It was not, however, to be supposed that the Illyrians and Istrians, who had been so long accustomed to piracy, and who in fact derived nearly all their wealth from this source, would totally abstain from it. A few years after this treaty of peace, they resumed their depredations, which they carried on with so much audacity and disregard to the power of Rome, that they even seized the ships that were laden with corn for Rome. As this commerce was one of the greatest consequence to the Romans, in which the Roman government, as well as individuals, principally embarked, and on the regularity and safety of which the subsistence and tranquillity of the city itself depended, the senate resolved to punish them more effectually; and this resolution was strengthened by the Illyrians having broken the terms of the peace by sending no fewer than 50 vessels of war beyond the prescribed limits, as far as the Cyclades. The consequence of the new war which the Romans waged against them, was the reduction of Istria and of Illyricum Proper.

The destruction of Saguntum by the Carthaginians was the cause of the second Punic war. At what period the Carthaginians first established themselves in Spain, is not known. Their principal object in colonizing and retaining it, undoubtedly may be found in the richness of its mines, and the fertility of its soil. According to Diodorus Siculus, they were principally enabled to equip and support their numerous, and frequently renewed fleets, by the silver which they drew from these mines. And Strabo expressly informs us, that when the Carthaginians first colonized Spain, silver was in such abundance, and so easily obtained, that their most common utensils, and even the mangers for their horses, were made of it. One mine of extreme richness is particularly described by Pliny: according to him, it yielded 300 pounds of silver in a day. There are other circumstances which point out the extreme value of Spain to whoever possessed it, and lead us to the motives which induced the Romans to use all their efforts to wrest it from the Carthaginians. It cannot be doubted that the Carthaginians drew from it all the wealth, in various shapes, which it could possibly supply; and yet we know that in the short space of nine years, 111,542 pounds weight of silver, 4095 of gold, besides coin, were brought out of it by the Roman praetors, who governed it. Scipio, when he returned to Rome, brought from Spain 14,342 pounds weight of silver, besides coin, arms, and corn, &c. to an immense amount. And Lentulus returned from this country with 44,000 pounds of silver, and 2550 of gold, besides the coin, &c., which was divided among his soldiers. Manlius brought with him 1200 pounds of silver, and about 30 of gold. Cornelius Lentulus, who was praetor of Hither Spain for two years, brought with him 1515 pounds of gold, and 2000 of silver, besides a large amount of coin, while the praetor of Farther Spain returned with 50,000 pounds of silver. And these immense sums, as we have already stated, were brought away in the space of nine years.

Cornelius Scipio was sent into Spain at the commencement of the second Punic war. Of the events of this war, however, we shall confine ourselves exclusively to such as were maritime, and which trace the steps of the Roman superiority at sea, and, consequently, of the advancement and extension of their commerce. The exertions of the rival nations to contest the empire of the sea were very great: the Romans equipped 220 quinqueremes, and twenty other light vessels, beside 160 galleys, and twenty light vessels, which were employed to transport troops to Africa. Their allies, the Syracusans, also, were active and alert in the equipment of a fleet to assist their allies, the Romans; and Hiero, their king, had the good fortune to give an auspicious commencement to the war, by capturing some Carthaginian ships, part of a fleet, whose object was to plunder the coasts of Italy, but which had been dispersed by a storm. The Carthaginians were equally unfortunate in their second maritime enterprise against Lilibaeum, for the Syracusans and Romans, having learnt their intention, anchored before the mouth of the harbour. The Carthaginians, finding that they could not, as they expected, surprise the place, drew up their fleet in line of battle, a little way out at sea: the allies immediately got under weigh; a battle ensued, in which the Carthaginians were defeated, with the loss of seven ships. These successes, however, were dreadfully counterbalanced by the advance of Hannibal into Italy, and the decisive victories which he obtained in the very heart of the Roman territories. Under these circumstances, maritime affairs were naturally disregarded.

Of the actual state of the Roman commerce about this time we know very little, but that it was lucrative, may fairly be inferred from the following circumstance:—A little before the commencement of the second Punic war, Caius Flaminnus was extremely desirous to obtain the support and good will of the populace; with this object in view, he joined the tribunes of the people in passing a law, which is called the Flaminian, or Claudian law. By it, the senators, who had been accustomed to acquire considerable wealth by fitting out ships and trading, were expressly forbidden to possess or hire any vessel above the burden of 300 amphorae or eight tons, and not more than one vessel even of that small tonnage. This vessel was allowed them, and was deemed sufficient to bring the produce of their farms to Rome. By the same law, the scribes, and the clerks, and attendants of the quaestors, were prohibited from trading; and thus the liberty of commerce was exclusively confined to the plebeians.

Whilst Hannibal threatened the Romans in the vicinity of Rome itself, they had neither leisure, inclination, or means, to cope with the Carthaginians by sea; at length, however, Marcellus, having checked the enemy in Italy, maritime affairs were again attended to. Scipio, who had been successful in Spain, resolved to attempt the reduction of New Carthage: this place was situated, like Old Carthage, on a peninsula betwixt a port and a lake: its harbour was extremely commodious, and large enough to receive and shelter any fleet. As it was the capital of the Carthaginian dominions in Spain, here were deposited all their naval stores, machines used in war, besides immense treasures. It was on this account extremely well fortified, and to attempt to take it by a regular siege seemed to Scipio impracticable: he, therefore, formed a plan to take it by surprise, and this plan he communicated to C. Laelius, the commander of the fleet, who was his intimate friend. The Roman fleet was to block up the port by sea, while Scipio was to blockade it by land. The ignorance of the Romans with regard to one of the most common and natural phenomena of the sea, is strongly marked in the course of this enterprise. Scipio knew that when the tide ebbed, the port of New Carthage would become dry and accessible by land; but his soldiers, and even his officers, were ignorant of the nature of the tides, and they firmly believed that Neptune had wrought a miracle in their favour, when, according to Scipio's prediction, the tide retired, and the army was thus enabled to capture the town, the walls of which on that side were extremely low, the Carthaginians having directed all their attention and efforts to the opposite side. The capture of New Carthage depressed, in a great degree, the spirits, as well as weakened the strength of the Carthaginians in Spain: eighteen galleys were captured in the port, besides 113 vessels laden with naval stares; 40,000 bushels of wheat, 260,000 bushels of barley, a large number of warlike machines of all descriptions, 260 cups of gold, most of which weighed a pound, 18,300 pounds weight of silver, principally coin, besides brass money, were among the spoils.

About the year of Rome 556, Scipio had succeeded in reducing all Spain. It does not appear, however, that the Romans were thus enabled greatly to extend their commerce; indeed, at this period, we have no evidence that any other town in Spain, except Gades, possessed any considerable trade. This island and city were situated in a gulph of the same name, between the straits of Gibraltar and the river Boetis; and, from the remotest period of which we possess any records, was resorted to by foreigners for the purposes of commerce. Gradually, however, the inhabitants of Spain, under the Roman government, enriched themselves and their conquerors by their industry: large quantities of corn, wine, and oil were exported, besides wax, honey, pitch, vermilion, and wool. The oil and wool were deemed equal, if not superior, to those of any other part of the world: the excellent quality of the wool is a strong fact, against an opinion entertained by many, that the fineness of the Spanish was originally derived from the exportation of some English sheep to Spain, since it appears to have been celebrated even in the time of the Romans: how important and lucrative an object it was considered, may be collected from the attention that was paid to the breed of sheep; a ram, according to Strabo, having been sold for a talent, or nearly 200l. Horace incidentally gives evidence of the commercial wealth of Spain in his time, when he considers the master of a Spanish trading vessel and a person of great wealth as synonimous terms.

As Hannibal still continued in Italy, the senate of Rome resolved to send Scipio into Italy, with a discretionary power to invade Africa from that island. He lost no time in equipping a fleet for these purposes, and his efforts were so well seconded by the zeal and activity of the provinces and cities, many of which taxed themselves to supply iron, timber, cloth for sails, corn, &c. that, in forty days after the timber was felled, Scipio had a fleet of thirty new galleys.

