A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xviii Part 7

During the interval between the first and second Punic wars, the Roman commerce seems to have been gradually, but slowly extending itself, particularly in the Adriatic: we do not possess, however, any details on the subject, except a decisive proof of the attention and protection which the republic bestowed upon it, in repressing and punishing the piracies of the Illyrians and Istrians. These people, who were very expert and undaunted seamen, enriched themselves and their country by seizing and plundering the merchant vessels which frequented the Adriatic and adjacent Mediterranean sea; and their piracies were encouraged, rather than restrained by their sovereigns. At the period to which we allude, they were governed by a queen, named Teuta, who was a woman of a bold and enterprising spirit: the Roman merchants, who traded, in the Adriatic, had frequently been plundered and cruelly treated by her subjects; upon this, the Roman senate sent two amba.s.sadors to her, to insist that she should put a stop to these measures. The Romans had also other grounds of complaint against her and her subjects; for the latter extended their piracies to the allies of Rome, as well as to the Romans themselves, and the former was at that time besieging the island of Issa, in the Adriatic, which was under the protection of the republic. The inhabitants of this island seem to have been rather extensively engaged in commerce, and were celebrated for building a kind of light ships, thence called _Issaei lembi_.

Teuta received and treated the Roman amba.s.sadors with great scorn and haughtiness; she promised, indeed, that she would no longer authorise the piracies of her subjects; but, with regard to restraining them, she would not do it, as they enjoyed a perfect and full right to benefit themselves as much as possible, and in every way they could, by their skill and superiority in maritime affairs. On the amba.s.sadors' replying in rather threatening language, she ordered one of them to be put to death.

For a short time Teuta was alarmed at the probable consequences of her conduct, and endeavoured to avert them by submission; but, the Romans being otherwise engaged, and she having experienced some successes over the Acheans, her haughtiness and confidence revived, and she sent a fleet to a.s.sist in the reduction of Issa. Upon this, the Romans resolved to act with immediate vigour; and they had little difficulty in compelling Teuta to sue for peace. It was granted to her, on condition that not more than three ships of war should at any one time sail beyond Lyssus, on the frontier of Macedonia, and that the islands of Corcyra, Issa, and Pharos, together with Dyrrhachium should be given up to the Romans.

It was not, however, to be supposed that the Illyrians and Istrians, who had been so long accustomed to piracy, and who in fact derived nearly all their wealth from this source, would totally abstain from it. A few years after this treaty of peace, they resumed their depredations, which they carried on with so much audacity and disregard to the power of Rome, that they even seized the ships that were laden with corn for Rome. As this commerce was one of the greatest consequence to the Romans, in which the Roman government, as well as individuals, princ.i.p.ally embarked, and on the regularity and safety of which the subsistence and tranquillity of the city itself depended, the senate resolved to punish them more effectually; and this resolution was strengthened by the Illyrians having broken the terms of the peace by sending no fewer than 50 vessels of war beyond the prescribed limits, as far as the Cyclades. The consequence of the new war which the Romans waged against them, was the reduction of Istria and of Illyric.u.m Proper.

The destruction of Saguntum by the Carthaginians was the cause of the second Punic war. At what period the Carthaginians first established themselves in Spain, is not known. Their princ.i.p.al object in colonizing and retaining it, undoubtedly may be found in the richness of its mines, and the fertility of its soil. According to Diodorus Siculus, they were princ.i.p.ally enabled to equip and support their numerous, and frequently renewed fleets, by the silver which they drew from these mines. And Strabo expressly informs us, that when the Carthaginians first colonized Spain, silver was in such abundance, and so easily obtained, that their most common utensils, and even the mangers for their horses, were made of it.

One mine of extreme richness is particularly described by Pliny: according to him, it yielded 300 pounds of silver in a day. There are other circ.u.mstances which point out the extreme value of Spain to whoever possessed it, and lead us to the motives which induced the Romans to use all their efforts to wrest it from the Carthaginians. It cannot be doubted that the Carthaginians drew from it all the wealth, in various shapes, which it could possibly supply; and yet we know that in the short s.p.a.ce of nine years, 111,542 pounds weight of silver, 4095 of gold, besides coin, were brought out of it by the Roman praetors, who governed it. Scipio, when he returned to Rome, brought from Spain 14,342 pounds weight of silver, besides coin, arms, and corn, &c. to an immense amount. And Lentulus returned from this country with 44,000 pounds of silver, and 2550 of gold, besides the coin, &c., which was divided among his soldiers. Manlius brought with him 1200 pounds of silver, and about 30 of gold. Cornelius Lentulus, who was praetor of Hither Spain for two years, brought with him 1515 pounds of gold, and 2000 of silver, besides a large amount of coin, while the praetor of Farther Spain returned with 50,000 pounds of silver.

And these immense sums, as we have already stated, were brought away in the s.p.a.ce of nine years.

Cornelius Scipio was sent into Spain at the commencement of the second Punic war. Of the events of this war, however, we shall confine ourselves exclusively to such as were maritime, and which trace the steps of the Roman superiority at sea, and, consequently, of the advancement and extension of their commerce. The exertions of the rival nations to contest the empire of the sea were very great: the Romans equipped 220 quinqueremes, and twenty other light vessels, beside 160 galleys, and twenty light vessels, which were employed to transport troops to Africa.

