Chap. 1L 
of the East Indies 
SECTION Xi 
.An Account of the Affairs of Egypt, and of the Commerce carried on hy the Romans, through 
that Country , to the Eaff till the Seat of the Empire was transferred from Rome to Con- 
ftantinople. ' 
i„ AfuccinB Account of the Attention paid to Commerce in general, and to this Branch in particular , from 
ike Reign of Trajan, to that of Marcus Aurelius. 2. The State of this Commerce , diming that Period 5 
and the Miflakes that have been made about it rectified. 3. A fuccinSt Account of the Roman Emperors, 
from the AcceJJion of Marcus Aurelius, to the Death of Alexander Severn s, 4. This View of their Reigns 
continued , from Maximin to Aurelian. y. The Hi/lory of Tadmor, or Palmyra 3 and of the Indian Com- 
merce carried on there , from the Rife to the Definition of that City and Principality. 6. An Account 
of the fucceeding Emperors , from Aurelian to Conftantine the Great. 7. The Situation of the Commerce 
of the Romans, at the Clofe of this Period. 
1. rTf"! HE Reft which the Roman Empire had en- 
joyed under two fuch excellent Princes, as 
A Flavius and Titus Vefpafian, was intirely for- 
gotten under the tyrannical Yoke of Domitian , the laft 
Prince of that Family, and one of the worft that ever pro- 
faned the Imperial Purple. As he lived in Blood, fo he 
died by the Hand of an Affaffin, who thought he did the 
World good Service, by removing one who had lhewn 
himfelf an open Enemy to Mankind. He was fucceeded 
in the Empire by CocceiusNerva , who reigned only a Year 
and four Months 3 and in that Time, fhewecl a laudable 
Intention to have remedied all the Evils introduced by his 
Predeceffor : And that he might fecure the Happinefs of 
his Country, in cafe he fhould be taken off by an unex- 
pected Death, he, v/ithout any Regard to his own Family, 
chofe for his Succeffor Ulpianus Trajan , a Spaniard by 
Birth, and one who was recommended to him only for his 
Virtues. The railing this Man to the Empire, was not 
more fortunate to him, than happy for his Subjeds 3 for 
he was a Prince endowed with all the Qualities that were 
neceffary to the Support of that high Dignity, and with 
the Talents that were peculiarly requifite to reftore the 
Reputation of the Roman Name, and the Forces of a Go- 
vernment now finking under its own Weight a . 
He was raifed to the Empire in A. D. ninety-eight 3 
and having firft fecured all the Provinces on the Side of 
Germany , he began to turn his Eyes to the oppofite Frontier 3 
and having ordered the Governor of Syria , to enter Arabia 
the Stony with an Army, he ftriick fuch Terror into the 
Eaft, that fame Indian Princes fent their Embaffadors to 
Rome , where he received them with great Civility and 
Kindnefs b . He made afterwards an Expedition into the 
Eaft, where he extended, by his Conqueft, the Bounds of 
the Empire, as far as the River Tygris : And, having made 
himfelf Mafter of the City Ctefiphon , he was again pro- 
claimed Emperor, and had the Name of Parthicus given 
him by the Senate. He was a great Admirer of the For- 
tune of Alexander 3 and in feme Things affeded to imi- 
tate him : For which Reafon, as he was now near the In- 
dian Ocean, he determined to vifit it 3 which Deiign he 
alio put in Execution. While he was at the Mouth of the 
Euphrates , he faw a Ship there that was bound to the In- 
dies 3 with which he was exceedingly pleafed, and de- 
clared that he would have taken that Opportunity of 
making the Voyage, if he had been a younger Man than 
he was c . 
