■ » . \ 
The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book L 
tier to diftinguifh him from the Princes of his Family, 
Pius , for his Regard to his Predeceffor, and the Purity of 
his Life, by which he was as illultrious as from his imperial 
Dignity : He was naturally a Lover of Peace, and ftrict in 
the Adiliiniftraticn of juftice : His Care of Trade was equal 
to that of any of his Predeceffors * for the promoting it, he 
caufed all the High-roads throughout the Empire to be re- 
paired 5 and for theConveniency of fuch as were engaged in 
Bufinefs, he diredled, that the Diverlions of the Play-houfe 
iliould begin later on thofe Days-, on which the Merchants 
met on the Exchange. As the Works of the belt Hiftorian * 
of thefe Times, which regarded his Reign, are long fince 
loft, we have a much worfe Account of it, than it deferved ; 
tmd therefore we cannot enter into any Particulars, relating 
immediately to our Subject •, but this we know in general, 
from an Oration, that has efcaped Oblivion, that the Com- 
merce of the Romans was never better protected, and, 
confequently, was never more extenfive or flourilhing, than 
while the Reins of Government were held by this excellent 
Prince, whofe conftant Maxim it was, that the Glory of 
the Monarch confifted folely in the Happinefs of his Sub- 
jects *, and by the Profecution of this Maxim he fecured 
to himfelf the peaceable Poffeftion of his Dominions while 
living, and the greateft Refpedt to his Memory after his 
Deceafe. 
2. It is by no means my Intention to enter here even 
into a fuccindt Hiftory of the Roman Emperors *, all I aim 
at is, to give the Reader fuch an Account of them, as may 
render what I have to fay with regard to this Trade, while 
in the Hands of the Romans , perfedt intelligible •, that fo 
I may avoid putting him under a Neceflity of conlulting 
many other Books, that he may be able to underftand this ; 
a Fault which having often obferved in other Works of 
this Nature, rendered me the more careful in avoid- 
ing it. We have an antient Writer who has given us a 
very complete Defcription of the Mare Erythreeum b , or 
Red Sea j which has long paft, under the Name of Arrian , 
as I have hinted, more than once, before ; but is, I think, 
unanfwerably fhewn by the learned Mr. Dodwell to have 
been written by fome other Author. This Writer, who- 
ever he is, has fhewn us, that, within the Compafs of Time 
mentioned in this Sedtion, there were very great Improve- 
ments made in the Navigation of the Romans to this Part 
of the World: And, therefore, I am not a little fuprifed, 
that fo learned a Man as Bifhop Huet fhould fuggeft, that 
the Trade to the Indies was funk in fome meafure till re- 
vived by Trajan , and fupported by the Fleet which he 
caufed to be fent into the Red Sea. The avowed Defign 
of that Fleet was to crufli the Pirates in thofe Seas : But 
thefe fort of People never trouble any Seas where there is 
not a great Trade carried on j and, therefore, the building 
fuch a Fleet was by no means a Proof, that the Trade of 
the Indies was at that time any way leffened, but rather 
the contrary. The Secret, and true Defign, of Trajan 1 s 
equipping this Fleet was, that it might facilitate a Project 
lie then had of rivalling Alexander by the Conqueft of the 
Indies c .* And the Reafon he laid it afi.de was, that he be- 
gan to iufpedl, that it would be impoftible to keep fuch 
Conquefts, even luppofing it poffible to make them. 
He, therefore, began to turn his Eyes towards Arabia , 
with a Defign to eftablifh, and even to inlarge the Con- 
queft that had been made by his Lieutenant Cornelius Palma. 
Of thefe Conquefts we have very indiftindt Accounts in 
Hiftory ; for they muft have been much more confiderable 
than thole Accounts make them, fince there are yet ex- 
tant feveral Medals (truck on taking of Towns in that 
Country. It is likewife very certain, that either Trajan , 
or fome of the Emperors who fucceeded him, reduced the 
greateft Part of Arabia the Happy under their Dominion ; 
for the Writer I have before mentioned, who defcribes the 
Red Sea , fpeaks of a Port without the Streights of Babel- 
mandel , called Eudemon , or the Happy d , which, he fays, 
was formerly a Place of very great Commerce : But a little 
before our Time , continues he, it was dejlroyed by Caefar e . 
Some Writers, indeed, afcribe the Ruin of this Place to 
Caius Caefar, the Grandfon of Augujlus •, for whofe Ufe 
King luba wrote a large Work in relation to thefe Coun- 
tries : But if we conftder what Pliny fays, that Cams Cafar 
only looked into Arabia , and that MUus G alius, of whofe 
Expedition I have already fpoken, penetrated farther than 
any other Roman into Arabia f . We (hall eafily fee, that this 
is a Miftake ; and that this Ceefar lived much later, that is 
to fay, within the Compafs of the Period of which we are 
now writing. 
