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HISTORY OK ENGINEERING.

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Pompejr made use of several ships which were in the port, and fitted upon them towersof three stories in height, which he tilled with engines and darts, and then sent them downto break through the floats which Ca»sar had contrived, and destroy Ins works : in this,however, he did not succeed ; but before Ctesar had quite completed his blockade, Pompey found metns to embark on board his ships and effect his escape.

Ronds -The immense extent of roads constructed by the Romans, their duration and

stability, the obstacles which they surmounted in carrying them over marshes, lakes, andmountains have, in all ages, excited astonishment and admiration. Twenty-nine great mili-tary roads centred in Rome , some of which were carried to the extreme points of the vastempire. For fifty miles’ distance from the capitol, each side was decorated with temples,baths, hippodromes, tombs, and superb edifices. Buildings used for lodging-houses and forchanging horses were erected at the public cost, at regular distances ; and at these severalposts, were maintained relays of horses for the couriers, as well as mules, asses, oxen, andcarriages for the transport of the materials for the army, and mansiones for the lodging ofthe soldiers were constructed at distances from 30 to 36 miles.

The whole Roman empire comprised eleven regions, viz. Italy, Spain, Gaul, British Isles ,Illyria, Thrace, Asia Minor, Pontus, the East, Egypt, and Africa , and these were dividedinto 113 provinces, traversed by 372 great roads, which, according to the Itinerary ofAntoninus were together in length 52,964 Roman miles.

Under the kings there were no paved roads, and the first seems to have been commencedby Appius Claudius, about 442 years after the founding of Rome , whilst he held the officeof censor; this was not only the earliest but the best constructed ; and Statius the poetdesignates it as the Queen of Roads in his time. Appius Claudius was honoured withthe highest offices which the republic could bestow; he was censor, twice consul, praetor,curulc edile, and lastly dictator, when he conquered the Sabines, and obtained severalvictories over them and the Etruscans ; after which he erected the temple of Bcllona.

The celebrated road, or Appian Way , is mentioned in a variety of inscriptions, and bymost of the ancient authors: Procopius , in his “de Bello Gothico,”says that its length wasso great that it could not be passed by a traveller going at a swift pace in less than fivedays ; that its breadth was sufficient to allow two chariots to pass without inconvenience,and that it was paved with large blocks of stone, brought from distant quarries, dressedand squared with the chisel, and joined very exactly without the aid of metal or any othermaterial; the work was so perfect, that it seemed as if nature had performed it rather thanman, for the very joints were hardly perceptible. Whether the whole way from Rome toBrundusium was executed by Appius is doubtful, and it is less certain that it was pavedby him the whole length ; the probability is, that his way terminated at Capua .

Strabo, describing Terracina as situated near the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea , proves thatthe paved Appian Way approached it, and Horace, in his Journey to Brundusium , describesit as paved throughout.

The road from Capua to Brundusium is longer than the portion from Rome to Capua ,and the whole was, according to Strabo, 360 miles in length : that Appius Claudius onlyconducted it to Capua, a distance of about 142 Italian miles, is most probable, asin his time the provinces beyond were not under the dominion of the Romans. It isdifficult to say at what time the latter portion of the work was completed, which itevidently was before the time of Augustus. Plutarch observes that Julius Casar wasappointed commissary of the Appian Way , and that he expended large sums of moneyupon it, and to him probably may be attributed its termination.

Quitting Rome the first station on the Appian Way was distant sixteen miles, at Arieiam ;from thence seventeen miles to Tres Taburna?; eighteen miles to Appii Forum; eighteenmiles to Terracina; sixteen miles to Fundi; thirteen miles to Formias; nine miles toMinturns; nine miles to Sinuessa, and twenty-six to Capua ; in all 142 miles : and this isthe distance Procopius imagines could be accomplished in five days by an expeditioustraveller.

From Capua to Equotuticum , “ ubi campania limitum habet,” was a distance of fifty-threemiles, viz. to Caudium twenty-one miles; Beneventum eleven miles, and Equotuticumtwenty-one miles.

From Equotuticum to Ilydruntum, where they embarked, was another 235 miles; viz.to Eeas eighteen miles; to Erdonias nineteen miles ; Canusium twenty-six miles; ltubastwenty-three miles; Bruduntum eleven miles ; Barium twelve miles ; Turres twenty-onemiles; Egnatiam sixteen miles; Speluncas twenty miles; Brundusium nineteen miles;Lupins twenty-five miles; and Hydruntum twenty-five miles.

The iJomitian Way commenced at Sinuessa, and branched out of the Appian Way ,continuing its course along the sea-shore, crossing the rivers Savo and Volturnus, skirtingMount Gaunus, and Massicus, fertile in wine; continuing its direction through the marshesof Linturna, and between the Lakes Avernus and Acherusia, passing by Cum®, ter-minated at Pozzuoli .

Strabo , in speaking of these three excellent roads, places first the Appian, which ho