Their allies, the Syracusans, also, were active and alert in the equipment of a fleet to a.s.sist their allies, the Romans; and Hiero, their king, had the good fortune to give an auspicious commencement to the war, by capturing some Carthaginian ships, part of a fleet, whose object was to plunder the coasts of Italy, but which had been dispersed by a storm. The Carthaginians were equally unfortunate in their second maritime enterprise against Lilibaeum, for the Syracusans and Romans, having learnt their intention, anch.o.r.ed before the mouth of the harbour. The Carthaginians, finding that they could not, as they expected, surprise the place, drew up their fleet in line of battle, a little way out at sea: the allies immediately got under weigh; a battle ensued, in which the Carthaginians were defeated, with the loss of seven ships. These successes, however, were dreadfully counterbalanced by the advance of Hannibal into Italy, and the decisive victories which he obtained in the very heart of the Roman territories. Under these circ.u.mstances, maritime affairs were naturally disregarded.

Of the actual state of the Roman commerce about this time we know very little, but that it was lucrative, may fairly be inferred from the following circ.u.mstance:--A little before the commencement of the second Punic war, Caius Flaminnus was extremely desirous to obtain the support and good will of the populace; with this object in view, he joined the tribunes of the people in pa.s.sing a law, which is called the Flaminian, or Claudian law. By it, the senators, who had been accustomed to acquire considerable wealth by fitting out ships and trading, were expressly forbidden to possess or hire any vessel above the burden of 300 amphorae or eight tons, and not more than one vessel even of that small tonnage. This vessel was allowed them, and was deemed sufficient to bring the produce of their farms to Rome. By the same law, the scribes, and the clerks, and attendants of the quaestors, were prohibited from trading; and thus the liberty of commerce was exclusively confined to the plebeians.

Whilst Hannibal threatened the Romans in the vicinity of Rome itself, they had neither leisure, inclination, or means, to cope with the Carthaginians by sea; at length, however, Marcellus, having checked the enemy in Italy, maritime affairs were again attended to. Scipio, who had been successful in Spain, resolved to attempt the reduction of New Carthage: this place was situated, like Old Carthage, on a peninsula betwixt a port and a lake: its harbour was extremely commodious, and large enough to receive and shelter any fleet. As it was the capital of the Carthaginian dominions in Spain, here were deposited all their naval stores, machines used in war, besides immense treasures. It was on this account extremely well fortified, and to attempt to take it by a regular siege seemed to Scipio impracticable: he, therefore, formed a plan to take it by surprise, and this plan he communicated to C. Laelius, the commander of the fleet, who was his intimate friend. The Roman fleet was to block up the port by sea, while Scipio was to blockade it by land. The ignorance of the Romans with regard to one of the most common and natural phenomena of the sea, is strongly marked in the course of this enterprise. Scipio knew that when the tide ebbed, the port of New Carthage would become dry and accessible by land; but his soldiers, and even his officers, were ignorant of the nature of the tides, and they firmly believed that Neptune had wrought a miracle in their favour, when, according to Scipio's prediction, the tide retired, and the army was thus enabled to capture the town, the walls of which on that side were extremely low, the Carthaginians having directed all their attention and efforts to the opposite side. The capture of New Carthage depressed, in a great degree, the spirits, as well as weakened the strength of the Carthaginians in Spain: eighteen galleys were captured in the port, besides 113 vessels laden with naval stares; 40,000 bushels of wheat, 260,000 bushels of barley, a large number of warlike machines of all descriptions, 260 cups of gold, most of which weighed a pound, 18,300 pounds weight of silver, princ.i.p.ally coin, besides bra.s.s money, were among the spoils.

About the year of Rome 556, Scipio had succeeded in reducing all Spain. It does not appear, however, that the Romans were thus enabled greatly to extend their commerce; indeed, at this period, we have no evidence that any other town in Spain, except Gades, possessed any considerable trade. This island and city were situated in a gulph of the same name, between the straits of Gibraltar and the river Boetis; and, from the remotest period of which we possess any records, was resorted to by foreigners for the purposes of commerce. Gradually, however, the inhabitants of Spain, under the Roman government, enriched themselves and their conquerors by their industry: large quant.i.ties of corn, wine, and oil were exported, besides wax, honey, pitch, vermilion, and wool. The oil and wool were deemed equal, if not superior, to those of any other part of the world: the excellent quality of the wool is a strong fact, against an opinion entertained by many, that the fineness of the Spanish was originally derived from the exportation of some English sheep to Spain, since it appears to have been celebrated even in the time of the Romans: how important and lucrative an object it was considered, may be collected from the attention that was paid to the breed of sheep; a ram, according to Strabo, having been sold for a talent, or nearly 200_l_. Horace incidentally gives evidence of the commercial wealth of Spain in his time, when he considers the master of a Spanish trading vessel and a person of great wealth as synonimous terms.

As Hannibal still continued in Italy, the senate of Rome resolved to send Scipio into Italy, with a discretionary power to invade Africa from that island. He lost no time in equipping a fleet for these purposes, and his efforts were so well seconded by the zeal and activity of the provinces and cities, many of which taxed themselves to supply iron, timber, cloth for sails, corn, &c. that, in forty days after the timber was felled, Scipio had a fleet of thirty new galleys.

