122 A. D. 14. 



not very formidable, either for the number or ilrength of the velfels : 

 but then he had not one enemy in the whole extent of the Mediterranean 

 to contend with. Having obferved the diladvantage of Antony's unweildy 

 fhips at the battle of A(fHum, he built no very large veffels : and, after 

 this time, we hear no more of flilps with very numerous tires of oars *. 



In the reign of Auguflus, fome Roman navigators explored the coafl 

 of the North fea, as far as the promontory of the Cimbri (the north 

 point of Denmark, called the Scaw). [Plin. Hift. nat. L. ii, c, 67.] The 

 voyage, however, was not intended to be fubfervient to trade, but to 

 conquefl: ; for the emperor then flattered himfelf, that all Germany 

 was to be reduced under his yoke by Tiberius, who fucceeded him in the 

 empire. But, to the Romans, the Ocean was flill an objedl of terror, 

 which they endeavoured to difguife, under the pretence of religious 

 awe f , and it was feldom encountered by any veflels from the Roman 

 dominions \. 1 he Mediterranean fea was the proper fphere of their 

 navigation ; and the whole extent of its fhores, with all its iflands, the 

 mofl: infignificant not excepted, being now fubjed to their dominion, 

 there was no receptacle for pirates. Had there been any confiderable 

 mercantile community remaining among the fubjeds of Rome, there 

 was now a fair opportunity of carrying on an extenfive and undi- 

 fturbed commerce among the great variety of nations, who enjoyed a 

 flavidi tranquillity from foreign wars, under the oppreflion of the go- 

 vernors appointed by one fovereign. And during the reign of an em- 

 peror, who was convinced, that his dominions needed no extenfion, and 

 that he had more to fear than to hope from war, commerce mud have 

 been as flourifliing as it could be, in the fituation to which the world 

 was reduced by the deftrudion of the commercial flates. This, there- 

 for, is the time which I think mofl proper for laying before the reader 

 a concife account of the Roman trade, or rather importation, together 

 with fome commercial notices of the various countries, which could not 

 fo conveniently be introduced elfewhere §. 



* About t'.ir year 390 Vcgctius was almod \ To prevent the iiifurtion of quotations at 



apprcliei:fivc tliat he fliould not be believed, when every claiifc, and ahiioll at every word, the reader 



he fald, tliat fome veficls had carried live tires of will plenfc to obferve, that the following account 



aars. \_Vegtt. L. iv, c. 37] And Zofinuis, a is eoileded and digefted, fron\ notices difpcrfcd 



tew years later than Vegctius, talks of vclTels of through the great geographical work of Strabo, 



fix, and even of three, tires of oars, as the works the woiks of Cicero, and tlie Univerfal hittorical 



t>f antient times, of which he feems to have had library of Diodorus Siculus, who were all contem- 



\\o char idea. [/,. v, p. 319, ed. Oxon. 1679.] porary with Angullus : and it is fupplied and cor- 



f For this remark 1 am indebted to Mr. Gib- reded from the hillorians, poets, and other au- 



kon. [^, I, p. 29.] thors, nearly conteiiiporaiy, cfpecially from the 



I • Adverfus oceanus raro ab orbc noflro navi- vail (lore of Pliny's Natural hillory. 



'bus aditur.' \_Taati Gam. c. i.] If I may The reader will not expett, that every article 



prefumc to fay fo of fo gieat a critic, Lipfius has imported from every country (hould be infcrted. 



found a difficulty in the word adverfus, where It is fulfieienc to mention thofe vvhicli were dillin- 



llicre feems to be none, the plain meaning being, guillicd for their excellence, or, as being the llaple, 



that the Ocean was lioftile, or adverfr, the very being reniaikably plenty, or being peculiar to thf 



(iimc word naturalized in Englifti^ eountries from which they were inipoited. 



