VIA, a public road. It was not until the period of the long
protracted Samnite wars that the necessity was felt of securing a
safe communication between the city and the legions, and then for
the first time we hear of those famous paved roads, which, in after
ages, connected Rome with her most distant provinces, constituting
the most lasting of all her works. The excellence of the principles
upon which they were constructed is sufficiently attested by their
extraordinary durability, many specimens being found in the country
around Rome which have been used without being repaired for more than
a thousand years. The Romans are said to have adopted their first
ideas upon this subject from the Carthaginians, and it is extremely
probable that the latter people may, from their commercial activity
and the sandy nature of their soil, have been compelled to turn
their attention to the best means of facilitating the conveyance of
merchandise to different parts of their territory. The first great
public road made by the Romans was the Via Appia, which extended in
the first instance from Rome to Capua, and was made in the censorship
of Appius Claudius Caecus (B.C. 312.) The general construction of a
Roman road was as follows:--In the first place, two shallow trenches
(_sulci_) were dug parallel to each other, marking the breadth of
the proposed road; this in the great lines is found to have been
from 13 to 15 feet. The loose earth between the _sulci_ was then
removed, and the excavation continued until a solid foundation
(_gremium_) was reached, upon which the materials of the road might
firmly rest; if this could not be attained, in consequence of the
swampy nature of the ground or from any peculiarity in the soil, a
basis was formed artificially by driving piles (_fistucationibus_).
Above the _gremium_ were four distinct strata. The lowest course
was the _statumen_, consisting of stones not smaller than the hand
could just grasp; above the statumen was the _rudus_, a mass of
broken stones cemented with lime, (what masons call _rubble-work_,)
rammed down hard, and nine inches thick; above the rudus came the
_nucleus_, composed of fragments of bricks and pottery, the pieces
being smaller than in the rudus, cemented with lime, and six inches
thick. Uppermost was the _pavimentum_, large polygonal blocks of the
hardest stone (_silex_), usually, at least in the vicinity of Rome,
basaltic lava, irregular in form, but fitted and jointed with the
greatest nicety, so as to present a perfectly even surface, as free
from gaps or irregularities as if the whole had been one solid mass.
The general aspect will be understood from the cut given below.
[Illustration: Street at the entrance of Pompeii.]
The centre of the way was a little elevated, so as to permit
the water to run off easily. Occasionally, at least in cities,
rectangular slabs of softer stone were employed instead of the
irregular polygons of silex, and hence the distinction between the
phrases _silice sternere_ and _saxo quadrato sternere_. Nor was
this all. Regular foot-paths (_margines_, _crepidines_, _umbones_)
were raised upon each side and strewed with gravel, the different
parts were strengthened and bound together with _gomphi_ or stone
wedges, and stone blocks were set up at moderate intervals on the
side of the foot-paths, in order that travellers on horseback might
be able to mount without assistance. Finally, Caius Gracchus
erected mile-stones along the whole extent of the great highways,
marking the distances from Rome, which appear to have been counted
from the gate at which each road issued forth, and Augustus, when
appointed inspector of the viae around the city, erected in the
forum a gilded column (_milliarium aureum_), on which were inscribed
the distances of the principal points to which the viae conducted.
During the earlier ages of the republic the construction and general
superintendence of the roads without, and the streets within the
city, were committed like all other important works to the censors.
These duties, when no censors were in office, devolved upon the
consuls, and in their absence on the praetor urbanus, the aediles, or
such persons as the senate thought fit to appoint. There were also
under the republic four officers, called _quatuorviri viarum_, for
superintending the streets within the city, and two called _curatores
viarum_, for superintending the roads without. Under the empire the
_curatores viarum_ were officers of high rank. The chief roads which
issued from Rome are:--1. The VIA APPIA, the _Great South Road_.
