414 5^ Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book! 
Credit i To fay, that thefe Circimi (lances do not conftitute . 
a kind of intrinfie Worth, is to confound, inftead of 
teftifying, our Notions. And, therefore, how fparkling 
foever the . Thought of Pliny may be, it is not, at 
the Bottom, founded in Truth ; and I muft, for my 
own Fait, confefs, that I do not think the Vanity of a 
Roman Lady, dreffed out with Jewels to the Value of 
forty 'Millions of their Money, was at all greater, or more 
worthy the Contempt of a Philofopher, than the Vanity of 
her Anceftor, in his triumphal Car ; fmce, in the Eye of 
Reafon, one Species of Pride is as much, and as. truly, a 
Folly, as another of which the elder Vefpajian was very 
fenfrble, when, being extremely fatigued with the Length 
of his Triumph, he could not help faying,! fuffer,very juftly, 
for being Fool enough to delight in fuch a Spedacle as 
this at thefe Years. But it is now time to return from 
thefe Remarks to the Profecution Gf our Subject ; which 
leads us to fhew more particularly, what Improvements 
v/ere made in this kind of Commerce, after the Romans 
took the Management of it into their Hands. 
ir. The antient Egyptians had very early and conftant 
Quarrels with their Neighbours the Ethiopians , which kept 
them at a great Diftance from, and hindered them from 
engaging in any Commerce with them, at leaf!; of great 
Importance : But, after the Kingdom of Egypt fell un- 
der the Dominion of the Greeks , thefe Difputes fubfided, 
and the Nations began to entertain a friendly Intercourfe j 
for . the Encouragement of which, the City of Coptus was 
originally defigned. This Commerce between the Egy- 
ptians and Ethiopians was particularly promoted by Ptolemy 
Philadelphia , for the fake of obtaining Elephants ; for the 
Taming of which he was very famous : When the Ro- 
mans came to the Poffeffion of this Country, they were 
like wife very defircus of penetrating into Ethiopia , for 
many Reafons •, but more efpecially for the obtaining of 
Elephants, and their Teeth : And fo eager was Nero in 
this Matter, that he fent an Officer, with a Detachment 
of his own Lifeguards, into Egypt , on purpofe to invade 
Ethiopia , if they might not have Leave to march through 
it peaceably. Thefe People performed their Errand, and 
returned with a fair Account of what they had feen 
which did not, by any means, anfwer the Expectations that 
were raifed by the Defcriptions that had been formerly 
given of that Country. They found it, for the moft part, 
poor and barren, the People, on the Frontiers of Egypt , 
living moftly upon Millet *, and thofe beyond them, upon 
Milk andVenifon: By degrees, however, there grew a 
con fide table Commerce with this Country, from whence 
they brought Elephants, Rhinocerofes, and other wild 
Beafts, Ivory, and particularly that Sort of it which was 
eafieft wrought into Images, Chairs, Thrones, and other 
Utenfils ; as alfo rich Gums, and precious Stones, efpecially 
Emeralds and Topazes a . 
At laft, they proceeded to the very Extremity of the 
Arabian Gulph, on the Coafl of th zASroglodytes, who had 
been painted in fuch difagreeable Lights by old Writers ; 
and there carried on a very lucrative Commerce with thefe 
People, at a Port of their own, called Adula , which Pto- 
lemy the Geographer places in the Latitude of of 14 0 2o ; , 
and muft consequently have been in that Part of the Coun- 
try which is now in the Hands of the T urks, and there they 
met with very juft and honeft Ufage from thefe Barbarians, 
as they were then pleafed to call them. Over-againft this 
Port of Adula lay the Ifland of Orine * and there were 
feme confiderable Cities within-land, from whence the 
moil valuable Commodities were brought down to this 
Port, which was looked upon as the Staple of the Ivory 
Trade, and for the Myrrh that was moft efteemed, with 
various Sorts of Gums, and feme precious Stones b . 
