A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xviii Part 10

Our ideas of the vastness and wealth of the empire will be still farther encreased, if we regard the cities which it contained, though it is impossible to decide in most instances the extent and population of many places which were honoured with the appellation of cities. Ancient Italy is said to have contained 1197, Gaul 1200, of which many, such as Ma.r.s.eilles, Narbonne, Lyons, &c. were large and flouris.h.i.+ng; Spain 300, Africa 300, and Asia Proper 500, of which many were very populous.

2. All these cities were connected with one another and with Rome itself by means of the public highways: these issuing from the forum, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. The great chain of communication formed by means of them from the extreme north-west limit of the empire, through Rome to the south-east limit, was in length nearly 4000 miles. These roads were formed in the most substantial manner, and with astonis.h.i.+ng labour and expence; they were raised so as to command a prospect of the adjacent country; on each side was a row of large stones for foot pa.s.sengers. The miles were reckoned from the gates of the city and marked on stones: at shorter distances there were stones for travellers to rest on, or to a.s.sist those who wished to mount their horses: there were cross roads from the princ.i.p.al roads. The care and management of all the roads were entrusted only to men of the highest rank.

Augustus himself took charge of those near Rome, and appointed two men of praetorian rank to pave the roads: at the distance of five or six miles houses were built, each of which was constantly provided with forty horses; but these could only be used in the public service, except by particular and express authority. By means of the relays thus furnished, the Romans could travel along their excellent roads 100 miles a day: they had no public posts. Augustus first introduced public couriers among the Romans; but they were employed only to forward the public despatches, or to convey public intelligence of great and urgent importance.

Such was the facililty of communication by land from all parts of the empire to Rome, and from each part to all the other parts: nor was the communication of the empire less free and open by sea than it was by land.

"The provinces surrounded and enclosed the Mediterranean; and Italy, in the shape of an immense promontory, advanced into the midst of that great lake." From Ostia, situated at the mouth of the Tiber, only sixteen miles from the capital, a favourable wind frequently carried vessels in seven days to the straits of Gibraltar, and in nine or ten to Alexandria, in Egypt.

3. In enumerating the princ.i.p.al articles imported into Rome, for the use of its immense and luxurious population, we shall, necessarily, recapitulate, in some degree, what has already been stated in giving an account of the commerce of the different countries which were conquered by the Romans. But this objection, we conceive, will be abundantly counterbalanced by the connected and complete view which we shall thus be enabled to give of the commerce of the Roman empire.

Before, however, we enter on this subject, we shall briefly consider the ideas entertained by the Romans on the subject of commerce. We have already had occasion incidentally to remark that the Romans thought meanly of it, and that their grand object in all their conquests was the extension of their territory; and that they even neglected the commercial facilities and advantages, which they might have secured by their conquests. This was most decidedly the case during the time of the republic. The statue of Victory, which was erected in the port of Ostia, and the medals of the year of Rome 630, marked on the reverse with two s.h.i.+ps and a victory, prove that at this period the Roman fleets that sailed from this port were chiefly designed for war. The prefects of the fleet were not employed, nor did they consider it as their duty to attend to commerce, or to the merchant s.h.i.+ps, except so far as to protect them against the pirates. Of the low opinion entertained by the Romans respecting commerce we have the direct testimony of Cicero: writing to his son on the subject of professions, he reprobates and condemns all retail trade as mean and sordid, which can be carried on successfully only by means of lying. Even the merchant, unless he deals very extensively, he views with contempt; if, however, he imports from every quarter articles of great value and in great abundance, and sells them in a fair and equitable manner, his profession is not much to be contemned; especially if, after having made a fortune, he retires from business, and spends the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits: in this case, he deserves even positive praise. There is another pa.s.sage of Cicero, quoted by Dr. Vincent, in his Periplus, in which the same sentiments are expressed: he says, "Is such a man, who was a merchant and neighbour of Scipio, greater than Scipio because he is richer?" Pliny, also, though in his natural history he expatiates in praise of agriculture and gardening, medicine, painting and statuary, pa.s.ses over merchandize with the simple observation that it was invented by the Phoenicians. In the periplus of the Erythrean sea, and in the works of Ptolemy, &c. the names of many merchants and navigators occur; but they are all Greeks. Even after the conquest of Egypt, which gave a more commercial character to the Roman manners, habits and mode of thinking than they previously possessed, no Roman was permitted to engage in the trade of that country.

Although, however, mercantile pursuits were thus underrated and despised by the warlike portion of the nation, as well as by the philosophers, yet they were followed by those who regarded gain as the princ.i.p.al object of life.

The wealth of merchants became proverbial: immense numbers of them followed the armies, and fixed in the provinces subdued or allied,--the _Italici generis homines_, who were agents, traders, and monopolizers, such as Jugurtha took in Zama, or the 100,000 Mithridates slaughtered in Asia Minor, or the merchants killed at Genab.u.m (Orleans).

