Lyons was a great Roman city. Augustus first called it into vigorous life,
his wish being to make it "a second Rome." From Lyons a system of roads
ran out to all parts of Gaul. Claudius was born there; Caligula made it
the political and intellectual capital of Provincia; its people, under an
edict of Caracalla, were made citizens of Rome. At Nimes was born the
Emperor Antoninus. In Gaul, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian and Domitian
were made emperors. At Arles and Nimes are Roman amphitheaters still
regularly put to use for combats between men and wild beasts--but the wild
beasts, instead of lions and tigers, are bulls. At Orange is a Roman
theater of colossal proportions, in which a company from the Theatre
Francais annually presents classical dramas. The magnificent fortress city
of Carcassonne has foundation walls that were laid by Romans. Notre Dame
of Paris occupies the site of a temple to Jupiter.
As with modern England, so with modern France; its people are a mixture of
many races. To the southwest, in a remote age, came Iberians from Spain,
to Provence, Ligurians from Italy; to the northeast, Germanic tribes; to
the northwest, Scandinavians; to the central parts, from the Seine to the
Garonne, in the sixth century B.
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