Romans;
but they were employed only to forward the public despatches, or to convey
public intelligence of great and urgent importance.
Such was the facililty of communication by land from all parts of the
empire to Rome, and from each part to all the other parts: nor was the
communication of the empire less free and open by sea than it was by land.
"The provinces surrounded and enclosed the Mediterranean; and Italy, in the
shape of an immense promontory, advanced into the midst of that great
lake." From Ostia, situated at the mouth of the Tiber, only sixteen miles
from the capital, a favourable wind frequently carried vessels in seven
days to the straits of Gibraltar, and in nine or ten to Alexandria, in
Egypt.
3. In enumerating the principal articles imported into Rome, for the use of
its immense and luxurious population, we shall, necessarily, recapitulate,
in some degree, what has already been stated in giving an account of the
commerce of the different countries which were conquered by the Romans. But
this objection, we conceive, will be abundantly counterbalanced by the
connected and complete view which we shall thus be enabled to give of the
commerce of the Roman empire.
Before, however, we enter on this subject, we shall briefly consider the
ideas entertained by the Romans on the subject of commerce. We have already
had occasion incidentally to remark that the Romans thought meanly of it,
and that their grand object in all their conquests was the extension of
their territory; and that they even neglected the commercial facilities and
advantages, which they might have secured by their conquests. This was most
decidedly the case during the time of the republic. The statue of Victory,
which was erected in the port of Ostia, and the medals of the year of Rome
630, marked on the reverse with two ships and a victory, prove that at this
period the Roman fleets that sailed from this port were chiefly designed
for war.
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