Roman roads had a military origin. Like the old Persian
roads they were intended to facilitate the rapid dispatch of troops,
supplies, and official messages into every corner of Italy. Hence the roads
ran, as much as possible, in straight lines and on easy grades. Nothing was
allowed to obstruct their course. Engineers cut through or tunneled the hills,
bridged rivers and gorges, and spanned low, swampy lands with viaducts of
stone. So carefully were these roads constructed that some stretches of them
are still in good condition. These magnificent highways were free to the
public. They naturally became avenues of trade and travel and so served to
bring the Italian peoples into close touch with Rome.
ROMANIZATION OF ITALY
Rome thus began in Italy that wonderful process of
Romanization which she was to extend later to Spain, Gaul, and Britain. She
began to make, the Italian peoples like herself in blood, speech, customs, and
manners. More and more the Italians, under Rome's leadership, came to look upon
themselves as one people—the people who wore the gown, or toga, as
contrasted with the barbarous and trousers-wearing Gauls.
