A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II (of 2) by Philip Thicknesse
page 49 of 136 (36%)
page 49 of 136 (36%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
The most ancient money which has been found in and about this city, is
the little coin of _Mark Antony_; on one side of which is represented the Triumvirate; on the other, a Lion, with the word _Lugudani_ under it; on each side of the Lion are the letters A and XL. The antiquarians here think those letters marked the value of the piece, and that it was about forty _sous_; but is it not more probable, that this was only the mint-master's touch? Nothing can be a stronger proof of the importance of this city in the time of the Romans, than the immense expence they were at in erecting such a number of grand aquƦducts, one of which was eighteen leagues in length; many parts of them are still visible; and it appears that they spent for the reparation of them at _one_ time, near one thousand talents; and here it was that the four grand Roman highways divided; one of which went directly to the sea, and another to the _Pyrenees_. _Agrippa_, who was the constructor of most of these noble monuments of Roman grandeur, would not permit the _Lyonoise_ to erect any monument among them to his memory; and yet, his memory is, in a very particular manner, preserved to this day in the very heart of the city, for in the front of a house on the quay _de Villeroy_, is a medallion of baked earth, which, I think, perfectly resembles him; sure I am it is an unquestionable antique; it is a little disfigured indeed, and disgraced by his name being written upon it in modern characters. But there is another monument of _Agrippa_ here; it is part of the epitaph of an officer or soldier of the third cohort, whose duty it was to take an account of the expence of each day for the subsistence of the troops employed to work on the high-ways, and this officer was called _A. Rationibus AgrippƦ_. |
|