d and worn;
but they are sound enough, probably, to outlast the modern little
cubes which have replaced them in some parts. A road formed in this
most substantial manner for about two hundred miles, involving
cuttings through rocks, filling up of hollows, bridging of ravines,
and embanking of swamps, must have been an arduous and costly feat of
engineering. Appius Claudius is said to have exhausted the Roman
treasury in defraying the expenses of its construction. It was
frequently repaired, owing to the heavy traffic upon it, by Julius, by
Augustus, Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva, and very thoroughly by the
Emperor Trajan. In some parts, where the soft ground had subsided, a
second pavement was laid over the first; and in the Pontine Marshes we
observe traces of no less than three pavements superimposed above each
other to preserve the proper level.

For a considerable distance outside the Porta Capena, where it
commenced, the Appian Way was lined on both sides with tombs belonging
to patrician families. This was the case, indeed, with all the other
roads of Rome that were converted into avenues of death owing to the
strenuous law which prohibited all interments within the walls; but
the Appian Way was specially distinguished for the number and
magnificence of its tombs. The most illustrious names of ancient Rome
were interred beside it. At first the sepulchres of the heroes of the
early ages were the only ones; but under the Caesars these were
eclipsed by the funereal pomp of the freedmen, the parasites and
sycophants of the emperors. At first the tombs were built of volcanic
stone, the only building material found in the neighbourhood; but as
Rome became mistress of the world, and gathered the marbles and
precious stones of the conquered countries into its own bosom, and as
wealth and luxury increased, the tombs were constructed altogether of
or cased on the outside with these valuable materials. And this
circumstance gives us a clue to the age of the different monuments.

The custom of bordering the main approaches of the city with
sepulchral monuments was, in all likelihood, derived from the
Etruscans, to whom the Romans owed many of their institutions. These
monuments were usually structures of great beauty and elegance. Some
of them were fashioned as conical mounds, on the slopes of which trees
and parterres of flowers were planted; others were built after the
model of graceful Grecian temples; others were huge circ