August 8, 1907] 



NA TURE 



36s 



tributed bv him witli a generosity characteristic of one of 

 the least self-seeking natures with which the world was 

 ever blessed to a rather out-of-the-way publication, the 

 Mull, de la Soc. Neiiclidteloise de Gcol. (vol. xii., 1900). 

 But while I do not desire to enter into details regarding 

 the Phoenicians it is necessary to point out how naturally 

 and indeed inevitably this position of the Phoenician cities 

 between the Mediterranean on the one hand and Meso- 

 potamia and the Persian Gulf route to India on the other 

 hand brought other sources of wealth in its train. Con- 

 veniences for the distribution of manufactured goods have 

 always been one of the most important advantages for 

 the development of manufacturing industry, and the 

 wealthier the community forming the market for the pro- 

 ducts of such industry the more valuable are the manu- 

 factures likely to be. Hence the Phoenician manufactures 

 of fine linens and woollens richly dyed, glass and metal 

 wares, for which other parts of the Mediterranean and 

 its seaboard furnished the raw materials, slaves to do the 

 manual labour, and food for that population which the 

 narrow strip of Phoenicia could not adequately supply. 

 Food is indeed a bulky conunodity, but even bulky com- 

 modities could be transported by sea at a relatively small 

 cost, and in connection with this traffic we must note the 

 indirect effect which the wealth of Phoenicia must have 

 Tiad in promoting the settlement of districts favourably 

 situated for supplying food, and especially of such districts 

 where the opportunities for producing food were great, 

 but not fully turned to account, where the supply there- 

 fore could easily be made superabundant in proportion to 

 the wants of the population. This shows that from the 

 very nature of commerce Its benefits are not confined to 

 one side. Although the geographical conditions for a long 

 period of time led to a special accumulation of the wealth 

 due to commerce on Phoenicia, Phoenician trade promoted 

 the growth of wealth and civilisation elsewhere. The 

 Greeks of the ^^igean distinctly recognised what they owed 

 to the Phoenicians, and they in their turn derived much 

 wealth from Eastern trade, even though not so directly 

 as the Phcenicians, and they in their turn derived some 

 of the food for a commercial population from the far west 

 — from Syracuse, Sybaris, and even the distant Kume. 

 But the far east had a peculiar fascination. As the 

 articles from which much of the wealth of commerce was 

 derived originally came from India, it was natural that 

 the idea should arise that India was a wealthy country, 

 a country well worth possessing. I am not aware whether 

 India ever was in historical times a wealthy country in 

 the sense of producing a great abundance of the neces- 

 saries and ordinary conveniences and comforts of life in 

 proportion to the population, but if it was not rich itself 

 it was at least the means of making others rich. There 

 can hardly be a doubt that the desire of possessing this 

 country of real or imagined wealth was prominent among 

 the motives that led .Ale.xander the Great to embark on 

 that enterprise which had such surprisingly — one might 

 almost say miraculously — widespread, profound, and last- 

 ing effects on the history of the Near East. If we may 

 accept as historical the speech in which Ouintus Curtius 

 represents Alexander as having addressed his troops after 

 his victory over Porus, in order to encourage them to 

 advance further into India, that speech affords fairly 

 strong evidence of what has just been stated. " What 

 now remained for them," said .Alexander, "was a noble 

 spoil. The much-rumoured riches of the East abounded in 

 those very regions to which their steps were now bent. 

 The spoils accordingly which they had taken from the 

 Persians had now become cheap and common. They were 

 going to fill with pearls, precious stones, gold, and ivory 

 not only their private abodes, but all Macedonia and 

 Greece." Alexander was no merchant. Pepper was 

 beneath his notice. His symbols of wealth are those which 

 have always most powerfully affected the imagination. 

 Later on, however, we shall meet with a king who was 

 a merchant, and who understood perhaps better than 

 Alexander wherein consisted the value of Indian trade. 



