142 A. D. 14' 



commander (wh0m modern writers generally fuppofe to have been of 

 Carthage, but who, I think, muft rather have been of Gadir, and pofte- 

 rior to the deftrudion of Carthage) led his follower into deflrudion by 

 running his own vefTel upon a Ihoal. The fkilful Phoenician, who 

 knew the nature of the ground and of the tides, got off by throwing 

 part of his cargo overboard, and was recompenfed by the public for the 

 damage, which he had fo patriotically incurred. The Romans, how- 

 ever, flill perlifted in their trials, and at lafl P. CralTus difcovered the 

 place, and fhowed the way to others. [Straho, L. iii, p. 265.] We have 

 no knowlege of the time, when any of thefe voyages were made: nor is 

 there any particular acc6unt, I believe, of any other Roman vellels upon 

 the Atlantic ocean, except on the bufinefs of war, whereof we have an 

 inftance in the voyages of Polybius the hiftorian along the coafls of 

 Africa, Spain, and Gaul, till Britain became a Roman province ; though 

 Pliny fays in general that in his time the weftern coafls of Spain and 

 Gaul were navigated, but without telling by what nation, or for what 

 purpofe. [Hi/i. nat. L. ii, c. 67.] 



After much inveftigation I muft acknowlege, that I can find nothing 

 fatisfadory concerning the rate of the cuftoras paid at the Roman ports 

 upon the importation of goods in the reign ofAuguftus*; nor upon 

 the proportion of the value of gold to filver f . 



Notwithftanding the pompous, but fuperficial and unfounded, ac- 

 counts, given by fome modern writers, of a flourifliing commerce car- 

 ried on by the Romans, it is evident that the trade was entirely con- 

 duced by their fubjefts. It is not proper, fays Cicero, that the fame 

 people fliould be the commanders, and the carriers, of the world. Ac- 

 cordingly we find, that among the Romans the charader of a merchant, 

 inftead of being efteemed honourable, as it was among the wife Phceni- 

 cians, was held in contempt, and clafl'ed in their eftimation with buf- 

 foons, gladiators, flaves, and ftrumpets. And certainly no profefllon, 

 that is difreputable, can ever be in a flourifhing or profperous condition. 



Cicero, writing to his fon upon the fubjed of profeflions, condemns 

 iill retail trade as vile and fordid, which can thrive only by means of 



* A French tu-atifc on the Roman revenue, was, according to \.\\c\Pei-iplus of the Erythraan ft-a, 



written at the Jelli.- if Mr. Culbrrt, has- notliii/^ one quarter of the tarj^o : but that was after the 



to the purpjfc : neither han Burman, in his work age of Augiiilus. When Cappadocia was made a 



De vefiigalidus papuli Romanifhctn able to afcer- Roman province, Til)erius reduced the inland duty, 



tain the rate of tiic duty upon any particular ar- or excife, levied upon all falcs, from one to one half 



tides of mcrcliandi/c. Arbuthnot (apparently per cent, but it was loon railed again to one. \^Dio 



from a pah.ifje of Velleius Paterculus, but without Ciiffius, L. lix.] 



any chi'ouology ) rates the duties from 2 to 50 per f The great quar»tity of plundered gold brought 



cent. And even Gibbon, whofe refearches are in by Julius Ca-fur is faid to have lowered the va- 



Kcncrally fo accurate, has contented himfelf with luc of it to nine times its weight in filvsr. Sue/on. 



ikating them widely at from 2 (to 12-^ per cent, in Jii/io, c. ^4, whh y^iiulhiiol'sTtiHes, />. ^[^.^^int 



■[Decllnr cf the R'jman empire, F. i, p. 261.] The that price was only temporary; and one to ten 



fluty taUcti by the Romans at their port of Leukc feenis rather to have been the ufual proportion in 



kumh ( Wbiv: town) near the head of the Red fea, this age. 



