GIFT OF 
 MICHAEL REESE 
 
 
/ 
 
LECTURES 
 
 HISTOKY AND PRINCIPLES 
 
 ANCIENT COMMERCE. 
 
 BY J. W. GILBART, F.R.S. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 
 
 1847. 
 
Printed by WATERLOO & SONS, 66 & 67, London Wall, 
 London. 
 
TO THE 
 
 PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENTS, AND MEMBERS 
 
 CITY OF LONDON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC 
 INSTITUTION, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THESE Lectures were printed in the early part of 
 this year, to enable me, as stated in the preface, to 
 present copies to my friends. Nearly five hundred 
 copies have been thus distributed. I have con- 
 sequently been repeatedly requested to place the 
 work within the reach of the public. Though un- 
 willing to appear as an author upon any subject not 
 strictly within the limits of my profession, I have 
 at length complied with this request, partly in the 
 hope that the work may be useful to the more 
 youthful portion of the community, and partly to 
 give a wider currency to the suggestion respecting 
 the appointment of Lecturers by the government, in 
 connexion with any system of popular instruction. 
 
 J. W. G. 
 
 London, 
 Xurember, 1847. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 AN Author who writes a preface to a 
 book he had written fourteen years before 
 labours under some disadvantages, inas- 
 much as the usual topics of a preface 
 the reasons which induced him to fix upon 
 his subject, the manner in which he pur- 
 sued his inquiries, the sources from which 
 he gathered his information, and the mental 
 process by which he arrived at his opinions 
 have probably passed from his recollec- 
 tion. On the other hand he has some ad- 
 vantages. Time has sobered his feelings, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 and possibly improved his judgment. He 
 approaches his work with somewhat of the 
 feelings of a stranger. He is less likely to 
 speak with fondness of his own perform- 
 ance, and is less sanguine as to the degree 
 of approbation it will receive from others. 
 These Lectures were delivered at Water- 
 ford, in the beginning of the year 1833. 
 At that time I held the office of Manager 
 of the Waterford branch of the Provincial 
 Bank of Ireland. When residing in Lon- 
 don I had assisted at the formation of the 
 City of London Literary and Scientific In- 
 stitution, and was a member of the first 
 Committee of Management, in the year 
 1825. At my suggestion an institution 
 somewhat similar was formed at Water- 
 ford ; and, as professional lecturers were 
 not to be obtained, some of those gentle- 
 men who had taken an active part in its 
 formation, and others connected with 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 scientific pursuits, consented to become 
 lecturers. 
 
 The example was set by the Presi- 
 dent, Thomas Wyse, Esq., M.P., who, in 
 his own locality, showed the same zeal in 
 the cause of education which has charac- 
 terized his public exertions. A portion of 
 my own labours in this way consisted of 
 the following lectures on the history and 
 principles of ancient commerce. At the 
 close of the session Mr. Wyse delivered 
 an address to the members, in which 
 he made the following allusions to these 
 lectures. That no undue responsibility 
 may rest on Mr. Wyse, it is proper to 
 state that he never read the lectures, but 
 formed his judgment from having been pre- 
 sent at their delivery : 
 
 " But this was only a small portion of 
 Mr. Gilbart's important services. You have 
 already heard me refer, in terms of merited 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 eulogium, to the active part which he bore 
 in the founding of our institution an 
 activity exceeded, if possible, by the intel- 
 ligence, assiduity, and perseverance which 
 he brought to its subsequent management ; 
 but, great as these contributions un- 
 doubtedly were, they were fully rivalled by 
 his zealous literary support. There are 
 few in this room who have not attended his 
 excellent lectures on ' Ancient Commerce.' 
 I feel what a train of agreeable and elevat- 
 ing associations I excite by merely men- 
 tioning their name. The judicious arrange- 
 ment, the happy spirit of analysis, the dis- 
 criminating selection and classification of 
 facts, the wise deduction of principles, lead- 
 ing to views the noblest and loftiest, but at 
 the same time the most practical and useful 
 to society all this, too, conveyed in lan- 
 guage claiming the applause of the in- 
 structed, but not beyond the grasp of the 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 ignorant was not only a complete redemp- 
 tion of our original promises, but, I do 
 think, the best practical illustration and 
 most complete recommendation we could 
 possibly offer of the pleasures and utilities 
 of such institutions as this." 
 
 Soon after the delivery of these lectures 
 I was called to a position that led me to 
 forego most of my literary amusements, and 
 to direct my nightly studies into the same 
 channel as my daily labours. But, having 
 been relieved, by the settlement of the law, 
 of a portion of this kind of study, I was 
 induced to review the recreations of for- 
 mer years ; and, on reading these lectures, 
 I deemed them not unworthy of being com- 
 mitted to the press. The facts and prin- 
 ciples are not matters of local or temporary 
 interest : if they possess any interest they 
 possess as much now as they did fourteen 
 years ago ; and they will possess as much 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 fourteen years hence as they do now. I 
 need hardly say that lectures delivered in 
 the year 1833 do not contain any com- 
 ments upon acts of Parliament passed in 
 the year 1846. 
 
 The lectures were delivered from notes, 
 and were not wholly written out until after- 
 wards. In preparing the manuscript for 
 the press, I have omitted some anecdotes, 
 introduced with the view to enliven the 
 discussion ; some local illustrations, taken 
 from the trade of Waterford, and some 
 matters connected with the antiquities of 
 Egypt, Greece, and Rome, not bearing so 
 directly upon commerce. On the other 
 hand, I have made a number of small addi- 
 tions, but none that alter either the prin- 
 ciples or the structure of the lectures. 
 
 Lectures are one of the most efficient 
 means of public instruction. A lecturer 
 may present a better view of a subject than 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 can be found in any book, as his lectures 
 may be derived from a variety of books, 
 and from other sources ; he can impart in- 
 struction to a great number of people at the 
 same time, and his instructions may partake 
 very much of the character of amusement. 
 " There is something," says Dr. Watts, 
 " more delightful and entertaining in the 
 living discourse of a wise, a learned, and 
 well qualified teacher, than there is in the 
 silent and sedentary practice of reading. 
 The very turn of voice and good pronun- 
 ciation, and the polite and alluring manners 
 which some teachers have attained, will 
 engage the attention, keep the soul fixed, 
 and convey and insinuate into the mind 
 the ideas of things, in a more lively and 
 forcible way than the mere reading of 
 books in the silence and retirement of the 
 closet." It may be stated, too, that a lec- 
 ture is a social means of diffusing know- 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 ledge. It brings together the aged and 
 the young, and enables the female part 
 of the community to participate in the 
 gratification. It affords matter for subse- 
 quent conversation, and tends to promote 
 friendly and social intercourse. 
 
 All who are entrusted with the manage- 
 ment of Literary and Scientific Institutions 
 are impressed with the importance of lec- 
 tures. I believe experience will testify that 
 whenever acceptable courses of lectures 
 have been maintained, the institution has 
 flourished, and whenever these have been 
 neglected the institution has declined. 
 The lectures often are the means of sup- 
 porting the library, as they create a desire 
 of reading ; and produce, in the minds of the 
 auditors, a disposition to avail themselves 
 of every other means of instruction. 
 
 On these grounds it seems desirable that 
 in smaller towns, where funds to establish a 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 large library cannot be easily obtained, or 
 where the necessity for one is not supposed 
 to exist, that societies should be* formed for 
 the sole purpose of supporting lectures. 
 A public room may in general be ob- 
 tained, free of expense, and some of the 
 educated inhabitants may be induced to 
 become lecturers. The funds of such so- 
 ciety would be applied almost exclusively 
 in purchasing instruments for illustrating 
 the lectures. The society would not clash 
 with any book-societies, or circulating li- 
 braries, previously in existence, and it 
 would be a source of instruction and enter- 
 tainment, especially during the winter sea- 
 son, to all classes of the inhabitants. Some 
 years ago it was said, " The schoolmaster 
 is abroad," is it not time it should be said, 
 " The lecturer is abroad ?" 
 
 It is not, however, probable that any 
 society which depends entirely upon hono- 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 retry lecturers will continue in existence* 
 above two or three years. And hence I 
 am led to think, that if it be an admitted 
 principle that the expense of public educa- 
 tion should in some degree be defrayed by 
 the State, then its patronage should not be 
 confined to schoolmasters, but a portion 
 should be extended to lecturers. This may 
 be advocated upon the grounds that the 
 elementary knowledge given in schools is 
 now generally supplied by private benevo- 
 lence, that lecturing is a more efficient 
 mode of public instruction, that it stimu- 
 lates and promotes all other means of ob- 
 taining knowledge, and that it is adapted 
 to the middle as well as to the lower classes 
 of society. Upon the latter point I will 
 quote the following language from the 
 address of Mr. Wyse : " Scientific and 
 literary societies form a very important 
 branch of public education that branch 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 which most directly refers to the most im- 
 portant class in the community, the middle 
 and professional ; that branch which calls 
 into action or supplies the place of the 
 most useful portion of human knowledge, 
 that which lies between elementary, on one 
 side, and superior, or university education, 
 on the other. If education, then, be at all 
 to be encouraged, if in any departments 
 promoted, I know of no one department 
 which more eminently demands and re- 
 wards such encouragement than that to 
 which I have just now referred." 
 
 The system adopted by that respectable 
 body, the Wesley an Methodists, with regard 
 to their preachers, may teach us how a col- 
 lege of lecturers may be organized so as to 
 supply the means of knowledge to every 
 part of the country. The whole kingdom 
 is divided into districts, called circuits. To 
 each of these circuits from two to four or 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 five preachers are assigned, who travel in 
 succession to all the towns and villages in 
 the district, preaching twice every Sunday, 
 and several evenings in the week. These 
 travelling preachers are assisted by the 
 gratuitous services of local preachers, who 
 are generally persons engaged in secular 
 occupations. Why could not a plan some- 
 what similar be adopted with regard to the 
 teachers of literary and scientific know- 
 ledge. Might not two or three professors 
 be stationed in each of our county towns, 
 and visit periodically the smaller towns in 
 the district, and might they not engage 
 local lecturers to visit the neighbouring 
 villages? If the lecturers were provided 
 at the Government expense, the people 
 would readily find lecture-rooms and audi- 
 ences, and thus a stimulus would be given 
 to the public mind, and the means of in- 
 struction would be permanently afforded to 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 our agricultural, manufacturing, and mining 
 population. 
 
 The establishment of a college of lec- 
 turers would not interfere with nor super- 
 sede any other means the Government may 
 think proper to employ for the instruction 
 of the people ; while it would be free 
 from those objections by which they are 
 assailed. No religious body could object 
 to a lecturer, appointed by the Govern- 
 ment, giving lectures in their schoolrooms 
 once or twice a week upon branches of 
 literature or science, wholly unconnected 
 with either politics or theology. Such 
 a measure too would probably lead to an 
 improvement in the lecturers themselves. 
 As the most learned theologian is not always 
 the most popular preacher, so the most 
 profound philosopher is not always the best 
 lecturer. The talent for discovering or 
 acquiring knowledge is distinct from the 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 talent for communicating it. The art of 
 lecturing is an art in itself. If public lec- 
 turers were appointed they would study 
 that kind of composition adapted for in- 
 struction would endeavour to acquire 
 some of the graces of oratory and would 
 improve themselves by constant practice. 
 We have training-establishments for school- 
 masters and schoolmistresses, why not for 
 lecturers? It may be worthy the consi- 
 deration of those who have the manage- 
 ment of our literary and scientific institu- 
 tions whether they should not take steps 
 for bringing this subject under the consi- 
 deration of the Government. 
 