In the pa.s.sage quoted from Cicero de Officiis, he expressly mentions the merchant who _imports_; but he does not once allude to exportation.

Indeed, the commerce of the Romans, in the most luxurious period of the empire, was entirely confined to importation, and may, with few exceptions, be designated as consisting in the expenditure of the immense revenue they derived from their conquests, and the immense fortunes of individuals, in the necessaries, comforts, and, above all, the luxuries of the countries which they had conquered.

By far the most extensive and important trade which the Romans carried on at all periods of their history, was the conveyance of corn and other provisions to the capital. The contiguous territory at no time was sufficient to supply Rome with corn; and, long before the republic was destroyed, even Italy was inadequate to this purpose. As the population encreased, and the former corn fields were converted into pleasure-grounds or pasture, the demand for corn was proportionally encreased, and the supply from the neighbourhood proportionally diminished. But there was another circ.u.mstance which rendered a regular and full supply of corn an object of prime importance: the influence of the patron depended on his largesses of corn to his clients; and the popularity, and even the reign of an emperor, was not secure, unless he could insure to the inhabitants this indispensable necessary of life. There were several laws respecting the distribution of corn: by one pa.s.sed in the year of Rome 680, five bushels were to be given monthly to each of the poorer citizens, and money was to be advanced annually from the treasury, sufficient to purchase 800,000 bushels of wheat, of three different qualities and prices. By the Semp.r.o.nian law, this corn was to be sold to the poor inhabitants at a very low price; but by the Clodian law it was to be distributed _gratis_: the granaries in which this corn was kept were called Horrea Semp.r.o.nia. The number of citizens who received corn by public distribution, in the time of Augustus, amounted to 200,000. Julius Caesar had reduced the number from 320,000 to 150,000. It is doubtful whether five bushels were the allowance of each individual or of each family; but if Dr. Arbuthnot be correct in estimating the _modius_ at fourteen pounds, the allowance must have been for each family, amounting to one quarter seven bushels, and one peck per annum.

We have dwelt on these particulars for the purpose of pointing out the extreme importance of a regular and full supply of corn to Rome; and this importance is still further proved by the special appointment of magistrates to superintend this article. The prefect, or governor of the market, was an ancient establishment in the Roman republic; his duty was to procure corn: on extraordinary occasions, this magistrate was created for this express purpose, and the powers granted him seem to have been increased in the latter periods of the republic, and still more, after the republic was destroyed. Pompey, who held this office, possessed greater power and privileges than his immediate predecessor, and in a time of great scarcity. Augustus, himself, undertook the charge of providing the corn: it was at the same time determined, that for the future, two men of the rank of praetors should be annually elected for this purpose; four were afterwards appointed. It would seem, however, that even their appointment became an ordinary and regular thing: the emperors themselves superintended the procuring of corn, for one of their t.i.tles was that of commissary-general of corn.

Besides this magistrate, whose business was confined to the buying and importing of corn, there were two aediles, first appointed by Julius Caesar, whose duty it was to inspect the public stores of corn and other provisions.

Till the time of Julius Caesar, the foreign corn for the supply of Rome was imported into Puteoli, a town of Campania, between Baiae and Naples, about seventy miles from the capital. As this was very inconvenient, Caesar formed the plan of making an artificial harbour at the mouth of the Tiber, at Ostia. This plan, however, was not at this time carried into execution: Claudius, however, in consequence of a dreadful famine which raged at Rome, A.D. 42, resolved to accomplish it. He accordingly dug a s.p.a.cious basin in the main land; the entrance to which was formed and protected by artificial moles, which advanced far into the sea; there was likewise a little island before the mouth of the harbour, on which a light-house was built, after the model of the Pharos of Alexandria. By the formation of this harbour, the largest vessel could securely ride at anchor, within three deep and capacious basins, which received the northern branch of the Tiber, about two miles from the ancient colony of Osta.

Into this port corn arrived for the supply of Rome from various countries; immense quant.i.ties of wheat were furnished by the island of Sicily. Egypt was another of the granaries of the capital of the world; according to Josephus, it supplied Rome with corn sufficient for one-third of its whole consumption: and Augustus established regular corn voyages from Alexandria to the capital. Great quant.i.ties were also imported from Thrace, and from Africa Proper. The s.h.i.+ps employed in the corn trade, especially between Egypt and Rome, were the largest of any in the Mediterranean: this probably arose from the encouragement given to this trade by Tiberius, and afterwards increased by Claudius. The former emperor gave a bounty of about fourpence on every peck of corn imported: and Claudius, during the time of the famine, made the bounty so great as, at all events, and in every instance, to secure the importers a certain rate of profit. He also used all his efforts to persuade the merchants to import it even in winter, taking upon himself all the losses, &c. which might arise from risking their s.h.i.+ps and cargoes, at a time of the year when it was the invariable practice of the ancients to lay the former up. Whenever an emperor had distinguished himself by a large importation of corn, especially, if by this means a famine was avoided or removed, medals seem to have been struck commemorative of the circ.u.mstance; thus, on several medals there is a figure of a s.h.i.+p, and the words _Annona Aug_. or _Ceres Aug_. Many of these were struck under Nero, and Antoninus Pius. During the time of the republic, also, similar medals were struck, with the figure of a prow of a s.h.i.+p, and an inscription shewing the object for which the fleets had been sent.

