Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Milliarium

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

MILLIA'RIUM. A mile-stone; which the Romans placed along the sides of their principal roads, in the same manner as we do, with the respective distances from the city inscribed upon them, reckoned at intervals of 1000 Roman paces (our mile) apart. This custom was first introduced by C. Gracchus; and the illustration (Milliarium/1.1) represents an original Roman mile-stone, now standing on the Capitol, but which originally marked the first mile from Rome, as indicated by the numeral I. on the top of it. The rest of the inscription refers to the Emperors Vespasian and Nerva, by whom it was successively restored.

2. Milliarium aureum. The golden milestone; a gilt column, erected by Augustus, at the top of the Roman forum (in capite Rom. fori. Plin. H. N. iii. 5. Suet. Otho, 6. Tac. Hist. i. 27.), to mark the point at which all the great military roads ultimately converged and ended. (Plut. Galb. p. 1064.) The precise spot where it stood was not ascertained till about ten years ago, when an excavation, undertaken by the late pope, revealed a circular basement coated with marble at the north-east angle of the forum, close beside the arch of Septimius Severus, which, by the common consent of all archaeologists, has been received as the remaining base of the golden miliary column. But it does not appear that the mileage of the roads was constantly reckoned from this standard; on the contrary, actual measurements of the distances marked upon Roman milestones, which have been found standing in their original places, prove that those distances were computed from the gates of the city (Marin. Frat. Arv. p. 8. Fabrett. Aq. p. 136.); and the law books also cite a third principle of measuring, from the last row of houses (mille passus non à milliario Urbis, sed a continentibus aedificiis numerandi sunt. Macer. Dig. 50. 16. 154.). All which testifies that the practice varied at different periods, and led to litigation amongst the Romans themselves. It will be remembered that our mileage on some roads, which used to be marked from the standard at Cornhill, is now reckoned more commonly from one of the bridges.

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  Milliarium/1.1