bridge in the world, on the course of the aqueduct which supplied the
ancient Nemaucus, now Nismes, still stands, and is called, from the name
of the department in which it is, the Pont du Gard. It consists of a row
of large arches crossing the valley over which the water had to be
carried, surmounted by a series of smaller arches, and these again by a
series of still smaller ones, carrying the specus of the aqueduct. This
splendid bridge still stands perfect, so that one can walk through the
channel along which the water flowed, and it might be again used for its
original purpose. There was, however, one city which, from the fact that
a great part of it was situated upon a hill, was more difficult to supply
with water than any of the rest, and which, at the same time, from its
size, its great importance, and the fact that it was the favorite summer
residence of several of the Roman emperors, and notably of Claudius, who
was born there, and who had a palace on the top of the hill, must of
necessity be supplied with plenty of water, and that too from a
considerable height. I refer to Ludgunum (now Lyons), then the capital of
Southern Gaul. This city was built by Lucius Munatius Plaucus, by order
of the Senate in A.U.C. 711. Augustus went there in A.U.C. 738, and
afterward lived there from 741 to 744. It was he who raised it to a very
high rank among Roman cities. It had its forum near the top of the hill
now called Fourvieres (probably a corruption of Forum Vetus), an imperial
place on the summit of the same hill, public baths, an amphitheater, a
circus, and temples.

In order to supply this city with water, standing as it did on the side
of a hill at the junction of two great rivers (now Rhone and Saone), it
was necessary to search for a source at a sufficient height, and this
Plaucus found in the hills of Mont d'Or, near Lyons, where a plentiful
supply of water was found at a sufficient height, viz., that of nearly
2,000 ft. above the sea. From this point an aqueduct, sometimes called