Soon after he landed in Sicily, he resolved to invade Africa: for this purpose his fleet was collected in the port of Lilibaeum. Never was embarkation made with more order and solemnity: the concourse of people who came from all parts to see him set sail, and wish him a prosperous voyage, was prodigious. Just before he weighed anchor, he appeared on the poop of his galley, and, after an herald had proclaimed silence, addressed a solemn prayer to the gods. It is foreign to our purpose to give any account of the campaign in Africa, which, it is well known, terminated in the utter defeat of the Carthaginians, who were obliged to sue for peace. This was granted them on very severe terms: all the cities and provinces which they possessed in Africa previously to the war, they were indeed permitted to retain, but they were stripped of Spain, and of all the islands in the Mediterranean; all their ships of war, except ten galleys, were to be delivered up to the Romans; and, for the future, they were not to maintain above that number at one time: even the size of their fishing boats and of their trading vessels was regulated. In the course of fifty years ten thousand talents were to be paid to the Romans. During a short truce which preceded the peace, the Carthaginians had seized and plundered a Roman squadron, which had been dispersed by a storm, and driven near Carthage; as a satisfaction for this, they were obliged to pay the Romans 25,000 pounds weight of silver. The successful termination of the second Punic war gave to the Romans complete dominion of the sea, on which they maintained generally 100 galleys. Commerce flourished, particularly that most important branch, the trade in corn, with which Rome, at this period, is said to have been so plentifully furnished, that the merchants paid their seamen with it.

The power of the Romans at sea was now so well established, that no foreign power could hope to attack, or resist them, unless they were expert navigators, as well as furnished with a numerous fleet. Under this impression, Philip king of Macedon, who had long been jealous and afraid of them, applied himself sedulously to maritime affairs. As it was about this period that the Romans began to turn their thoughts to the conquest of Greece, it may be proper to take a retrospective view of the maritime affairs and commerce of that country. An inspection of the map of Greece will point out the advantages which it possessed for navigation and commerce. Lying nearly in the middle of the Mediterranean, with the sea washing three of its sides; possessed of almost innumerable inlets and bays, it was admirably adapted to ancient commerce. Its want of large and navigable rivers, which will always limit its commerce in modern times, presented no obstacle to the small vessels in which the ancients carried on their trade; as they never navigated them during the winter, and from their smallness and lightness, they could easily drag them on shore.

Athens, the most celebrated state in Greece for philosophy, literature, and arms, was also the most celebrated for commerce. The whole of the southern angle of Attica consisted of a district called Parali, or the division adjacent to the sea. In the other districts of Attica, the soldiers of the republic were found: this furnished the sailors; fishing and navigation were the chief employments of its inhabitants. About 46 miles distant from the Piraeus, stood Sunium, the most considerable town in this district: it possessed a double harbour in the Mediterranean.

The principal commerce of Attica, however, was carried on at Athens: this city had three harbours: the most ancient was that of Phalerum, distant from the city, according to some authors, 35 stadia; according to others only 20 stadia. It was nearer Athens than the other two, but smaller, and less commodious. Munichea was the name of the second harbour: it was formed in a promontory not far distant from the Pirasus, a little to the east of Athens, and naturally a place of great strength; it was afterwards, at the instance of Thrasybulus, rendered still stronger by art. But by far the most celebrated harbour of Athens was the Piraeus. The republic of Athens, in order to concentrate its military and mercantile fleets in this harbour, abandoned that of Phalerum, and bent all their efforts to render the Piraeus as strong and commodious as possible. This occurred in the time of Themistocles; by whose advice both the town and the harbour were inclosed with a wall, about seven miles and a half long, and sixty feet high. Themistocles' intention was to have made it eighty cubits high, but in this he was opposed. Before this connecting wall was built, the Piraeus was about three miles distant from the city. As the strength of the wall was of the utmost importance, it was built of immense square stones, which were fastened together with iron or leaden cramps. It was so broad that two waggons could have been driven along it. The Pireus contained three docks; the first called Cantharus, the second Aphrodisium, and the third Zea. There were likewise five porticos, and two forums. The Piraeus was so celebrated for its commerce, that it became a proverbial saying in Greece, "Famine does not come from the Piraeus." The extent and convenience of the Piraeus may be judged of from this circumstance, that under the demagogue Lycurgus, the whole naval force of the nation, amounting to 400 triremes, were safely and easily laid up in its three harbours.

Before the time of Themistocles, Athens does not appear to have devoted her attention or resources to maritime affairs: but this celebrated general not only rendered the Piraeus stronger and more commodious, but also procured a decree, which enabled him to add twenty ships to the fleet annually. The sums arising from the sale of the privileges of working the mines, or the eventual profits of the mines, which had formerly been distributed among the people, were, through his influence, set apart for the building of ships. Afterwards a law was passed, which taxed all the citizens who possessed land, manufactories, or money in trade or with their bankers; these classes of the citizens were also obliged to keep up, and increase, if occasion required it, the naval force of the republic. When it was necessary to fit out an armament, as many talents as there were galleys to be built and equipped, were raised in each of the ten tribes of Athens. The money thus collected was given to the captains of the galleys, to be expended in the maintenance of the crew. The republic furnished the rigging and sailors: two captains were appointed to each galley, who served six months each.

Although the vessels employed by the Athenians both for war and commerce were small compared with those of modern days, and their merchant ships even much smaller than those of the Phoenicians, if we may judge by the description given by Xenophon of a Phoenician merchant vessel in the Piraeus, yet the expence attending their equipment was very great. We learn from Demosthenes, that the light vessels could not be kept in commission, even if the utmost attention was paid to economy, and no extraordinary damage befel them, for a smaller sum than about 8000l. annually; of course, such vessels as from their size, strength, and manning, were capable of standing the brunt of an engagement, must have cost more than double that sum.

In the time of Demosthenes, the trade of Athens seems to have been carried on with considerable spirit and activity; the greater part of the money of the Athenians having been employed in it. From one of his orations we learn, that in the contract executed when money was lent for this purpose, the period when the vessel was to sail, the nature and value of the goods with which she was loaded, the port to which she was to carry them, the manner in which they were to be sold there, and the goods with which she was to return to Athens, were all specifically and formally noticed. In other particulars the contracts varied: the money, lent was either not to be repaid till the return of the vessel, or it was to be repaid as soon as the outward goods were sold at the place to which she was bound, either to the agent of the lender, or to himself, he going there for that express purpose. The interest of money so lent varied: sometimes it rose as high as 30 per cent: it seems to have depended principally on the risks of the voyage.

In another oration of Demosthenes we discover glimpses of what by many has been deemed maritime insurance, or rather of the fraud at present called barratry, which is practised to defraud the insurer: but, as Park in his learned Treatise on Marine Insurance has satisfactorily proved, the ancients were certainly ignorant of maritime insurance; though there can be no doubt frauds similar to those practised at present were practised. According to Demosthenes, masters of vessels were in the habit of borrowing considerable sums, which they professed to invest in a cargo of value, but instead of such a cargo, they took on board sand and stones, and when out at sea, sunk the vessel. As the money was lent on the security either of the cargo or ship, or both, of course the creditors were defrauded: but it does not appear how they could, without detection, substitute sand or stones for the cargo.

The Athenians passed a number of laws respecting commerce, mostly of a prohibitory nature. Money could not be advanced or lent on any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, that did not return to Athens, and discharge its cargo there. The exportation of various articles, which were deemed of the first necessity, was expressly forbidden: such as timber for building, fir, cypress, plane, and other trees, which grew in the neighbourhood of the city; the rosin collected on Mount Parnes, the wax of Mount Hymettus—which two articles, incorporated together, or perhaps singly, were used for daubing over, or caulking their ships. The exportation of corn, of which Attica produced very little, was also forbidden; and what was brought from abroad was not permitted to be sold any where except in Athens. By the laws of Solon, they were allowed to exchange oil for foreign commodities. There were besides a great number of laws respecting captains of ships, merchants, duties, interest of money, and different kinds of contracts. One law was specially favourable to merchants and all engaged in trade; by it a heavy fine, or, in some cases, imprisonment, was inflicted on whoever accused a merchant or trader of any crime he could not substantiate. In order still farther to protect commerce, and to prevent it from suffering by litigation, all causes which respected it could be heard only during the period when vessels were in port. This period extended generally to six months—from April to September inclusive—no ships being at sea during the other portion of the year.

The taxes of the Athenians, so far as they affected commerce, consisted of a fifth, levied on the corn and other merchandize imported, and also on several articles which were exported from Athens. These duties were generally farmed. In an oration of Andocides, we learn that he had farmed the duty on foreign goods imported for a term of three years, at twelve talents annually. In consequence of these duties, smuggling was not uncommon. The inhabitants of the district called Corydale were celebrated for illicit traffic: there was a small bay in this district, a little to the north of Piraeus, called. Thieves' Harbour, in which an extensive and lucrative and contraband trade was carried on; ships of different nations were engaged in it. Demosthenes informs us, that though this place was within the boundaries of Attica, yet the Athenians had not the legal power to put a stop to traffic by which they were greatly injured, as the inhabitants of Corydale, as well as the inhabitants of every other state, however small, were sovereigns within their own territory.

