Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

VIAE. VIAE. 1193
on the side of the foot-paths, in order that travel- restoration of the Via Flaminia as far as Arimninumn,
lers on horseback might be able to mount without and distributed the rest among the most distinthe aid of an &vaodeXvs to hloist them up. (Plut. guished men in the state (tr-iumilmplibus viris), to
C. Gracch. 7.) [STRATORES.] be paved out of the money obtained from' spoils
Finally, C. Gracch-us (Plut. 1. c.) erected mile- (ex snanubiali pecunci sternendas, Suet. Octav. 30;
stones along the whole extent of the great high- Dion Cass. liii. 22). In the reign of Claudils we
ways, marking the distances from Rome, which find that this charge had fallen upon the quaestors,
appear to have been counted from the gate at and that they were relieved of it by him, although
which each road issued forth. The passage of some give a different interpretation to the words.
Plutarch, however, may only mean that Gracchus (Suet. Claud. 24.) Generally speaking, however,
erected milestones on the roads which lhe made under the empire, the post of inspector-in-chief
or repaired; for it is probable that milestones (cuirator),-and each great line appears to have
existed much earlier. [MILLIARE.] Augustus, had a separate officer with this appellation, — was
when appointed inspector of the viae around the considered a high dignity (Plin. Pp. v. 15), insocity, erected in the forum a gilded column (xpvsovv much that the title was frequently assumed by the
iuALeov —XpvosoeUS siwv, smtiliarsium aureumso, Dion emperors thernselves, and a great number of inCass. liv. 8; Plin. H. 1N. iii. 5; Suet. Otl. 6; scriptions are extant, bearing the names of upwards
Tacit. IFist. i. 27), on which were inscribed the of twenty princes from Augustus to Constantine,
distances of the principal points to which the commemorating their exertions in making and
viae conducted. Some have imagined, from a maintaining public ways. (Gruter, Corp. Inscris).
passage in Plutarch (Galb. 24), that the distances cxlix...... clix.)
wrere calculated from the milliarium aureum, but These casratores were at first, it would appear,
this seenls to be disproved both by the fact that appointed upon special occasions, and at all tinles
the roads were all divided into miles by C. Gracchlus must have been regarded as honorary functionaries
nearly two centuries before, and also by the posi- rather than practical men of business. But from
tion of various ancient milestones discovered in the beginning of the sixth century of the city there
modern times. (See lIolsten. de Aiilliario A7ureo existed regular commissioners, whose sole duty
in Graev. T/es. Arntiq. Rom. vol. iv. and Fabretti appears to have been the care of the ways, four
de A qiLs et A quaeductis, Diss, iii. n. 25.) (qlsutuorviri v2iarum)Z) superintending the streets
It is certain that during the earlier ages of the within the walls, and two the roads without. (Dig.
republic the construction and general superin- 1. tit. 2. s. 2. ~ 30. compared with Dion Cass. liv.
tendence of the roads without, and the streets 26.) When Augustus remodelled the inf,~rior mawithin, the city, were committed like all other gistracies he included the former in the vigintivirate,
important works to the censors. This is proved and abolished the latter; but when he undertook
by the law quoted in Cicero (de LeSy. iii. 3), and by the care of the viae around the city, he appointed
various passages in which these magistrates are under himself two soaud-7m)akers (6/soroiovs, Dion
represented as having first formed and given their Cass. liv. 8), persons of praetorian rank, to whom
nlames to great lines, such as the Via Appia and he assigned two lictors. These were probably inthe Via Flaminia, or as having executed important eluded in the number of the new superintendents
improvements and repairs. (Liv. ix. 29, 43, Epit. of public works instituted by him (Suet. Octav. 37),
20, xxii. 11, xli. 27; Aurel. Vict. de Viris illust. and would continue from that time forward to disc. 72; Lips. PEzcurs. ad Tac. Ann. iii. 31.) These charge their duties, subject to the supervision and
duties, when no censors were in office, devolved control of the curatores or inspectors.-general.
upon the consuls, and in their absence on the Even the contractors employed (sieancipes, Tacit.
Praetor Urbanus, the Aediles, or such persons as Acnn. ii. 31) were proud to associate their names
the senate thought fit to appoint. (Liv. xxxix. with these vast undertakings, and all inscription hlas
2; Cic. c. Verr. i 48, 50, 59.) But during the been preserved (Orell. Inscr'ip. n. 3221) in which
last century of the commonwealth the administra- a wife, in paying the last tribute to her husband,
tion of the roads, as well as of every other depart- inscribes upon his tomb MANCIPI VIAE APPIAE.
meat of public business, afforded the tribunes a The funds required were of course derived, under
pretext for popular agitation. C. Gracchus, in ordinary circumstances, from the public treasury
what capacity we klnow not, is said to have ex- (Dion Cass. liii. 22; Sicul. Flacce. de conds. agr. p.
erted himself in making great improvements, both 9, ed. Goes.), but individuals also were not unifrefrom a conviction of their utility and with a view quently found willing to devote their own private
to the acquirement of popularity (Plut. C. Graccel. 7), means to these great national enterprises. This, as
and Curio, when tribune, introduced a Lex Viaria we have already seen, was the case with Caesar and
for the construction and restoration of many roads Agrippa, and we learn from inscriptions that the
and the appointment of himself to the office of in- example was imitated by many others of less note.
spector (E7rLTrdrlis) for five years. (Appian. B. C. (e.g. Gruter, clxi. n. 1 and 2.)'The Viae Vicinales
ii. 26; Cic. ad Fasn. viii. 6.) WVe learn from were in the hands of the rural authorities (nsayist-i
Cicero (ad Att. i. 1), that T'hermus, in the year pacyor-u7), and sees to have been maintained by
c. c. 65, was Curator of the Flaminian Way, and voluntary contribution or assessment, like our
from Plutarch (Caes. 5), tiat Julius Caesar held parish roads (Sicul. Flacec. p. 9), while the streets
the same office (iriL/.eA7-T4Ss) with regard to the within the city were kept in repair by the inhabitAppian Wray, and laid out great sums of his own sarts, each person being answerable for the portion
money upon it, but by whom these appointments opposite to his own house. (Dig. 43. tit. 10. s. 3.)
were conferred we cannot tell. During the first Our limits preclude us from entering upon so
years of Augustus, Agrippa, being aedile, repaired large a subject as the history of the numerous miliall roads at his own1 proper expense; subsequently tary roads which inltersected the Roman donminions.
the emperor, finding that the roads had fallen into WAe shall content ourselves with simply mentioning
disrepair through neglect, tool upoin: hin.self the those which issued from Rome, together with their