 This book is not published, but is 
 printed chiefly to enable me to present 
 copies to my friends. I hope it will be 
 useful to those who are young, and not 
 uninteresting to those who are no longer 
 young. To myself it will furnish a memo- 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 rial of my performances as a lecturer 
 a character in which I never appeared 
 before, and in which I shall never appear 
 again. It will also bring to my recollec- 
 
 s 
 
 tion some very agreeable associations con- 
 nected with the period when the lectures 
 were delivered. When the hand of Time 
 compels one to look back upon the past, 
 one feels less pleasure in surveying the 
 fields of even honorable and successful 
 controversy, than in viewing those seasons 
 in which, on however limited a stage, and 
 for however short a period, one has contri- 
 buted to the promotion of peace and good- 
 will among men. 
 
 J. W. G. 
 
 London, March 10, 1847. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Origin of Commerce. History of Egypt. Productions 
 Corn Linen Horses Paper. Consumption Food 
 Dress Houses Embalming. Situation Trade with 
 the Phoenicians Judea Arabia India. Means of 
 Communication Roads Canals Ships. Arts and 
 Sciences Geometry Computation Money. Com- 
 
 ^ mercialLaws. Tenure of Land. Casts Imprisonment 
 for Debt Female Traders Trial after Death. Com- 
 mercial Character of the Egyptians 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 Origin of Civilization. Early History of Greece. Security 
 of Private Property Attica Sparta. Administration 
 of Justice Laws referring to Trade Courts of Law. 
 
XXI] CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Establishment of Cities Advantages of Cities. Proper 
 situations for Commercial Cities Athens Corinth 
 Syracuse. Markets and Fairs Festivals Ancient 
 Legislation with regard to Fairs. Monetary and Banking 
 Institutions Coin and Banks of Athens. Commercial 
 Character of the Greeks. . 49 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Origin of Navigation. Rise of Tyre and Carthage. Ma- 
 ritime Power Influence of Navigation on Commerce 
 Advantages of an Insular Situation Ships of the An- 
 cients Long Voyages Carrying Trade. Manufactures 
 Weaving Dyeing Working of Metals Pottery 
 Tanning. Colonies Colonial Trade Rate of Wages 
 Emigration. Accumulation of Capital Credit Bot- 
 tomry Partnerships Joint Stock Companies. Com- 
 mercial Character of the Carthaginians 107 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Origin of Agriculture. Characteristics of an Agricultural 
 and a Commercial State of Society. Agriculture of the 
 Romans Influence of Agriculture on Commerce. Wars 
 
CONTENTS. XXlll 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 of the Romans Influence of War upon Commerce. 
 Conquests of the Romans Influence of extended Em- 
 pire upon Commerce. Slavery of the Romans In- 
 fluence of Domestic Slavery upon Ancient Commerce. 
 Roman Roads Transmission of Letters. Roman 
 Bankers Money. Marine Insurance Assurance of 
 Lives. Commercial Character of the Romans 177 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS WITH 
 THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Origin of Luxury. India Its Social Institutions. Pro- 
 ductions Spices Precious Stones Silk. India 
 Commerce previous to the time of Alexander the Great. 
 Conquests of Alexander. Alexandria founded. Con- 
 quest of Egypt by the Romans. Silk sold at Rome for 
 its weight in gold. Conquest of Egypt by the Maho- 
 metans. Importation of Silk Worms into Europe. 
 Discovery of the Passage to India by the Cape of Good 
 Hope. Exportation of Bullion Principles of the 
 Foreign Exchanges. Conclusion 245 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 Origin of Commerce. History of Egypt. Produc- 
 tions Corn Linen Horses Paper. Con- 
 sumption Food Dress Houses Embalm- 
 ing. Situation Trade with the Phoenicians 
 Judea Arabia India. Means of Commu- 
 nication Roads Canals Ships. Arts and 
 Sciences Geometry Computation Money. 
 Commercial Laws Tenure of Land Casts 
 Female Traders Imprisonment for Debt 
 Trial after Death. Commercial Character of 
 the Egyptians. 
 
 You have already been informed that the 
 present course of lectures will be upon the His- 
 tory of Ancient Commerce. It occurred to me 
 that I could not fix upon a subject more im- 
 portant or more interesting. We are indebted 
 to commerce for a vast portion of the comforts 
 we possess. Many articles of our food, the 
 
 B 
 
6 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 materials of our clothing, the timber with which 
 we construct our habitations, the various luxu- 
 ries of life, and the medicines which save us 
 from death, are, for the most part, the produc- 
 tions of foreign lands. 
 
 Providence has appointed that the different 
 countries of the world should have different 
 climates ; should have a variety of soils ; should 
 be capable of producing different kinds of 
 vegetable and animal substances, and should 
 contain beneath their surface metals and mine- 
 rals of various kinds. Had the world been dif- 
 ferently constituted, did each country possess 
 the same length of day and night, the same 
 degree of heat and cold, the same kind of soil, 
 the same appearances on its surface, and yield, 
 in every respect, the same kind of productions, 
 there would be no commerce between the dif- 
 ferent portions of the globe. Each country 
 would possess in itself every kind of commo- 
 dity that existed in the world. It could not 
 receive anything which it did not previously 
 enjoy, nor could it give in exchange anything 
 but what the other party had already in pos- 
 
ORIGIN OF COMMERCE. 6 
 
 session. But in consequence of the various 
 climates and peculiarities of different countries, 
 and the consequent variety in the nature of 
 their productions, mankind have the strongest 
 inducement to promote intercourse with each 
 other. 
 
 By means of this intercourse, every country 
 can obtain the productions of all the other 
 countries in the world, while the superfluous 
 productions of each country acquire a value 
 from their capability of purchasing the produc- 
 tions of other countries. Hence the happiness 
 of all is increased. One country may have a 
 superabundant quantity of the materials for 
 building ; another country may have a super- 
 abundant quantity of the materials for clothing. 
 Now, if no communication takes place between 
 these two countries, the inhabitants of one 
 country may be well lodged, but badly clothed ] 
 and the inhabitants of the other country may 
 be well clothed, but badly lodged. But let 
 these two countries exchange their superfluous 
 productions with each other, and the people 
 of both countries will be well lodged and weH 
 
 B 2 
 
THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 clothed. Almost every nation either has natu- 
 rally, or produces by its own labour, some pro- 
 duction in greater quantity than is necessary 
 for its own consumption. This superabundant 
 quantity, when kept at home, possesses no 
 value. Of what use would it be to Norway 
 to keep possession of all her forests ; of Swe- 
 den, to retain all the metals in her mines ; or 
 of America, to keep to herself her cotton; or 
 of India, her silk. These commodities, the 
 superabundance of which would be useless at 
 home, are given to other countries, to whom 
 they are valuable. And, by all countries acting 
 upon the same principle, the convenience and 
 happiness of all nations are greatly promoted. 
 
 Commerce has also a claim on our considera- 
 tion, from its being friendly to civilization. 
 Commerce gives a rapid circulation to the valu- 
 able discoveries of science and of art. What- 
 ever useful discoveries are made in any science ; 
 whatever new machines are invented ; whatever 
 new remedies for maladies are found out ; they 
 are quickly, by means of an extended com- 
 mercial intercourse, circulated all over the 
 
COMMERCE AND CIVILIZATION. 5 
 
 world. It is chiefly by means of commerce 
 that barbarous nations have become civilized. 
 The most commercial nations have always been 
 civilized nations. In the pursuit of commeMal 
 objects they have sought out new nations with 
 whom to trade. They have discovered nations 
 in a state of comparative barbarism, and by 
 their commercial intercourse civilization has 
 been extended. Commerce has laid the foun- 
 dation of the most powerful empires. They 
 have flourished as their commerce has flou- 
 rished, and when their commerce has declined 
 they have fallen into obscurity. 
 
 The mighty influence of commerce to pro- 
 mote the wealth of nations and of individuals, 
 has, in every age, induced some men of wis- 
 dom and talent to endeavour to unfold the * 
 principles qn which it is founded; to trace 
 the causes of its prosperity, and notice the 
 occasions of its decline. In our own times, 
 books published upon the subject have abun- 
 dantly increased. Commerce is now not 
 merely followed as a profession, it is studied 
 as a science; and, even at our universities, 
 
6 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 professors are appointed, who deliver lectures 
 upon the principles of commerce. 
 
 The subject of the present lecture is the 
 History of Commerce, as it existed among the 
 ancient Egyptians. 
 
 Soon after the Deluge, which took place in 
 the year 1656 from the creation of the world, 
 the different branches of the family of Noah 
 separated, and took possession of various parts 
 of the earth, as their inheritance. The family 
 of Shem went to the eastern part of Asia, while 
 Noah himself is supposed to have gone still far- 
 ther east, and to have founded the kingdom. of 
 China. The family of Ham settled in Asia 
 Minor, and extended to Africa, while the fa- 
 mily of Japhet took possession of Europe. 
 
 Egypt was founded by Mizraim, the son of ' 
 Ham, soon after that Nimrod had founded the 
 kingdom of Babylon, about 2200 years before 
 the Christian era. In the year 538 (B. c.) the 
 Babylonian monarchy was subverted by Cyrus 
 the Great, and thirteen years afterwards his son 
 conquered Egypt. Egypt had thus continued 
 an independent kingdom for nearly seventeen 
 
HISTORY OF EGYPT. 7 
 
 hundred years. Notwithstanding several re- 
 volts, the Egyptians continued to be subject to 
 the Persians, until that monarchy was over- 
 turned by Alexander the Great. On the death 
 of Alexander, which took place in the year 324 
 before the Christian era, his kingdom was di- 
 vided, and Ptolemy Lagus took possession of 
 Egypt. It now again became an independent 
 kingdom. But the monarch and the principal 
 men in the country were Greeks, and his sol- 
 diers were Greeks. Hence this monarchy is 
 distinguished from the former one, by being 
 called the Greco-Egyptian Monarchy. 
 
 This monarchy continued for about 300 
 years, when it was overturned by the Romans, 
 and Egypt became a province of the Roman 
 Empire. It is not necessary for my present 
 purpose, that I should trace the history of Egypt 
 any farther. You perceive, then, that for 1700 
 years, Egypt was an independent monarchy. 
 Then for 200 years it was under the yoke of 
 the Persians. Then for 300 years it was an 
 independent monarchy, with a Greek monarch. 
 And this brings down the history of Egypt to 
 
8 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 the commencement of the Christian Era, about 
 which time it was conquered by the Romans. 
 
 My lecture this evening will refer to the 
 first period of 1700 years, when Egypt was an 
 independent monarchy. Scanty, indeed, are 
 the materials we possess for a history of com- 
 merce during that period. We have not a single 
 book, or manuscript, written by an Egyptian 
 author. With the exception of the intimations 
 that occur in the sacred volume, all our know- 
 ledge of Egypt, during that period, is derived 
 from Greek authors, who had visited Egypt for 
 the purpose of acquiring knowledge. And 
 even those writers, like other historians, take 
 very little notice of the affairs of commerce. 
 Had all our writers of history traced the origin 
 of distinct branches of trade, as faithfully as 
 they have traced the rise of the different wars 
 had they described the operations of traffic 
 with as much minuteness as they have de- 
 scribed battles and sieges ; and had they been 
 as anxious to transmit to posterity the names 
 of those who have enriched their country by 
 the extension of its commerce, as the names of 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF EGYPT. 9 
 
 those who have distinguished themselves by 
 the death of millions of their fellow creatures, 
 the study of history would be far more instruc- 
 tive, and, certainly not less entertaining than 
 it is at present. 
 
