the site where Varro had encamped, after which the whole district was tranquillized, and the highest mountain passes secured." By this unscrupulous and wholesale deportation of the inhabitants, all possibility of future contests was put an end to, and a large number of them were incorporated into the Roman legions. Not long after the erection of this arch, which was about the 724th year of Rome, or B.C. 29, Augustus himself visited this noble valley, which now afforded him such facilities for the transport of troops across the Alps, in his Gallic expeditions; and attracted by its richness, the mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron, and the admirable site of the old city of Cordele, he determined to build upon its ruins a Roman fortified station of the first class, to accommodate the three legions he had sent there. He laid the foundation himself, B.C. 20, and gave it the name of Augusta, as he had that of Augusta Taurinorum to the restored city of the Taurini, distinguishing it with the additional title of Prætoria, as he honoured it with the residence of a Prætor, or military governor. The form of the city was an oblong square, enclosed by solid stone walls, and laid out with streets and gates, on the then received principles of Roman castrametation. On examining its measurements, they correspond very nearly with those of the "castra tertiata," or camp of three legions, as laid down by Hyginus, who was camp surveyor in the time of Trajan. The dimensions he gives of such a camp are, 2400 Roman feet in length, by 1600 in breadth. The actual measurements of the walls of Aosta are 2424 by 1903 Roman feet, thus, giving a somewhat greater breadth, but the general correspondence is near enough. General Roy gives, as the result of his investigations, the length 2232, and Hygini Gromatici de Castrametatione. breadth 1620, where the relative proportions are nearer to those of Aosta, though the actual measurements differ. The system of castrametation, as described by Polybius, who makes it a perfect square, most certainly was not followed here, and the Romans seem greatly to have modified their plans of entrenchment, as in use previous to the Emperors. On looking at the annexed plan of modern Aosta, and comparing it with the outline of Hyginus's camp, a remarkable coincidence will be at once seen between the two, in the arrangement of the present streets, which are almost exactly those of Hyginus. The main street, from the Porte de la Savoie to the Porte de la Trinité, only varies from the line of the original Via Prætoria in the casual irregularity of the houses. The Place Charles Albert occupies the exact position of the "Groma," or surveying staff, placed at the intersection of the Via Prætoria and the Via Principalis; the line of which latter is exactly followed by the street between the Porte Pertuis and Porte du Collège. The Via Quintana is preserved in the Rues du Follier and Mal Conseil, where Calvin's cross stands; and what appeared to me clearly vestiges of the Via Sagularis, just behind the Prætorian and the Decuman gates, exist in the present Rue des Prisons, and Ruelle de Plouve, on either side of the former; and at the Decuman, or Porte de Savoie, in the Ruelle Malherbe, and the lane opposite, leading to the Tour du Lépreux. Whether the four lateral gates all existed originally, it is difficult to say without very attentive examination, as they have been much altered and built up to.* The Porte Pertuis, and Porte du Collège, however, undoubtedly correspond with the Porta Principalis dextra, and Porta Principalis sinistra. The Portes de Bramafam and Mal Conseil I believe also to have been the outlets of the Via Quintana, The Chevalier Promis, professor of architecture at Turin, whose reputation and knowledge of Roman remains well qualify him for the task, has, I understand, made long and patient researches into the antiquities of Aosta, and intends very shortly to make the results of them public. which were more likely to have been made in a permanent city than in an ordinary camp; indeed we have evidence that the Porte de Bramafam was called the Quintana, up to 1240, when it was renamed Porte Beatrix. The Porte de la Trinité, the gate by which the city is entered from the triumphal arch, after passing through a small suburb, is the Porta Prætoria. According to the rule of Vegetius, the Prætorian gate "aut orientem spectare debet, aut illum locum, qui hostes respicit." In this case the east has been adopted as the aspect, because the direct approach to the city from Italy was by this side, and the enemy was probably considered as entirely extirpated, their places being supplied by Roman settlers. It is a fine and interesting example of the construction of this part of the Roman military cities, and is in good preservation, though the external casing of hewn stone has been in great part taken away; yet, such is the solidity of the masonry, that its strength seems in no ways diminished. Such of the outer courses as have been left are very massive, and consist of a veined grayish marble, quite different from the materials of the triumphal arch, and quarried about Aimaville and Villeneuve. The gates are double, each consisting of three arches a large central, and two smaller lateral ones-and parallel to one another; with an intervening distance of some 13 yards. This forms an enclosed court, 13 yards by 22, and may have been originally covered in, for the accommodation of the Prætorian Cohort. The north side, which is a lofty tower, was perhaps the Prætorian residence. Vestiges of Roman drains, or cloaca, have been from time to time found, as in the house of M. Ansermin, when excavating at depths from 3 to 12 feet, running east and west, north and south. One of them traversed the Via Prætoria, at a depth of 5 feet under the middle of the street. The old pavement has also been discovered, consisting of wellfitted polygonal blocks, like those at Pompeii, and 8 feet |