Having been thus particular in describing the importation of corn, we shall notice the imports of other articles in a more cursory manner. The northern parts of Italy furnished salt pork, almost sufficient for the whole consumption of Rome, tapestry, and woollen cloths, wool, and marble; to convey the latter, there were s.h.i.+ps of a peculiar form and construction; steel, crystal, ice, and cheese.

From Liguria, Rome received wood for building, of a very large size, s.h.i.+p timber, fine and beautiful wood for tables, cattle, hides, honey, and coa.r.s.e wool. Etruria, also, supplied timber, cheese, wine, and stone; the last was s.h.i.+pped at the ports of Pisa and Luna. Pitch and tar were sent from Brutium; oil and wine from the country of the Sabines. Such were the princ.i.p.al imports from the different parts of Italy.

From Corsica, timber for s.h.i.+p building; from Sardinia, a little corn and cattle; from Sicily, besides corn,--wine, honey, salt, saffron, cheese, cattle, pigeons, corals, and a species of emerald. Cloth, but whether linen or cotton is uncertain, was imported from Malta; honey, from Attica.

Lacedemon supplied green marble, and the dye of the purple sh.e.l.l-fish. From the Grecian islands, there were imported Parian marble, the earthenware of Samos, the vermilion of Lemnos, and other articles, princ.i.p.ally of luxury.

Thrace supplied salted tunnies, the produce of the Euxine Sea, besides corn. The finest wool was imported from Colchis, and also hemp, flax, pitch, and fine linens: these goods, as well as articles brought overland from India, were s.h.i.+pped from the port of Phasis. The best cheese used at Rome, was imported from Bithynia. Phrygia supplied a stone like alabaster, and the country near Laodicea, wool of excellent quality, some of which was of a deep black colour. The wine drank at Rome, was princ.i.p.ally the produce of Italy; the best foreign wine, was imported from Ionia. Woollen goods, dyed with Tyrian purple, were imported from Miletus, in Caria. An inferior species of diamond, copper, resin, and sweet oil were imported from Cyprus.

Cedar, gums, balsam, and alabaster, were supplied by Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Gla.s.s was imported from Sidon, as well as embroidery and purple dye, and several kinds of fish, from Tyre. The goods that were brought from India, by the route of Palmyra, were s.h.i.+pped for Rome, from the ports of Syria. Egypt, besides corn, supplied flax, fine linen, ointments, marble, alabaster, salt, alum, gums, paper, cotton goods, some of which, as well as of their linens, seem to have been coloured or printed, gla.s.s ware, &c. The honey lotus, the lotus, or nymphaea of Egypt, the stalk of which contained a sweet substance, which was considered as a luxury by the Egyptians, and used as bread, was sometimes carried to Rome; it was also used as provision for mariners. Alexandria was the port from which all the produce and manufactories of Egypt, as well as all the ports which pa.s.sed through this country from India, were s.h.i.+pped. In consequence of its becoming the seat of the Roman government in Egypt, of the protection which it thus received, and of its commerce being greatly extended by the increased wealth and luxury of Rome, its extent and population were greatly augmented; according to Diodorus Siculus, in the time of Augustus, from whose reign it became the greatest emporium of the world, it contained 300,000 free people.

That part of Africa which was formerly possessed by the Carthaginians, besides corn, sent to Rome, honey, drugs, marble, the eggs and feathers of the ostrich, ostriches, elephants, and lions; the last for the amphitheatre. From Mauritania, there were exported to the capital, timber of a fine grain and excellent quality, the exact nature of which is not known; this was sold at an enormous rate, and used princ.i.p.ally for making very large tables.

Spain supplied Rome with a very great number and variety of articles; from the southern parts of it were exported corn, wine, oil, honey, wax, pitch, scarlet dye, vermilion, salt, salted provisions, wool, &c. From the eastern part of the north of Spain were exported salted provisions, cordage made of the _spartum_, silver, earthenware, linen, steel, &c. The Balearic islands exported some wine. The trade of Spain to Rome employed a great number of vessels, almost as many as those which were employed in the whole of the African trade; this was especially the case in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Even in the time of Julius Caesar, Spain had acquired great wealth, princ.i.p.ally by her exports to Rome. The ports from which the greatest part of these commodities were s.h.i.+pped, were Cadiz, New Carthage, and a port at the mouth of the Boetis, where, for the security of the s.h.i.+pping, a light-house had been built. Cadiz was deemed the rival of Alexandria in importance, s.h.i.+pping, and commerce; and so great was the resort of merchants, &c. to it, that many of them, not being able to build houses for want of room on the land, lived entirely upon the water.