 I have already observed that commerce is 
 now not merely followed as a profession, but 
 is studied as a science. In lecturing upon the 
 history of Egyptian commerce, I shall endea- 
 vour to combine the facts of history, with the 
 principles of the science, so as to render the 
 one illustrative of the other. I observe, then, 
 
 First That the commerce of a country de- 
 pends upon its productions. 
 
 If a country produces everything the in- 
 habitants desire, it will import nothing ; and if 
 it produces nothing which is wanted by other 
 countries, it can export nothing. Its produc- 
 tions will regulate its exports. 
 
 Let us take a view of the productions of 
 ancient Egypt. 
 
 With regard to mines, Egypt had none. But 
 it had quarries of excellent marble; though 
 we do not read of its being exported ; possibly 
 
 B 3 
 
10 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 other nations had sufficient of their own. As 
 to fisheries, Egypt had abundance. But fresh 
 fish cannot be exported to a great distance; 
 and it is not known whether the art of curing 
 them, as practised in modern times, was then 
 discovered. 
 
 Of vegetable substances, grain was abun- 
 dant. For many ages Egypt was the granary 
 of surrounding nations. Though the land was 
 naturally barren, yet, by the annual overflowing 
 of the Nile, it could produce two, and some- 
 times three crops a year. Egypt also pro- 
 duced an abundance of excellent vegetables, 
 onions, in particular, were highly prized. 
 Of timber it was barren it had no forests. 
 It had but few fruit trees no vineyards, and, 
 of course, no wine. The annual overflowing of 
 the Nile, though useful in supplying a soil for 
 the cultivation of grain, would have destroyed 
 the fruits, and also the pastures. 
 
 The annual overflowing of the Nile is caused 
 by the periodical rains in Ethiopia. The river 
 begins to rise in the latter end of June, and 
 attains its utmost height about the middle of 
 
THE NILE. 11 
 
 August, when Egypt presents the appearance 
 of a vast sea, while the cities and towns appear 
 like so many islands; after this the waters 
 gradually subside, and about the end of Novem- 
 ber the river has returned to its ordinary limits. 
 During this period the earth, or mud, which 
 the waters held in solution, has fallen on the 
 soil, and on the retiring of the waters, the 
 whole land is covered with a rich manure; 
 and, according to Herodotus, required so little 
 cultivation, that, in some cases, it was only ne- 
 cessary that the seed should be thrown upon 
 the surface, and trodden down by pigs. 
 
 In animals Egypt did not abound; and, in 
 some one or other of the provinces, the ox, the 
 sheep, and the goat, were held sacred, and 
 hence not used for food. The Egyptians had 
 such an abhorrence of pork, that they would 
 not intermarry with persons engaged in the 
 keeping of pigs. This prejudice arose, probably, 
 in the first instance, from the circumstance, 
 that in that warm climate, the eating of pork 
 was found to produce cutaneous disorders, 
 especially the leprosy. Egypt was remarkable 
 
12 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 for an excellent race of horses. As Egypt 
 was a level country, horses and chariots were 
 found useful in war, either in quelling civil 
 commotions, or in fighting other nations. In 
 mountainous countries, horses are of less value. 
 Of manufactured commodities, Egypt was re- 
 markable, at an early period, for linen, and, 
 subsequently, for paper. Egypt produced plenty 
 of flax, which was manufactured into linen, of 
 so fine a texture that the threads could not be 
 observed. Their paper was manufactured of 
 the vegetable called the papyrus. Paper made 
 from papyrus, was afterwards supplanted by 
 paper made from cotton, and that by paper 
 made from linen rags. 
 
 The chief exports of Egypt then must have 
 been corn, linen, horses and paper. 
 
 We find in Scripture history, a variety of 
 intimations respecting the productions of An- 
 cient Egypt. The history of Joseph informs 
 us, that all nations went to Egypt to buy CORN. 
 After their departure from Egypt, the Israelites 
 sang of their deliverance from the chariots of 
 Pharoah, and the horsemen thereof; and we 
 
SCRIPTURAL INTIMATIONS. 13 
 
 find that Solomon obtained HORSES out of 
 Egypt; from thence, also, his merchants ob- 
 tained linen yarn. When Joseph was appointed 
 prime minister, he was arrayed in vestures of 
 fine linen. The garments of the Jewish priests 
 were directed to be made of fine linen; and, 
 as no linen could be obtained in the wilder- 
 ness, this linen, or the flax from which it was 
 made, must have been brought with them from 
 Egypt. In the time of Solomon, the Jewish 
 ladies decked their beds with tapestry and fine 
 linen of Egypt ; and, in later time, the Tyrians 
 are said to have used the fine linen and broid- 
 ered work of Egypt as sails for their ships. 
 
 When the Israelites complained of the Manna 
 in the wilderness, they said "We remember 
 the FISH which we did eat in Egypt freely: 
 the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, 
 and the onions, and the garlick." This shews 
 us that fish and vegetables were abundant in 
 Egypt. On another occasion, they stated, that, 
 when in Egypt, "they sat by the flesh-pots, 
 and eat bread to the full." From the fertility 
 of the soil, bread was, of course, abundant; 
 
14 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 and, as the Israelites were shepherds, and had 
 many flocks and herds, they had abundance 
 of flesh, and were not, like the Egyptians, 
 compelled to abstain from it upon religious 
 grounds; for the ox was the " abomination" 
 that is, the god of the Egyptians. 
 
 On the other hand, there are various inti- 
 mations, in Scripture, of the articles which 
 Egypt did not produce. Joseph's brethren 
 sold him to a company of Ishmaelites, who 
 came from Gilead, with their camels, ' ' bearing 
 spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry 
 it down to Egypt." When Jacob sent his sons 
 to buy corn of Joseph, he said " Do thus 
 take the best fruits of the land in your vessels, 
 and carry down the man a present; a little 
 balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, 
 nuts, and almonds." These were articles, 
 which, though abundant in Canaan, were not 
 produced in Egypt ; and hence were as suitable 
 a present to the prime minister, as a present 
 of foreign wines, or any other choice foreign 
 production, would be to an English nobleman 
 in our own times. 
 
SCRIPTURAL INTIMATIONS. 15 
 
 Moses, in describing the Land of Promise, 
 uses the following language ; and, like a skilful 
 orator, fixes upon those points in which Canaan 
 was superior to Egypt : " For the land whither 
 thou goest in to possess it is not as the land 
 of Egypt, from whence ye came out. But the 
 land is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh 
 water of the rain of heaven." " The Lord thy 
 God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of 
 brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that 
 spring out of valleys and hills. A land of 
 wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, 
 and pomegranates. A land of oil olive, and 
 honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread 
 without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any- 
 thing in it. A land whose stones are iron, 
 and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." 
 This may be regarded as a negative description 
 of Egypt. The land of Canaan was not, like 
 the land of Egypt, a level country, on which 
 there was no rain, but whose fertility was 
 caused by the overflowing of the river. It was 
 a land of hills and vallies, which drank water 
 of the rain of heaven ; it was, also, more pic- 
 
16 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 turesque, and afforded everywhere a constant 
 supply of water for themselves and their cattle, 
 for it had brooks of water, and fountains spring- 
 ing out of vallies and hills; it not only pro- 
 duced, like Egypt, wheat and barley, but also 
 vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, and 
 oil olive, and honey, which Egypt did not 
 produce; and, moreover, Egypt had no mines 
 of copper or of iron ; but this is " a land whose 
 stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou 
 mayest dig brass. 3 ' 
 
 Secondly. We observe, that the commerce 
 of a country depends upon its consumption 
 its consumption will regulate its imports. 
 
 Consumption means use. The consumption 
 of a country, means the things which are used 
 in that country. Thus, food, clothes, houses 
 all things that wear out are said to be con- 
 sumed. If those articles are the productions 
 of another country, their consumption pro- 
 
 
 
 motes commerce. 
 
 The Egyptians lived chiefly on a vegetable 
 diet. They believed in the doctrine of the 
 transmigration of souls; they believed that, 
 
CONSUMPTION OF EGYPT. 17 
 
 after death, the soul passed into the body of 
 a brute, and from that into others, for the 
 course of three thousand years, and then again 
 entered into the body of a man : hence, they 
 avoided eating animal food, lest they should 
 devour the bodies of some of their ancestors. 
 It must be observed, however, that all the 
 Egyptians did not abstain from animal food ; 
 there was a great difference of opinion among 
 them on these points. Animals which were 
 not eaten in one province, were eaten in 
 another; some would eat no fish, but others 
 ate it freely. As a general rule, however, it 
 may be said that the Egyptians lived chiefly 
 on a vegetable diet. Their drink was chiefly 
 the water of the Nile, which is said to have an 
 excellent taste, and to be very fattening. On 
 their festivals, they drank a kind of liquor, 
 made from barley, probably something like our 
 beer. As they had no vineyards, they drank 
 no wine; indeed, they were taught to believe 
 that wine was the blood of demons. On this 
 subject, Michaelis observes, in his " Commen- 
 
18 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 taries on the Laws of Moses," that the lawgivers 
 of the Egyptians made use of religion to en- 
 force and sanctify those laws which policy 
 counselled, according to the opinions which 
 then prevailed. 
 
 "Thus, the preservation of certain animals 
 was necessary to the country ; and they, there- 
 fore, made them representations of the Deity, 
 or applied to them the doctrine of the trans- 
 migration of souls, in order to render them 
 inviolable. Wine was not produced in Egypt 
 in sufficient quantity to be made a daily drink ; 
 and to import it into a country is a very 
 hurtful sort of commerce, because it carries 
 money thence to foreign nations. Now, what, 
 in such a case, is a legislator to do? Laws 
 against such luxuries as the importation of wine 
 are commonly quite ineffectual. Were such 
 laws to be enacted in Sweden, Denmark, Bri- 
 tain, and the north of Germany, it would, in 
 fact, be only to authorise wine to be drunken 
 without duty ; for it would be continually 
 smuggled. The Egyptian lawgivers, therefore, 
 
FOOD WINE DRESS. 19 
 
 gave out, that wine was an invention of the evil 
 deity. The juice of the grape, however, before it 
 was fermented, was allowed. In this way, from 
 the few vineyards that Upper Egypt posses- 
 sed, persons of very high rank might certainly 
 be supplied with must, or fresh grape juice, 
 which we accordingly read of Pharoah drinking, 
 in Genesis, xl, 11 ; but neither must nor grapes 
 could be imported in sufficient abundance for 
 universal use." 
 