In an oration of Isocrates an operation is described which bears some resemblance to that performed by modern bills of exchange. A stranger who brought grain to Athens, and who, we may suppose, wished to purchase goods to a greater amount than the sale of his grain would produce, drew on a person living in some town on the Euxine, to which the Athenians were in the habit of trading. The Athenian merchant took this draft; but not till a banker in Athens had become responsible for its due payment.

The Athenian merchants were obliged, from the nature of trade in those ancient times, to be constantly travelling from one spot to another; either to visit celebrated fairs, or places where they hoped to carry on an advantageous speculation. We shall afterwards notice more particularly the Macedonian merchant mentioned by Ptolemy the Geographer, who sent his clerks to the very borders of China; and from other authorities we learn that the Greek merchants were accurately informed respecting the interior parts of Germany, and the course of most of the principal rivers in that country. The trade in aromatics, paints, cosmetics, &c., was chiefly possessed by the Athenians, who had large and numerous markets in Athens for the sale of these articles. Even in the time of Hippocrates, some of the spices of India were common in the Peloponnesus and Attica; and there is every reason to believe that most of these articles were introduced into Greece in consequence of the journeys of their merchants to some places of depot, to which they were brought from the East.

We have already mentioned that the importation of corn into a country so unfertile as Attica, was a subject of the greatest moment, and to which the care and laws of the republic were most particularly directed. There were magistrates, whose sole business and duty it was to lay in corn for the use of the city; and other magistrates who regulated its price, and fixed also the assize of bread. In the Piraeus there were officers, the chief part of whose duty it was to take care that two parts at least of all the corn brought into the port should be carried to the city. Lysias, in his oration against the corn merchants, gives a curious account of the means employed, by them to raise its price, very similar to the rumours by which the same effect is often produced at present: an embargo, or prohibition of exporting it, by foreigners, an approaching war, or the capture or loss of the vessels laden with it, seem to have been the most prevalent rumours. Sicily, Egypt, and the Crimea were the countries which principally supplied Attica with this necessary article. As the voyage from Sicily was the shortest, as well as exposed to the least danger, the arrival of vessels with corn from this island always reduced the price; but there does not appear to have been nearly such quantities brought either from it or Egypt, as from the Crimea. The Athenians, therefore, encouraged by every possible means their commerce with the Cimmerian Bosphorus. One of the kings of that country, Leucon II., who reigned about the time of Demosthenes, favoured them very much. As the harbours were unsafe and inconvenient, he formed a new one, called Theodosia, or, in the language of the country, Ardauda: he likewise exempted their vessels from paying the duty on corn, to which all other vessels were subject on exporting it—this duty amounted to a thirtieth part,—and allowed their merchants a free trade to all parts of his kingdom. In return, the Athenians made him and his children citizens of Athens, and granted to such of his subjects as traded in Attica the same privileges and exemptions which their citizens enjoyed in Bosphorus. It was one of the charges against Demosthenes, by his rival, the orator Dinarchus, that the sons and successors of Leucon sent yearly to him a thousand bushels of wheat. Besides the new port of Theodosia, the Athenians traded also to Panticapaeum for corn: the quantity they exported is stated by Demosthenes to have amounted to 400,000 mediniri, or bushels, yearly, as appeared from the custom books; and this was by far the greatest quantity of corn they received from foreign countries. Lucian, indeed, informs us that a ship, which, from his description, must have been about the size of our third-rates, contained as much corn as maintained all Attica for a twelvemonth; but, in the time of this author, Athens was not nearly so populous as it had been: and besides, as is justly remarked by Hume, it is not safe to trust to such loose rhetorical illustrations.

From a passage in Thucydides we may learn that the Athenians derived part of their supply of corn from Euboea; this passage is also curious as exhibiting a surprising instance of the imperfection of ancient navigation. Among the inconveniences experienced by the Athenians, from the fortifying of Dacelia by the Lacedemonians, this historian particularly mentions, as one of the most considerable, that they could not bring over their corn from Euboea by land, passing by Oropus, but were under the necessity of embarking it, and sailing round Cape Sunium; and yet the water carriage could not be more than double the land carriage.

The articles imported by the Athenians from the Euxine Sea, besides corn, were timber for building, slaves, salt, honey, wax, wool, leather, and goat-skins; from Byzantium and other ports of Thrace and Macedonia, salt fish and timber; from Phrygia and Miletus, carpets, coverlets for beds, and the fine wool, of which their cloths were made; from the islands of Egean Sea, wine and different fruits; and from Thrace, Thessaly, Phrygia, &c., a great number of slaves.

The traffic in slaves was, next to that in corn, of the greatest consequence to the Athenians, for the citizens were not in sufficient numbers, and, if they had been, were not by any means disposed, to cultivate the land, work the mines, and carry on the various trades and manufactures. The number of slaves in Attica, during the most flourishing period of the republic, was estimated at 400,000: of these the greater part had been imported; the rest were natives of Greece, whom the fate of arms had thrown into the hands of a conqueror irritated by too obstinate a resistance. The slaves most esteemed, and which brought the highest price, were imported from Syria and Thrace, the male slaves of the former country, and the females of the latter: the slaves from Macedonia were the least valued. The price of a slave seems to have been extremely low, as Xenophon mentions that some were sold at Athens for half an Attic mina, or rather more than thirty shillings: those, however, who had acquired a trade, or were otherwise particularly useful, were valued at five minae, or about fifteen pounds.

Our idea of the commerce of Athens, and of Greece in general, would be very imperfect and inadequate if we neglected to notice their fairs. It has been ingeniously supposed, that at the celebrated games of Greece, such as those of Olympia, &c., trade was no subordinate object; and this idea is certainly confirmed by various passages in ancient authors. Cicero expressly informs us, that even so early as the age of Pythagoras, a great number of people attended the religious games for the express purpose of trading. At Delphi, Nemaea, Delos, or the Isthmus of Corinth, a fair was held almost every year. The amphyctionic fairs were held twice a year. In the time of Chrysostom, these lairs were infamously distinguished for a traffic in slaves, destined for public incontinence. The amphyctionic spring fair was held at Delphi, and at Thermopylae in the autumn; in fact, at the same times that the deputies from the states of Greece formed the amphyctionic council;—another proof that wherever large assemblies of people took place in Greece, for religious or political purposes, advantage was taken of them to carry on traffic. At the fairs of Thermopylae medicinal herbs and roots, especially hellebore, were sold in large quantities. One principal reason why the religious games or political assemblies of the states were fixed upon to hold fairs was, that during them all hostilities were suspended; and every person might go with his merchandize in safety to them, even through an enemy's country. The priests, so far from regarding these fairs as a profanation of the religions ceremonies, encouraged them; and the priests of Jupiter, in particular, advanced large sums on interest to such merchants as had good credit, but had not sufficient money with them.

The island of Delos calls for our particular attention, as the grand mart of the Athenians, as well as of the rest of Greece, and of the other countries in the Mediterranean, which at this period were engaged in commerce. The peace of this island always remained undisturbed, from an opinion that it was under the special protection of Apollo and Diana; and when the fleets of enemies met there, out of respect to the sacredness of the place, they forbore all manner of hostilities. There were also other circumstances which contributed to render it a place of great importance to commerce: its commodious situation for the navigation from Europe into Asia; its festivals, which brought immense crowds to it (and as we have just observed, wherever a multitude of Greeks were collected, by superstitious rites or amusements, commerce was mingled with their duties and pursuits); and the bias which its original, or at least its very early inhabitants, had to commerce: all these combined to render it a place of great importance to commerce. Its trade consisted chiefly in slaves: according to Strabo, in the time of Perseus, king of Macedonia, above 10,000 slaves came in and went out daily. The corn, wine, and other commodities of the neighbouring islands; the scarlet linen tunics, manufactured in the island of Amorgos; the rich purple stuffs of Cos; the highly esteemed alum of Melos, and the valuable copper, which the mines, of Delos itself (that had been long worked,) and the elegant vases, manufactured from this copper,—were the principal commodities exported from Delos. In return and exchange, foreign merchants brought the produce and manufactures of their respective countries; so that the island became, as it were, the storehouse of the treasures of nations; and the scene, during this mixture of religious festivals and commercial enterprise, was peculiarly gay and animated. The inhabitants were, by an express law, which is noticed by Athenaeus, obliged to furnish water to all the strangers who resorted thither; to which, it would appear, they added, either gratuitously, or for a small remuneration, cakes and other trifling eatables.

