4 1 8 ' The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I 
were conveyed to the Nile, as it was found for the Conve- 
niency of their 'Owners. 
a This was all done by Land Carriage, that is, on the 
Backs of Camels, the journey being divided into eleven 
Stages, none of which exceed twenty-feven Miles. At 
Copt os the Merchants had other Magazines, in which their 
Goods were laid up, till they thought fit to fend them down 
the Nile, diredly to Alexandria. But the Country between 
Copt os and Berenice being an abfolute Defert, not only 
without Villages, or Hcufes, but even without Water, 
'Ptolemy caufed a Canal to be cut diredly between the two 
Cities, on each Side of which there were Villages, and in 
all of them Inns, for the Entertainment of Paffengers •, 
fo that from a wild, uncultivated Country, as it had been 
for many Ages before, he rendered it practicable, at leaft, 
if not pleafant ; and thus a new, fafe, and commodious 
Route was opened to the Indies , by the Care and Jnduftry 
of this wife Prince. But as the Arabian Seas were always 
fubjed to Pirates, and as this rich Trade was very likely 
to tempt them to difturb it, he took care to have a mari- 
time Force in the Red Sea , always capable of protect- 
ing it. 
The more we confider the Method he took to accom- 
plifli his Defign, the greater Opinion we muft neceffarily 
have of this Monarch’s Capacity : A Prince of lefs Prudence, 
or lefs CircumfpeCtion, would, undoubtedly, have placed 
the Port higher up in the Gulph, and nearer to the Nile ; 
but Ptolemy knowing, that it was in his Power to remedy 
any Inconvenience that might occur in the Land Carriage, 
at the fame time, that it was out of the Reach of human 
Skill, to devife any Means for fecuring Ships from the 
Llazards to which they muft be expefed, by failing along 
a Coaft full of Rocks and Shelves, he, with much Sa- 
gacity, chofe a Port at fo great a Diftance, becaufe it was 
capacious, fafe, and convenient ; and appointed the City 
of Berenice for the Magazine of the Merchants, that there 
might never be any great Quantity of Goods as' My os Hor- 
mus , to tempt the Inhabitants of the adjacent Countries to 
endeavour furprifing them, either by Land or Sea. It is 
certain, that a fhorter Road might have been found to the 
Nile, if the Length of that had not had its Advantage. 
b All the Country between Coptos and Berenice was, by 
this means peopled, that had lain wafte before : And it 
is very ealy to difcern, that the cultivating a Defert is as 
much an Acquifition of Country, as the Conqueft of a 
Trad of Teritory of the fame Extent. By this means he 
alfo augmented the Number of his Subjeds, who were to 
find their Account in this Trade ; and, by peopling the 
Frontiers of his Dominions, he effectually fecured them 
from the Infults of the barbarous Nations in that Neigh- 
bourhood ; and fixed this Trade intirely to his own Sub- 
jeds, without whofe Help and Affiftance it could not be 
carried on. The fame Realons determined him to fix the 
Mart of Indian Commodities at Alexandria , rather than at 
the Ports he had on either Mouth of the Nile, though the 
Paffage thither would have been fhorter, and, in all Ap- 
pearance more convenient. But he very prudently fore- 
faw, that whatever Expences fell upon this Merchandize, 
from the Length of its Carriage, muft be paid by fuch 
Foreigners, as purchafed. Indian Goods at Alexandria , and 
therefore' muft be fo much clear Gains to all fuch of his Sub- 
jeds, who were concerned, in any manner whatever, in 
this Commerce. 
Befides, there was no Port in his Kingdom .that flood 
fo convenient for the Trade of the Mediterranean, as 
this of Alexandria ; and as for the Trade of the Eaft, while 
he was fare, that it could not be taken from him, or broken 
in upon by others, there was no Danger of its being at all 
hurt by the Length of the Paffage. Add to this, the great 
Advantage that refulted from having all the rich Commo- 
dities of the Eaft expofed to the View of the Merchants, 
who came to Alexandria on other Accounts, from the 
Weft; fince, by this means, thofe Commodities were not 
only exported, but the Fame and Reputation of them 
fpread, even to the moft diftant Parts of Europe, and 
thereby frefli Cuftomers brought from all Quarters. 
