The account which Agatharcides gives of Sabaea is very curious and
important; and, as we shall afterwards have occasion to make use of it, in
endeavouring to prove that, in very early ages, the Arabians supplied the
western world with the productions of the east, we shall extract here what
he says of Sabaea from the translation of Dr. Vincent.
"Sabaea, (says Agatharcides,) abounds with every production to make life
happy in the extreme: its very air is so perfumed with odours, that the
natives are obliged to mitigate the fragrance by scents that have an
opposite tendency, as if nature could not support even pleasure in the
extreme. Myrrh, frankincense, balsam, cinnamon, and casia are here
produced, from trees of extraordinary magnitude. The king, as he is, on the
one hand, entitled to supreme honour, on the other, is obliged to submit to
confinement in his palace; but the people are robust, warlike, and able
mariners: they sail in very large vessels to the country where the
odoriferous commodities are produced; they plant colonies there, and import
from thence the larimna, an odour no where else to be found. In fact, there
is no nation on the earth so wealthy as the Gerrheans and Sabeans, as being
in the centre of all the commerce that passes between Asia and Europe.
These are the nations which have enriched the kingdom of Ptolemy: these are
the nations that furnish the most profitable agencies to the industry of
the Phoenicians, and a variety of advantages which are incalculable.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180