HISTORY OF ABYSSINIA. m 
" It is only about one or two centuries after the commencement 
of the Christian sera, that the Abyssinian history begins to emerge 
from obscurity. A very close commercical connection was then 
formed with the country by the traders from Egypt, as appears in 
the Periplus ; and the Greek language became so common in th^ 
country, that it was used by the king of Abyssinia to commemorate 
his exploits, even so far in the interior as Axum, w^hich also most 
strongly corroborates the knowledge of Greek attributed by the 
Periplus to Zoskalis. 
" This connection with Egypt seems to have added greatly to 
their power and consequence in the Red Sea : for in the first in- 
formation we have of them, we find them confined to the western 
coast, and the trade chiefly in the hands of Arabians : but in a few 
centuries afterwards, we perceive they became masters of the greater 
part of the Arabian coast, and appointed viceroys over the Home- 
rites, who, after conquering the Sabeans, had in their turn become 
subject to the King of Axum.* To effect this, however, required a 
long period of time ; and might never have taken place, had not a 
peculiar series of external and favourable circumstances, concurred 
to farther their progress. ^ 
" After the Phoenicians had ceased to be a maritime power, Egypt 
had occupied the Red Sea with her fleets, and had engrossed all the 
valuable productions of India and the east of Africa : but she was 
content to hold this monopoly in conjunction with the Arabians, 
who, from time immemorial, had been joint possessors of the trade. 
When the dynasty of the Ptolemies had been overthrown, and 
Egypt had become a province of the Roman empire, the Romans 
* Procop. Caput xix. Baronius, Lib. vii. art 22. A. D. 522. Nicephoras Call. Lib. 
%mi. Cap. 32. Paris MDCXXX. 