And, as he thus projeded to draw all the Trade of the 
Eaft and Weft into his Kingdom, fo he provided a very 
great Fleet for the proteding of it, Part of which he kept 
in the Red Sea , and Part in the Mediterranean. That in 
the Mediterranean alone was very great ; and fome of the 
Ships cf it of a very unufual Bignefs ; for he had in it two 
Ships of thirty Oars of a Side, one of twenty Oars, four of 
fourteen, two of twelve, fourteen of eleven, thirty of nine, 
thirty-feven of feven, five of fix, feventeen of five ; and of 
four Oars, and three Oars of a Side, he had double the 
Number of all thefe already mentioned ; and he had, over 
and above, of the fmaller Sort of Veffels, a vaft Number c : 
And by the Strength of this Fleet, he not only maintained 
and advanced the Trade of his Country, but alfo kept moft 
of the Maritime Provinces of Lejjer Afia , that is, Cilicia , 
Pamphylia , and Caria, and alfo the Cyclades , in thorough 
Subjedion to him, as long as he lived. 
1 1 . All the latter Part of the Reign of Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus was a Scene of Joy and Triumph. Magas, who 
had tom from him the Provinces of Gyrene and Libya , 
growing old and infirm, liftened to the Didates of Na- 
ture, after having fo long followed the Sentiments cf Am- 
bition ; and when he drew near his End, bequeathed his 
only Daughter Berenice to the Son and Succeffor of 
Ptolemy , and with her his Kingdom. His War with An- 
tiochus ended much to his jionour ; that is to fay, in a 
Peace upon his own Terms, which he made fo much the 
more moderate, as he had the Power of making them 
otherwife. On the concluding this War, he gave his 
Daughter Berenice in Marriage to Antiochus ; and out of 
Affedion for her, commanded the Fleet in Perfon, that 
carried her to Seleucia , on the Or antes ; and, which was a 
Mark, perhaps, of Luxury, as well as Tendernefs, he or- 
dered Veffels to be fo ftationed, as that fhe might regu- 
larly receive, in Syria, the Water of the Nile, and not be 
obliged to drink any other d . 
Philadelphus had not, perhaps, the military Virtues ; 
and, having been born in Egypt, wanted fome what of his 
Father’s Severity of Morals ; but, in other refpeds, he 
was, at once, the wifeft, the moft powerful, and the moft 
amiable of Princes. He was, with all this, a Politician of 
the firft Order ; he defpifed Cunning, and hated Artifice 
He was his own Prime Minifter, and laid that virtuous 
Plan of Empire, which eftablifhed fuch a Force, as refilled, 
for many Ages, the Follies and Vices of his Succeffors, 
His Dominions were very extenfive ; and it does not ap- 
pear, that he had any Thrift of inlarging them, at the Ex- 
pence of his Neighbours. On the contrary, the firft Maxim 
of his Politics was the acquiring Subjeds rather than 
Territory; and he acquired them by the plain and fimple 
Method, of ftudying their Good. He encouraged In- 
duftry, and created it : He employed his vaft Power in 
making his own People happy, and not in flibduing other 
Nations : He marched an Army, indeed, to the Frontiers 
of Ethiopia , not fo much with a View of conquering the 
barbarous Nations that infefted his Frontiers, as to civi- 
lize them ; and it was this Army he employed, in opening 
that famous Canal we have before mentioned, from Coptos 
to Berenice e . Other Expeditions he trufted to his Gene- 
rals, but this he conduded in Perfon, and direded the 
building all the Towns in the Neighbourhood of the Red 
Sea. 
He cultivated, with the utmoft Affiduity, all the Arts 
of Peace ; he inlarged the famous Library of his Father ; 
continued, and increafed the Penfions given by him, to 
learned Men, with whom he converfed familiarly, and 
heard the Advice they gave him, tho’ delivered with the 
utmoft Freedom. It was by this means-, that he drew 
Men of diftinguilhed Parts from all Countries ; and ac- 
quired fuch extraordinary Accounts of the Commerce, 
Learning, Arts, and Manufadures of foreign Nations, as 
enabled him to improve every thing in Egypt f beyond all 
his Predeceffors. He was indefatigable, in his Applica- 
tion to the Affairs of Government, and to his Studies 5 . 
He kept up alfo his Father’s Cuftom, in converting 
kindly with all Ranks of People ; and thereby fecured the 
a Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 815, Ptolemy places Berenice , in his Tables, in the Latitude of 23 Deg. 50 Min. 
c . Theocritus in Idyllio xvu. Af, pi anus in Pro; fat tone. Athen . lib.X.p. 203. d Poly anus Stratagem. lib.x 111 
Strabo , lib. xvii. f Plutarch, dr. Adulations , p. 60. &Plin. lib. xxiv. c. 15. 
Plin. Eijl. Nat. lib. vi. c. 23. 
c. 50, Athen. lib. 2. p • 45* 
univerfal 