The Athenians were so anxious to protect and extend the commerce carried on in Delos, that they gave encouragement to such strangers to settle there as were conversant in commerce, as well as strictly guarded its neutrality and privileges. On the destruction of Tyre, and afterwards of Carthage, events which gave a new direction to the commerce of the Mediterranean, a great number of merchants from these cities fled to Delos, where they were taken under the protection of the Athenians; and it appears by an inscription found in the 17th century, that the Tyrians formed a company of merchants and navigators there. The Romans traded to it, even before their war with Philip, king of Macedon. After the restoration of Corinth, the Athenians used all their efforts to keep up the commerce of Delos; but the wars of Mithridates put an end to it; and in a very short period afterwards, it seems to have been entirely abandoned by the merchants of all nations, and, as a commercial place, to have fallen into utter neglect and decay.

Corinth, next to Athens, demands our notice, as one of the most commercial cities of Greece. The Corinthian dominions were extremely small, their extent from east to west being about half a degree, and from north to south about half that space: according to the geographer Scylax, a vessel might sail from one extremity to the other in a day. It had no rivers of any note, and few rich plains, being in general uneven, and but moderately fertile. The situation of Corinth itself, however, amply compensated for all these disadvantages: it was built on the middle of the isthmus of the same name, at the distance of about 60 stadia on either side from the sea; on one side was the Saronic Gulf, on the other the sea of Crissa. On the former was the port of Lechaeum, which was joined to the city by a double wall, 12 stadia in length; on the latter sea, was the port of Cinchraea, distant from Corinth 70 stadia. There was, besides, the port and castle of Cromyon, about 120 stadia distant from the capital. Hence, it will appear that Corinth commanded the trade of all the eastern part of the Mediterranean by the port of Cinchraea; and of the Ionian sea, by that of Lechaeum. But the Corinthians possessed other advantages; for their citadel was almost impregnable, commanded from its situation both these seas, and stood exactly in the way of communication by land between one part of Greece and the other. The other states, however, would not permit the Corinthians to interdict them the passage of the Isthmus; but they could not prevent them from taking advantage of their situation, by carrying on an extensive and lucrative commerce. The Isthmian games, which were celebrated at Corinth, also contributed very much to its splendour and opulence, and drew additional crowds to it, who, as usual, mingled commerce with religion. According to Thucydides, Corinth had been a city of great traffic, even when the Greeks confined their trade to land: at this period, the Corinthians imposed a transit duty on all commodities, which entered or left the Peloponnessus by the Isthmus. But the extended knowledge and enterprise of the Greeks, and, above all, the destruction of the pirates which infested the narrow seas, led them to prefer sea carriage part of the way. The reason why they did not transport their goods the whole passage by sea, may be found in their ignorance and fears: their inexperienced mariners and frail ships could not succeed in doubling Cape Malea in Laconia; off which, and between it and Crete, the sea was frequently very boisterous. Hence, the merchants were under the necessity of transporting, by land carriage, their goods to the seas which formed the Isthmus. Such as came from Italy, Sicily, and the countries to the west, were landed at Lechaeum; while the merchandize from Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and the islands in the Egean Sea, were landed at the port of Cinchraea. The breadth of the Isthmus was so small that the goods were easily and quickly conveyed from one harbour to the other; and afterwards the Corinthians succeeded in transporting the ships themselves.

At first it would appear that the Corinthians contented themselves with the wealth derived from their city being the great mart of commerce, and from the duties which they imposed: but they soon began to engage very extensively and with great spirit in trade themselves. Several kinds of manufactures were encouraged, which were highly valued by foreign nations, especially coverlets for beds, and brass and earthen-ware vessels. But their most valuable manufacture consisted in a metal compounded of copper and a small quantity of gold and silver, which was extremely brilliant, and scarcely liable to rust or decay. From this metal they made helmets, &c., little figures, cups, vessels, &c., which were highly esteemed, not only on account of the metal of which they were formed, but still more on account of the tasteful foliage and other ornaments with which they were covered. Their earthen-ware was ornamented in the same beautiful and tasteful manner.

All these were exported by the Corinthians in great quantities, and formed very lucrative articles of trade. Paper and sailcloth from Egypt; ivory from Lybia; leather from Cyrene; incense from Syria; dates from Phoenicia; carpets from Carthage; corn and cheese from Sicily; apples and pears from Euboea;—filled the warehouses of Corinth.

As soon as Corinth resolved to participate in maritime commerce, she applied herself to this object with great industry and success: she built ships of a novel form, and first produced galleys with three benches of oars; and history assures us that the Greeks obtained their first maritime experience during the naval war between the Corinthians and the inhabitants of Corfu; and by their instruction the Samians put to sea those powerful fleets for which they were distinguished.

Besides Athens and Corinth, there were no states in ancient Greece, the consideration of whose maritime and commercial affairs will detain us long. Lacedaemonia was favourably situated in these respects; but either her laws, or the disposition and pursuits of her inhabitants, prevented her from taking advantage of her situation. All the south part of Laconia was encompassed by the sea, and on the east and north-east was the Argelic Bay: on its coasts were a great number of capes, the most celebrated of which were those of Malea and Tanara; they were also furnished with a great number of sea-port towns and commodious harbours. In consequence of the capes extending far into the sea, and the deepness of some of the bays, the ancients took three days to navigate the length of the coast in vessels wrought by oars, following, as they generally did, all the windings of the land. The little river Pameros, which divided Beotia from Laconia, formed one extremity, and the port of Prais, on the Gulf of Argelis, formed the other. The most difficult and dangerous part of this navigation consisted in doubling Cape Malea.

The most convenient and frequented sea-ports in Laconia were Trinassus and Acria, situated on each side the mouth of the Eurotas; and Gythium, not far from Trinassus, at the mouth of a small river on the Laconic Gulf. The mouth of this river, which was navigable up to Sparta, was defended by a citadel, the ruins of which were remaining in the time of Pausanias. As the Lacedaemonians regarded this town as their principal port, in which their naval forces, as well as the greater part of their merchant ships assembled, they employed considerable labour and expence in rendering it commodious and safe; for this purpose they dug a very spacious basin which, on one side was defended by motes, and on the other by numerous fortifications: the strength of these may be judged of from the circumstance, that even after the armies of Sparta had been utterly defeated by Epaminondas, and Philip, the son of Demetrius, neither of these conquerors could capture this sea-port. In it were deposited all the requisites for their naval force, and from it sailed their merchant ships with cargoes to Crete, Africa, and Egypt; to all of which countries, according to Thucydides, the Lacedaemonians carried on a lucrative and regular traffic. Another of their sea-ports was Epidaurus, situated on the Gulf of Argos, in the eastern part of Laconia. The country round it contained many vineyards, the wine of which was exported in considerable quantities, and supplied other parts of Greece. This district is still celebrated for its wine, called Malvasia, (or Malmsey,) a corruption from Maleates, the ancient name of this part of Laconia.

We have already alluded to the supposed aversion of the Spartans to maritime affairs, which, according to some authors, arose from Lycurgus having prohibited them from building vessels, or employing sailors; but this idea is unfounded, and seems to have arisen from the fact, that their kings were prevented, by a positive law, from commanding the fleets. That the Spartans engaged in commerce, we have, as has been just stated, the express testimony of Thucydides; and there is abundant evidence that they had always armed vessels during their wars; and even so early as the time of Croesus, they sent some troops to Satnos, and plundered that island: and in later times, they used such efforts to equip vessels, in order to gain the mastery of the seas, that, according to Xenophon, they entirely neglected their cavalry. They were stimulated to this line of conduct by Alcibiades, who advised the kings, ephori, and the nation at large, to augment their marine, to compel the ships of all other nations to lower their flag to theirs, and to proclaim themselves exclusive masters of the Grecian seas. Isocrates informs us, that, before Alcibiades came to Lacedaemon, the Spartans, though they had a navy, expended little on it; but afterwards they increased it almost daily. The signal defeat they sustained at the battle of Cnidus, where Conon destroyed their whole fleet, not only blasted their hopes of becoming masters of the seas, but, according to Isocrates, led to their defeat at the battle of Leuctra.

Off the coast of Laconia, and about forty stadia from Cape Malea, lies the island of Cythera; the strait between it and the mainland was deemed by the ancients extremely dangerous in stormy weather; and indeed its narrowness, and the rocks that lay off Cape Malea must, to such inexperianced navigators, have been very alarming. The Phoenicians are supposed to have had a settlement in this island: afterwards it became an object of great consequence to the Lacedaemonians, who fortified, at great expence, and with much labour and skill, its two harbours, Cythera and Scandea. The convenience of these harbours to the Lacedaemonians compensated for the sterility of the island, which was so great that when the Athenians conquered it, they could raise from it only four Attic talents annually. The chief employment and source of wealth to the inhabitants consisted in collecting a species of shell-fish, from which an inferior kind of Tyrian dye was extracted. There were several fisheries on the mainland of Laconia for the same purpose.