 Their dress, like those of most of the nations 
 of antiquity, consisted of the tunic and the 
 toga. The tunic, or inner garment, was like a 
 frock that countrymen wear over their clothes ; 
 it reached to their knees ; but it had no sleeves, 
 and was fastened round the waist with a girdle. 
 This garment, among the Romans, was of wool- 
 len ; but among the Egyptians, it was made of 
 linen. The toga, or cloak, was a garment 
 worn over the tunic. It reached to the feet, 
 and was worn various ways, according to the 
 fancy of the wearer. They wore no stockings, 
 but sometimes bound a narrow piece of cloth 
 round the legs. For shoes they wore sandals, 
 
20 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 which were like the soles of shoes, fastened to 
 the feet by strings, or thongs, tied in front. 
 They had no hat, nor cap; but when they 
 wished to cover their head, they brought up 
 the toga over the head, like a hood. The 
 dress of the women resembled that of the men, 
 except that the tunic had sleeves, and reached 
 down to the feet. Hence, it was like a modern 
 gown, except that it was loose, and fastened 
 round the waist with a sash, or girdle, instead 
 of being made to fit the person; and it was 
 worn as an inner garment, instead of an outer 
 one. Women also wore the toga, fastened 
 round the waist with a girdle. These two gar- 
 ments composed the whole of their ordinary 
 dress; for, in warm climates, much clothing 
 is not required. The poorer sort of people 
 wore their toga, or cloak, in its natural colour, 
 without any dyeing; but the wealthier had 
 theirs dyed in various colours : that most highly 
 esteemed was the purple. Hence, an Oriental 
 voluptuary is described, in Scripture, as one 
 who was " clothed in purple and fine linen, 
 and fared sumptuously every day." As their 
 
DRESS BUILDINGS. 21 
 
 garments were made so loose, they fitted every 
 body ; and, as the fashions never changed, they 
 might descend from father to son. Persons of 
 rank and wealth kept large wardrobes, and 
 gave changes of raiment to their guests. Joseph 
 gave to each of his brethren a change of rai- 
 ment; and to Benjamin, as a mark of peculiar 
 honor, he gave five changes of raiment. 
 
 As to their buildings. Their temples, and 
 the houses of their great men, were built of 
 marble; but the houses of the other classes 
 were built of a brick, made of mud and straw, 
 and hardened in the sun. Their furniture was 
 very scanty ; tables and chairs were not wanted. 
 At meals they spread a cloth on the floor, and 
 sat on their heels. In so warm a climate bed- 
 ding was not necessary ; the toga, which served 
 them for a cloak by day, was a quilt at night. 
 With reference to this practice we find the 
 following enactments in the Jewish law: "If 
 thou take at all thy neighbour's raiment to 
 pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that 
 the sun goeth down. For that is his covering : 
 it is his raiment wherein he shall sleep." 
 
22 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 You will perceive, from this statement, that 
 nearly all the commodities consumed by the 
 Egyptians, as articles either of food, or clothing, 
 or lodging, were of home produce, and, conse- 
 quently, did not give rise to any great amount 
 of foreign commerce. 
 
 There were, however, some customs among 
 the Egyptians which led to a consumption of 
 foreign commodities; such, for instance, was 
 that of embalming the dead. I have stated 
 that the Egyptians believed in the doctrine of 
 the transmigration of souls. The word trans- 
 migration is formed of two Latin words, 
 trans and migro. Migro means to move ; 
 trans means beyond; transmigrate means to 
 move beyond to move from one place to 
 another. Hence the transmigration of souls 
 means the removal of souls from one body 
 to another. This doctrine has another hard 
 word metempsychosis. This word is com- 
 pounded of three Greek words, which, in the 
 order in which they are combined, mean, 
 again, in, soul that is, the soul is in again. It 
 is no sooner out of one body than it is into 
 
TRANSMIGRATION EMBALMING. 23 
 
 another. The Egyptians believed that on the 
 death of a human being, the soul did not go 
 into the body of a brute until the body had 
 began to decay hence they embalmed it. 
 The process of embalming consisted in intro- 
 ducing drugs and spices into the interior of the 
 body. It was placed in a solution of saltpetre, 
 for between two and three months. It was 
 then taken out, and wrapped tight round with 
 linen, dipped in some chemical solution. The 
 external air was thus excluded from touching 
 any part of the body. Bodies thus preserved 
 will remain undecayed for thousands of years. 
 The drugs and spices used in this process were 
 not produced in Egypt, but were brought from 
 India, either directly, or by means of Arabia. 
 The merchants of Arabia dealt in these com- 
 modities, and hence the spices were called 
 spices of Arabia, though, in fact, Arabia did 
 not produce the spices, but imported them 
 from India. 
 
 The imports then of Egypt consisted of tim- 
 ber, metals, drugs, and spices. 
 
24 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYi . 
 
 Thirdly. The commerce of a country de- 
 pends upon its geographical position in refer- 
 ence to other nations. 
 
 As the business of a shop will often depend 
 upon its position in the town, so the com- 
 merce of a country will be affected by its relative 
 position with reference to other countries. 
 
 Egypt, you know, is situated in Africa. It 
 has deserts on the west and south. On the 
 north is the Mediterranean Sea ; on the east, 
 the Red Sea, and the Isthmus of Suez. Egypt 
 then could not trade with any nation on her 
 south or west, but from her northern frontier, 
 she could trade with the Phoenicians, who, at 
 that time, were in possession of all the trade 
 of the Mediterranean Sea. From her eastern 
 boundary she could trade to India, while by 
 land she might trade with Palestine and Ara- 
 bia. From the Phoenicians, in exchange for 
 her corn, she might receive timber, and metals 
 of various kinds, and manufactured goods of 
 almost all descriptions. The Phoenicians were 
 so remarkable for their skill in hewing timber, 
 
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 25 
 
 that Solomon employed them to cut timber 
 in the forest of Lebanon, for the buildings he 
 erected in Jerusalem. From Palestine she might 
 import balm, and olive oil, and honey. From 
 the Arabians, and from India, she might obtain 
 spices and drugs, and other productions of the 
 warmer climates. In the days of Joseph, we 
 find that companies of Arabian merchants car- 
 ried commodities of this description into Egypt. 
 Indeed, we may remark, that all the foreign 
 trade of Egypt was carried on, not by Egyp- 
 tians, but by foreigners. 
 
 Fourthly. The commerce of a country de- 
 pends upon its means of internal and external 
 communication. 
 
 A facility of communication is essential to 
 the internal commerce of a country ; for how 
 can commodities be conveyed from one part of 
 a country to another, without roads, or rivers, 
 or canals, or some other means of communica- 
 tion. A facility of communication is also 
 essential to foreign commerce ; for without this, 
 how can its exports be brought from the in- 
 terior of the country to the sea coast ; or how 
 
 c 
 
26 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 can its imports, when imported, be distributed 
 throughout the country. 
 
 The internal communication of Egypt was 
 very extensive, by means of the canals, which 
 were formed to carry off the waters of the Nile. 
 As the overflowing of this river was the cause 
 of all the fertility of the land, canals were 
 formed with the view of conducting the water 
 in every direction, so that the whole country 
 might be placed under water, and thus be 
 universally manured. These canals served also 
 for communication between different parts of 
 the country, by means of boats. Besides these 
 canals, the formation of good roads was very 
 easy. The country was level, and there 
 were no woods to be cleared away. Hence 
 Egypt had every facility for exchanging the 
 productions of the country for those of the 
 towns, and also for carrying her exports to 
 the coasts. Her harbours, too, though not 
 numerous, were sufficient for the purposes of 
 external commerce. This was proved experi- 
 mentally in a subsequent period of her history. 
 
 With regard to the construction of ships. 
 
CANALS SHIPS, 27 
 
 Egypt must have imported the timber, and the 
 copper, and the iron from the Pho3nicians ; 
 but having abundance of flax, she had ample 
 materials for the sails and rigging. It has been 
 said, that at one time Egypt had four hundred 
 ships. But we know not how large they were, 
 or how they were employed. Possibly they 
 were employed in the trade between Egypt 
 and India. It may seem surprising to us that 
 Egypt did not become more of a maritime 
 power. As the country was under water for 
 three months in the year, and was intersected 
 with canals, the people must have been accus- 
 tomed to boating ; and a very small increase 
 of naval skill would have been sufficient to 
 enable them to navigate the sea. The con* 
 struction of ships was not, by any means, an 
 effort to which they were unequal. The same 
 labour and skill which were employed to con- 
 struct the pyramids would have been sufficient 
 to build a fleet. But we should recollect that 
 foreign commerce was never encouraged, either 
 by the laws or the religion of Egypt. Their 
 polity was founded upon agriculture, as was 
 
 c 2 
 
28 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 afterwards that of the Israelites. It may also 
 be observed, that in the time of the ancient 
 Egyptians the art of navigation was but im- 
 perfectly known. They sailed chiefly along the 
 coasts, and though sufficiently acquainted with 
 astronomy to make some use of the stars, 
 they had no knowledge of the mariners' com- 
 pass. 
 
 Fifthly. The commerce of a country de- 
 pends upon the state of the arts and sciences in 
 that country. 
 
 Some of the arts and sciences are essential 
 to the carrying on of commerce. Not only 
 inust men have arrived to such a degree of 
 civilization as includes the right of private pro- 
 perty, the formation of civil government, and 
 the knowledge of those arts which are essential 
 to existence, but they must also be acquainted 
 with the method of computing accounts, the 
 construction of ships, and the art of navigation. 
 In Scripture we have several references to the 
 wisdom of Egypt. We are told the wisdom of 
 Solomon excelled all the wisdom of Egypt ; and 
 Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the 
 
ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 Egyptians. The knowledge of the mechanical 
 arts, shewn by the Israelites in the construc- 
 tion of the tabernacle in the wilderness, is a 
 proof that these arts were well known in Egypt. 
 The Israelites were originally shepherds, and 
 must have learned these arts during their 
 sojourn in Egypt. 
 
 The Egyptians are said to have invented geo- 
 metry. For, as the waters of the Nile over- 
 flowed, all distinctions between the different 
 farms were destroyed, and it was necessary to 
 make a new geometrical survey of the land 
 every year, in order to assign to every man his 
 farm. The science of geometry necessarily im- 
 plies the art of measuring quantities, and of 
 computing values, 
 
 With regard to money, the Egyptians, like 
 the Chinese of the present day, had no coin, 
 but used gold and silver bullion. These were 
 paid and received by weight. This was the prac- 
 tice at a very early period of the world. The 
 substitution of coin was not discovered till a few 
 centuries before the Christian era. 
 
 In all countries money was originally paid 
 
30 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 a \vuy by weight. Abraham, for the purchase 
 of a burying-place, weighed unto Ephron four 
 hundred shekels of silver money current with 
 the merchant. This denotes a distinction from 
 the money in ordinary use. It was, probably, 
 silver in pieces, or bars, bearing a stamp de- 
 noting its fineness and quantity, placed on it, 
 peradventure, by Phoenician merchants. We 
 find that the practice of weighing money con- 
 tinued from the time of Abraham to the days 
 of Jeremiah. The denunciations in Scripture 
 against false balances and deceitful weights, 
 though applicable to all cases of selling by 
 weight, had probably a primary reference to 
 the weighing of money. And when the prophet 
 Daniel said to Belshazzar, " Thou art weighed 
 in the balance and found wanting," the refer- 
 ence is, probably, to a piece of money, which 
 when weighed was found deficient in the weight 
 marked upon it. It may be observed, too, that 
 in ancient times silver, not gold, was usually 
 employed as money. In the Jewish history 
 we do not read of gold being employed as 
 money till the time of King David, when he 
 
COMPUTATION MONEY. 31 
 
 purchased the threshing-floor of Araunah, the 
 Jebusite. Gold is often mentioned, but merely 
 as jewels or ornaments. The shekel is not the 
 name of a coin, but of a weight ; and it may 
 be useful to you to recollect that a shekel is 
 equal to about half an ounce ; so that, reckon- 
 ing silver at five shillings, and gold at 4, an 
 ounce ; a shekel of silver is worth half-a-crown, 
 and a shekel of gold about 2. " A piece" is 
 supposed to mean a shekel. When we read of 
 thirty pieces of silver we are to understand 
 thirty shekels of silver ; that is thirty half 
 crowns. A talent weighed 1251bs. and was 
 worth 3000 shekels. A talent of silver was 
 worth 350 a talent of gold was worth 
 <6000. The quantity of money in circulation 
 in Egypt was probably not great. For as every 
 man raised his own food, and prepared his own 
 clothing, he had but little occasion to buy any- 
 thing, and, consequently, would want but little 
 money. The quantity of money in circulation in 
 any country will be in proportion to its internal 
 and external trade. It seems likely, too, from 
 the history of Joseph, that the tax or rent paid to 
 
32 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 the sovereign was paid in the produce of the land, 
 and not in money. But though the quantity 
 of gold or silver employed as money might not 
 have been considerable, yet it seems reasonable 
 to suppose that the trade of Egypt must have 
 supplied her with the precious metals in abun- 
 dance. What, in the present day, we call the 
 balance of trade, must have been greatly in her 
 favour. The value of the exports must have 
 exceeded her imports, and the balance would 
 be paid in the precious metals* It appears that 
 m the time of Joseph corn was sold for ready 
 money ; and from several circumstances it 
 would appear that ancient Egypt was a wealthy 
 country. When the Israelites quitted Egypt 
 every woman borrowed of her neighbour jewels 
 of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and 
 as Aaron soon afterwards made a golden calf, 
 in imitation of the Egyptians, we may infer 
 that in Egypt the idols were made of gold. 
 Nearly a thousand years afterwards the prophet 
 Daniel speaks of the gold, and the silver, and 
 the precious things of Egypt. 
 
