tance was assured by its
position on the Via Aemilia, by which it was connected in 187 B.C. with
Ariminum and Placentia, and on the road, constructed in the same year,
to Arretium; while another road was made, perhaps in 175 B.C., to
Aquilelia. It thus became the centre of the road system of north Italy.
In 90 B.C. it acquired Roman citizenship. In 43 B.C. it was used as his
base of operations against Decius Brutus by Mark Antony, who settled
colonists here; Augustus added others later, constructing a new aqueduct
from the Letta, a tributary of the Rhenus, which was restored to use in
1881 (G. Gozzadini in _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1881, 162). After a fire in
A.D. 53 the emperor Claudius made a subvention of 10 million sesterces
(L1,087,500). Bononia seems, in fact, to have been one of the most
important cities of ancient Italy, as Bologna is of modern Italy. It was
able to resist Alaric in 410 and to preserve its existence during the
general ruin. It afterwards belonged to the Greek exarchate of Ravenna.
Of remains of the Roman period, however, there are none above ground,
though various discoveries have been made from time to time within the
city walls, the modern streets corresponding more or less, as it seems,
with the ancient lines. Remains of the bridge of the Via Aemilia over
the Rhenus have also been found--consisting of parts of the parapets on
each side, in brick-faced concrete which belong to a restoration, the
original construction (probably by Augustus in 2 B.C.) having been in
blocks of Veronese red marble--and also of a massive protecting wall
slightly above it, of late date, in the construction of which a large
number of Roman tombstones were used. The bed of the river was found to
have risen at least 20 ft. since the collapse of this bridge (about A.D.
1000), the total length of which must have been about 650 ft. and the
width between the parapets 38-1/2 ft.

See E. Brizio in _Notizie degli Scavi_ (1896), 125, 450; (1897) 330;
(1898) 465; (1902) 532. (T. As.)

BONPLAND, AIME JACQUES ALEXANDRE (1773-1858), French traveller and
botanist, whose real name was GOUJAND, was born at La Rochelle on the
22nd of August 1773. After serving as a surgeon in the French army and
studying under J.N. Corvisart at Paris, he accompanied A. von Humboldt
during five years of travel in Mexico, Colombia and the districts
bordering on the Orinoco and Amazon. In these explorations he collected
and classified about 6000