Procopius, the secretary of Belisarius in the sixth century, thus describes the Appian Way:--"To traverse the Appian Way is a distance of five days' journey for a good walker; it leads from Rome to Capua. Its breadth is such that two chariots may meet upon it and pass each other without interruption; and its magnificence surpasses that of all other roads. In constructing this great work, Appius caused the materials to be brought from a great distance, so as to have all the stones hard, and of the nature of mill-stones, such as are not to be found in this part of the country. Having ordered this material to be smoothed and polished, the stones were cut in corresponding angles, so as to bite together in jointures without the intervention of copper or any other material to bind them; and in this manner they were so firmly united, that on looking at them we would say they had not been put together by art, but had grown so upon the spot. And, notwithstanding the wearing of so many ages, being traversed daily by a multitude of vehicles and all sorts of cattle, they still remain unmoved; nor can the least trace of ruin or waste be observed upon these stones, neither do they appear to have lost any of their beautiful polish. And such is the Appian Way." The road was lined with temples, villas, and tombs; for it was the custom of the Romans to bury their dead on either side of the principal roads leading from the city. It was against the law to bury inside the walls, which was seldom permitted, and then only as a great honour. "When thou hast gone out of the Capena Gate, and beholdest the sepulchres of the Colatini, of the Scipios, of the Servilii, and of the Metelli, canst thou deem the buried inmates wretched?" (Cicero). _Passing under the_ Arch of Constantine, _down the_ Via Triumphalis (Via d' S. Gregorio), _we turn to the left_; passing a rope walk, _the first gate on the left admits to a vineyard_. The cottage is erected on the site of THE PORTA CAPENA. For a long number of years the present Porta S. Sebastiano (Porta Appia) was considered to be the Porta Capena. This error was rectified after the stone which marked the first mile was found (1584) in the Vigna Naro outside the present gate. From it one mile (one thousand paces) was measured backwards, and the result was the discovery of the exact site of the Porta Capena by Mr. J. H. Parker in 1868; but the excavations have been filled in. The remains consist of the sill of the gate, with fragments of the jambs, and the pavement of the Via Appia with the raised footpath on each side of it. The west flanking tower of the gate is under the gardener's cottage. This was reopened in 1877. The gate was crossed by the Aqua Appia (Frontinus), which Juvenal mentions as dripping, and Martial as showering down drops.