Some of the other Greek islands require a short and general notice, on account of the attention they paid to maritime affairs. Corcyra was inhabited by skilful mariners, who, in the time of Herodotus, possessed a greater number of ships than any other people in Greece, with the exception of the Athenians; and, according to Thucydides, at one period they were masters of the Mediterranean Sea. On the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, they fitted out a fleet of sixty ships, with which they promised to assist their countrymen; but, instead of this, their ships anchored in a place where they could see the result of the battle of Salamis, and when they ascertained that the Greeks were victorious, they pretended that they had been prevented from affording the promised succours by contrary winds, so that they could not double Cape Malea. Of the commerce of this island we have no particulars detailed by ancient writers.

Egina, in the Saronic Gulf, acquired great wealth from the cultivation of commerce: in the time of the Persian war, they equipped a very powerful and well-manned fleet for the defence of Greece; and at the battle of Salamis they were adjudged to have deserved the prize of valour. According to Elian, they were the first people who coined money.

The island of Euboea possessed excellent harbours, from which, as it was very fertile, the Athenians exported large quantities of corn. This island is divided from the mainland of Greece by the Euripus, which the ancients represented to be so extremely narrow, that a galley could scarcely pass through it: its frequent and irregular tides were, also the subject of their wonder, and the cause of them, of their fruitless researches and conjectures. It hits several promontories, the doubling of one of which, Cape Catharius, was reckoned by the ancients very dangerous, on account of the many rocks and whirlpools on the const. Of all the cities of Euboea, Chalcis was the most famous: its inhabitants applied themselves, at a very early period, to navigation, and sent numerous colonies to Thrace, Macedon, Italy, &c. In the vicinity of another of its towns, Carystus, there were quarries of very fine marble, the exportation of which seems to have been a lucrative trade: in the same part of the island also was found the asbestos. Euboea possessed several rich copper and iron mines; and as the inhabitants were very skilful in working these metals, the exportation of armour, and various vessels made from them, was also one important branch of their commerce.

Of the numerous colonies sent out by the Greeks, we shall notice only those which were established for the purposes of commerce, or which, though not established for this express purpose, became afterwards celebrated for it. None of the Athenian colonies, which they established expressly for the purpose of trading with the capital, was of such importance as Amphipolis. This place was situated at the mouth of the river Strymon, on the borders of Macedonia. The country in its vicinity was very fertile in wood, and from it, for a considerable length of time, the Athenians principally derived timber for building their fleets: they also levied on its inhabitants a heavy tribute in silver coin. As this city was well situated for commerce, and the Athenians, wherever they went, or were settled, were eager in pursuit of gain, their colonists in Amphipolis extended their trade, on one side into Thrace, and on the other into Macedonia. They were enabled, in a great measure, to monopolize the commerce of both these countries, at least those parts of them which were contiguous, from the situation of their city on the Strymon; of which river they held, as it were, the key, so that nothing could depart from it without their consent. The ancients represent this river as frequently exhibiting immense logs of wood floating down it, which had been felled either on Mount Rhodope, or in the forests of Mount Hemus. The Athenians retained this important and valuable colony till the time of Philip, the father of Alexander, by whom it was taken from them.

The island of Samos may justly be regarded as a Grecian colony; having been chiefly inhabited by the Iones, to whose confederacy it belonged. Its situation between the mainland of Asia and the island of Icaria, from both of which it is separated by very narrow straits, which were the usual course for the ancient vessels in their voyage from the Black Sea to Syria and Egypt, rendered it the resort of pirates, as well as celebrated for its ships and commerce. The city of Samos, as described by the ancients, seems to have been a place of great consequence. Herodotus mentions three things for which it was remarkable in his time; one of which was a mole or pier, 120 feet long, which formed the harbour, and was carried two furlongs into the sea. The principal design of this mole was to protect ships from the south wind, to which they would otherwise have been much exposed. Hence it would appear, that even at this early period, they had made great advances in commerce, otherwise they would neither have had the disposition or ability to build such a mole. But we have the express testimony of Thucydides, that even at a much earlier period,—nearly 300 years before the Peloponnesian war,—the Samians gave great encouragement to shipbuilding, and employed Aminodes, the Corinthian, who was esteemed the most skilful ship-builder of his time; and Herodotus speaks of them as trading to Egypt, Spain, &c., before any of the other Greeks, except Sostrates, of Egina, were acquainted with those countries. The same author informs us, that the Samians had a settlement in Upper Egypt, and that one of their merchant ships, on its passage thither, was driven by contrary winds, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to the island of Tartessus, which till then was unknown to the Greeks. This island abounded in gold; of the value of which, the inhabitants were so utterly ignorant, that they readily allowed the Samians to carry home with them sixty talents, or about 13,500l. According to Pliny, they first built vessels fit to transport cavalry. We are not informed of what articles their exports and imports consisted, except that their earthen-ware was in great repute among the ancients, in their most splendid entertainments, and was exported in great quantities for this purpose. The Samian earth, from which these vessels were made, was itself also exported, on account of its medicinal properties. It is well known that the victory obtained by the Greeks over the Persians, at the sea-fight of Mycale, was chiefly owing to the Samians.

The commerce of the Black Sea was of so much importance and value to the Greeks, that we cannot be surprised that they founded several colonies on its shores, and in the adjacent countries. Heraclea, in this sea, is said to have been founded by the Beotians: the inhabitants availed themselves of their situation to engage very extensively in maritime affairs and in commerce, so that in a short time they were not inferior in wealth or power to any of the Greek states in Asia. When Xenophon was obliged to retreat after his expedition into Asia Minor, the Heracleans supplied him with ships, to transport his army into Greece. Their maritime strength and skill, or their commercial pursuits, involved them in almost every maritime war, their friendship and support being sought after by all the Asiatic princes. When the war broke out between Ptolemy and Antigonus, they sent to the assistance of the former a numerous fleet, all of which were well equipped and manned. Some were of an extraordinary size, especially one, which had on each side 800 oars, besides 1200 fighting men.

Trapezus was a Greek city, in Pontus, situated on a peninsula, in the Black Sea, where it begins to turn to the east: it had a large and convenient port, and carried on a considerable trade. But the most celebrated of the Grecian colonies in this part of the world, was Byzantium: it was anciently founded by the Megareans, and successively rebuilt by the Milesians and other nations of Greece. Its harbour, which was in fact an arm of the Bosphorus, obtained, at a very remote period, the appellation of the Golden Horn; most of the recesses, which were compared to the horn of a stag, are now filled up. The epithet "golden" was given to it as expressive of the riches, which (to use the language of Gibbon) every wind wafted from the most distant countries into its secure and capacious port. Never was there a happier or more majestic situation. The river Lycus, which was formed by the junction of two small streams, pouring into the harbour, every tide, a regular supply of fresh water, cleansed the bottom; while the tides in those seas being very trifling, the constant depth of the harbour allowed goods to be landed on the quay without the assistance of boats: and in some parts, the depth near the shore was so considerable, that the prows of the vessels touched the houses, while they were fully afloat. The distance from the mouth of the river to that of the harbour, or the length of this arm of the Bosphorus is seven miles; the entrance, about 500 yards broad, was defended, when necessary, by a strong chain drawn across it. The city of Byzantium was situated on a promontory, nearly of a triangular form; on the point of the promontory stood the citadel. The walls of the city itself were very strong, but not so lofty towards the sea as towards the land, being on the former side defended by the waves, and in some places by the rocks on which they were built, and which projected into the sea.

Thus favoured by nature, and strengthened by art, and situated in a territory abounding in grain and fruits, Byzantium was crowded with merchants, and supported and enriched by an active and flourishing commerce: its harbour, which was sheltered on every side from tempests, besides being easy of access and capacious, attracted to it ships from all the states of Greece, while its situation at the head of the strait enabled, and seemed to authorize it to stop and subject to heavy duties, the foreign merchants who traded to the Euxine, or to reduce the nations who depended on the countries bordering on this sea for their supplies of corn to great difficulties, and in some cases, even to famine. On these accounts the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were generally rivals for its alliance and friendship. Besides the necessary article of grain and abundance of rich and valuable fruit, the Byzantines derived great wealth from their fisheries: these were carried on with great spirit, enterprize, and success. A surprising quantity of fish was caught in the harbour itself, in autumn, when they left the Euxine for the Archipelago; and in the spring, on their return to Pontus. A great many people were employed both in this fishery, and in the curing of the fish: great sums were derived from this source, as well as from the sale of salt provisions; for the quality of which, Byzantium was in greater renown than even Panticapeum. The only disadvantage under which the Byzantines laboured, to counterbalance the excellence of their harbour, the fertility of their soil, the productiveness of their fisheries, and the extent of their commerce, arose from the frequent excursions of the Thracians, who inhabited the neighbouring villages.