At the outset of his career Alexander had destroyed 

 Tyre, thinking, no doubt, that he had thereby wiped away 

 the claims of one rival for a share of the wealth of the 

 East ; but it is a noteworthy fact that he did not thereby 



NO. 1 97 1, VOL. 76] 



destroy the value of the site of Tyre under the conditions 

 which then subsisted. Tyre revived and again obtained 

 wealth from its trade with the East, as it did again and 

 again in subsequent history. .•\ heavier blow to Tyre than 

 its mere destruction was the ultimate accomplishment of 

 Alexander's idea for founding a great seat of commerce 

 on the harbour which he saw could be created in the 

 neighbourhood of the Nile delta. The foundation of 

 .Mexandria and the successful efforts of the successors of 

 .Alexander in Egypt to divert a large part of the trade in 

 spices and other Oriental goods to the Red Sea route for 

 the Mediterranean did more than a single act of war to 

 deprive Tyre and other Phoenician cities of the peculiar 

 preeminence which they had long enjoyed in the trade 

 in those wealth-bringing commodities. 



But perhaps the history of \'enice shows even more 

 clearly than that of Tyre the importance of this eastern 

 trade in connection with certain inevitable geographical 

 relations. The foundation of the future commercial glory 

 of Venice may be said to have been laid when Rome 

 planted her colonies north of the Po. The gradual clear- 

 ing of forests gained for agriculture to a greater and 

 greater extent one of the most favoured agricultural areas 

 in Europe. There resulted a superfluity of agricultural 

 products, which begot a trade by sea. The great outlet 

 of this plain in Roman times was Aquileia, which in the 

 beginning of the fifth century, when no one of discern- 

 ment could imagine that there would ever be other than 

 Roman times, was described by a Roman man of affairs 

 and minor poet as one of the nine great cities of the world. 

 But before that century was out .Aquileia was destroyed, 

 never to recover. The value of its site was replaced, and 

 that in a strange way, which no man of discernment could 

 ever have foreseen. The time that saw the destruction 

 of Aquileia and the times that immediately followed were 

 such as made safety a prime consideration, and especially 

 for all who possessed or desired to possess wealth. 

 Refugees from Aquileia, and afterwards from other Italian 

 cities, thought at first of nothing but safety. Many of 

 them found' it on a few muddy and sandy islands near 

 the muddy shores of the lagoon in which Venice now lies. 

 But here they found the means of trade. The sea could 

 be made to furnish both fish and salt, and the rivers 

 that (lowed into the lagoon enabled them to exchange 

 these commodities for provisions of other kinds which the 

 adjoining land could supply. Gradually this commerce 

 gtew, until in the eighth century we find the Venetians 

 trading with Syria and .Africa, Constantinople, and the 

 ports of the Black Sea. 



Throughout the period of growth the policy of this 

 trading republic, both by land and sea, is very significant. 

 Venice early realised the force of Bacon's maxim " that 

 he that commands the sea Is at great liberty, and may 

 take as much and as little of war as he will." Power at 

 .sea was necessary to provide security for her commerce. 

 In early times she generally owned allegiance to the 

 Eastern Roman Empire, a suzerainty which could do her 

 little harm and could and did do her much good. To that 

 allegiance she adhered until she was strong enough to 

 turn against and reap advantage from the overthrow of 

 her suzerain. At an earlier date, before the close of the 

 tenth century, she had conquered Dalmatia, and thereby 

 destroyed the hordes of pirates who had found refuge In 

 the Innumerable harbours of that coast and constantly 

 harassed the commerce of the .Adriatic. -At every oppor- 

 tunity she secured establishments and acquired possessions 

 in the Levant. 



On the land side, however, dominion would have added 

 more to her risks than her advantages, and that dominion 

 was not sought. For more than eight hundred years 

 after the first flight to the islands of the lagoon, more 

 than six hundred after the election of the first Doge (6q7), 

 Venice possessed no territory on the mainland beyond a 

 mere narrow ribbon on the edge of the lagoon. The 

 nature of the situation made her indispensable to the trade 

 of the land immediately behind. .An Incident belonging to 

 the close of the ninth century illustrates the force of this 

 observation. A keen dispute had arisen between the 

 Patriarch of Aquileia and the Patriarch of Grado. Venice 

 supported the Patriarch of Grado, and war seemed to be 