 As I am not now lecturing upon the anti- 
 
COST OF THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 quities of Egypt, I shall not give you any 
 description of the pyramids, or the other archi- 
 tectural monuments of the Egyptians. I will 
 only observe, that probably the cost of erecting 
 them was not so great as we may be disposed 
 to imagine. As provisions were abundant and 
 cheap, the rate of wages must have been low* 
 And as the king received his taxes in kind, 
 he could not better dispose of it than by giving 
 it to the people in exchange for their labour. 
 One motive for erecting these buildings was, 
 no doubt, to employ the people. In a coun- 
 try so fertile, and where the desires of the 
 people were so few, the number of unemployed 
 people must have been great. These people 
 might have been employed in manufactures, or 
 in war, or have remained idle. Egypt had but 
 few manufactures, and but little commerce ; 
 and having no powerful neighbour, was seldom 
 at war; and hence, to prevent the people 
 being idle, and in consequence, perhaps, muti- 
 nous, they were employed in erecting pyramids. 
 If this were the case, the motive was a good 
 
 c 3 
 
34 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 one. We have only to regret that they were 
 not employed on something more useful. 
 
 The arts and sciences were maintained in 
 Egypt by a cast or class of men, who may be 
 called the sacred, or the literary class. From 
 this class were taken the ministers of religion, 
 the lawyers, the magistrates, the officers of 
 government, the physicians, the astronomers, 
 and all those who did not live by manual 
 labour. No less than one-third of all the taxes 
 was devoted to the support of the literary 
 class. The Jewish legislator adopted this fea- 
 ture of the Egyptian polity. The tribe of 
 Levi were the literary class. The distribution 
 of this tribe throughout the land served to 
 impart instruction to a people, who, being with- 
 out the art of printing, had but few other means 
 of obtaining knowledge. 
 
 Sixthly. The commerce of a country depends 
 upon its laws. 
 
 Some laws are friendly to commerce, some 
 are unfriendly to commerce, and commerce 
 is more likely to flourish where the laws are 
 
TENURE OF LAND CASTS. 35 
 
 friendly, than where they are unfriendly, The 
 principal laws and customs relative to om- 
 merce are the following : 
 
 1. All the land belonged to the king, who 
 was paid a rent equal to one-fifth part of the 
 produce. This law was unfriendly to com- 
 merce. No land could be bought or sold. If 
 a person acquired wealth by commerce, he could 
 not invest it in land. Under the feudal system 
 which existed throughout Europe, until about 
 three hundred years ago, the land was con- 
 sidered to belong to the king, and the sub- 
 ordinate proprietors held it from the king by a 
 tenure of certain services to be performed. 
 Hence their estates could not be sold. But 
 after Henry VII permitted the barons and 
 other landlords to sell their estates, the com- 
 merce of England began to nourish. 
 
 2. In Egypt all the inhabitants were divided 
 into hereditary casts. This was a great restric- 
 tion upon trade. The son of a shoemaker 
 must be a shoemaker. All the sons of tailors 
 must be tailors; and the son of a soldier, how- 
 ever unfit for a soldier, must, nevertheless, be a 
 
36 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 soldier. In the history of the world we no- 
 where meet with this institution except in 
 Egypt and in India; and hence some have sup- 
 posed .that there must have been formerly a 
 great intercourse between the two countries. 
 This institution of casts may have contributed 
 to excellence in the mechanical trades, but 
 must have operated as a check on commercial 
 enterprise. 
 
 3. Not only did every person by birth 
 belong to a class, but he was also required 
 to obtain from a magistrate a certificate that 
 he actually followed a trade ; and any one 
 who forged a certificate was punished with 
 death. Such a law shews that the magistrates 
 wished to keep the people employed, and at the 
 same time proves that the people were disposed 
 to be idle. Among the Egyptians, it was cus- 
 tomary for the men to mind their domestic 
 affairs at home, and to leave all matters of 
 trade, of buying and selling, to be managed 
 by the women. The circumstance of the 
 management of the family being dependent on 
 the wife, was probably the reason of the law 
 
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. 37 
 
 which existed in Egypt, that in case parents were 
 reduced to poverty, not their sons, but their 
 daughters, should be compelled to support them. 
 
 4. By the law of Egypt, the property of a 
 debtor became liable to pay his debts ; but his 
 person was free. It was sometimes customary 
 for people to borrow money upon the security of 
 lodging the embalmed body of their fathers. 
 An Egyptian who did not pay this debt, and 
 redeem the body, was declared infamous. The 
 Egyptians sometimes produced the dead bodies 
 of their ancestors, in their private festivals, 
 with this inscription on the head : " Look at 
 me and be merry, for such as I am, so thou 
 shall be when thou art dead." 
 
 Imprisonment for debt has rarely, if ever, 
 existed in connexion with domestic slavery. 
 An insolvent man is not likely to obtain the 
 means of paying his creditors while confined in 
 a prison. But if slavery exists, he may be sold 
 for a slave, and the produce applied, as far as 
 it may go, in liquidation of his debts. In 
 countries where slavery does not exist, debtors 
 
38 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 are often imprisoned, either as a means of 
 detention, if they wish to escape with their 
 property, or as a punishment in case their 
 insolvency has been produced by their own 
 misconduct or with a view of compelling their 
 friends to pay the debt in order to procure their 
 liberation. 
 
 5. The Egyptians had a funeral tribunal, by 
 which the dead were tried before they could 
 be buried. After death, every Egyptian was 
 brought before this tribunal, and, if convicted 
 of having in his life acted unworthily, he was 
 denied a place in the burial place of his ances- 
 tors. This was a great disgrace to his family ; 
 and, according to the Egyptian theology, it 
 deprived the spirit of the deceased of an entrance 
 into heaven. One of the things which caused 
 the infliction of this mark of disgrace was that 
 of dying in debt. If, however, the children 
 or friends of the deceased should pay his debts, 
 as they sometimes did, he was allowed to be 
 buried. Such an institution as this, must have 
 had a powerful effect upon the conduct of the 
 
TRIAL AFTER DEATH. 39 
 
 people in their commercial transactions with 
 each other. A man who knew that every act 
 of dishonesty, unfair representation, falsehood, 
 or trickery, which he may practice in the 
 course of business, might be remembered and 
 uttered, to the disgrace of his family, over his 
 dead body, would be cautious not to give oc- 
 casion to such a procedure. 
 
 As we have no exact information with regard 
 to the mode of trial, we may, perhaps, be allowed 
 to picture to our imagination the form of the 
 proceedings. Let us suppose it was somewhat 
 like this : An Egyptian merchant dies the 
 day arrives for the investigation of his conduct. 
 The hall of judgment is thronged with citizens ; 
 the body, followed by a long train of mourning 
 relatives, is brought in, and placed in the midst 
 the judges take their seats, and the whole 
 assembly is hushed into silence. An officer of 
 the court proclaims, " If any of you know any 
 just cause or impediment why the body of 
 our deceased fellow citizen should not be com- 
 mitted to the grave, you are now to declare 
 
40 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 it. " A voice ! " I object to the burial ; for 
 I often had dealings with the deceased, and I 
 could never depend upon his word." Another 
 voice ! " I object to the burial ; for the deceased 
 attempted to injure my character, in order to 
 get away my customers." A third voice ! " I 
 object to the burial ; for he lived at a most 
 extravagant rate, when he knew he was unable 
 to pay his debts." A fourth voice ! " I object 
 to the burial; for he made over his property 
 to a friend, and then took the benefit of the 
 insolvent debtors' act." The judges rise, and 
 exclaim : "Enough ! Enough ! Take him away! 
 take him away ! You may throw the body 
 to be devoured by the beasts of the field, or 
 the fowls of the air ; but never let the earth be 
 polluted by receiving into its bosom the worth- 
 less remnant of so vile a man." 
 
 Seventhly. The commerce of a country de- 
 pends upon the genius and character of its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 A nation may possess every natural advan- 
 tage for commerce, and have laws friendly 
 
COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 41 
 
 to its encouragement; but if it have no cor- 
 responding taste or genius, or adaptation of 
 char act er, its commerce will never thrive. 
 
 The Egyptian character had three defects in 
 a commercial point of view. 
 
 I. They were very idle. On one of their 
 pyramids was inscribed : " No native Egyptian 
 worked here." The idleness of the Egyptians 
 was, no doubt, produced in part by the climate. 
 The inhabitants of all warm climates are less 
 disposed to exertion, and have less physical 
 strength than those of cold climates. In the 
 history of war, we find that conquests have 
 always travelled south ; that is, the inhabitants 
 of southern nations have always been con- 
 quered by the northerns. Another cause of the 
 idleness of the Egyptians was the abundance 
 of the means of subsistence. We generally 
 find that the more fertile the land, the more 
 idle are the people. Arabia was as warm as 
 Egypt, and yet the Arabians, whose lands are 
 barren, are very active and enterprising. The 
 negroes of the western coast of Africa, who 
 live under a burning sun, but whose means of 
 
42 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 subsistence are scanty, are a stout and athletic 
 race of men. 
 
 2. Another defect in the commercial charac- 
 ter of the Egyptians was, that they had no 
 taste for the luxuries and comforts of life. 
 Had a taste for luxuries existed among them, 
 it would have counteracted the effect produced 
 by the climate, and the abundance of food. 
 They would then have been industrious, in 
 order to obtain these luxuries. Dr. Johnson 
 observes, that no man loves labour for its own 
 sake. The labourer always looks for some re- 
 ward some real or fancied good, which is to 
 be the end of his labour. And where people 
 have no desire for any thing beyond what they 
 possess, there is no motive to stimulate exertion. 
 Nothing is so necessary to commerce, and 
 nothing is so beneficial to the individuals 
 themselves, as a desire of what are called the 
 comforts of life. Where people are contented 
 with the lowest kind of food, with the coarsest 
 clothing, and with a miserable hovel for a 
 habitation, that country is not likely soon to 
 become commercial. 
 
NATIONAL PREJUDICES. 
 