Soon after he landed in Sicily, he resolved to invade Africa: for this purpose his fleet was collected in the port of Lilibaeum. Never was embarkation made with more order and solemnity: the concourse of people who came from all parts to see him set sail, and wish him a prosperous voyage, was prodigious. Just before he weighed anchor, he appeared on the p.o.o.p of his galley, and, after an herald had proclaimed silence, addressed a solemn prayer to the G.o.ds. It is foreign to our purpose to give any account of the campaign in Africa, which, it is well known, terminated in the utter defeat of the Carthaginians, who were obliged to sue for peace. This was granted them on very severe terms: all the cities and provinces which they possessed in Africa previously to the war, they were indeed permitted to retain, but they were stripped of Spain, and of all the islands in the Mediterranean; all their ships of war, except ten galleys, were to be delivered up to the Romans; and, for the future, they were not to maintain above that number at one time: even the size of their fishing boats and of their trading vessels was regulated. In the course of fifty years ten thousand talents were to be paid to the Romans. During a short truce which preceded the peace, the Carthaginians had seized and plundered a Roman squadron, which had been dispersed by a storm, and driven near Carthage; as a satisfaction for this, they were obliged to pay the Romans 25,000 pounds weight of silver. The successful termination of the second Punic war gave to the Romans complete dominion of the sea, on which they maintained generally 100 galleys. Commerce flourished, particularly that most important branch, the trade in corn, with which Rome, at this period, is said to have been so plentifully furnished, that the merchants paid their seamen with it.

The power of the Romans at sea was now so well established, that no foreign power could hope to attack, or resist them, unless they were expert navigators, as well as furnished with a numerous fleet. Under this impression, Philip king of Macedon, who had long been jealous and afraid of them, applied himself sedulously to maritime affairs. As it was about this period that the Romans began to turn their thoughts to the conquest of Greece, it may be proper to take a retrospective view of the maritime affairs and commerce of that country. An inspection of the map of Greece will point out the advantages which it possessed for navigation and commerce. Lying nearly in the middle of the Mediterranean, with the sea washing three of its sides; possessed of almost innumerable inlets and bays, it was admirably adapted to ancient commerce. Its want of large and navigable rivers, which will always limit its commerce in modern times, presented no obstacle to the small vessels in which the ancients carried on their trade; as they never navigated them during the winter, and from their smallness and lightness, they could easily drag them on sh.o.r.e.

Athens, the most celebrated state in Greece for philosophy, literature, and arms, was also the most celebrated for commerce. The whole of the southern angle of Attica consisted of a district called Parali, or the division adjacent to the sea. In the other districts of Attica, the soldiers of the republic were found: this furnished the sailors; fishing and navigation were the chief employments of its inhabitants. About 46 miles distant from the Piraeus, stood Sunium, the most considerable town in this district: it possessed a double harbour in the Mediterranean.

The princ.i.p.al commerce of Attica, however, was carried on at Athens: this city had three harbours: the most ancient was that of Phalerum, distant from the city, according to some authors, 35 stadia; according to others only 20 stadia. It was nearer Athens than the other two, but smaller, and less commodious. Munichea was the name of the second harbour: it was formed in a promontory not far distant from the Pirasus, a little to the east of Athens, and naturally a place of great strength; it was afterwards, at the instance of Thrasybulus, rendered still stronger by art. But by far the most celebrated harbour of Athens was the Piraeus. The republic of Athens, in order to concentrate its military and mercantile fleets in this harbour, abandoned that of Phalerum, and bent all their efforts to render the Piraeus as strong and commodious as possible. This occurred in the time of Themistocles; by whose advice both the town and the harbour were inclosed with a wall, about seven miles and a half long, and sixty feet high.

Themistocles' intention was to have made it eighty cubits high, but in this he was opposed. Before this connecting wall was built, the Piraeus was about three miles distant from the city. As the strength of the wall was of the utmost importance, it was built of immense square stones, which were fastened together with iron or leaden cramps. It was so broad that two waggons could have been driven along it. The Pireus contained three docks; the first called Cantharus, the second Aphrodisium, and the third Zea.

There were likewise five porticos, and two forums. The Piraeus was so celebrated for its commerce, that it became a proverbial saying in Greece, "Famine does not come from the Piraeus." The extent and convenience of the Piraeus may be judged of from this circ.u.mstance, that under the demagogue Lycurgus, the whole naval force of the nation, amounting to 400 triremes, were safely and easily laid up in its three harbours.

Before the time of Themistocles, Athens does not appear to have devoted her attention or resources to maritime affairs: but this celebrated general not only rendered the Piraeus stronger and more commodious, but also procured a decree, which enabled him to add twenty ships to the fleet annually. The sums arising from the sale of the privileges of working the mines, or the eventual profits of the mines, which had formerly been distributed among the people, were, through his influence, set apart for the building of ships. Afterwards a law was pa.s.sed, which taxed all the citizens who possessed land, manufactories, or money in trade or with their bankers; these cla.s.ses of the citizens were also obliged to keep up, and increase, if occasion required it, the naval force of the republic. When it was necessary to fit out an armament, as many talents as there were galleys to be built and equipped, were raised in each of the ten tribes of Athens. The money thus collected was given to the captains of the galleys, to be expended in the maintenance of the crew. The republic furnished the rigging and sailors: two captains were appointed to each galley, who served six months each.

Although the vessels employed by the Athenians both for war and commerce were small compared with those of modern days, and their merchant ships even much smaller than those of the Phoenicians, if we may judge by the description given by Xenophon of a Phoenician merchant vessel in the Piraeus, yet the expence attending their equipment was very great. We learn from Demosthenes, that the light vessels could not be kept in commission, even if the utmost attention was paid to economy, and no extraordinary damage befel them, for a smaller sum than about 8000_l_. annually; of course, such vessels as from their size, strength, and manning, were capable of standing the brunt of an engagement, must have cost more than double that sum.

