We must not dwell too long upon this topic. Suffice it that travel was
frequent and extensive, whether for military and political business,
for commerce, or for pleasure. Some roads, particularly that "Queen of
Roads," the Appian Way--the same by which St. Paul came from Puteoli
to Rome--must have presented a lively appearance, especially near the
metropolis. Perhaps on none of these great highways anywhere near an
important Roman city could you go far without meeting a merchant with
his slaves and his bales; a keen-eyed pedlar--probably a Jew--carrying
his pack; a troupe of actors or tumblers; a body of gladiators being
taken to fight in the amphitheatre or market-place of some provincial
town; an unemployed philosopher gazing sternly over his long beard; a
regiment of foot-soldiers or a squadron of cavalry on the move; a
horseman scouring along with a despatch of the emperor or the senate;
a casual traveller coming at a lively trot in his hired gig; a couple
of ladies carefully protecting their complexions from sun and dust as
they rode in a kind of covered wagonette; a pair of scarlet-clad
outriders preceding a gorgeous but rumbling coach, in which a Roman
noble or plutocrat is idly lounging, reading, dictating to his
shorthand amanuensis, or playing dice with a friend; a dashing youth
driving his own chariot in professional style to the disgust of the
sober-minded; a languid matron lolling in a litter carried by six
tall, bright-liveried Cappadocians; a peasant on his way to town with
his waggon-load of produce and cruelly belabouring his mule. If you
are very fortunate you may meet Nero himself on one of his imperial
progresses. If so, you had better stand aside and wait. It will take
him a long time to pass; or, if this is one of his more serious
undertakings, there will be a thousand carriages, many of them
resplendent with gold and silver ornament in relief upon the woodwork,
and drawn by horses or mules whose bridles are gleaming with gold.
And, if the beautiful and conscienceless Poppaea is with him, there