 3. Another defect in the commercial charac- 
 ter of the Egyptians was, their unsociable 
 disposition. The distinction of casts, made 
 them unsociable towards each other ; and their 
 ignorance and prejudices made them unsocia- 
 ble towards all other nations, An ancient 
 writer has stated, that in Egypt national 
 antipathies were so strong, that an Egyptian 
 man would not kiss a Phoenician woman. 
 Whether these feelings were ever carried to so 
 great an extent as this may reasonably be ques- 
 tioned ; but the statement shews that they must 
 have been very powerful. All their neighbours 
 thought them a sulky and gloomy race of peo- 
 ple. Such a disposition is quite opposed to the 
 spirit of commerce. A merchant knows no- 
 thing of national prejudices. He does not 
 consider any class of men his natural enemies, 
 merely because the place where they were born 
 is separated by a chain of mountains, or a river, 
 or an arm of the sea, from the place where he 
 was born. He is a citizen of the world, and he 
 promotes the happiness of the whole world, by 
 imparting to the inhabitants of every part of it 
 
44 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 comforts and luxuries which but for him they 
 could not possess. 
 
 The character of the Egyptians, then, was one 
 main cause why commerce was not carried to 
 any great extent among them. They were a 
 grave, slow, idle, unenterprising race of men, 
 vindictive when offended, but otherwise of a 
 quiet, peaceable disposition, very temperate in 
 their habits, very fond of ancient customs, very 
 submissive to their monarchs, very moral, and 
 very religious. 
 
 Let us, in conclusion, take for our practical 
 government our last observation the com- 
 merce of a country depends upon the character 
 of the people. Let us never forget, that the 
 main cause of the prosperity of any country or 
 of any city lies in the mental and moral cha- 
 racter of its inhabitants. Every possible advan- 
 tage of situation may be rendered nugatory by 
 the misconduct of the people. If, instead of 
 availing themselves of these natural advantages, 
 and persevering in the steady pursuits of trade, 
 the merchants neglect their business, or have 
 recourse to swindling, or gambling, or smug- 
 
PUBLIC SPIRIT. 45 
 
 gling, they will assuredly bring upon themselves 
 that ruin and degradation which such practices 
 never fail to produce. It is by honesty, by 
 industry, by prudence, by perseverance, and by 
 public spirit, that nations and cities are made 
 to prosper. Every man should endeavour to 
 increase the prosperity of the place in which he 
 dwells, and to improve the character of the 
 population. There is no virtue more noble or 
 more illustrious than public spirit that spirit 
 which induces a man to sacrifice his interest, 
 his ease, and his inclination, to promote the 
 public good. But, mind, party spirit is not 
 public spirit ; party spirit seeks the ascendancy 
 of a party- public spirit seeks the good of the 
 whole. One is a gilded counterfeit the other 
 is sterling gold. Mind, too, that he who wishes 
 to be a useful man must be an active man. Men 
 who possess only a mediocrity of talents, if they 
 are active men, will often do more good, and ac- 
 quire greater influence, than other men of far 
 superior attainments, if sunk in indolence. What 
 they are inferior in weight they make up in 
 velocity; and hence they acquire a higher 
 
46 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 
 
 momentum than is obtained by heavier bodies 
 that move more slowly. 
 
 Among the most effective means of improv- 
 ing the character of a people we place literary 
 and scientific institutions. They diffuse a taste 
 for philosophical inquiries; they tend to the 
 formation of habits of mental discipline ; they 
 quicken the desire for knowledge, and -hence 
 lead to reading and discussion; they bring 
 together persons of various classes in the com- 
 munity, and thus soften the asperities of religious 
 and political feelings ; they exclude from the 
 mind those trains of thought that would seduce 
 it into error or frivolity, and thus they give the 
 reason dominion over the passions. To the young 
 they are especially useful, as they promote that 
 general cultivation of the intellectual powers,^ 
 which in after life is always found to be the 
 surest means of success in their professional 
 pursuits. 
 
 AVhen we see what a number of sciences there 
 are, and recollect how much ,time is required 
 to master any one of them, we have strong 
 motives to redouble our exertions in the pur. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. 47 
 
 suit of knowledge, and great reason for humi- 
 lity, even when our efforts have been most 
 successful. The wisest man on earth knows 
 but little in comparison with what he does not 
 know. But, although we cannot, by the great- 
 est labour, master all the sciences, we may, by 
 a small degree of labour, acquire such a general 
 /knowledge of them, as shall contribute to our 
 own pleasure, afford us agreeable topics of con- 
 versation, heighten our respectability in the 
 world, and enable us to be useful to others. 
 It has been said, indeed, that " a little know- 
 ledge is a bad thing," which is correct, in the 
 same sense in which it may be said that a 
 little money is a bad thing. It is a bad thing 
 to have but little; but, although it is a bad 
 thing to have but little, either of money or of 
 knowledge, yet 'tis worse to have none. 
 
 Let us then hope, that our Literary and 
 Scientific Institution will produce some of the 
 effects we have described. We profess not to 
 be philosophers ; we meet together for our 
 own edification and improvement. By teach- 
 ing others we instruct ourselves. By imparting 
 
48 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIEXT EGYPT. 
 
 our treasures we increase our store. While we 
 are promoting the welfare of others, we are 
 securing for ourselves a harvest of rich reflec- 
 tions in the time to come. And, be assured, 
 that among all the pleasures of the present 
 life, there is none more pure none more per- 
 manent none more gratifying, to a well 
 regulated mind, than that which arises from 
 the consciousness of having promoted the hap- 
 piness of those around us. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 Origin of Civilization. Early History of Greece. 
 Security of Private Property Attica Sparta. 
 Administration of Justice Laws referring to 
 Trade Courts of Law. Establishment of 
 Cities Advantages of Cities. Proper Situa- 
 tions for Commercial Cities Athens Corinth 
 Syracuse. Markets and Fairs Festivals 
 Ancient Legislation with regard to Fairs. 
 Monetary and Banking Institutions Coin and 
 Banks of Athens. Commercial Character of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 THE early history of Greece, like that of all 
 other countries, is involved in fable and obscu- 
 rity. The aborigines were found in a state of 
 savage life, and the civilization which had spread 
 in Egypt and Babylon was to them totally un- 
 known. We should not, however, infer from 
 
 D 
 
50 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 this and other similar cases, that the savage 
 state is the natural state of man. If men had 
 been created savages, they would have remained 
 savages for ever. It is the property of igno- 
 rance to be contented with itself. It is im- 
 possible for men to desire those acquisitions 
 of the existence of which they have no know- 
 ledge. The history of the world does not pre- 
 sent us with a single instance of a nation of 
 savages having become civilized by their own 
 spontaneous exertions. Wherever barbarous 
 nations have become civilized, civilization has 
 been imported, and has been acquired by an 
 intercourse with civilized nations. There is 
 abundant evidence that previous to the Deluge 
 mankind were in a state of civilization. The 
 individuals who were preserved from that Deluge 
 were in a state of civilization. The first exertion 
 of Xoah was, to plant a vineyard, a circumstance 
 which shows an acquaintance with an advanced 
 state of civilized life. The arts and sciences 
 with which he was acquainted, he would, of 
 course, communicate to his descendants, and 
 thus civilization would be perpetuated. 
 
ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 51 
 
 Those families who settled in the plains of 
 Babylon and in Egypt never appear to have lost 
 their acquaintance with the arts of civilized life. 
 Several reasons may be assigned for this. In 
 the first place,, their lands were so fertile that it 
 did not require the labour of the whole com- 
 munity to raise food, and hence those whose 
 labour was not applied to the cultivation of the 
 earth, devoted themselves to the practice of 
 the mechanical arts, and to the study of the 
 sciences. Secondly, as food was so abundant 
 the population of these countries increased 
 very rapidly; hence there was a greater sub- 
 division of labour, and a consequently greater 
 production of the comforts and conveniences of 
 life. Thirdly. These countries were extensive 
 plains, and, consequently, as the inhabitants 
 multiplied they did not take their journey to 
 distant lands in search of new settlements, but 
 cultivated the neighbouring districts. Hence, 
 the intercourse of the different tribes, or fami- 
 lies, was maintained. Any new discovery in 
 the social arts was quickly known to the whole 
 community, and thus civilization was advanced, 
 
 D2 
 
52 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 On the other hand, those families of men 
 who had travelled to countries intersected by 
 mountains, soon lost their intercourse with each 
 other. When a nation became too populous, 
 a part of them, under the guidance of some 
 chosen leader, crossed the mountains, or the 
 rivers, in search of a new habitation. Their 
 intercourse with the country they had left was 
 for ever renounced ; and as their numbers were 
 few, and the exertions of the whole tribe neces- 
 sary for the raising of food, they had no leisure 
 to cultivate the arts of luxury ; nor even any of 
 those mechanical arts which were not essential to 
 existence. Hence, in the course of a few genera- 
 tions, many of those arts became forgotten, 
 and those tribes who again branched from them 
 became increasingly ignorant, and ultimately 
 fell into a state of savage barbarity. Such, we 
 think, was the process by which some families 
 of mankind, originally civilized, fell into bar- 
 barism. 
 
 In this barbarous state was ancient Greece. 
 After the lapse of some centuries, various colo- 
 nies of Egyptians and Phoenicians, who were 
 
EARLY HISTORY OF GREECE. 53 
 
 civilized nations, settled on the coasts, and in- 
 troduced the arts of civilization among the in- 
 habitants of the country. They established the 
 rights of property, the form of civil government, 
 and taught the people many useful arts with 
 which they were previously unacquainted. The 
 riginal inhabitants of the country having 
 abundance of fertile land which they knew not 
 how to cultivate, and finding the advantage 
 they received from the superior knowledge of 
 the colonists, invited such settlers, and sub- 
 mitted to their government. These colonists were 
 not, however, settlers sent out by the countries 
 to which they belonged, but were independent 
 tribes, who, from various causes, had gone in 
 search of new habitations, under the guidance 
 of some favourite leader. Attica, the capital 
 of which was Athens, is said to have been 
 colonized by Cecrops, an Egyptian, in the year 
 1556, before the Christian era. 
 
 Greece was thus necessarily divided into a 
 great many small states. Though the boundaries 
 between these states were sufficient for defence 
 against aggression, the did not prevent a free 
 
54 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 intercourse between the respective inhabitants. 
 There was a commercial traffic carried on 
 between them. The corn, or the wine, or the 
 wool, or the olives of some states, were exchanged 
 against the metals or the manufactures of the 
 others. At first, nearly the whole commerce of 
 Greece was confined to that carried on between 
 the respective states. Their foreign commerce 
 was very limited. The only civilized nations then 
 known to them were the Persians, the Egyp- 
 tians, and the Phoenicians. The whole of 
 Europe, with the exception of Greece herself, 
 was in the same state as Tartary, or the uncul- 
 tivated parts of America at the present day. 
 Neither the Persians nor the Egyptians were 
 commercial nations. But the Greeks traded 
 with the Phoenicians, and obtained, through 
 them, the productions of India, of Africa, and 
 of other parts of the world. 
 
 Afterwards the Greeks planted colonies on 
 some of the Islands of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 and on the coasts of Asia Minor; and con- 
 siderable traffic was carried on between these 
 colonies and the parent states. This commercial 
 
COLONIES OF GREECE. 55 
 
 intercourse, carried on between the continent 
 of Greece and the colonies, would serve to keep 
 up a maritime force, and promote the art of 
 ship-building and navigation. At a later period, 
 when the whole naval force of Greece was 
 placed under the command of Athens, her 
 power and commerce considerably increased. 
 By means of her shipping, she not only traded 
 directly with all the colonies, but even conducted 
 the carrying trade between the colonies them- 
 selves. In time, many of the colonies became 
 distinguished for their commercial prosperity, 
 and most of them possessed an independent 
 government. As a whole, Greece, from the 
 variety of her productions the ingenuity and 
 activity of her people the number of her 
 Islands the great extent of sea-coast, and the 
 excellence of her harbours, had many com- 
 mercial advantages, which contributed vastly 
 to her wealth. Athens, from the superiority of 
 her fleet, extended her commerce more widely, 
 and in her markets might be found the produce 
 of all the other parts of Greece. 
 