It issued from the _Porta Capena_, and passing through _Aricia_,
_Tres Tabernae_, _Appii Forum_, _Tarracina_, _Fundi_, _Formiae_,
_Minturnae_, _Sinuessa_, and _Carilinum_, terminated at _Capua_,
but was eventually extended through _Calatia_ and _Caudium_ to
_Beneventum_, and finally from thence through _Venusia_, _Tarentum_,
and _Uria_, to _Brundusium_.--2. The VIA LATINA, from the _Porta
Capena_, another great line leading to Beneventum, but keeping a
course farther inland than the Via Appia. Soon after leaving the city
it sent off a short branch (VIA TUSCULANA) to _Tusculum_, and passing
through _Compitum Anaginum_, _Ferentinum_, _Frusino_, _Fregellae_,
_Fabrateria_, _Aquinum_, _Casinum_, _Venafrum_, _Teanum_, _Allifae_,
and _Telesia_, joined the _Via Appia_ at _Beneventum_. A cross-road
called the VIA HADRIANA, running from _Minturnae_ through _Suessa
Aurunca_ to _Teanum_, connected the _Via Appia_ with the _Via
Latina_.--3. From the _Porta Esquilina_ issued the VIA LABICANA,
which passing Labicum fell into the _Via Latina_ at the station _ad
Bivium_, 30 miles from Rome.--4. The VIA PRAENESTINA, originally
the VIA GABINA, issued from the same gate with the former. Passing
through _Gabii_ and _Praeneste_, it joined the _Via Latina_ just
below _Anagnia_.--5. The VIA TIBURTINA, which issued from the _Porta
Tiburtina_, and proceeding N. E. to _Tibur_, a distance of about
20 miles, was continued from thence, in the same direction, under
the name of the VIA VALERIA, and traversing the country of the
Sabines passed through _Carseoli_ and _Corfinium_ to _Aternum_ on
the Adriatic, thence to _Adria_, and so along the coast to _Castrum
Truentinum_, where it fell into the _Via Salaria_.--6. The VIA
NOMENTANA, anciently FICULNENSIS, ran from the _Porta Collina_,
crossed the _Anio_ to _Nomentum_, and a little beyond fell into the
_Via Salaria_ at _Eretum_.--7. The VIA SALARIA, also from the _Porta
Collina_ (passing _Fidenae_ and _Crustumerium_) ran north and east
through Sabinum and Picenum to _Reate_ and _Asculum Picenum_. At
_Castrum Truentinum_ it reached the coast, which it followed until
it joined the _Via Flaminia_ at _Ancona_.--8. The VIA FLAMINIA, the
_Great North Road_, carried ultimately to _Ariminum_. It issued from
the _Porta Flaminia_, and proceeded nearly north to _Ocriculum_ and
_Narnia_ in Umbria. Here a branch struck off, making a sweep to
the east through _Interamna_ and _Spoletium_, and fell again into
the main trunk (which passed through _Mevania_) at _Fulginia_. It
continued through _Fanum Flaminii_ and _Nuceria_, where it again
divided, one line running nearly straight to _Fanum Fortunae_ on
the Adriatic, while the other diverging to _Ancona_ continued from
thence along the coast to _Fanum Fortunae_, where the two branches
uniting passed on to _Ariminum_ through _Pisaurum_. From thence the
_Via Flaminia_ was extended under the name of the VIA AEMILIA, and
traversed the heart of Cisalpine Gaul through _Bononia_, _Mutina_,
_Parma_, _Placentia_ (where it crossed the Po), to _Mediolanum_.--9.
The VIA AURELIA, the _Great Coast Road_, issued originally from the
_Porta Janiculensis_, and subsequently from the _Porta Aurelia_. It
reached the coast at _Alsium_, and followed the shore of the lower
sea along Etruria and Liguria by _Genoa_ as far as _Forum Julii_ in
Gaul. In the first instance it extended no farther than _Pisa_.--10.
The VIA PORTUENSIS kept the right bank of the Tiber to _Portus
Augusti_.--11. The VIA OSTIENSIS originally passed through the _Porta
Trigemina_, afterwards through the _Porta Ostiensis_, and kept the
left bank of the Tiber to _Ostia_. From thence it was continued
under the name of VIA SEVERIANA along the coast southward through
_Laurentum_, _Antium_, and _Circaei_, till it joined the _Via Appia_
at _Tarracina_. The VIA LAURENTINA, leading direct to _Laurentum_,
seems to have branched off from the _Via Ostiensis_ at a short
distance from Rome.--12. The VIA ARDEATINA from Rome to _Ardea_.
According to some this branched off from the _Via Appia_, and thus
the circuit of the city is completed.
VĬĀTĬCUM is, properly speaking, everything necessary for a person
setting out on a journey, and thus comprehends money, provisions,
dresses, vessels, &c. When a Roman magistrate, praetor, proconsul,
or quaestor went to his province, the state provided him with all
that was necessary for his journey. But as the state in this, as
in most other cases of expenditure, preferred paying a sum at once
to having any part in the actual business, it engaged contractors
(_redemptores_), who for a stipulated sum had to provide the
magistrates with the viaticum, the principal parts of which appear
to have been beasts of burden and tents (_muli et tabernacula_).
Augustus introduced some modification of this system, as he once
for all fixed a certain sum to be given to the proconsuls (probably
to other provincial magistrates also) on setting out for their
provinces, so that the redemptores had no more to do with it.
VĬĀTOR, a servant who attended upon and executed the commands of
certain Roman magistrates, to whom he bore the same relation as the
lictor did to other magistrates. The name _viatores_ was derived
from the circumstance of their being chiefly employed on messages
either to call upon senators to attend the meeting of the senate,
or to summon people to the comitia, &c. In the earlier times of the
republic we find viatores as ministers of such magistrates also
as had their lictors: viatores of a dictator and of the consuls
are mentioned by Livy. In later times, however, viatores are only
mentioned with such magistrates as had only potestas and not
imperium, such as the tribunes of the people, the censors, and the
aediles.