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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