 The facts connected with the history of Greece 
 
56 THE COMMERCE OP ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 suggest a few commercial propositions, which 
 I will now endeavour to illustrate. 
 
 I. Commerce is promoted by the security 
 of private property. 
 
 No man loves labour for its own sake. If 
 any man be industrious,, it is in hopes of ob- 
 taining a future good, and if the rewards of 
 successful industry may be suddenly snatched 
 away, no man will labour to acquire them. 
 Hence a state of savage life can never be a 
 commercial state. Before commerce can exist 
 a nation must be sufficiently strong to protect 
 itself against the attacks of other nations ; and a 
 government must be established to protect the 
 property of one citizen from the rapacity of 
 another. In the original state of Greece, no 
 commerce could exist ; but, as the rights of 
 property became respected, and industry be- 
 came sure of reaping the fruits of its exertion, 
 then commerce became gradually extended. 
 
 But, for the purposes of commerce, not only 
 should there be a security of property, but there 
 must also be a right of private property. This 
 observation arises from a view of the Social 
 
INSTITUTIONS OF SPARTA. 57 
 
 Institutions of Sparta. The laws of Lycurgus 
 abolished private property. The citizens fared 
 all alike they feasted together at public tables^ 
 and wore the same attire. The highest man in 
 the state could not be distinguished by his dress 
 from the meanest. Luxury was abolished 
 the coarsest food was provided gold and silver 
 were prohibited, and money made of iron only 
 was allowed. The citizens were all soldiers, 
 who lived together in a common camp, bound 
 together by a romantic attachment towards 
 their country, but exhibiting no humanity 
 towards their slaves, nor any social feelings of 
 regard for each other. Here was a nation of 
 soldiers, without even that taste for luxuries in 
 which soldiers usually indulge. No individual 
 could acquire wealth, for what he possessed 
 belonged to the nation, and the nation had no 
 motive to accumulate wealth, because their laws 
 prohibited those comforts which wealth pro- 
 cures. Here was savage life reduced to a 
 system a system which required the sacri* 
 fice of all the social feelings of our nature. A 
 Spartan mother asked a soldier, returning from 
 
 D 3 
 
58 THE COMMERCE OP ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 the army, "Is our army victorious?" The 
 soldier replied, " Your son is killed." " Fool ! " 
 replied she, " I did not ask about him ; I asked 
 if our army was victorious." No institutions 
 could possibly be more anti-commercial. 
 
 II. Commerce is promoted by an impartial 
 administration of public justice. 
 
 The right of private property can be secured 
 only by law ; and the laws affecting property 
 are more numerous in commercial than in other 
 countries ; because the modes of acquiring and 
 conveying property are more numerous, and 
 the rights of different claimants cannot be so 
 easily denned. Commerce is affected by all 
 laws relating to the production of commercial 
 commodities the mode of transferring pro- 
 perty the facility of transport the laying on 
 of taxes, or the punishment of crimes. Besides 
 these general laws, which affect all branches of 
 commerce, there are in many countries laws 
 affecting particular trades, or the export and 
 import of particular commodities. 
 
 The Athenians had laws which restricted 
 exports. They prohibited the export of all 
 
EXPORTS OF ATHENS. 59 
 
 things which their land did not produce in 
 greater abundance than was required for home 
 consumption. Thus figs, and all other kinds 
 of fruit, except olives, were prohibited, as were 
 also wool and pitch. The land of Attica was 
 barren, neither tillage nor pasturage prospered, 
 but it produced abundance of olives. The olive 
 was considered sacred to Minerva. According 
 to the legend, when the city of Athens was 
 first built, Neptune and Minerva contended 
 which should give a name to the city, and 
 they agreed that which of them should make 
 the most useful present to man, should be en- 
 titled to name the new city. Neptune struck 
 the ground and produced a horse. Minerva 
 produced the olive. All the Gods decided in 
 favor of Minerva, alleging that the olive, which 
 is the emblem of peace, is more useful than the 
 horse, which is the emblem of war. And here 
 it may be observed, that among the ancients, 
 horses were used only in war ; the operations 
 of agriculture were performed by oxen ; and for 
 riding mules were employed. Athens was then 
 an exporter of olives, and an importer of corn. 
 Besides olives, Athens had for export honey, 
 
00 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 and marble, and the produce of her copper and 
 silver mines; and in later times, a variety of 
 elegant works of art. We may observe here, 
 that olives were not only eaten as an article of 
 food, but the olive oil was used in a variety of 
 ways, in anointing the person in burning 
 in lamps in the making of bread, and other 
 ways where we are accustomed to use butter. 
 Honey was of very extensive use, as the ancients 
 had no sugar. The description given of Canaan 
 a land flowing with milk and honey must 
 have been very attractive to a people un- 
 acquainted with either tea or sugar. 
 
 The laws of Athens also regulated imports. 
 It was an object to encourage the importation 
 of corn, of timber and other materials for ship- 
 building. If any Athenian factor or merchant 
 conveyed corn to any other place than to Athens, 
 an action was to be brought against him, and 
 the informer might claim half the corn ; and to 
 prevent forestalling, no inhabitant of Athens 
 was allowed more than a certain quantity, fixed 
 by law. 
 
 There were also laws at Athens for the regu- 
 lation of particular trades. Fishmongers were 
 
LAWS REFERRING TO TRADE. 61 
 
 not allowed to put their fish in water, to render 
 them more saleable. A fishmonger, who over- 
 rated his fish, and afterwards took less than he 
 had first asked for them, was to suffer imprison- 
 ment. No seller of seals was to retain the 
 impression of one he had sold. 
 
 There were also general laws referring to 
 trade. No man was to exercise two trades. 
 No foreigner was allowed to sell wares in v 
 the market, or to exercise any trade. He 
 who obtained great repute, and was es- 
 teemed the most ingenious in his pro- 
 fession, was to receive a mark of honour. 
 Any one might bring an action of slander 
 against him who reviled or ridiculed another on 
 account of his trade. At Athens, theft was 
 punished by fine, imprisonment, or death, ac- 
 cording to the nature of the offence; but at 
 Sparta, theft was never punished, unless the 
 thief was caught in the act. Whoever lived an 
 idle life, squandered his father's property, or 
 refused to support his parents when in want, 
 was declared infamous. But if the father had 
 neglected to bring up his son to some trade, 
 the son was not bound to maintain his father, 
 although in want. It was incumbent on the 
 
62 THE COMMERCE OP ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 members of the Areopagus to inquire by what 
 means every person subsisted a regulation 
 supposed to have been borrowed from the 
 ancient Egyptians. 
 
 There were several courts of law in Athens. 
 In most of them the judges were taken from 
 the citizens at large, by lot, and the number of 
 judges varied from 50 to 2,000. When the 
 judges were so numerous, it followed necessarily 
 that some of them were not qualified to fill the 
 office. Every citizen was eligible to be a 
 judge, and was paid a certain sum for every 
 cause he tried. From the judges being so nu- 
 merous, and changing, possibly, at every trial, 
 there was often a want of uniformity in their 
 decisions, and the strict letter of the law was 
 not always observed. Hence Aristotle, in his 
 " Rhetoric," thus addresses young pleaders : 
 " If," says he, " the law is in your favour, you 
 must contend for the sanctity of law. You may 
 state that the only difference between a savage 
 and a civilized state is, that one has laws and 
 the other has none. But we may as well be 
 without laws, if they are not to be observed. 
 But if," adds he, " the law is against you, then 
 
COURTS OF LAW. 63 
 
 say that law is mere convention that what is 
 law in one state is not law in another and 
 what is law to-day may not be law to-morrow ; 
 and hence we should always be guided by 
 principles of equity, which being natural and 
 universal, must be superior to law." 
 
 At Athens, the parties might plead their own 
 cause, or employ advocates. In case advocates 
 were employed, they were allowed a certain 
 time to speak, according to the importance of 
 the case. An equal quantity of water was given 
 to each advocate. When one commenced speak- 
 ing the water was set running through a vessel 
 like an hour-glass, and when the water stopped 
 running the advocate must stop speaking. 
 
 The highest court in Athens was the Areo- 
 pagus. The archons, or chief magistrates, be- 
 came judges in this court, after their year of 
 office had expired. The meetings of the court 
 were held in the open air, partly because it was 
 considered unlawful that the criminal and ac- 
 cuser should be under the same roof, and partly 
 that the judges, whose persons were esteemed 
 sacred, should contract no pollution from con- 
 versing with profane and wicked men. They 
 
64 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 also heard and determined all causes at night, 
 and in darkness, that they might not be in- 
 fluenced in favour of the criminal or the ac- 
 cuser, and that no one might know the number, 
 or discern the countenances of the judges. 
 This court took cognizance of almost all crimes, 
 vices, and abuses. All matters connected with 
 religion were referred to the judgment of this 
 court. You will recollect that the Apostle Paul 
 was brought before it upon a charge of being a 
 setter forth of strange gods. The reputation of 
 this court was at one time so high, that even 
 foreign states, when any differences happened 
 among them, voluntarily submitted to its de- 
 cisions. 
 
 III. Commerce is promoted by the formation 
 of towns and cities. 
 
 We may form a tolerably correct estimate of 
 the degree of civilization and knowledge that 
 may exist in a country, by the proportion of the 
 population that live in towns and cities. Men 
 who are scattered over a wide surface have not 
 the same means of improving their knowledge as 
 when they are assembled in a smaller compass. 
 In cities there is a greater division of labour, 
 
FORMATION OF CITIES. 65 
 
 and hence each branch of industry is improved. 
 In cities, too, there are many persons carrying 
 on the same branch of trade, and hence there 
 is a perpetual rivalry, which tends to improve- 
 ment. In cities, too, there are associations for 
 various purposes, and means of acquiring lite- 
 rary and other information, which has the effect 
 of enlightening the population, and consequently 
 of improving the arts. 
 
 Commerce tends to the formation of cities. 
 The place of imports and exports soon be- 
 comes densely populated. The seat of manu- 
 factures must always be a place where a 
 number of workmen can be assembled together. 
 The high wages which are given for labour in- 
 duces labourers to leave the country districts, 
 and resort to commercial cities. As the arts 
 and sciences are found in greater perfection 
 in cities, people who wish to pursue them resort 
 thither. Young men commencing life go to 
 cities, because all kinds of labour are better 
 rewarded, and because the demand for it is more 
 regular and constant. Hence, as the commerce 
 of any place increases, its population increases 
 also the demand for labour is greater, and it 
 
66 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 furnishes more of the comforts and luxuries of 
 life. 
 
 Commercial cities are usually found on the 
 coasts of the sea, or on the banks of rivers. In 
 cases where the source of the river is in the 
 same country, a city is usually built at the place 
 where the river ceases to be navigable for large 
 ships. Such is the case with London, and also 
 with Waterford. Were the city built lower 
 down the stream, part of the advantages of the 
 river would be lost; and were it built higher 
 up, larger ships could not approach it, and their 
 cargoes would have to be discharged into barges, 
 and thus conveyed to the city. 
 