From Gaul, Rome received gold, silver, iron, &c. which were sent as part of the tribute; also linens, corn, cheese, and salted pork. Immense flocks of geese travelled by land to Rome. The chief ports which sent goods to Rome were Ma.r.s.eilles, Arles, and Narbonne, on the Mediterranean; and on the Ocean, Bourdeau, and the port of the Veneti. It appears that there were a considerable number of Italian or Roman merchants resident in Gaul, whose princ.i.p.al trade it was to carry the wine made in the south of this province, up the Rhine, and there barter it for slaves.

From Britain, Rome was supplied with tin, lead, cattle, hides, ornaments of bone, vessels made of amber and gla.s.s, pearls, slaves, dogs, bears, &c. The tin was either s.h.i.+pped from the island of Ictis (Isle of Wight), or sent into Gaul: most of the other articles reached Rome through Gaul. The princ.i.p.al article brought to Rome was amber.

We now come to the consideration of the articles with which Asia supplied Rome; these, as may be easily imagined, were princ.i.p.ally articles of luxury. The murrhine cups, of the nature of which there has been much unsatisfactory discussion, according to Pliny, came from Karmania in Parthia; from Parthia they came to Egypt, and thence to Rome. It is probable, however, that they came, in the first instance, from India, as they are expressly mentioned by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, as brought down from the capital of Guzerat, to the port of Baragyza.

These cups were first seen at Rome, in the triumphal procession of Pompey, when he returned from the sh.o.r.es of the Caspian Sea. They sold at enormous prices; and were employed at the tables only of the great and wealthy, as cups for drinking; they were in general of a small size. One, which held three pints, sold for nearly 14,000_l_.; and Nero gave nearly 59,000_l_. for another. So highly were they prized, that, in the conquest of Egypt, Augustus was content to select, for his own share, out of all the spoils of Alexandria, a single murrhine cup.[5] Precious stones and pearls were imported from Persia and Babylonia; the latter country also furnished the wealthy Romans with _triclinaria_, which was furniture of some description, but whether quilts, carpets, or curtains is not ascertained. Persia supplied also incense of a very superior quality. The various and valuable commodities with which Arabia supplied the profusion and luxury of Rome, reached that capital from the port of Alexandria in Egypt. We cannot enumerate the whole of them, but must confine ourselves to a selection of the most important and valuable. Great demand, and a high rate of profits necessarily draw to any particular trade a great number of merchants; it is not surprising, therefore, that the trade in the luxuries of the east was so eagerly followed at Rome. Pliny informs us, that the Roman world was exhausted by a drain of 400,000_l_. a year, for the purchase of luxuries, equally expensive and superfluous; and in another place, he estimates the rate of profit made at Rome, by the importation and sale of oriental luxuries at 100 per cent.

Arabia furnished diamonds, but these were chiefly of a small size, and other gems and pearls. At Rome the diamond possessed the highest value; the pearl, the second; and the emerald, the third. Nero used an emerald as an eye-gla.s.s for short sight. But though large and very splendid diamonds brought a higher price at Rome than pearls, yet the latter, in general, were in much greater repute; they were worn in almost every part of the dress, by persons of almost every rank. The famous pearl ear-rings of Cleopatra were valued at 161,458_l_., and Julius Caesar presented the mother of Brutus with a pearl, for which he paid 48,457_l_.

Frankincense, myrrh, and other precious drugs, were also brought to Rome from Arabia, through the port of Alexandria. There was a great demand at Rome for spices and aromatics, from the custom of the Romans to burn their dead, and also from the consumption of frankincense, &c. in their temples.

At the funeral of Sylla 210 bundles of spices were used. Nero burnt, at the funeral of Poppaea, more cinnamon and ca.s.sia than the countries from which they were imported produced in one year. In the reign of Augustus, according to Horace, one whole street was occupied by those who dealt in frankincense, pepper, and other aromatics. Frankincense was also imported into Rome from Gaza, on the coast of Palestine; according to Pliny, it was brought to this place by a caravan, that was sixty-two days on its journey: the length of the journey, frauds, impositions, duties; &c. brought every camel's load to upward of 22_l_.; and a pound of the best sort sold at Rome for ten s.h.i.+llings. Alexandria, however, was the great emporium for this, as well as all the other produce of India and Arabia. Pliny is express and particular on this point, and takes notice of the precautions employed by the merchants there, in order to guard against adulteration and fraud. Cinnamon, another of the exports of Arabia to Rome, though not a production of that country, was also in high repute, and brought an extravagant price. Vespasian was the first who dedicated crowns of cinnamon, inclosed in gold filagree, in the Capitol and the Temple of Peace; and Livia dedicated the root in the Palatine Temple of Augustus. The plant itself was brought to the emperor Marcus Aurelius in a case seven feet long, and was exhibited at Rome, as a very great rarity. This, however, we are expressly informed came from Barbarike in India. It seems to have been highly valued by other nations as well as by the Romans: Antiochus Epiphanes carried a few boxes of it in a triumphal procession: and Seleucus Callinicus presented two minae of it and two of ca.s.sia, as a gift to the king of the Milesians. In the enumeration of the gifts made by this monarch, we may, perhaps, trace the comparative rarity and value of the different spices of aromatics among the ancients: of frankincense he presented ten talents, of myrrh one talent, of ca.s.sia two pounds, of cinnamon two pounds, and of costus one pound. Frankincense and myrrh were the productions of Arabia; the other articles of India; of course the former could be procured with much less difficulty and expence than the latter. Spikenard, another Indian commodity, also reached Rome, through Arabia, by means of the port of Alexandria. Pliny mentions, that both the leaves and the spices were of great value, and that the odour was the most esteemed in the composition of all unguents. The price at Rome was 100 denarii a pound. The markets at which the Arabian and other merchants bought it were Patala on the Indus, Ozeni, and a mart on or near the Ganges.

