IN HIS DE LEGE AGRARIA, AMID A DISCUSSION OF HOW GEOGRAPHICAL circumstances influence human character, Cicero seeks to explain the case of Campania, a region whose inhabitants had a reputation among Romans for arrogance. He pins their smugness on their land's fertility, the resultant bounty of crops, and, interestingly, the healthiness, disposition, and beauty of their cities. In a passage that was either sarcastic because of Romans’ pride in their seven hills or that needled Romans who were less sardonically inclined, Cicero imagines the perspective of the citizens of Capua, a sizable Campanian city. He writes:

In keeping with a theme of the Introduction, we might first note how Cicero imagines both Rome and Capua from a street-level and not bird's-eye viewpoint. But what is more notable is how, when he considers the cities’ urban fabric, he compares their streets and invests meaning in the difference. The contrast between Rome's dominance of the Mediterranean and its narrow, curvy streets was not lost on Romans themselves as they sought out an etiology for the phenomenon. And it remains a puzzling irony to some scholars that the two signature cities of classical antiquity, Rome and Athens, did not have straight streets. To put it simply, Cicero recognizes that not all streets are equal, and he implies that Romans, because of their city's form, have a way of urban life that is easily mockable.

This chapter takes some of its cues from Cicero's sentiments. It builds on the comparison Cicero draws to consider what differentiated streets in Roman cities from one another. The variation, as we shall see, can be classed in at least two categories. First, we gain an appreciation for the component features of urban thoroughfares – most obviously, the roadbed itself, the curbstones, and the sidewalks – thus setting the physical stage for many of the dramas that will play out in later chapters.