Having thus brought our historical sketch of the progress of discovery and
commercial enterprize among the Egyptians down to the period of the
conquest of Egypt by the Romans, we shall, in the next place, revert to the
Romans themselves, in whom, at the date of their conquest of this country,
the geographical knowledge and the commerce of the whole world may justly
be said to have centered. As, however, we have hitherto only adverted to
the Romans, in our account of the discoveries and commerce of the
Carthaginians, it will be proper to notice them in a much more detailed and
particular manner. We shall, therefore, trace, their geographical
knowledge, their discoveries and their commerce, from the foundation of
Rome, to the period of their conquest of Egypt; and in the course of this
investigation, we shall give a sketch of the commerce of those countries
which successively fell under their dominion--omitting such as we have
already noticed: by this plan, we shall be enabled to trace the commerce of
all the known world at that time, down to the period when Rome absorbed the
whole.
The account which Polybius gives, that before the first Carthaginian war
the Romans were entirely ignorant of, and inattentive to sea affairs--if by
this statement he means to assert that they were unacquainted with maritime
commerce, as well as maritime warfare, is expressly contradicted by the
treaties between Rome and Carthage, which we have already given in our
account of the commerce of Carthage.
Pages:
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203