Sugar, also, but of a quality inferior to that of India, was imported from Arabia, through Alexandria, into Rome. The Indian sugar, which is expressly mentioned by Pliny, as better and higher priced, was brought to Rome, but by what route is not exactly known, probably by means of the merchants who traded to the east coast of Africa; where the Arabians either found it, or imported it from India. In the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and likewise in the rescript of the Roman emperors, relative to the articles imported into Egypt from the East, which was promulgated by Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, about the year A.D. 176, it is denominated cane-honey, otherwise called sugar (sacchar). So early, therefore, as the Periplus (about the year A.D. 73,) the name of sacchar was known to the Romans, and applied by them to sugar. This word does not occur in any earlier author, unless Dioscorides lived before that period, which is uncertain. It may be remarked, that the nature, as well as the proper appellation of sugar, must have been but imperfectly, and not generally known, even at the time of the rescript, otherwise the explanatory phrase, honey made from cane, would not have been employed.

The first information respecting sugar was brought to Europe by Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander. In a pa.s.sage quoted from his journal by Strabo, it is described as honey made from reeds, there being no bees in that part of India. In a fragment of Theophrastus, preserved by Photius, he mentions, among other kinds of honey, one that is found in reeds. The first mention of any preparation, by which the juice of the reed was thickened, occurs in Eratosthenes, as quoted by Strabo, where he describes roots of large reeds found in India, which were sweet to the taste, both when raw and boiled.

Dioscorides and Pliny describe it as used chiefly, if not entirely, for medical purposes. In the time of Galen, A.D. 131, it would appear to have become more common and cheaper at Rome; for he cla.s.ses it with medicines that may be easily procured. It seems probable, that though the Arabians undoubtedly cultivated the sugar-cane, and supplied Rome with sugar from it, yet they derived their knowledge of it from India; for the Arabic name, shuker, which was adopted by the Greeks and Romans, is formed from the two middle syllables of the Sanskrit word, ich-shu-casa.

But to return from this digression to the view of the imports into Rome: Ethiopia supplied the capital with cinnamon of an inferior quality; marble, gems, ivory; the horns of the rhinoceros and tortoisesh.e.l.l. The last article was in great demand, and brought a high price: it was used for ornament, for furniture; as beds, tables, doors, &c.; not only in Italy, but in Greece and Egypt: the finest sort was sold for its weight of silver.

It was imported not only from Ethiopia but also from the east coast of Africa, and reached Rome even from Malabar and Malacca. The opsian stone mentioned in the Periplus, and the opsidian stone described by Pliny, are stated in both these authors to have come from Ethiopia; but whether they were the same, and their exact nature, are not known. The opsian is described as capable of receiving a high polish, and on that account as having been used by the Emperor Domitian to face a portico. Pliny describes it as employed to line rooms in the same manner as mirrors; he distinguishes it from a spurious kind, which was red, but not transparent.

The dye extracted from the purple sh.e.l.l fish was imported into Rome from Getulia, a country on the south side of Mauritania.

Rome was supplied with the commodities of India chiefly from Egypt; but there were other routes by which also they reached the capital: of these it will be proper to take some notice.

The most ancient communication between India and the countries on the Mediterranean was by the Persian Gulf, through Mesopotamia, to the coasts of Syria and Palestine. To facilitate the commerce which was carried on by this route, Solomon is supposed to have built Tadmor in the wilderness, or Palmyra: the situation of this place, which, though in the midst of barren sands, is plentifully supplied with water, and has immediately round it a fertile soil, was peculiarly favorable; as it was only 85 miles from the Euphrates, and about 117 from the nearest part of the Mediterranean. By this route the most valuable commodities of India, most of which were of such small bulk as to beat the expence of a long land carriage, were conveyed. From the age of Nebuchadnezzar to the Macedonian conquest, Tiredon on the Euphrates was the city at which this commercial route began, and which the Babylonians made use of, as the channel of their oriental trade. After the destruction of Tyre by that monarch, a great part of the traffic which had pa.s.sed by Arabia, or the Red Sea, through Idumea and Egypt, and that city, was diverted to the Persian Gulf, and through his territories in Mesopotamia it pa.s.sed by Palmyra and Damascus, through Syria to the west. After the reduction of Babylon by Cyrus, the Persians, who paid no attention to commerce, suffered Babylon and Ninevah to sink into ruin; but Palmyra still remained, and flourished as a commercial city.