In the time of Demosthenes, the trade of Athens seems to have been carried on with considerable spirit and activity; the greater part of the money of the Athenians having been employed in it. From one of his orations we learn, that in the contract executed when money was lent for this purpose, the period when the vessel was to sail, the nature and value of the goods with which she was loaded, the port to which she was to carry them, the manner in which they were to be sold there, and the goods with which she was to return to Athens, were all specifically and formally noticed. In other particulars the contracts varied: the money, lent was either not to be repaid till the return of the vessel, or it was to be repaid as soon as the outward goods were sold at the place to which she was bound, either to the agent of the lender, or to himself, he going there for that express purpose. The interest of money so lent varied: sometimes it rose as high as 30 per cent: it seems to have depended princ.i.p.ally on the risks of the voyage.

In another oration of Demosthenes we discover glimpses of what by many has been deemed maritime insurance, or rather of the fraud at present called barratry, which is practised to defraud the insurer: but, as Park in his learned Treatise on Marine Insurance has satisfactorily proved, the ancients were certainly ignorant of maritime insurance; though there can be no doubt frauds similar to those practised at present were practised.

According to Demosthenes, masters of vessels were in the habit of borrowing considerable sums, which they professed to invest in a cargo of value, but instead of such a cargo, they took on board sand and stones, and when out at sea, sunk the vessel. As the money was lent on the security either of the cargo or ship, or both, of course the creditors were defrauded: but it does not appear how they could, without detection, subst.i.tute sand or stones for the cargo.

The Athenians pa.s.sed a number of laws respecting commerce, mostly of a prohibitory nature. Money could not be advanced or lent on any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, that did not return to Athens, and discharge its cargo there. The exportation of various articles, which were deemed of the first necessity, was expressly forbidden: such as timber for building, fir, cypress, plane, and other trees, which grew in the neighbourhood of the city; the rosin collected on Mount Parnes, the wax of Mount Hymettus--which two articles, incorporated together, or perhaps singly, were used for daubing over, or caulking their ships. The exportation of corn, of which Attica produced very little, was also forbidden; and what was brought from abroad was not permitted to be sold any where except in Athens. By the laws of Solon, they were allowed to exchange oil for foreign commodities. There were besides a great number of laws respecting captains of ships, merchants, duties, interest of money, and different kinds of contracts. One law was specially favourable to merchants and all engaged in trade; by it a heavy fine, or, in some cases, imprisonment, was inflicted on whoever accused a merchant or trader of any crime he could not substantiate. In order still farther to protect commerce, and to prevent it from suffering by litigation, all causes which respected it could be heard only during the period when vessels were in port. This period extended generally to six months--from April to September inclusive--no ships being at sea during the other portion of the year.

The taxes of the Athenians, so far as they affected commerce, consisted of a fifth, levied on the corn and other merchandize imported, and also on several articles which were exported from Athens. These duties were generally farmed. In an oration of Andocides, we learn that he had farmed the duty on foreign goods imported for a term of three years, at twelve talents annually. In consequence of these duties, smuggling was not uncommon. The inhabitants of the district called Corydale were celebrated for illicit traffic: there was a small bay in this district, a little to the north of Piraeus, called. Thieves' Harbour, in which an extensive and lucrative and contraband trade was carried on; ships of different nations were engaged in it. Demosthenes informs us, that though this place was within the boundaries of Attica, yet the Athenians had not the legal power to put a stop to traffic by which they were greatly injured, as the inhabitants of Corydale, as well as the inhabitants of every other state, however small, were sovereigns within their own territory.

In an oration of Isocrates an operation is described which bears some resemblance to that performed by modern bills of exchange. A stranger who brought grain to Athens, and who, we may suppose, wished to purchase goods to a greater amount than the sale of his grain would produce, drew on a person living in some town on the Euxine, to which the Athenians were in the habit of trading. The Athenian merchant took this draft; but not till a banker in Athens had become responsible for its due payment.

The Athenian merchants were obliged, from the nature of trade in those ancient times, to be constantly travelling from one spot to another; either to visit celebrated fairs, or places where they hoped to carry on an advantageous speculation. We shall afterwards notice more particularly the Macedonian merchant mentioned by Ptolemy the Geographer, who sent his clerks to the very borders of China; and from other authorities we learn that the Greek merchants were accurately informed respecting the interior parts of Germany, and the course of most of the princ.i.p.al rivers in that country. The trade in aromatics, paints, cosmetics, &c., was chiefly possessed by the Athenians, who had large and numerous markets in Athens for the sale of these articles. Even in the time of Hippocrates, some of the spices of India were common in the Peloponnesus and Attica; and there is every reason to believe that most of these articles were introduced into Greece in consequence of the journeys of their merchants to some places of depot, to which they were brought from the East.

We have already mentioned that the importation of corn into a country so unfertile as Attica, was a subject of the greatest moment, and to which the care and laws of the republic were most particularly directed. There were magistrates, whose sole business and duty it was to lay in corn for the use of the city; and other magistrates who regulated its price, and fixed also the a.s.size of bread. In the Piraeus there were officers, the chief part of whose duty it was to take care that two parts at least of all the corn brought into the port should be carried to the city. Lysias, in his oration against the corn merchants, gives a curious account of the means employed, by them to raise its price, very similar to the rumours by which the same effect is often produced at present: an embargo, or prohibition of exporting it, by foreigners, an approaching war, or the capture or loss of the vessels laden with it, seem to have been the most prevalent rumours.

