Had it not been for the ravages of time and the vandalism of the Middle Ages, the Triumphal Arch which stands where the Lyons road enters the town from the north would tell its own story so plainly that archæological speculators would have been spared much conjecture and difference of opinion. That this arch commemorates some great event or series of events of great importance is unquestionable, for its size places it in the front rank of triumphal arches. Only two extant surpass it--that of Constantine and the Arch of Septimus Severus at Rome. The triumphal arch in commemoration of great victories was a purely Roman institution, and one is immediately faced with the query, when standing in front of the great archway at Orange, what Roman general and which victory does it celebrate? [Illustration: THE ARCH AT ORANGE] The monument has been studied and examined for nearly three centuries, and conflicting opinions still obtain concerning it. The arch is in a good state of preservation in spite of the many dangers it has passed through. In the Middle Ages one of the de Baux family, who was also a Prince of Orange, turned the triumphal arch into a fortress, and the sculptures on the east front suffered much damage. The Prince evidently treated the great arch much in the same way as his family did the rocks of Les Baux. He altered and built round it staircases and rooms, and erected a great tower over the attic, making it the watch-tower or donjon of a fortress that has vanished centuries ago. [Illustration: The TOWN HALL. ORANGE.] Whether these building operations of Raymond de Baux did more to preserve the arch than to damage it cannot be known, but to-day it retains many of its original features in remarkably good condition. The great block of masonry has three arches, the centre one larger than the other two. On each of its façades there are four fluted Corinthian columns which support a cornice and pediment of great delicacy. The sculptures that remain well defined upon the west front are symbols of battles by land and sea; they tell of captives taken and victories won. Carved in rich profusion are spears and javelins, arms and armour, helmets, breastplates and shields, prows of war galleys, rigging, ropes and anchors, gladiators and slaves, male and female captives. The different theories as to the origin of this arch have each been supported by apparently good evidence. Suetonius, the Roman historian of the first century, is quoted as the authority that Domitius Ahenobarbus celebrated a triumph in Gaul, which gave his name to the road he traversed. The Domitian way, the route Domitius is supposed to have followed, was via Orange, Carpentras, and Cavaillon, and at each of these places he is reported to have erected the triumphal arches, and that would make all three of these date from the second century before Christ. [Illustration: OLD HOUSES AT ORANGE]