Under the Seleucidae it seems to have reached its highest degree of importance, splendour, and wealth; princ.i.p.ally by supplying the Syrians with Indian commodities. For upwards of two centuries after the conquest of Syria by the Romans it remained free, and its friends.h.i.+p and alliance were courted both by them and the Parthians. During this period we have the express testimony of Appian, that it traded with both these nations, and that Rome and the other parts of the empire received the commodities of India from it. In the year A.D. 273, it was reduced and destroyed by Aurelian, who found in it an immense treasure of gold, silver, silk, and precious stones. From this period, it never revived, or became a place of the least importance or trade.

On the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, the commercial communication between India and Europe returned to Arabia in the south, and to the Caspian and the Euxine in the north: there seem to have been two routes by these seas, both of great antiquity. In describing one of them, the ancient writers are supposed to have confounded the river Ochus, which falls into the Caspian, with the Oxus, which falls into the lake of Aral. On this supposition, the route may be traced in the following manner: the produce and manufactuers of India were collected at Patala, a town near the mouth of the Indus; they were carried in vessels up this river as far as it was navigable, where they were landed, and conveyed by caravans to the Oxus: being again s.h.i.+pped, they descended this river to the point where it approached nearest to the Ochus, to which they were conveyed by caravans. By the Ochus they were conveyed to the Caspian, and across it to the mouth of the river Cyrus, which was ascended to where it approached nearest the Phasis: caravans were employed again, till the merchandize were embarked at Serapana on the Phasis, and thus brought to the Black Sea. According to Pliny, Pompey took great pains to inform himself of this route; and he ascertained, that by going up the Cyrus the goods would be brought within five day's journey of the Phasis. There seems to have been some plan formed at different times, and thought of by the Emperor Claudius, to join Asia to Europe and the Caspian Sea, by a ca.n.a.l from the Cimmerian Bosphorus to the Caspian Sea.

The route which we have thus particularly described was sometimes deviated from by the merchants: they carried their goods up the Oxus till it fell into lake Aral; crossing this, they transported them in caravans to the Caspian, and ascending the Wolga to its nearest approach to the Tanais, they crossed to the latter by land, and descended it to the sea of Azoph.

Strabo describes another route: viz. across the Caucasus, from the Caspian to the Black Sea; this writer, however, must be under some mistake, for camels, which he expressly says were employed, would be of no use in crossing the mountains; it is probable, therefore, that this land communication was round by the mouth of the Caspian,--a route which was frequented by the merchants of the middle ages.

As the Euxine Sea was the grand point to which all these routes tended, the towns on it became the resort of an immense number of merchants, even at very early ages; and the kingdoms of Prusias, Attalus, and Mithridates were enriched by their commerce. Herodotus mentions, that the trade of the Euxine was conducted by interpreters of seven different languages. In the time of Mithridates, 300 different nations, or tribes, met for commercial purposes at Dioscurias in Colchis; and soon after the Romans conquered the countries lying on the Euxine, there were 130 interpreters of languages employed in this and the other trading towns. The Romans, however, as soon as they became jealous, or afraid, of the power of the Parthians, would not suffer them, or any other of the northern nations, to traffic by the Euxine; but endeavoured, as far as they could, to confine the commerce of the East to Alexandria: the consequence was, that even so early as the age of Pliny, Dioscurias was deserted.

The only article of import into Rome that remains to be considered is silk: the history of the knowledge and importation of this article among the ancients, and the route by which it was obtained, will comprise all that it will be necessary to say on this subject.

The knowledge of silk was first brought into Europe through the conquests of Alexander the Great. Strabo quotes a pa.s.sage from Nearchus, in which it is mentioned, but apparently confounded, with cotton. It is well known that Aristotle obtained a full and accurate account of all the discoveries in natural history which were made during the conquests of Alexander, and he gives a particular description of the silk worm; so particular, indeed, that it is surprising how the ancients could, for nearly 600 years after his death, be ignorant of the nature and origin of silk. He describes the silk worm as a horned worm, which he calls bombyx, which pa.s.ses through several transformations, and produces bombytria. It does not appear, however, that he was acquainted either with the native country of this [work->worm], or with such a people as the Seres; and this is the only reason for believing that he may allude entirely to a kind of silk made at Cos, especially as he adds, that some women in this island decomposed the bombytria, and re-wove and re-spun it. Pliny also mentions the bombyx, and describes it as a natiye of a.s.syria; he adds, that the a.s.syrians made bombytria from it, and that the inhabitants of Cos learnt the manufacture from them. The most propable supposition is, that silk was spun and wove in a.s.syria and Cos, but the raw material imported into these countries from the Seres; for the silk worm was deemed by the Greeks and Romans so exclusively and pre-eminently the attribute of the Sinae, that from this very circ.u.mstance, they were denominated seres, or silk worms, by the ancients.