Sicily, Egypt, and the Crimea were the countries which princ.i.p.ally supplied Attica with this necessary article. As the voyage from Sicily was the shortest, as well as exposed to the least danger, the arrival of vessels with corn from this island always reduced the price; but there does not appear to have been nearly such quant.i.ties brought either from it or Egypt, as from the Crimea. The Athenians, therefore, encouraged by every possible means their commerce with the Cimmerian Bosphorus. One of the kings of that country, Leucon II., who reigned about the time of Demosthenes, favoured them very much. As the harbours were unsafe and inconvenient, he formed a new one, called Theodosia, or, in the language of the country, Ardauda: he likewise exempted their vessels from paying the duty on corn, to which all other vessels were subject on exporting it--this duty amounted to a thirtieth part,--and allowed their merchants a free trade to all parts of his kingdom. In return, the Athenians made him and his children citizens of Athens, and granted to such of his subjects as traded in Attica the same privileges and exemptions which their citizens enjoyed in Bosphorus. It was one of the charges against Demosthenes, by his rival, the orator Dinarchus, that the sons and successors of Leucon sent yearly to him a thousand bushels of wheat. Besides the new port of Theodosia, the Athenians traded also to Panticapaeum for corn: the quant.i.ty they exported is stated by Demosthenes to have amounted to 400,000 mediniri, or bushels, yearly, as appeared from the custom books; and this was by far the greatest quant.i.ty of corn they received from foreign countries. Lucian, indeed, informs us that a ship, which, from his description, must have been about the size of our third-rates, contained as much corn as maintained all Attica for a twelvemonth; but, in the time of this author, Athens was not nearly so populous as it had been: and besides, as is justly remarked by Hume, it is not safe to trust to such loose rhetorical ill.u.s.trations.

From a pa.s.sage in Thucydides we may learn that the Athenians derived part of their supply of corn from Euboea; this pa.s.sage is also curious as exhibiting a surprising instance of the imperfection of ancient navigation.

Among the inconveniences experienced by the Athenians, from the fortifying of Dacelia by the Lacedemonians, this historian particularly mentions, as one of the most considerable, that they could not bring over their corn from Euboea by land, pa.s.sing by Oropus, but were under the necessity of embarking it, and sailing round Cape Sunium; and yet the water carriage could not be more than double the land carriage.

The articles imported by the Athenians from the Euxine Sea, besides corn, were timber for building, slaves, salt, honey, wax, wool, leather, and goat-skins; from Byzantium and other ports of Thrace and Macedonia, salt fish and timber; from Phrygia and Miletus, carpets, coverlets for beds, and the fine wool, of which their cloths were made; from the islands of Egean Sea, wine and different fruits; and from Thrace, Thessaly, Phrygia, &c., a great number of slaves.

The traffic in slaves was, next to that in corn, of the greatest consequence to the Athenians, for the citizens were not in sufficient numbers, and, if they had been, were not by any means disposed, to cultivate the land, work the mines, and carry on the various trades and manufactures. The number of slaves in Attica, during the most flourishing period of the republic, was estimated at 400,000: of these the greater part had been imported; the rest were natives of Greece, whom the fate of arms had thrown into the hands of a conqueror irritated by too obstinate a resistance. The slaves most esteemed, and which brought the highest price, were imported from Syria and Thrace, the male slaves of the former country, and the females of the latter: the slaves from Macedonia were the least valued. The price of a slave seems to have been extremely low, as Xenophon mentions that some were sold at Athens for half an Attic mina, or rather more than thirty shillings: those, however, who had acquired a trade, or were otherwise particularly useful, were valued at five minae, or about fifteen pounds.

Our idea of the commerce of Athens, and of Greece in general, would be very imperfect and inadequate if we neglected to notice their fairs. It has been ingeniously supposed, that at the celebrated games of Greece, such as those of Olympia, &c., trade was no subordinate object; and this idea is certainly confirmed by various pa.s.sages in ancient authors. Cicero expressly informs us, that even so early as the age of Pythagoras, a great number of people attended the religious games for the express purpose of trading. At Delphi, Nemaea, Delos, or the Isthmus of Corinth, a fair was held almost every year. The amphyctionic fairs were held twice a year. In the time of Chrysostom, these lairs were infamously distinguished for a traffic in slaves, destined for public incontinence. The amphyctionic spring fair was held at Delphi, and at Thermopylae in the autumn; in fact, at the same times that the deputies from the states of Greece formed the amphyctionic council;--another proof that wherever large a.s.semblies of people took place in Greece, for religious or political purposes, advantage was taken of them to carry on traffic. At the fairs of Thermopylae medicinal herbs and roots, especially h.e.l.lebore, were sold in large quant.i.ties. One princ.i.p.al reason why the religious games or political a.s.semblies of the states were fixed upon to hold fairs was, that during them all hostilities were suspended; and every person might go with his merchandize in safety to them, even through an enemy's country. The priests, so far from regarding these fairs as a profanation of the religions ceremonies, encouraged them; and the priests of Jupiter, in particular, advanced large sums on interest to such merchants as had good credit, but had not sufficient money with them.

