]
By these wise contrivances of the Incas, the most distant parts
of the long-extended empire of Peru were brought into intimate
relations with each other. And while the capitals of
Christendom, but a few hundred miles apart, remained as far
asunder as if seas had rolled between them, the great capitals
Cuzco and Quito were placed by the high roads of the Incas in
immediate correspondence. Intelligence from the numerous
provinces was transmitted on the wings of the wind to the
Peruvian metropolis, the great focus to which all the lines of
communication converged. Not an insurrectionary movement could
occur, not an invasion on the remotest frontier, before the
tidings were conveyed to the capital, and the imperial armies
were on their march across the magnificent roads of the country
to suppress it. So admirable was the machinery contrived by the
American despots for maintaining tranquillity throughout their
dominions! It may remind us of the similar institutions of
ancient Rome, when, under the Caesars, she was mistress of half
the world.
A principal design of the great roads was to serve the purposes
of military communication. It formed an important item of their
military policy, which is quite as well worth studying as their
municipal.
Notwithstanding the pacific professions of the Incas, and the
pacific tendency, indeed, of their domestic institutions, they
were constantly at war. It was by war that their paltry territory
had been gradually enlarged to a powerful empire.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105