There were many other Grecian colonies on the Bosphorus and the adjacent seas. Panticapeum, built by the Milesians, according to Strabo, the capital of the European Bosphorus, with which, as has been already mentioned, the Athenians carried on a considerable trade. Theodosia, also mentioned before, was likewise formed and colonized by the Milesians: its port could contain 100 ships. Tanais, on the Cimmerian Bosphorus; Olbia and Borysthenes, both situated near the mouth of the river from which the latter took its name; Panagorea and Hermonassa on the Bosphorus, and several others. Besides these colonies in this part of the world, the Greeks founded others, for the express purposes of commerce; as Syracuse, in Sicily; Marseilles, in Gaul, the mother of several colonies established on the neighbouring coasts, and, as we shall afterwards notice, a place of very considerable wealth, consequence, and strength, derived entirely from commerce, as well as the seat of the arts and sciences; Cyrene, an opulent city in Africa, and Naucratis, situated on one of the mouths of the Nile. They likewise formed settlements in Rhodes and Crete, in the islands of the Egean Sea, on the opposite coasts of Asia, &c.; most of which were of importance to the mother country, from the facilities they offered to the extension of its commerce.

The war between the Romans, and Philip king of Macedon, which intervened between the second and third Punic war, first afforded the former an opportunity and an excuse for interfering in the affairs of Greece. Till the time of Philip, the father of Alexander, Macedonia does not appear to have had any connexion with the rest of this celebrated portion of the ancient world; the Greeks, indeed, regarded its inhabitants as savages; but from that period, Macedonia became the most important and influential state in Greece. Its boundaries varied at different periods of its history: it seems originally to have been bounded on the east by the Egean Sea; on the south by Thessaly and Epirus; on the west by the Ionian Sea; and on the north by the river Strymon, at the mouth of which, as has been already mentioned, the Athenians founded one of their most flourishing and useful colonies. The princes of Macedonia viewed with jealousy, but for a long time were unable to prevent the states of Greece from forming colonies in the immediate vicinity of their dominions: their union, however, with the king of Persia, when he first fixed his ambition on Greece, was rewarded by a great accession of territory, which enabled them to contest the possession of the sea-coasts with the most powerful of the Greek republics. They then extended their territories to the Eastern Sea, but there were till the reign of Philip, the father of Alexander, several nations between them and the Adriatic, all of which were subdued by him; and thus this sea became their western boundary.

Some of the most celebrated cities of Macedonia were founded by foreign nations. Epidamnus, which was seated at the entrance of the Ionian Gulf, was a colony of the Corcyrians: it was the occasion of a fierce naval war between them and the Corinthians, generally called the Corinthian war. Apollonia, distant seven miles from the sea, on the river Laus, was a Corinthian colony: it was renowned for its excellent laws. On another part of the coast of the Adriatic were the sea-ports of Elyma and Bullis. The district of Paraxis, which was full of gulfs and inlets formed by the Egean Sea, had several ports, but none of any repute. From this description of Macedonia and its principal sea coasts and ports, it is evident that it possessed many advantages for commerce and naval affairs, which, however, were never embraced till the period when the Romans first turned their thoughts to Greece. Had its sovereigns been disposed to engage in commerce, the Adriatic, with its extensive and safe haven of Epidamnus, in which there were several ports, would have opened the trade to Italy; the Egean Sea, still more advantageous, would have secured the trade of Greece and Asia, by means of its spacious bays, one of which, the Sinus Thermaeus, was at least sixty miles long.

The produce of Macedonia also would have favoured its commerce; the soil was every where fruitful, and, especially near the sea, abounding in corn, wine, and oil: its principal riches, however, consisted in its mines of almost all kinds of metals, but particularly of gold. In the district of Pieria, it is said, there were found large quantities of this metal in the sand, sometimes in lumps of considerable size: but by far the most productive and valuable mines of gold were in the mountain Pangaeus, in a district which Philip, the father of Alexander, added to Macedonia. The people who inhabited the country near the river Strymon derived great wealth from these mines, and it was the knowledge of this, as much as the facility of obtaining timber, which induced the Athenians to found their colony near this river. The Thracians drove the Athenians from this part of Macedonia, and Philip expelled them: he paid great attention to the working of the mines; and by employing persons well skilled in this and in refining the ore, he rendered them so extremely valuable, that, according to ancient authors, he obtained the empire of Greece principally by means of the immense sums he drew from them, amounting annually, according to Diodorus, to 1000 talents of gold. When the Romans reduced Macedonia, they expressly forbade the inhabitants from working the mines of gold or silver, or refining either of those metals; permitting them, however, to manufacture any other metal.

The princes of Macedonia previous to Philip, the father of Alexander, notwithstanding the great advantage for maritime affairs and commerce afforded by the sea-coasts, bays, harbours, &c., neither practised nor understood them: this arose in a great measure from their being continually engaged in wars, or having their ports occupied or blocked up by the maritime states of Greece. Philip was the first who freed his country from these evils and inconveniences; but his thoughts were too intently and constantly fixed on other objects to allow him to turn his attention to maritime affairs or commerce. Alexander, as we have already seen, bestowed much care on his fleet, while engaged in the conquest of Asia; and when he died at Babylon, had formed the design of placing his fleets, in every port of his dominions, on a regular and extensive scale. But the advantages of Macedonia for commerce were neglected in the midst of his vast plans elsewhere, and the Macedonians, at the period of his death, were still inattentive to maritime affairs.

Philip, the antagonist of the Romans, of whose power and success he was not only jealous but apprehensive, as soon as he resolved to engage in hostilities with them, applied himself to maritime affairs. His determination seems to have been fixed when he learnt that the Romans had been defeated at the Lake of Thrasymenus: he instantly formed the plan of invading Illyrium, and then crossing over to Italy. But the latter step could not be taken, nor, indeed, could he expect to cope with the Romans, till he had formed a fleet, and trained his subjects to the management of it. At this period the Macedonians seem to have had some merchant ships; for we are informed that a petty king of Illyria seized some of them in the port of Leucas, and also all that his squadron met with on the coast of Greece, as far as Malea. This insult and attack afforded Philip an excellent reason for declaring war against Illyricum: he began by exercising the Macedonians in the art of navigation; he built ships after the Illyrian manner, and he was the first king of Macedonia that put to sea 100 small vessels at one time.

He was urged still more strongly to go on with his plan of invading Italy, when he learnt the result of the battle of Cannae; he immediately formed an alliance with Hannibal, and engaged to invade Italy with 200 sail of ships, and plunder its eastern coasts: in return for this service he was to retain all the islands in the Adriatic, lying near the coast of Macedonia, that he might subdue.

His first naval enterprize was the siege of Oricum on the coast of Epirus, and of Apollonia on the coast of Macedonia, both of which he carried on at the same time, with 120 ships of two banks of oars. He was, however, successfully opposed by the Roman consul Laevinus, who obliged him to burn great part of his fleet, and raise the siege of Doth the places.

About twelve years afterwards, or about 200 years before Christ, Philip engaged in a maritime war with Attalus, king of Pergamus, and the Rhodians, near the isle of Chio: the fleet of Philip consisted of fifty-three decked vessels and 150 gallies; besides these he had several ships called pristis, from the figure of a large fish which was affixed to, or engraved on their bows, either to distinguish them, or as a mark of their swift sailing. The fleet of his opponents consisted of sixty-five covered ships, besides those of their allies, the people of Byzantium.

Notwithstanding, however, the exertions he made to acquire a naval force equal to that of the Romans, and the experience which his subjects gradually obtained in maritime affairs, he was not able to sustain their attacks, either by land or sea, but was compelled in a very few years to sue for peace. This he obtained, on the condition, that he should deliver up to the Romans all his covered gallies, and reserve to himself only a few smaller vessels: he was permitted, however, to retain one galley of sixteen banks of oars, a vessel rather for shew than use.

The success of the Romans, the extent of their conquests, and the ambitious views, which seemed wider and wider in proportion to their successes, alarmed Antiochus, king of Syria, who, not intimidated by the fate of Philip, resolved to declare war against them. They were never averse to engage in hostilities. The fleet of Antiochus consisted of 100 ships; that of the Romans was nearly equal in number; the ships of Antiochus, however, were inferior to those of his opponents in respect to strength and size, though surpassing them in swiftness. The hostile fleets met and engaged on the coast of Ionia; that of Antiochus was defeated, and would have been utterly captured or destroyed, had it not been for the swiftness of the vessels. In order to repair his loss, Antiochus sent for additional vessels from Sicily and Phoenicia; but these were taken on their passage by the Rhodians, who were at this time in alliance with the Romans. The Rhodians, however, in their turn were attacked and defeated by the fleet of Antiochus, near Samos, whither they had gone to join a Roman squadron.