The island of Delos calls for our particular attention, as the grand mart of the Athenians, as well as of the rest of Greece, and of the other countries in the Mediterranean, which at this period were engaged in commerce. The peace of this island always remained undisturbed, from an opinion that it was under the special protection of Apollo and Diana; and when the fleets of enemies met there, out of respect to the sacredness of the place, they forbore all manner of hostilities. There were also other circ.u.mstances which contributed to render it a place of great importance to commerce: its commodious situation for the navigation from Europe into Asia; its festivals, which brought immense crowds to it (and as we have just observed, wherever a mult.i.tude of Greeks were collected, by superst.i.tious rites or amus.e.m.e.nts, commerce was mingled with their duties and pursuits); and the bias which its original, or at least its very early inhabitants, had to commerce: all these combined to render it a place of great importance to commerce. Its trade consisted chiefly in slaves: according to Strabo, in the time of Perseus, king of Macedonia, above 10,000 slaves came in and went out daily. The corn, wine, and other commodities of the neighbouring islands; the scarlet linen tunics, manufactured in the island of Amorgos; the rich purple stuffs of Cos; the highly esteemed alum of Melos, and the valuable copper, which the mines, of Delos itself (that had been long worked,) and the elegant vases, manufactured from this copper,--were the princ.i.p.al commodities exported from Delos. In return and exchange, foreign merchants brought the produce and manufactures of their respective countries; so that the island became, as it were, the storehouse of the treasures of nations; and the scene, during this mixture of religious festivals and commercial enterprise, was peculiarly gay and animated. The inhabitants were, by an express law, which is noticed by Athenaeus, obliged to furnish water to all the strangers who resorted thither; to which, it would appear, they added, either gratuitously, or for a small remuneration, cakes and other trifling eatables.

The Athenians were so anxious to protect and extend the commerce carried on in Delos, that they gave encouragement to such strangers to settle there as were conversant in commerce, as well as strictly guarded its neutrality and privileges. On the destruction of Tyre, and afterwards of Carthage, events which gave a new direction to the commerce of the Mediterranean, a great number of merchants from these cities fled to Delos, where they were taken under the protection of the Athenians; and it appears by an inscription found in the 17th century, that the Tyrians formed a company of merchants and navigators there. The Romans traded to it, even before their war with Philip, king of Macedon. After the restoration of Corinth, the Athenians used all their efforts to keep up the commerce of Delos; but the wars of Mithridates put an end to it; and in a very short period afterwards, it seems to have been entirely abandoned by the merchants of all nations, and, as a commercial place, to have fallen into utter neglect and decay.

Corinth, next to Athens, demands our notice, as one of the most commercial cities of Greece. The Corinthian dominions were extremely small, their extent from east to west being about half a degree, and from north to south about half that s.p.a.ce: according to the geographer Scylax, a vessel might sail from one extremity to the other in a day. It had no rivers of any note, and few rich plains, being in general uneven, and but moderately fertile. The situation of Corinth itself, however, amply compensated for all these disadvantages: it was built on the middle of the isthmus of the same name, at the distance of about 60 stadia on either side from the sea; on one side was the Saronic Gulf, on the other the sea of Crissa. On the former was the port of Lechaeum, which was joined to the city by a double wall, 12 stadia in length; on the latter sea, was the port of Cinchraea, distant from Corinth 70 stadia. There was, besides, the port and castle of Cromyon, about 120 stadia distant from the capital. Hence, it will appear that Corinth commanded the trade of all the eastern part of the Mediterranean by the port of Cinchraea; and of the Ionian sea, by that of Lechaeum. But the Corinthians possessed other advantages; for their citadel was almost impregnable, commanded from its situation both these seas, and stood exactly in the way of communication by land between one part of Greece and the other. The other states, however, would not permit the Corinthians to interdict them the pa.s.sage of the Isthmus; but they could not prevent them from taking advantage of their situation, by carrying on an extensive and lucrative commerce. The Isthmian games, which were celebrated at Corinth, also contributed very much to its splendour and opulence, and drew additional crowds to it, who, as usual, mingled commerce with religion. According to Thucydides, Corinth had been a city of great traffic, even when the Greeks confined their trade to land: at this period, the Corinthians imposed a transit duty on all commodities, which entered or left the Peloponnessus by the Isthmus. But the extended knowledge and enterprise of the Greeks, and, above all, the destruction of the pirates which infested the narrow seas, led them to prefer sea carriage part of the way. The reason why they did not transport their goods the whole pa.s.sage by sea, may be found in their ignorance and fears: their inexperienced mariners and frail ships could not succeed in doubling Cape Malea in Laconia; off which, and between it and Crete, the sea was frequently very boisterous. Hence, the merchants were under the necessity of transporting, by land carriage, their goods to the seas which formed the Isthmus. Such as came from Italy, Sicily, and the countries to the west, were landed at Lechaeum; while the merchandize from Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and the islands in the Egean Sea, were landed at the port of Cinchraea. The breadth of the Isthmus was so small that the goods were easily and quickly conveyed from one harbour to the other; and afterwards the Corinthians succeeded in transporting the ships themselves.

At first it would appear that the Corinthians contented themselves with the wealth derived from their city being the great mart of commerce, and from the duties which they imposed: but they soon began to engage very extensively and with great spirit in trade themselves. Several kinds of manufactures were encouraged, which were highly valued by foreign nations, especially coverlets for beds, and bra.s.s and earthen-ware vessels. But their most valuable manufacture consisted in a metal compounded of copper and a small quant.i.ty of gold and silver, which was extremely brilliant, and scarcely liable to rust or decay. From this metal they made helmets, &c., little figures, cups, vessels, &c., which were highly esteemed, not only on account of the metal of which they were formed, but still more on account of the tasteful foliage and other ornaments with which they were covered.

Their earthen-ware was ornamented in the same beautiful and tasteful manner.

All these were exported by the Corinthians in great quant.i.ties, and formed very lucrative articles of trade. Paper and sailcloth from Egypt; ivory from Lybia; leather from Cyrene; incense from Syria; dates from Phoenicia; carpets from Carthage; corn and cheese from Sicily; apples and pears from Euboea;--filled the warehouses of Corinth.