He rendered divine Honours to Alexander the Great on 
the Spot where he died 3 and often expreffed a very high 
Efteern for his Virtues* and an earneft Deft re to imitate his 
great Defigns for the Benefit of Mankind 3 with which 
View he directed a large . Fleet to be built in the Red Sea 
for the Defence of the Navigation on that Side 3 and un- 
dertook ^himfelf the Reduction of Part of Arabia, in 
hopes of fecuring by that means the Trade of the Eaft to 
his Subjects,, who were extremely haraffed by the con- 
tinual Piracies of the Arabians : With this View he entered 
the Country of the Atranians , which lay on the South Side 
of the Perfian Gulph 3 but found that Region fo barren 
and deftitute of Prdvifions, that he was conftrained to re- 
tire from before the Capital of their Country, to which he 
had laid Siege d . In this Enterprise* however* he fa- 
tigued himfelf fo much, that he fell .into a Loofenefs, of 
which he died in Cilicia, after he had reigned only nineteen 
Years. He was a Prince careful, in all refpeds, of the 
Interefts of the Empire, but particularly of what con- 
cerned the Eaft 3 and, therefore, he took care to caufe 
the Canal between the Nile and the Red Sea to be cleanfed 
and repaired, fo that it was thence forward called the Ca- 
nal of Trajan e . 
He was fucceeded, A.D. 1 1 7, by Adrian, who had beeri 
his Ward 3 and to whom, for his conftant Fidelity in all 
the various Scenes of his Life, Trajan bequeathed the Em- 
pire f . There were few of the Roman Princes who had 
either greater Talents for governing* or the Qualities of 
whofe Minds were better fuited to the Times in which they 
lived, than thofe of Adrian , whofe Knowledge was exten- 
ftve, his Temper firm, his Capacity equally great as a 
Soldier, and a Statefman. At his Return to Rome from the 
Eaft, he remitted at once all the Taxes due to his Prede- 
ceffor. Then he made a Journey into the Weftern Pro- 
vinces, where having reftored all things, he returned to 
Rome with great Glory, and, with the like Diligence, ap- 
plied himfelf to fettling the Affairs of the Eaft. In the 
fifteenth Year of his Reign he made a Tour into Egypt, and 
refided for fome time at Alexandria, where he took a great 
deal of Pains to examine into the Character of its Inhabi- 
tants, and has left us in his Letters feveral curious Re- 
marks 3 among which we may reckon thefe two 3 firft that 
though the . Alexandrians feemed to have amongft them 
many Religions, yet, in fad, they all of them worlhipped 
but one God, which was Gain s : The fecond,. that it was 
the bufieft Place in the World, where there was no Room 
for Beggars, fince they made even blind Men get their own 
Bread. He found the City labouring under many Diffi- 
culties, many of their Privileges being loft by their fre- 
quent Seditions 5 all of which, however, he reftored, re- 
paired fuch Parts of the City as had fuffered in thefe Com- 
motions, reftored all the public Foundations of the Pto- 
lemies, and made feme excellent Regulations for the Secu- 
rity of Commerce. In his Return through Syria he re- 
ceived the Submiffion'of the City of Palmyra f as we fhall 
hereafter Ihew more largely : And it was about this time* 
that Arrian undertook, by his Diredion, the Examination 
and Defcription of the Euxine Sea h : And, indeed, his Care 
of the Public was in nothing more remarkable, than in 
reftoring the Sea-laws, and in the Edids he made in favour 
of Mariners h 
Titus Antoninus fucceeded in the Empire, by Virtue of his? 
Nomination, A. D. 1383 and proved as worthy a Prince 
as ever fat upon the Throne : He, is generally called, in or- 
c rt- D 'r ftd’ ft h Vr' f '7? 1 / Bmrhu. Xiphilin. AunLVmt. 
g’-f’Mra- Eutrop. ‘ Diet CaJJius, p. y 85. Stephan, p. 1 35. An, -el. Via. ‘ Pielem lih v,. c. e. ‘Die 
Lea n -f ft ft fg° lk “ / oll " ws - Xrrtam EpiJIola in Adritmum in jua Periplut Pent! Etami. - ‘ Direft. dt lege Rlodh 
Ug. 9. Cite z. M.xiv. Dtgeji. ad. S C. Irehellianum, lib. xxxvi. /„ 49. XJ-*. * 
