Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1313

 A APPIA. starting from Brundusium, meet at Beneventum. Thence to Rome the road is called the Appian, passing through Caudium. Calatia, Capua, and Casilinum, to Sinuessa. The whole distance from Kome to Brundusium is 360 miles. There is yet a third road, from Rhegium, through theBruttians and Lucanians,and the lands of the Samnites to Campania, where it joins the Appian; this passes through the Apennine mountains, and is three or four days' journey longer than that from Brundusium." (Strab. V. p. 283.) It is not improbable that the first of these branches, which Strabo distinctly distinguishes from the true Appian Way, is the Via Numicia or Jlinucia (the reading is uncertain), mentioned by Horace as the alternative way by which it was cus- tomary to proceed to Brundusium. (Hor. Ep. i. 18. 20.) But Strabo gives us no information as to how it proceeded from Herdonia, in the plains of Apulia, through the mountains to Beneventum. It is, however, probable that it followed nearly the same line as the high road afterwards constructed by Ti'ajsn, through Aecae and Equus Tuticus. This is indeed one of the principal natural passes through this part of the Apennines, and is still followed, with little deviation, by the modern highroad from Naples to Brifidisi and Taranto. But it is worthy of re- mark, that Horace and his companions in their journey to Brundusium, of which he has left us the poetical itinerary (^Sat. i. 5), appear not to have followed this course, but to have taken a somewhat more direct route through Trivicum, and a small town not named (" oppidulum quod versu dicere non est"), to Canusium. This route, which does not agree with either of those mentioned by Strabo, or with those given in the Itineraries, was probably dis- used after that constructed by Trajan, through Equus Tuticus and Aecae, had become the frequented line. It was to that emperor that the Appian Way was indebted for many improvements. He restored, if he was not the first to construct, the highroad through the Pontine Marshes from Foram Appii to Tarracina (Dion Cass. Ixviii. 15; Hoare, Cla^s. Tour, vol. i. p. 28) ; and he at the same time constructed, at his own expense, anew line of highroad from Bene- ventum to Brundusium (Gruter, Iiiscr. p. 151. 2), which is imdoubtedly the Via Trajana celebrated by coms. (Eckhel, vol. iv. p. 421.) It is probable (as already pointed out) that he did no more than render practicable for carriages a line of route previously existing, but accessible only to mules; and that the Via Trajana coincided nearly with the road described by Strabo. But fi-om the time that this road was laid open to general traffic, the proper Via Appia through Venusia to Tarentum, which tra- versed a wild and thinly-peopled country, seems to have fallen much into disuse. It is, however, still given in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 120) though not as the main line of the Appian Way. The latter ap- pellation seems indeed to have been somewlxat vaguely used under the Empire, and the same Itinerary bestows the name on the line, already indicated by Strabo (I. c.),that proceeded S. through Lucaniaand Bruttium to Rhegium, on the Sicilian Strait, a route which never went near Beneventum or Brundusium at all. The Appian Way long survived the fall of the Western Empire. That portion of it which passed through the Pontine Marshes, which was always the most liable to sutfer from neglect, was re- stored by Theodoric (Gruter, Inset: p. 152. 8); and Frocopius, vho travelled over it 40 years later, VIA APPIA. 128£r speaks with admiration of the solidity and perfection of its construction. " The Appian Way (says he) extends from Rome to Capua, a journey of five days for an active traveller. Its width is such as to admit of the passage of two waggons in contrary directions. The road itself is worthy of the highest admiration, for the stone of which it is composed, a kind of mill-stone, and by nature very hard, was brought by Appius from some distant region, since none such is found in this part of the country. He then, after having smoothed and levelled the stones, and cut them into angular forms, fitted them closely together, without inserting either bronze or any other substance. But they are so accu- rately fitted and joined together, as to present the appearance of one compact mass naturally united, and not composed of many parts. And notwith- standing the long period of time that has elapsed, during which they have been worn by the continual passage of so many carriages and beasts of burden, they have neither been at all displaced from their original position, nor have any of them been worn down, or even lost their polish." (Procop. B. G. i. 14.) The above description conveys an accurate impression of the appearance which the Appian "W'ay must have presented in its most perfect state. The extraordinary care and accuracy with which the blocks that composed the pavement of the Roman roads were fitted together, when first laid down, is well seen in the so-called Via Triumphalis, which led to the Temple of Jupiter, on Mons Albanus. [Al- BANus MoNs.j But it is evident from many other examples, that they became much worn down with time; and the pavement seen by Procopius had doubtless been frequently restored. He is also mis- taken in supposing that the hard basaltic lava (silex) with which it was paved, had to be brought from a distance: it is found in the immediate neighbourhood, and, in fact, the Appian Way itself, from the Capo di Bove to the foot of the Alban Hills, runs along a bank or ridge composed of this lava. Procopius also falls into the common mistake of supposing that the road was originally constructed by Appius Claudius such as he beheld it. But during the long interval it had been the object of perpetual care and restora- tion; and it is very doubtful how far any of the great works along its line, which excited the admiration of the Romans in later ages, were due to its original author. Caius Gracchus in particular had bestowed great pains upon the improvement of the Roman roads; and there is much reason to believe that it was in his time that they first assumed the finished appearance which they ever afterwards bore. (Pint. C. Gracch. 7.) Caesar also, when a young man, was appointed " Curator Viae Appiae," which had be- come a regular office, and laid out large sums of money upon its improvement. (Pint. Caes. 5.) The care bestowed on it by successive emperors, and especially by Trajan, is attested by numerous inscrip- tions. It is very doubtful, indeed, whether the original Via Appia, as ('onstructed by the censor Ajijiius, was carried through the Pontine Marshes at all. No mention is found of his draining tho.se marshes, without which such a work would have been im- possible; and it is much more probable that the road was originally carried along the hills by Cora, Norba, and Setia, by the same line which was again in use in the last century, before the Pontine lIarshcs had been drained for the last time by Pius VI. This cunjccture is toulirmed by the circumstance that Lucilius, in