As soon as Corinth resolved to partic.i.p.ate in maritime commerce, she applied herself to this object with great industry and success: she built ships of a novel form, and first produced galleys with three benches of oars; and history a.s.sures us that the Greeks obtained their first maritime experience during the naval war between the Corinthians and the inhabitants of Corfu; and by their instruction the Samians put to sea those powerful fleets for which they were distinguished.

Besides Athens and Corinth, there were no states in ancient Greece, the consideration of whose maritime and commercial affairs will detain us long.

Lacedaemonia was favourably situated in these respects; but either her laws, or the disposition and pursuits of her inhabitants, prevented her from taking advantage of her situation. All the south part of Laconia was encompa.s.sed by the sea, and on the east and north-east was the Argelic Bay: on its coasts were a great number of capes, the most celebrated of which were those of Malea and Tanara; they were also furnished with a great number of sea-port towns and commodious harbours. In consequence of the capes extending far into the sea, and the deepness of some of the bays, the ancients took three days to navigate the length of the coast in vessels wrought by oars, following, as they generally did, all the windings of the land. The little river Pameros, which divided Beotia from Laconia, formed one extremity, and the port of Prais, on the Gulf of Argelis, formed the other. The most difficult and dangerous part of this navigation consisted in doubling Cape Malea.

The most convenient and frequented sea-ports in Laconia were Trina.s.sus and Acria, situated on each side the mouth of the Eurotas; and Gythium, not far from Trina.s.sus, at the mouth of a small river on the Laconic Gulf. The mouth of this river, which was navigable up to Sparta, was defended by a citadel, the ruins of which were remaining in the time of Pausanias. As the Lacedaemonians regarded this town as their princ.i.p.al port, in which their naval forces, as well as the greater part of their merchant ships a.s.sembled, they employed considerable labour and expence in rendering it commodious and safe; for this purpose they dug a very s.p.a.cious basin which, on one side was defended by motes, and on the other by numerous fortifications: the strength of these may be judged of from the circ.u.mstance, that even after the armies of Sparta had been utterly defeated by Epaminondas, and Philip, the son of Demetrius, neither of these conquerors could capture this sea-port. In it were deposited all the requisites for their naval force, and from it sailed their merchant ships with cargoes to Crete, Africa, and Egypt; to all of which countries, according to Thucydides, the Lacedaemonians carried on a lucrative and regular traffic. Another of their sea-ports was Epidaurus, situated on the Gulf of Argos, in the eastern part of Laconia. The country round it contained many vineyards, the wine of which was exported in considerable quant.i.ties, and supplied other parts of Greece. This district is still celebrated for its wine, called Malvasia, (or Malmsey,) a corruption from Maleates, the ancient name of this part of Laconia.

We have already alluded to the supposed aversion of the Spartans to maritime affairs, which, according to some authors, arose from Lycurgus having prohibited them from building vessels, or employing sailors; but this idea is unfounded, and seems to have arisen from the fact, that their kings were prevented, by a positive law, from commanding the fleets. That the Spartans engaged in commerce, we have, as has been just stated, the express testimony of Thucydides; and there is abundant evidence that they had always armed vessels during their wars; and even so early as the time of Croesus, they sent some troops to Satnos, and plundered that island: and in later times, they used such efforts to equip vessels, in order to gain the mastery of the seas, that, according to Xenophon, they entirely neglected their cavalry. They were stimulated to this line of conduct by Alcibiades, who advised the kings, ephori, and the nation at large, to augment their marine, to compel the ships of all other nations to lower their flag to theirs, and to proclaim themselves exclusive masters of the Grecian seas. Isocrates informs us, that, before Alcibiades came to Lacedaemon, the Spartans, though they had a navy, expended little on it; but afterwards they increased it almost daily. The signal defeat they sustained at the battle of Cnidus, where Conon destroyed their whole fleet, not only blasted their hopes of becoming masters of the seas, but, according to Isocrates, led to their defeat at the battle of Leuctra.

Off the coast of Laconia, and about forty stadia from Cape Malea, lies the island of Cythera; the strait between it and the mainland was deemed by the ancients extremely dangerous in stormy weather; and indeed its narrowness, and the rocks that lay off Cape Malea must, to such inexperianced navigators, have been very alarming. The Phoenicians are supposed to have had a settlement in this island: afterwards it became an object of great consequence to the Lacedaemonians, who fortified, at great expence, and with much labour and skill, its two harbours, Cythera and Scandea. The convenience of these harbours to the Lacedaemonians compensated for the sterility of the island, which was so great that when the Athenians conquered it, they could raise from it only four Attic talents annually.

The chief employment and source of wealth to the inhabitants consisted in collecting a species of sh.e.l.l-fish, from which an inferior kind of Tyrian dye was extracted. There were several fisheries on the mainland of Laconia for the same purpose.

Some of the other Greek islands require a short and general notice, on account of the attention they paid to maritime affairs. Corcyra was inhabited by skilful mariners, who, in the time of Herodotus, possessed a greater number of ships than any other people in Greece, with the exception of the Athenians; and, according to Thucydides, at one period they were masters of the Mediterranean Sea. On the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, they fitted out a fleet of sixty ships, with which they promised to a.s.sist their countrymen; but, instead of this, their ships anch.o.r.ed in a place where they could see the result of the battle of Salamis, and when they ascertained that the Greeks were victorious, they pretended that they had been prevented from affording the promised succours by contrary winds, so that they could not double Cape Malea. Of the commerce of this island we have no particulars detailed by ancient writers.