In the meantime the Romans had collected a fleet of eighty ships, and with these they fought one hundred ships of their opponent off the coast of Ionia; the victory of the former was decisive, all the ships of Antiochus being captured or destroyed. This disaster, in connection with a signal defeat he sustained by land, compelled him to submit; and the Romans, always attentive to their maritime interests, which however they had not hitherto pushed nearly to the extent which they might have done, refused to grant him peace, except on the conditions, that he should cede all that part of Asia which lies between the sea and Mount Taurus; that he should give up all his vessels except ten; and that these should not, on any account, sail beyond the promontories of Cilicia. The Romans, extremely strict, and even severe, in enforcing the conditions of peace, not only destroyed fifty covered galleys, but, the successor of Antiochus having built additional vessels to the ten he was by treaty allowed to keep, they compelled him to burn them.

The temporary success of the Carthaginians against the Romans induced Philip, king of Macedon, to engage in that war which proved his ruin. The advice of Hannibal, when an exile at the court of Antiochus, likewise led to the disastrous war of that monarch with the same people; and by the advice of Hannibal also, Prusias, king of Bythinia, was engaged in hostilities with them. This king seems to have paid considerable attention to naval and commercial affairs, for both of which, indeed, his territories were admirably suited. In conjunction with the Rhodians, he made war against the inhabitants of Byzantium, and obliged them to remit the tax which they had been accustomed to levy on all vessels that sailed to or from the Euxine Sea, The maritime war between this sovereign and the Romans, who were at this time in alliance with Eumenes, king of Pergamus, offers nothing deserving our notice, except a stratagem executed by Hannibal. In order to compensate for the inferiority of Prusias' fleet, Hannibal ordered a great many serpents to be collected; these were put into pots, which, during the engagement, were thrown into the enemy's ships. The alarm and consternation occasioned by this novel and unexpected mode of warfare, threw his opponents into disorder, and compelled them to save themselves by flight.

The conquest of all the islands on the coast of Greece, from Epirus to Cape Malea, by the Romans, was the result of a naval war, in which they engaged with the Etolians, a people who, at this time, were so powerful at sea, and so much addicted to piracy, as to have drawn upon themselves the jealousy and the vengeance of the Romans. This extension of their dominions was followed by a successful war with the Istrians, which made them masters of all the western parts of the Mediterranean Sea; and by an equally successful war with Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, who was compelled to deliver up his fleet to them, as well as all the sea-ports of consequence on the coast of Sparta.

The Rhodians hitherto had been generally in alliance with the Romans; but differences arose between them during the war between the latter and Perseus, king of Macedon.

The island of Rhodes was remarkably well situated for maritime commerce; and its inhabitants did not fail to reap all the advantages in this respect which nature had so kindly bestowed on them. It appears from Homer, that in his time there were three cities in the island; but during the Peloponnesian war, the greater part of the inhabitants, having formed the resolution to settle in one place, built the city of Rhodes, after the designs of the same Athenian architect, who built the Piraeus. This city was situated on the east coast of the island, at the foot of a hill, in the form of an amphitheatre: it possessed a very convenient and safe harbour, at the entrance of which there were two rocks; and on these, which were fifty feet asunder, the famous Colossus was placed. The arsenals of Rhodes were filled with every thing requisite for the defence of the city, or the equipment of a large fleet: its walls, which were extremely high, were defended by towers: its houses were built of stone: in short, the whole city presented a striking picture of wealth, magnificence, and beauty, for which it was not less indebted to art and commerce than to nature.

Before the era of the Olympiads, the Rhodians applied themselves to maritime affairs: for many years they seem to have been masters of the Mediterranean Sea; and their code of maritime laws became the standard with all the maritime nations of antiquity, by which all controversies regarding maritime affairs were regulated. There is great doubt among the learned, whether what still exist as the fragments of these laws are genuine: we know, however, that the Romans had a law which they called Lex Rhodia; according to some, this contained the regulations of the Rhodians concerning naval affairs; according to others, however, only one clause of the law, de jactu, about throwing goods overboard in a storm, was borrowed from the Rhodians.

Besides the commerce in which they themselves were engaged, the constant arrival of ships from Egypt to Greece, and from Greece to Egypt, the island being situated exactly in the passage between these countries, contributed much to their wealth. As this encreased, they formed settlements and colonies in many places; at Parthenope and Salapia, in Italy; Agrigentum and Geta, in Sicily; Rhodes, on the coast of Spain, near the foot of the Pyrenees, &c. They were particularly celebrated for and attentive to the construction of their vessels; aiming principally at lightness and speed, the discipline observed on board of them, and the skill and ability of their captains and pilots. All these things were under the direct management and controul of magistrates, appointed for the express purpose, who were excessively attentive and even rigid in the execution of their duty. Whoever entered certain places in the arsenals without permission, was punished with death.

A few of the most remarkable events in the maritime history of Rhodes, prior to their dispute with the Romans, call for some general and cursory notice. Till the foundation of the city of Rhodes, which, as we have already stated, took place during the Peleponnesian war, there is scarcely any thing to attract our attention: a short time before this, the republican form of government was established, and the trade and navigation of the Rhodians seem to have acquired a fresh impulse and spirit. But their enterprizes were soon checked by Artemisia, queen of Caria, gaining possession of their city: this she effected by a stratagem. The Rhodians invaded Caria with a design of gaining possession of Halicarnassus: by the direction of the queen, the inhabitants made a signal that they surrendered; the Rhodians suspecting no treachery, and delighted with their apparent success, left their fleet to take possession of the town; in the meantime, the queen brought her fleet from an adjoining creek, by means of some canal or other inland communication, to the port where the Rhodian vessels lay, and quietly took them. This disaster was the cause of another, still more calamitous to the Rhodians; for Artemisia sailed with the Rhodian ships to Rhodes, and the inhabitants, under the belief that their fleet was returning victorious, permitted the enemy to land and to seize the city. To what cause the Rhodions were indebted for the restoration of their liberty and independence we are not informed; but it was owing, either to the interference of the Athenians, or the death of Artemisia.

From the period of these events, which occurred about 350 years before Christ, till the reign of Alexander the Great, the Rhodians enjoyed profound and uninterrupted tranquillity; their commerce extended, and their wealth encreased. To this conqueror they offered no resistance, but of their own accord surrendered their cities and harbours; as soon, however, as they learnt that he was dead, they resumed their independence. About this time the greater part of their city was destroyed by a dreadful inundation, which would have swept the whole of it away, if the wall between it and the sea had not been broken down by the force of the waters, and thus given them free passage. This misfortune seems only to have encouraged the inhabitants to attend still more closely and diligently to commerce, which they carried on with so much industry and skill, and in such a profitable manner, that they soon rebuilt their city, and repaired all the losses they had sustained. Their alliance was courted by all their neighbours; but they resolved to adhere to a strict neutrality, and thus, while war raged among other nations, they were enabled to profit by that very circumstance, and thus became one of the most opulent states of all Asia. Their commerce, as well as that of all the states on the Mediterranean, being much molested and injured by the pirates, they undertook, of their own accord, and at their own expence, to root them out; and in this they completely succeeded.

But that commerce, on account of which they were so very anxious to keep at peace, involved them in war. Their most lucrative trade was with Egypt. When hostilities began between Ptolemy and Antigonus, the latter insisted that they should join him; this they refused to do; upon which his fleet blockaded Rhodes, to prevent their commerce with Egypt. The Rhodians were thus compelled to act against him in their own defence, in order to free their harbour. The raising of the blockade, and the defeat of his fleet, incensed Antiochus; and to the remonstrances and entreaties of the Rhodians to be permitted to remain at peace, he replied, "that they must declare war against Ptolemy, admit his fleet into their harbour, and give hostages for the performance of these articles." War now was inevitable, and great preparations for it were made on both sides: the attack on the city was committed by Antigonus to his son Demetrius; for this purpose he collected a fleet of 200 ships of war, 170 transports with 40,000 men on board, and 1000 vessels laden with provisions, stores, warlike engines, etc. This immense armament was composed partly of pirates and mercenaries, who were induced to join Demetrius, by the hope of partaking in the plunder of Rhodes. It is foreign to our purpose to enter on the details of this memorable siege: the Rhodians trusted principally to their own valour and resources; from Ptolemy, however, they received most ample and seasonable supplies of provisions: at one time he sent them 300,000 measures of corn; a few days afterwards Cassandra sent them 100,000 bushels of barley, and Lysimachus 400,000 bushels of corn, and as many of barley: these supplies, the valour of the inhabitants, and the ill success of some new and immense engines, on which Demetrius had mainly depended, at length induced him to raise the siege and make peace with the Rhodians.