The next authors who mention silk are Virgil, and Dionysius the geographer; Virgil supposed the Seres to card their silk from leaves,--_Velleraque ut foliis depectunt tentuia Seres_.--Dionysius, who was sent by Augustus to draw up an account of the Oriental regions, says, that rich and valuable garments were manufactured by the Seres from threads, finer than those of the spider, which they combed from flowers.

It is not exactly known at what period silk garments were first worn at Rome: Lipsius, in his notes on Tacitius, says, in the reign of Julius Csesar. In the beginning of the reign of Tiberius, a law was made, that no man should dishonor himself by wearing a silken garment. We have already stated the opinion entertained by Pliny respecting the native country of the silk worm; this author condemns in forcible, though affected language, the thirst of gain, which explored the remotest parts of the earth for the purpose of exposing to the public eye naked draperies and transparent matrons. In his time, slight silks, flowered, seem to have been introduced into religious ceremonies, as he describes crowns, in honour of the deities, of various colours, and highly perfumed, made of silk. The next author who mentions silk is Pausanias; he says, the thread from which the Seres form their web is not from any kind of bark, but is obtained in a different way; they have in their country a spinning insect, which the Greeks call seer. He supposes that the insect lived five years, and fed on green haulm: by the last particular, it is not improbable he meant the leaves of the mulberry tree. For 200 years after the age of Pliny, the use of silk was confined to the female s.e.x, till the richer citizens, both of the capital and the provinces, followed the example of Heliogabalus, the first man, who, according to Lampridius, wore _holoseric.u.m_ that is, a garment which was all of silk. From this expression, however, it is evident, that previous to this period the male inhabitants of Rome had been in the habit of wearing garments made of silk mixed with linen or woollen.

Hitherto there is no intimation in ancient authors of the price of silk at Rome; in the time of Aurelian, however, that is towards the end of the third century, we learn the high price at which it was rated, in an indirect manner. For when the wife of that Emperor begged of him to permit her to have but one single garment of purple silk; he refused it, saying, that one pound of silk sold at Rome for 12 ounces, or its weight of gold.

This agrees with what is laid down in the Rhodian maritime laws, as they appear in the eleventh book of the Digests, according to which unmixed silk goods paid a salvage, if they were saved without being damaged by the sea water, of ten per cent., as being equal in value to gold.

In about 100 years after the reign of Aurelian, however, the importation of silk into Rome must have increased very greatly; for Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, who flourished A.D. 380, expressly states that silk, which had formerly been confined to the great and rich, was, in his time, within the purchase of the common people. Constantinople was founded about forty years before he wrote; and it naturally found its way there in greater abundance than it had done, when Rome was the capital of the empire.

From this time, till the middle of the sixth century, we have no particular information respecting the silk trade of the Roman empire. At this period, during the reign of Justinian, silk had become an article of very general and indispensible use: but the Persians had occupied by land and sea the monopoly of this article, so that the inhabitants of Tyre and Berytus, who had all along manufactured it for the Roman market, were no longer able to procure a sufficient supply, even at an extravagant price. Besides, when the manufactured goods were brought within the Roman territories, they were subject to a duty of ten per cent. Justinian, under these circ.u.mstances, very impolitically ordered that silk should be sold at the rate of eight pieces of gold for the pound, or about 3_l_. 4s. The consequence was such as might have been expected: silk goods were no longer imported; and to add to the injustice and the evil, Theodora, the emperor's wife, seized all the silk, and fined the merchants very heavily. It was therefore necessary, that Justinian should have recourse to other measures to obtain silk goods; instead, however, of restoring the trade of Egypt, which at this period had fallen into utter decay, and sending vessels directly from the Red Sea to the Indian markets, where the raw material might have been procured, he had recourse to Arabia and Abyssinia. According to Suidas, he wished the former to import the silk in a raw state, intending to manufacture it in his own dominions. But the king of Abyssinia declined the offer; as the vicinity of the Persians to the Indian markets for silk enabled them to purchase it at a cheaper rate than the Abyssinians could procure it. The same obstacle prevented the Arabians from complying with the request of Justinian.