Egina, in the Saronic Gulf, acquired great wealth from the cultivation of commerce: in the time of the Persian war, they equipped a very powerful and well-manned fleet for the defence of Greece; and at the battle of Salamis they were adjudged to have deserved the prize of valour. According to Elian, they were the first people who coined money.

The island of Euboea possessed excellent harbours, from which, as it was very fertile, the Athenians exported large quant.i.ties of corn. This island is divided from the mainland of Greece by the Euripus, which the ancients represented to be so extremely narrow, that a galley could scarcely pa.s.s through it: its frequent and irregular tides were, also the subject of their wonder, and the cause of them, of their fruitless researches and conjectures. It hits several promontories, the doubling of one of which, Cape Catharius, was reckoned by the ancients very dangerous, on account of the many rocks and whirlpools on the const. Of all the cities of Euboea, Chalcis was the most famous: its inhabitants applied themselves, at a very early period, to navigation, and sent numerous colonies to Thrace, Macedon, Italy, &c. In the vicinity of another of its towns, Carystus, there were quarries of very fine marble, the exportation of which seems to have been a lucrative trade: in the same part of the island also was found the asbestos. Euboea possessed several rich copper and iron mines; and as the inhabitants were very skilful in working these metals, the exportation of armour, and various vessels made from them, was also one important branch of their commerce.

Of the numerous colonies sent out by the Greeks, we shall notice only those which were established for the purposes of commerce, or which, though not established for this express purpose, became afterwards celebrated for it.

None of the Athenian colonies, which they established expressly for the purpose of trading with the capital, was of such importance as Amphipolis.

This place was situated at the mouth of the river Strymon, on the borders of Macedonia. The country in its vicinity was very fertile in wood, and from it, for a considerable length of time, the Athenians princ.i.p.ally derived timber for building their fleets: they also levied on its inhabitants a heavy tribute in silver coin. As this city was well situated for commerce, and the Athenians, wherever they went, or were settled, were eager in pursuit of gain, their colonists in Amphipolis extended their trade, on one side into Thrace, and on the other into Macedonia. They were enabled, in a great measure, to monopolize the commerce of both these countries, at least those parts of them which were contiguous, from the situation of their city on the Strymon; of which river they held, as it were, the key, so that nothing could depart from it without their consent.

The ancients represent this river as frequently exhibiting immense logs of wood floating down it, which had been felled either on Mount Rhodope, or in the forests of Mount Hemus. The Athenians retained this important and valuable colony till the time of Philip, the father of Alexander, by whom it was taken from them.

The island of Samos may justly be regarded as a Grecian colony; having been chiefly inhabited by the Iones, to whose confederacy it belonged. Its situation between the mainland of Asia and the island of Icaria, from both of which it is separated by very narrow straits, which were the usual course for the ancient vessels in their voyage from the Black Sea to Syria and Egypt, rendered it the resort of pirates, as well as celebrated for its ships and commerce. The city of Samos, as described by the ancients, seems to have been a place of great consequence. Herodotus mentions three things for which it was remarkable in his time; one of which was a mole or pier, 120 feet long, which formed the harbour, and was carried two furlongs into the sea. The princ.i.p.al design of this mole was to protect ships from the south wind, to which they would otherwise have been much exposed. Hence it would appear, that even at this early period, they had made great advances in commerce, otherwise they would neither have had the disposition or ability to build such a mole. But we have the express testimony of Thucydides, that even at a much earlier period,--nearly 300 years before the Peloponnesian war,--the Samians gave great encouragement to shipbuilding, and employed Aminodes, the Corinthian, who was esteemed the most skilful ship-builder of his time; and Herodotus speaks of them as trading to Egypt, Spain, &c., before any of the other Greeks, except Sostrates, of Egina, were acquainted with those countries. The same author informs us, that the Samians had a settlement in Upper Egypt, and that one of their merchant ships, on its pa.s.sage thither, was driven by contrary winds, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to the island of Tartessus, which till then was unknown to the Greeks. This island abounded in gold; of the value of which, the inhabitants were so utterly ignorant, that they readily allowed the Samians to carry home with them sixty talents, or about 13,500_l_. According to Pliny, they first built vessels fit to transport cavalry. We are not informed of what articles their exports and imports consisted, except that their earthen-ware was in great repute among the ancients, in their most splendid entertainments, and was exported in great quant.i.ties for this purpose. The Samian earth, from which these vessels were made, was itself also exported, on account of its medicinal properties. It is well known that the victory obtained by the Greeks over the Persians, at the sea-fight of Mycale, was chiefly owing to the Samians.

The commerce of the Black Sea was of so much importance and value to the Greeks, that we cannot be surprised that they founded several colonies on its sh.o.r.es, and in the adjacent countries. Heraclea, in this sea, is said to have been founded by the Beotians: the inhabitants availed themselves of their situation to engage very extensively in maritime affairs and in commerce, so that in a short time they were not inferior in wealth or power to any of the Greek states in Asia. When Xenophon was obliged to retreat after his expedition into Asia Minor, the Heracleans supplied him with ships, to transport his army into Greece. Their maritime strength and skill, or their commercial pursuits, involved them in almost every maritime war, their friendship and support being sought after by all the Asiatic princes. When the war broke out between Ptolemy and Antigonus, they sent to the a.s.sistance of the former a numerous fleet, all of which were well equipped and manned. Some were of an extraordinary size, especially one, which had on each side 800 oars, besides 1200 fighting men.