It was in confequence of their Poffeffion of Egypt , that 
the Romans carried on a confiderable Traffick into the 
Perjian Gulph, at the Mouth of the River Euphrates ; as 
a Plin. -Nat. Hi/I . xxx vii, c. 6, 7, 8. b Periplus Maris Eryfhi 
r. 6 . lib, v < <r. 16. c Diodor. Sicul. lib , xvih 
alfo along the Coaft of Perfia , to the Frontiers of the Indies * 
but the Produce of all this Commerce, as it came to Rome in 
the Fleet from Alexandria , was generally considered as Egy- 
ptian^ at leaft by the common People ; as, on the other 
hand, all the Commerce of Egypt was, at Rome , called by- 
the general Name of the Trade of Alexandria. This City, 
which had made fo great a Figure from the Time of its firft 
Foundation, and, indeed, in Right of its Founder, which 
was afterwards made the Capital of their Dominions by 
the Ptolemies c , received great Additions, in point of 
Wealth, under the Romans ; infotiluch that Jofep'hus re- 
ports, that the Romans drew as much from thence in a 
Month, as from the reft of Egypt in a Year ; and that, 
in point of Riches, it did not only equal, but exceed even 
Rome itfelf d ; which is the more probable, fmce, under 
the Ptolemies , who were remarkably tender of impofmg 
high Duties, and thereby injuring the Commerce of their ■ 
Subjects, the Cuftoms of the Port of Alexandria amounted 
annually to a Million and an half of our Money, And- 
Diodorus Siculus reports, from his own Knowledge, that, 
at the Time he was there, the Freemen of the City were 
above three hundred thoufand e : So that it muft have 
been then as populous as London is at prefent, even upon 
the loweft Computation, and fuppofmg that the far greater 
Part of its Inhabitants were wholly fupported by Trade. 
To fay the Truth, Alexandria within this, and the Pe- 
riod which will be contained in the next Chapter, feems to 
have attained to that Grandeur for which its Founder de- 
figned it, fince it embraced, in a great meafure, the 
whole Trade of the Roman Empire. This was principally 
owing to thefe two Caufes : Firft, the Convehiency of its 
Situation, by which it lay open to the Mediterranean ; and 
the Care taken by the Romans to preferve, and even to 
inlarge its Ports : And next, to the Indian , or Oriental 
Commerce, which has always had an attra&ive Quality, 
and drawn, where- ever it was feated, almoft all the Trade 
of the World befide. Thus, for Inftance, when the Ve- 
netians and Genoefe fharedthat Trade between them, they 
ingroffed all the reft : Then it was, for a fmall Time, at- 
tached to Lisbon *, and came afterwards, in confequence 
chiefly of their Indian Commerce, to the Englijh and th®> 
Dutch. This, I think, is the cleared and moft fatisfaftory 
Anfwer that can be given to that Objection, which we lb 
often hear made to this Commerce, that it carries out a 
vaff Quantity of Silver ; and which, as I conceive, was 
firft ftarted by Pliny , who adtually complains, that the 
Arabians received ready Money for their Indian Commo- 
dities, and laid out nothing in Return. This, I fay, is 
the moft fatisfaftory Anfwer, becaufe it fhews, that what- 
ever Lofs may attend this T rade in the firft Inftance, yet 
thofe who are poffeffed of it, are fure to have a large 
Balance in their Favour, in confequence of the general 
Refort it occafions, and the Returns that are made from 
thofe Countries which take their Indian Commodities off 
their Hands. How far this Objection may lie to the 
Trade of Europe , in general, with the Indies , is another 
Queftion, and fhall be largely confidered at the Clofe of 
this Chapter ; when I hope to demonftrate, that all that 
has been hitherto faid on this Topic, flows from a Mif- 
apprehenfion of the Nature of Commerce j and that, 
upon the Whole, whatever Country maintains the greateft, 
and moft extenfive Trade, under proper Regulations, 
muft be the greateft Gainers by Trade, tho% in feme par- 
ticular Branches of it, they may be faid to lofe. At pre- 
fent, our Bufmefs is to purlue this Subject one Step farther, 
and to fhew what additional Improvements the Commerce 
of the Eaft, by the Way of Egypt , received, while in the 
Hands of the Romans , till the Seat of the Empire was re- 
moved from Rome to Confiantinople , which created a great 
Alteration in the Face of Affairs in this, as well as in all 
other refpects. 
; p, z, e Strabo? lib. xvii, 4 Jofeph. Bell JtJ. lib. ii« 
SECTION 
