Tacitus, who mentions this circumstance, also informs
us, that Ireland, which was known by name to the Greeks, was much
frequented in his time by merchants, from whose information he adds, that
its harbours were better known than those of Britain: this statement,
however, there is much reason to question, as in the time of Caesar, all
that the Romans knew of Ireland was its relative position to Britain, and
that it was about half its size.
The emperor Trajan, who reigned between A.D. 98 and A.D. 117, was not only
a great conqueror, carrying the Roman armies beyond the Danube into Dacia,
and into Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, and thus extending and
rendering more accurate the geographical knowledge of his subjects; but he
was also attentive to the improvement and commercial prosperity of the
empire. He made good roads from one end of the empire to the other; he
constructed a convenient and safe harbour at Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia),
and another at Ancona on the Adriatic: he dug a new and navigable canal,
which conveyed the waters of the Nahar-Malcha, or royal canal of
Nebuchadnezzar, into the river Tigris; and he is supposed to have repaired
or renewed the Egyptian canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. He also
gave directions and authority to Pliny, who was appointed governor of
Pontus and Bithynia, to examine minutely into the commerce of those
provinces, and into the revenues derived from it, and other sources.
Pages:
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440