salem.

What the Roman army was like, whence it was recruited, how it was
armed, and what were its operations, are matters to be shown in a
later chapter. Regarded then as a controlling agent, maintaining
widespread peace, the Roman Empire answers closely to the British
_raj_ in India. The analogy could indeed be pressed very much further
and with more closeness of detail, but this is scarcely the place for
such a discussion.

CHAPTER II

TRAVEL WITHIN THE EMPIRE

Of the administration in Rome and throughout the provinces enough will
be said in the proper place. Meanwhile we may look briefly at one or
two questions of interest which will presumably suggest themselves at
this stage. Since all this vast region now formed one empire, since
Roman magistrates and officers were sent to all parts of it, since
trade and intercourse were vigorous between all its provinces, it will
be natural to ask, for example, by what means the traveller got from
place to place, at what rate of progress, and with what degree of
safety and comfort.

In setting forth by land you would elect, if possible, to proceed by
one of the great military roads for which the Roman world was so
deservedly famous. Not only were they the best kept and the safest;
they were also generally the shortest. As far as possible the Roman
road went straight from point to point. It did not circumvent a
practicable hill, nor, where necessary, did it shrink from cutting
through a rock, say to the depth of sixty feet or so. It did not avoid
a river, but bridged it with a solid structure such as often remains
in use till this day. If it met with a marsh, wooden piles were driven
in and the road-bed laid upon them. When it came to a deep narrow
valley it built a viaduct on arches.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE PONT DU GARD (AQUEDUCT AND BRIDGE).]

The road so laid was meant for permanence. A width of ground was
carefully prepared, trenches were dug at the sides, three different
layers of road material were deposited, with sufficient upward curve
to throw off the water, and then the whole was paved with
closely-fitting many-cornered blocks of stone. In the chief instances
there were sidewalks covered with some kind of gravel. The width was
not great, but might be anything between ten and fifteen feet. Along
such roads the Roman armies marched to their camps, along them the
government despatches were carried by the imperial post, and along
them were the most c