It appears, moreover, from the Defcription of the Red Sea, 
fo often cited, that, by this Time, I mean under the Em- 
perors who fucceeded Trajan, the Romans had extended 
both their Power, and their Trade, very far on this Side, and 
were, in a manner. Mailers of all Arabia ; though when, 
or how, it was fubdned, is a Point not fo eafily refolved 
nor do I intend to trouble my Readers with a tedious In- 
quiry into fo perplexed a Subject. It is fufficient for my 
Purpofe, that I have cleared the Matter thus far, and have 
fhewn the true Period within which thefe Conquefts were 
made ; by the Miftake of which, we muft be led into 
many others, capable of milleading us intirely in regard to 
the Hiftory of the Indian Commerce, by inclining us to 
believe, that it was in a declining State in that Period, 
when, in Truth, it ftourifhed molt. 
This Port of Eudemon, which I before-mentioned to 
have been deftroyed, was afterwards reftored and repaired ; 
and became fo famous a Mart for all the Commodities of 
the Fall, and, withal, was fa much frequented by the Sub- 
jects of this Empire, that it was called, by way of Emi- 
nence, the Roman Port •, and is the very fame which is now 
called Aden, a Name that lignifi.es nearly the fame thing jit 
Arabic , that Eudemon did in Greek , according to the well- 
known Cullom of the Arabians, who every- where- reftore 
the old Names of Places that they become Mailers of. 
It is alio very clear, that, at this Time, the Romans car- 
ried on a great Trade in Countries much beyond the Li- 
mits of their Knowledge in former Times, that is to fay, 
along the Coafts of Media, Perfia , Cambay a , and the Pe~ 
ninfula of Malacca ; but they were Hill as far from being 
acquainted with the Spice Countries as ever. The Author 
of the Defciption of the Red Sea does indeed (peak of 
the River Ganges , and of the Countries lying on theGulph 
of Bengal, but not with the fame Accuracy that he does 
of other Places ^ from whence, I think, it may be fairly 
concluded, that he drew the Accounts he had of them 
from Hearfay, that is, from the Reports which the Roman 
Merchants received at Barygaza and Muziris , which were 
Ports of Malacca ; and the latter is, with great Proba- 
bility, thought to be that which is now called Diu. 
It was by the prodigious Profits arifing from this Com- 
merce, that, on the one hand, the People of Alexandria 
grew fo rich, and fo mutinous, as all the Hiftorians of 
thefe Times reprefent them ; ftnd that, on the other hand, 
the Roman Emperors, of whom we have been (peaking, 
and who were by far the bell, if we except one or two that 
enjoyed that Dignity, were engaged to make fo many 
Vifits to that City in particular, and to take fo much Care 
as they did of all Things relating to Trade in general ; 
which had an extraordinary Effedt on the Manners of the 
Romans, and altered their Notions to fuch a Degree, that 
even the moll confiderable Perfons of the Empire, for 
Birth and Quality, were not at all afhamed of becoming 
Merchants ; and this, in all Probability, was the Caufe, 
that their Capitals became larger, and their Trade through 
Egypt much more confiderable than in former tiroes. How 
far this might contribute to the corrupting the Minds of 
the People, by the increaling Luxury, I (hall not pretend 
to determine ; but, moll certain it is, that the Times do 
not appear to have been worfe within this Period, but 
rather better and, therefore, it leems more agreeable to 
Truth, to attribute that Corruption of Manners, which w; s 
afterwards vilible amongft the Romans and had very near 
ruined their Empire, to the bad Example of fucceeding 
a This Part of the Work of Dion CaJJius , whofe Hiftory is here meant, perifhed, before Xiphilin made his Abridgment. b This curious Piece is 
printed in the fir ft Volume of Dr. Hudfon's Collection of antient Geographers, under the Tide of Jrriani Periplus Maris Erythrai, which is the 
Edition I ufe. c We have this Circumftance from Eutropius ; and the Reader, by confulting Dson CaJJius, will find, that the Romans fome- 
times regarded him as the Conqueror of the Indies j which was either grofs Flattery, or they muft have reckoned Arabia Felix Part of the Japes, 
* Periplus Maris Erytbra’i, p-iA* * Idem ibid. * Nat, Rift, lib, iz, c, ip* 
\ , , ' ' ' s Princes f 
