That Part Of Africa Which Was Formerly Possessed By The Carthaginians,
Besides Corn, Sent To Rome, Honey, Drugs, Marble, The Eggs And Feathers Of
The Ostrich, Ostriches, Elephants, And Lions; The Last For The
Amphitheatre.
From Mauritania, there were exported to the capital, timber
of a fine grain and excellent quality, the exact nature of which is not
known; this was sold at an enormous rate, and used principally for making
very large tables.
Spain supplied Rome with a very great number and variety of articles; from
the southern parts of it were exported corn, wine, oil, honey, wax, pitch,
scarlet dye, vermilion, salt, salted provisions, wool, &c. From the eastern
part of the north of Spain were exported salted provisions, cordage made of
the _spartum_, silver, earthenware, linen, steel, &c. The Balearic
islands exported some wine. The trade of Spain to Rome employed a great
number of vessels, almost as many as those which were employed in the whole
of the African trade; this was especially the case in the reigns of
Augustus and Tiberius. Even in the time of Julius Caesar, Spain had
acquired great wealth, principally by her exports to Rome. The ports from
which the greatest part of these commodities were shipped, were Cadiz, New
Carthage, and a port at the mouth of the Boetis, where, for the security of
the shipping, a light-house had been built. Cadiz was deemed the rival of
Alexandria in importance, shipping, and commerce; and so great was the
resort of merchants, &c. to it, that many of them, not being able to build
houses for want of room on the land, lived entirely upon the water.
From Gaul, Rome received gold, silver, iron, &c. which were sent as part of
the tribute; also linens, corn, cheese, and salted pork. Immense flocks of
geese travelled by land to Rome. The chief ports which sent goods to Rome
were Marseilles, Arles, and Narbonne, on the Mediterranean; and on the
Ocean, Bourdeau, and the port of the Veneti. It appears that there were a
considerable number of Italian or Roman merchants resident in Gaul, whose
principal trade it was to carry the wine made in the south of this
province, up the Rhine, and there barter it for slaves.
From Britain, Rome was supplied with tin, lead, cattle, hides, ornaments of
bone, vessels made of amber and glass, pearls, slaves, dogs, bears, &c. The
tin was either shipped from the island of Ictis (Isle of Wight), or sent
into Gaul: most of the other articles reached Rome through Gaul. The
principal article brought to Rome was amber.
We now come to the consideration of the articles with which Asia supplied
Rome; these, as may be easily imagined, were principally articles of
luxury. The murrhine cups, of the nature of which there has been much
unsatisfactory discussion, according to Pliny, came from Karmania in
Parthia; from Parthia they came to Egypt, and thence to Rome. It is
probable, however, that they came, in the first instance, from India, as
they are expressly mentioned by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea, as brought down from the capital of Guzerat, to the port of Baragyza.
These cups were first seen at Rome, in the triumphal procession of Pompey,
when he returned from the shores of the Caspian Sea.
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