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To speak in a loose and general manner, the Romans, at the height of their
conquests, power, and geographical knowledge, were probably acquainted with
a part of the globe about equal in extent to that of which we are still
ignorant; but their empire embraced a fairer and more valuable portion than
we can expect to find in those countries which remain to reward the
enterprise of European travellers. The fertile regions and the beautiful
climate of the south of Europe, of the north of Africa, and above all of
Asia Minor, present a picture which we can hardly expect will be
approached, certainly will not be surpassed, under the burning heats of
central Africa, or even the more mitigated heats of the farther peninsula
of India. The short and easy access of all portions of the Roman Empire to
the ocean, gave them advantages which must be denied to the hitherto
unexplored districts in the interior of Asia and Africa. The farther
peninsula of India is infinitely better situated in this respect.
At that very remote period, when sacred and profane history first displays
the situation, and narrates the transactions of the human race, the
countries, few in number, and comparatively of small extent, that were
washed by the waters of the Mediterranean, comprised the whole of the earth
which was then known. Asia Minor, which possessed the advantage of lying
not only on this sea, but also on the Euxine, and which is moreover level
in its surface, and fertile in its soil, seems to have been the first
additional portion of the earth that became thoroughly known.
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