CHAP. VII. 



ROMAN MINES. 181 



manned by soldiers, and did not, like the fleets 

 of modern times, rear up numbers of men accus- 

 tomed to the water, who sought for employment 

 at the end of each war in the pursuits of com- 

 merce. It does not appear that, like the Greeks 

 and other early navigators, they combined in 

 the same operations the dealing in the luxuries 

 of India, Arabia, and Egypt, with " trading in 

 the persons of men." 



In the tranquil reign of Augustus, and under 

 his successors in the imperial dignity, Rome was 

 only anxious to defend her frontiers against the 

 irruptions of the barbarous nations by which she 

 was surrounded. She had no need of a fleet to 

 defend her coasts from maritime invasion, and 

 no distant country over which to extend her 

 conquests that could induce her to maintain a 

 force, so averse to the habits of her people, and 

 so exhausting to her treasury, as a numerous 

 and well equipped naval armament. 



We find accordingly that on the accession of 

 Augustus, he kept up but an inconsiderable 

 naval force, consisting of a few small galleys, at 

 Ravenna in the Adriatic, at Misenum in the bay 

 of Naples, and at Frejus in Gaul. These were 

 found sufficient to maintain tranquillity, and to 

 suppress piracy over the whole extent of the 

 Mediterranean sea ; whilst a squadron of forty 

 boats on the Euxine were deemed sufficient for 

 protection, and one not larger served to keep 