The Rhodians endeavoured to make up for the time they had lost, and the money they had expended, during their war with Antiochus, by applying themselves entirely to navigation and commerce; so that, according to Polybius, they became masters of the sea, and the most opulent and flourishing state of those times. The next war in which they were engaged was occasioned entirely by their attention and regard to their commercial interests. We have already slightly noticed this war; but in this place it will be proper to go more into detail respecting it. The people of Byzantium determined to lay a toll on all ships that traded to the Euxine, in order to defray an annual tribute which they were obliged to pay to the Greeks. As one of the most important and lucrative branches of the commerce of Rhodes was to the countries lying on this sea, they were much aggrieved by this toll, and endeavoured to persuade the Byzantines to take it off, but in vain. Under these circumstances, they, in conjunction with Prusias, king of Bythinia, declared war against the Byzantines; and while their ally took Hieron, which seems to have been a great mart of the Byzantines, and the resort of most of the merchants trading to these parts, the Rhodians, with a powerful fleet, ravaged their coasts, and seized all their ships trading to the Euxine. The war was at length terminated under the mediation of the king of the Thracian Gauls; the Byzantines agreeing to take off the toll.

Their success in this war was counterbalanced by a dreadful earthquake, which threw down the Colossus, destroyed the arsenal, and damaged part of the walls and city. As the Rhodians, however, were much esteemed by most of their neighbours, who found their prosperity intimately connected with the prosperity of Rhodes, they soon recovered from these calamities and losses. Hiero, king of Syracuse, gave them 100 talents, and exempted them from all duties and taxes. Ptolemy gave them also the like sum, besides one million measures of wheat, and timber, etc. requisite for building fifty ships. Antiochus exempted all their vessels, which traded to his ports, from every kind of tax and duty. They received from other princes presents or privileges of equal importance and value; so that, in a very short time, they recovered their former opulence and trade, and rebuilt their walls, etc.

Their alliance with Attalus, king of Pergamus, involved them in a war with Philip king of Macedonia, and was the cause of their forming an alliance with the Romans. In this war the Rhodian fleet, in conjunction with the fleets of their allies, gained several victories over the fleet of Philip. The latter was at length obliged to sue to the Romans for peace, and they, in fixing the terms, included the Rhodians, to whom were ceded Stratonice, and the greater part of Caria. In the meantime Antiochus and the Romans had commenced hostilities, and the Rhodians were again involved in them: almost at their very commencement, their fleet was surprized by a stratagem of Antiochus's admiral, and of thirty ships of war of which it consisted, only seven escaped.

They soon, however, repaired their losses, and fitted out another fleet, with which they put to sea, for the purpose of preventing the junction of Hannibal with Antiochus's ships: the former had thirty-seven large ships; the Rhodian fleet was nearly equal in numbers, but inferior in size. The hostile fleets met off the coast of Pamphilia. The battle was obstinate: at first, by an oversight of the Rhodian admiral, some disorder occurred in part of his fleet; but this was soon repaired, and a decisive victory obtained. Part of Hannibal's fleet was captured, and the rest blocked up in the harbours of Pamphilia. The defeat of Antiochus, both at sea and land, by the Romans, to which we have already adverted, obliged this monarch to sue for peace, in which the Rhodians were included.

We have now arrived at that period of the history of Rhodes when the first difference arose between that city and the Romans: the latter suspected that the Rhodians favoured Perseus king of Macedon, with whom they were at war, and were moreover displeased at their presuming to interfere with them in his favour. In order to watch their inclinations and motions, the senate sent three commissioners to Rhodes: these found a fleet of forty galleys, which there was reason to believe had been intended to act against the Romans; but which, by the advice of the chief magistrate, were, on the arrival of the commissioners, ordered to sea, to act in union with them. Scarce, however, were the commissioners departed, when the Rhodians became lukewarm in the cause of the Romans; and although they sent a few of their galleys to join the Roman admiral, they kept the greatest number in port, waiting the issue of the war between them and the king of Macedonia. As soon as they heard of the defeat of the former in Thessaly, they entered into negotiations with Perseus, and at the same time sent ambassadors to Rome, who complained, that in consequence of the war between Perseus and the Romans, the navigation and commerce of Rhodes was greatly injured, their island deprived of provisions and other necessaries, and the customs and duties which their maritime situation formerly afforded them kept back, from their no longer being able to sail with safety along the coasts of Asia, where they used to levy the most important and productive of them.

After the defeat of Perseus, they ceased to remonstrate, and became submissive to the Romans. It is probable, however, that the Romans would have seized this opportunity of attacking them, had not Cato spoken very strongly in their favour: in consequence of his arguments and influence, and by the cession of Lycia and Caria, they were again admitted to an alliance with the Romans.

The advantages they derived from this alliance were so great, that they resisted the promises and the threats of Mithridates, when he engaged in hostilities with the Romans. This monarch, therefore, resolved to employ his whole force by sea and land against them: they were not however dismayed, but placed a firm reliance on their skill in maritime affairs. They divided their fleet into three squadrons: one drawn up in a line protected the entrance of the harbour; and the other two, at a greater distance from the shore, were stationed to watch the approach of the enemy. Mithridates also divided his fleet, which was more numerous than that of the Rhodians, into three squadrons; one of these he himself commanded, on board of a quinquereme, and directed to attack the squadron which was protecting the port. The Rhodians gradually retired before the enemy, till they came close to the mouth of the harbour: Mithridates in vain endeavoured to break their line, and force an entrance; in all his attempts he was defeated with considerable loss; and his land forces, which he had embarked in transports, being dispersed in a storm, he was obliged to retire from before the city.

The Romans acknowledged the benefits they derived from the valour of the Rhodians on this occasion; and they again experienced it, in the war which Pompey carried on against the Cilician pirates, though that commander took all the merit to himself. In the civil war between him and Caesar, they assisted the former with a numerous fleet, under the command of one of their best seamen, who distinguished himself above all Pompey's captains, and gained very considerable advantages over Caesar's fleet. On the death of Pompey they joined Csesar: this exposed them to the hostility of Cassius; they endeavoured to pacify him by promising to recal the ships they had sent to the assistance of Caesar, but he demanded the delivery of their whole fleet, and that he should be put in possession of their harbour and city. To these terms they would not accede, but prepared for war, by equipping a fleet of thirty-three ships, and placing it under the command of one of their best officers. A battle ensued which was fought on both sides with great skill and bravery; but the Rhodians were obliged to yield to the superior number of the Roman fleet, and to return to the harbour, having lost two of their ships, and the rest being very much damaged. It is remarked by the ancient historians who relate this battle, that it was the first time the Rhodians were fairly overcome in a sea-fight.

Cassius followed up his success by bringing against Rhodes a fleet of eighty ships of war, and 200 transports. Against this formidable armament the Rhodians again put to sea, and a second battle ensued, which was more obstinately contested than the first: the Romans however were again victorious, and the city of Rhodes was blocked up by sea and land. Its fate was soon determined; for some of the inhabitants, dreading a famine, opened the gates to the Romans. Cassius, besides other severe terms, obliged the Rhodians to deliver up all their ships, and all their public treasures; the temples were plundered, and 8000 talents extorted from private individuals, besides a fine of 500 levied on the city.

From this time till the reign of Vespasian, when the island became a Roman province, it was sometimes oppressed, and sometimes favoured by the Romans; according, as Tacitus remarks, as they obliged them with their assistance in foreign wars, or provoked them with their seditions at home.

In order to complete the maritime history of Rhodes, we have rather advanced beyond the period to which we had brought down our notices of the Roman navigation and commerce: these therefore we shall now resume at the war between Perseus king of Macedonia and the Romans. Perseus harassed the coasts of Italy, plundered and sunk all their ships, while they found it difficult to oppose him by sea, or protect their coasts, for want of a fleet. This induced them to prepare for service fifty vessels; but though their allies augmented this number, the Romans do not seem to have performed any thing of consequence by sea. This is attributed principally to the circumstance, that the fleet, on examination, was discovered to be in bad condition, neither equipped sufficiently in stores or provisions, and the seamen who were to have navigated it were either dead or absent, while those who did appear were ill paid and worse clothed; these facts sufficiently demonstrate the little care which the Romans, even at this period, bestowed on maritime affairs. The defeat of Perseus at Pidna, and his subsequent capture by the Romans in the island of Samothrace, rendered it unnecessary for them to supply the deficiences of their fleet. The immense ship, which, as we have already mentioned, Philip, Perseus's father, employed in his war against the Romans, was taken on this occasion; and Paulus Emilius, the consul, sailed up the Tiber in it: it had 16 banks of oars. Many other ships of large size were also captured; these were brought to Rome, and drawn into the Campus Martius.