[Illustration:  FIG. 2.—­THE APPIAN WAY BY THE SO-CALLED TOMB OF SENECA.]

Beside the great highways stood milestones in the shape of short pillars, and generally there were in existence charts or itineraries, sometimes pictured, giving all necessary directions as to the turnings, distances, stopping-places, and inns, and even as to the sights worth seeing on the way.  Wherever there were such objects of interest—­in Egypt, Syria, Greece, or any other region of art, history, and legend—­the traveller could always find a professional guide, whose information was probably about as reliable as that of the modern cicerone.  In Rome itself there was displayed, in one of the public arcades, a plan of the empire, with notes explaining the dimensions and distances.

The vehicle employed by the traveller would depend upon circumstances.  You would meet the poor man riding on an ass, or plodding on foot with his garments well girt; the better provided on a mule; a finer person or an official on a horse; the more luxurious or easy-going either in some form of carriage or borne in a litter very similar to the oriental palanquin.  To carriages, which were of several kinds—­two-wheeled, four-wheeled, heavy and light—­it may be necessary to make further reference; here it is sufficient to observe that, in order to assist quick travelling, there existed individuals or companies who let out a light form of gig, in which the traveller rode behind a couple of mules or active Gaulish ponies as far as the next important stopping-place, where he could find another jobmaster, or keeper of livery-stables, to send him on further.  The rich man, travelling, as he necessarily would, with a train of servants and with full appliances for his comfort, would journey in a coach, painted and gilded, cushioned and curtained, drawn by a team showily caparisoned with rich harness and coloured cloths.  This must have presented an appearance somewhat similar to that of the extravagantly decorated travelling-coach of the fourteenth century.  The ordinary man of modest means would be satisfied with his mule or horse, and with his one or two slaves to attend him.  On the less frequented stretches of road, where there was no proper accommodation for the night, his slaves would unpack the luggage and bring out a plain meal of wine, bread, cheese, and fruits.  They would then lay a sort of bedding on the ground and cover it with a rug or blanket.  The rich folk might bring their tents or have a bunk made up in their coaches.

Where there was some sort of lodging for man and horse the average wayfarer would make the best of it.  In the better parts of the empire and in the larger places of resort there were houses corresponding in some measure to the old coaching-inns of the eighteenth century; in the East there were the well-known caravanserais; but for the most part the ancient hostelries must have afforded but undesirable quarters.  They were neither select nor clean.  You journeyed along