The design and construction of these roads must have been a matter to which their constructors gave the most careful attention and study. They were works involving principles deduced from the most careful thought and extended experience. There were incorporated in them the most effective materials of construction then known, and it was evidently the purpose of their constructors that they should possess indefinite endurance. The existence of some of them at the present time, with no other attention given to them than required for ordinary maintenance, demonstrates that the confidence of the builders was not misplaced. [Illustration: Street Fountain and Watering-trough in Pompeii. Called the Fountain of Plenty, from the figure with Horn of Plenty on the perforated upright post.] =13. The Appian Way and other Roman Roads.=—Probably the oldest and most celebrated of these old Roman roads is the Appian Way. It was the most substantially built, and the breadth of roadway varied from 14 to 18 feet exclusive of the footwalks. Statius called it the Queen of Roads. It was begun by Appius Claudius Cæcus, 312 years before the Christian era. He carried its construction from the Roman gate called Porta Capena to Capua, but it was not entirely completed till about the year 30 B.C. Its total length was three hundred and fifty miles, and it formed a perfect highway from Rome to Brundisium, an important port on what may be called the southeastern point of Italy. It was built in such an enduring manner that it appears to have been in perfect repair as late as 500 to 565 A.D.