302 ROMAN FRONTIER DEFENCES AND ROADS. [CHAP.
road then traversed Helvetia, and after crossing the range of the
Jura met the Rhine at Augusta Rauracorum, a few miles above
BMe.
In Gaul the chief highways started from Lugdunum, the
Roman capital city, which is called by Strabo on
ac°ount of the importance of its position the
acropolis of the country1. As we have already
observed in connexion with Agrippa's work in organising the
provinces of Gaul, four great roads diverged from this point in
different directions, three of which communicated with three
different seas. One ran due south along the course of the Rhone
to Aries and the Mediterranean. A second pursued a westerly
course through the territory of the Arverni (Auvergne) and by
Augustoritum (Limoges) to the mouth of the Garonne, after
which it penetrated southward into Aquitania. A third went
northward up the valley of the Arar (Sa&ne) to Cabillonum
(Chilon), thence by Augustodunum (Autun) and across the
upper waters of the Yonne and Seine and Marne to Durocor-
torum (Reims), the capital of the Remi, and from that point
north-westward to Samarobriva (Amiens) and Gesoriacum
(Boulogne), which was the ordinary place of transit for Britain.
Again, from Cabillonum a fourth route diverged from the one
just described, and followed the stream of the Doubs upwards
throughout a great part of its course, but ultimately crossed a
watershed into the valley of the Rhine, not far from where the
road from the Pennine pass entered it. From this point to the
German Ocean a continuous line of road maintained the com-
munications of the Romans throughout the two provinces of
Upper and Lower Germany, passing the important stations of
Mogontiacum (Mainz) and Colonia Agrippina (Cologne), and
reaching at last Lugdunum Batavorum (Leyden) near the mouth
of the stream.
We may now proceed to Britain; and in speaking of the lines
of road in this country it may not be amiss to
retain the familiar names that have been attached
to them. The principal landing-place, which from
a Roman point of view was the starting-point for communications
1 Strabo, 4. 6, u.