The wealthy and luxurious Romans, therefore, must have been deprived of this elegant material for their dresses, had not their wishes been gratified by an unexpected event. Two Persian monks travelled to Serindi, where they had lived long enough to become acquainted with the various processes for spinning and manufacturing silk. When they returned, they communicated their information to Justinian; and were induced, by his promises, to undertake the transportation of the eggs of the silk-worm, from China to Constantinople. Accordingly, they went back to Serindi, and brought away a quant.i.ty of the eggs in a hollow cane, and conveyed them safely to Constantinople. They superintended and directed the hatching of the eggs, by the heat of a dunghill: the worms were fed on mulberry leaves: a sufficient number of b.u.t.terflies were saved to keep up the stock; and to add to the benefits already conferred, the Persian monks taught the Romans the whole of the manufacture. From Constantinople, the silk-worms were conveyed to Greece, Sicily, and Italy. In the succeeding reign, the Romans had improved so much in the management of the silk-worms, and in the manufacture of silk, that the Serindi amba.s.sadors, on their arrival in Constantinople, acknowledged that the Romans were not inferior to the natives of China, in either of these respects. It may be mentioned, in further proof of the opinion already given, that the silk manufactures of Cos were not supplied from silk-worms in that island, that we have the express authority of Theophanes and Zonaras, that, before silk-worms were brought to Constantinople, in the reign of Justinian, no person in that city knew that silk was produced by a worm. This, certainly, would not have been the case, if there had been silk-worms so near Constantinople as the island of Cos is. All the authors whom we have quoted, (with the exception of Aristotle, Pliny, and Pausanias,) including a period of six centuries, supposed that silk was made from fleeces growing upon trees, from the bark of trees, or from flowers. These mistakes, may, indeed, have arisen from the Romans having heard of the silk being taken from the mulberry and other trees, on which the worms feed; but, however they originated, they plainly prove that the native country of the silk-worm was at a very great distance from Rome, and one of which they had very little knowledge.

Having thus brought the history of this most valuable import into Rome, down to the period, when, in consequence of the Romans having acquired the silk-worm, there existed no longer any necessity to import the raw materials; we shall next proceed to investigate the routes by which it was brought from the Seres to the western parts of Asia, and thence to Rome. It is well ascertained, that the silk manufacture was established at Tyre and Berytus, from a very early period; and these places seem to have supplied Rome with silk stuffs. But, by what route did silk arrive thither, and to the other countries, so as to be within the immediate reach of the Romans?--There were two routes, by which it was introduced to Europe, and the contiguous parts of Asia: by land and sea.

The route by sea is pointed out in a clear and satisfactory manner, by some of the ancient authors, particularly the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. In enumerating the exports from Nelkundah, he particularly mentions silk stuffs, and adds, that they were brought to this place from countries further to the east. Nelkundah was a town in Malabar, about twelve miles up a small river, at the mouth of which was the port of Barake; at this port, the vessels of the ancients rode till their lading was brought down from Nelkundah. This place seems to have been the centrical mart between the countries that lie to the east and west of Cape Comorin, or the hither and further peninsula of India; fleets sailed from it to Khruse, which there is every reason to believe was part of the peninsula of Malacca; and we have the authority of Ptolemy, that there was a commercial communication between it and the northern provinces of China.

But at a later period than the age of the Periplus, silk was brought by sea from China to Ceylon, and thence conveyed to Africa and Europe. Cosmos, who lived in the sixth century, informs us, that the Tzenistae or Chinese, brought to Ceylon, silks, aloes, cloves, and sandal wood. That his Tzenistsae, are the Chinese, there can be no doubt; for he mentions them as inhabiting a country producing silk, beyond which there is no country, for the ocean encircles it oh the east. From this it is evident that the Tzenistae of this author, and the Seres of the ancients, are the same; and in specifying the imports into Ceylon, he mentions silk thread, as coming from countries farther to the east, particularly from the Chinese. We thus see by what sea route silk was brought from China to those places with which the western nations had a communication; it was imported either into the peninsula of Malacca by sea, and thence by sea to Nelkundah, whence it was brought by a third voyage to the Red Sea; or it was brought directly from China to Ceylon, from which place there was a regular sea communication also with the Red Sea.

The author of the Periplus informs us, that raw as well as manufactured silk were conveyed by land through Bactria, to Baraguza or Guzerat, and by the Ganges to Limurike; according to this first route, the silks of China must have come the whole length of Tartary, from the great wall, into Bactria; from Bactria, they pa.s.sed the mountains to the sources of the Indus, and by that river they were brought down to Patala, or Barbarike, in Scindi, and thence to Guzerat: the line must have been nearly the same when silk was brought to the sources of the Ganges; at the mouth of this river, it was embarked for Limurike in Canara. All the silk, therefore, that went by land to Bactria, pa.s.sed down the Indus to Guzerat; all that deviated more to the east, and came by Thibet, pa.s.sed down the Ganges to Bengal.

A third land route by which silk was brought to the Persian merchants, and by them sold to the Romans, was from Samarcand and Bochara, through the northern provinces of China, to the metropolis of the latter country: this, however, was a long, difficult, and dangerous route. From Samarcand to the first town of the Chinese, was a journey of from 60 to 100 days; as soon as the caravans pa.s.sed the Jaxartes, they entered the desert, in which they were necessarily exposed to great privations, as well as to great risk from the wandering tribes. The merchants of Samarcand and Bochara, on their return from China, transported the raw or manufactured silk into Persia; and the Persian merchants sold it to the Romans at the fairs of Armenia and Nisibis.