 The cities of Greece were not formed for pur- 
 poses of commerce. Many of them were built 
 at a distance from the sea, in order to avoid 
 surprise from pirates, who, in the early periods 
 of Greece, were in the habit of visiting their 
 coasts. The chief commercial cities were Athens, 
 and Corinth, and Syracuse, and the capitals of 
 the islands of Crete and Rhodes. 
 
 Athens, the Capital of the State of Attica, 
 was about two miles from the sea, but had 
 fortified walls passing from the city to the 
 
THE CITY OF ATHENS. 67 
 
 coast, so that it had always a free access to the 
 harbours. The soil of Attica was barren, but 
 Athens acquired commerce by her fleet and her 
 manufactures, and her power over some of the 
 other states of Greece. Athens, in its most 
 flourishing state, was one of the largest and 
 most beautiful cities in Greece, and was above 
 twenty-two miles in circumference. The cita- 
 del was built upon a high rock in the middle of 
 a plain; but as the inhabitants increased, build- 
 ings were extended over the whole plain, and 
 these, in distinction from the citadel, were called 
 the lower city. Every city in Greece had its 
 temple, its theatre, its gymnasium, or place for 
 public exercise, and its forum or market-place. 
 In Athens all these were numerous. A gym- 
 nasium was a large edifice, consisting of various 
 parts, and capable of holding several thousand 
 people. It contained places for the youth to 
 perform their exercises, and apartments for the 
 philosophers to deliver their lectures. It also 
 contained baths for the refreshment of the 
 citizens, and the whole was surrounded by a 
 garden and a sacred grove. Athens, too, had 
 
68 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 halls in which companies of tradesmen met, and 
 deliberated on matters relating to their trade. 
 To show that trade was not considered an 
 ignoble employment, it is stated that Solon en- 
 gaged in merchandize, and Plato sold oil in 
 Egypt. 
 
 Corinth owed its commerce to its situation. 
 It stood on the Isthmus of Corinth ; and when 
 navigation was so imperfect, mariners preferred 
 landing their goods on one side of the isthmus, 
 and passing them by land to the other, rather 
 than sail round the peninsula. Corinth became 
 remarkable for her manufactures, especially 
 those formed of metals, and her earthenware. 
 Corinth, also, became celebrated for her wealth, 
 and her attainments in the arts. She owed 
 her greatness entirely to commerce. Athens 
 was the capital of the chief state in the Greek 
 confederacy. She was the place of fashionable 
 resort. She was the school of science. She 
 was the place where men of wealth chose to 
 reside ; and besides, she received the revenues 
 of several tributary states. But Corinth had 
 none of these advantages. It was to commerce, 
 
CORINTH SYRACUSE. 69 
 
 and to commerce alone, that she stood indebted 
 for her greatness. And yet, in the splendour 
 of her edifices in the wealth and luxury of her 
 citizens, she was one of the most considerable 
 cities in Greece. The beautiful order of archi- 
 tecture which bears her name was here invented, 
 and may be considered as a standing illustra- 
 tion of the influence of commerce in promoting 
 the cultivation of the fine arts. It is true that 
 here, as at Athens, the fine arts were associated 
 with laxity of manners. But if we are called 
 upon to abandon the fine arts because they have 
 ministered to voluptuousness, may we not, with 
 equal propriety, be asked to renounce the ab- 
 stract and physical sciences, because they have 
 been employed in the service of infidelity ? To 
 the Christian church at Corinth the Apostle 
 Paul addressed two epistles, in which are allu- 
 sions to the exercises practised at the Isthmian 
 games, which were celebrated every third year, 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. 
 
 Syracuse was the capital of the island of 
 Sicily. It was originally founded by a colony 
 from Corinth. The colonists, after the example 
 
70 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 of the parent state, applied themselves to com- 
 merce, and so successfully, that Syracuse was 
 considered to rival even Carthage in wealth. 
 In its best estate it was twenty-two miles in 
 circuit, and was remarkable for its convenient 
 port, its elegant buildings, and splendid public 
 edifices. It long maintained its power as an 
 independent state, and withstood attacks from 
 both the Athenians and the Carthaginians, but 
 was ultimately taken by the Romans. The 
 siege, however, was protracted for three years, 
 by the mechanical contrivances of Archimedes. 
 
 Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands, is 
 said to have contained a hundred cities. At 
 one time it possessed considerable maritime 
 power, but its power and its character after- 
 wards declined. Both sacred and profane 
 writers state that the "Cretans were always 
 liars ;" and in later times, their conduct added 
 but little to the fame of Greece. 
 
 Rhodes was remarkable for the purity of its 
 climate and the excellence of its wines. It 
 was also famous for its Colossus of brass, that 
 bestrode the harbour, so that the largest ships 
 
MARKETS AND FAIRS. 71 
 
 could sail between its legs ; it was 70 cubits or 
 105 feet high, and was supposed to contain 
 720,000 Ibs. weight of brass. It stood for 85 years, 
 and was then thrown down by an earthquake. 
 
 IV. Commerce is promoted by the estab- 
 lishment of markets and fairs. 
 
 A fair is a large market, and a market is a 
 small fair. The word fair is derived from the 
 French word foire, which is derived from the 
 Latin word forum, which signifies a market. 
 The word market is derived from the Latin 
 word mercatus, and is of the same derivation as 
 mercantile. Markets are held more frequently 
 than fairs, and are established chiefly for the sale 
 of the produce of their neighbourhood. At 
 Athens, the forums, or market places, were nume- 
 rous. The old, or principal one, was a large 
 square, where the people used to assemble, and 
 where commodities were exposed to sale. Collec- 
 tors attended in the forum, to receive the duties 
 laid on every thing that was sold, and magistrates 
 to superintend what passed. There each trade 
 had a separate market, as the baker's market, 
 the fish market, the oil market, and many 
 
72 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 others ; and different hours were appointed for 
 the sale of different commodities. As this was 
 the most frequented part of the city, workmen 
 of all kinds endeavoured to reside near it, and 
 in it houses let at a higher price than anywhere 
 else. The Scythians kept in pay by the repub- 
 lic to maintain order, were encamped in the 
 middle of the forum. 
 
 In the early ages of the world, nearly all the 
 traffic between nations, and even between dis- 
 tricts of the same country, was carried on by 
 periodical fairs. The foundation of a city was 
 always commemorated by the institution of a 
 festival. As the city was usually dedicated to 
 some deity, this festival was considered a religious 
 festival. Whenever a large concourse of people 
 assemble, a degree of traffic is necessarily pro- 
 duced. The merchants attended to supply the 
 multitudes with such articles as they required; 
 hence, these periodical seasons of festivity 
 became seasons of traffic. In those times, all 
 merchants were retailers. A merchant went 
 to a distant fair, and purchased goods. He 
 brought those goods to another fair, where 
 
ANCIENT LEGISLATION RESPECTING FAIRS. 73 
 
 there was a demand for them, and sold them 
 to those who had occasion to consume them. 
 The import merchant and the retailer were the 
 same person. It is not until nations have 
 become highly civilized and wealthy, that the 
 retail business is carried on as a distinct branch 
 of trade. To buy at once a large stock of 
 goods, and to sell them in small quantities, 
 as they may be required, is a branch of busi- 
 ness that can be carried on only in a settled 
 and populous country. A few centuries ago, 
 even in England, if a man wanted to buy a piece 
 of cloth or of silk, he must have waited till the 
 next fair-day; at present, shopkeepers can supply 
 the public immediately with most of the com^ 
 modities that were formerly obtained at fairs. 
 Annual fairs are still, however, kept up in some 
 places, chiefly for the sale of live stock, and 
 agricultural produce. 
 
 It was an object of all ancient legislators, to 
 establish markets and fairs. Moses required 
 that all the males in the country should appear 
 three times in the year at Jerusalem. Though 
 the chief object of this regulation was, no 
 
74 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 doubt, to keep up in the minds of the people 
 a sense of religion, yet a secondary object was 
 to facilitate the internal trade and commerce of 
 the country. These religious festivals were 
 public fairs, and we find, from the history of 
 the New Testament, that traffic was sometimes 
 carried on even in the temple itself. On this 
 subject, we quote the language of Michaelis, in 
 his ' Commentaries on the Laws of Moses/ 
 
 " When we speak of Commerce, we must dis- 
 tinguish between the internal commerce of the 
 people with one another, and that which is 
 carried on with other nations, especially by 
 sea. For the former, with which no state can 
 dispense without great disadvantage, provision 
 was made by the three festivals, to the cele- 
 bration of which all the Israelites were as- 
 sembled thrice every year. Conventions of 
 this nature, instituted for religious purposes, 
 have generally, withal, been made instrumental 
 to the purposes of commerce. Our Messen 
 (fairs) have their names from (Missa), masses 
 which were sung at particular seasons, and 
 to which, in catholic times, people from all 
 
PUBLIC FESTIVALS OF GREECE. 75 
 
 countries resorted. As here there were buyers, 
 of course there came, also, merchants with 
 their commodities, and thus arose yearly fairs. 
 The holy pilgrimages to Mecca gave, in like 
 manner, an impulse to the trade of Arabia. 
 Hence, we see, that although in the Mosaic 
 institutions, the interests of internal commerce 
 were indirectly consulted, it was only in such a 
 manner that the carrying it on could not be- 
 come a distinct employment, but could merely 
 occupy the weeks of leisure from the toils of 
 agriculture, before harvest, at the feast of the 
 Passover, after harvest, at the feast of Pente- 
 cost, and on the conclusion of the vintage, at 
 the feast of Tabernacles." 
 
 In the same way public festivals were estab- 
 lished in all the cities of Greece. Each city 
 had its festivals, as parishes in some parts of 
 England have their feasts and their wakes. 
 Each state had its festivals in honor of its 
 founder, or to commemorate important events. 
 And besides these local festivals, there were 
 other festivals of still more dignity common to 
 all Greece. These were the Olympic games, 
 
 E 2 
 
76 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 celebrated every fourth year at Olympia. The 
 Pythian games, celebrated every fifth year at 
 Delphi, in honor of Apollo ; the Nemean games, 
 celebrated every third year at Nemea and the 
 Isthmian games, celebrated every third year 
 near Corinth. 
 
 These games produced good effects. First. 
 They gratified the social feelings. The games 
 consisted of contests between runners, wrest- 
 lers, boxers, horse racing and chariot racing, 
 and in some places of regattas. Frequently, 
 too, those philosophers who had written books, 
 read them at the games, for the art of printing 
 being then unknown, this was the most effectual 
 way of circulating knowledge among the peo- 
 ple. Secondly. These festivals being all sacred 
 to the Gods, and accompanied by sacrifices, 
 served to keep up in the minds of the 
 people sentiments of religion. This probably 
 was the chief reason why all the legislators of 
 antiquity established seasons of festivity; for 
 they all seemed to be aware that sentiments of 
 religion were essential to the existence of civil 
 society. Tltirdly. They secured the purposes 
 
PUBLIC FESTIVALS OF GREECE. 77 
 
 of commerce. Here merchants and manufac- 
 turers brought their goods, and persons who 
 wished to purchase came to buy. 
 
 Every motive induced the Greeks to attend 
 these public festivals. The man of piety went 
 to pay his homage to the immortal Gods ; the 
 man of literature and science went to converse 
 with the philosophers, and to listen to their 
 lectures ; the man of pleasure went to see the 
 horse racing, and the chariot racing, and the 
 wrestling, and the theatrical exhibitions ; and 
 the man of business went to buy and to sell, 
 and to get gain. Here in her most splendid 
 temples, Religion received the costly offerings 
 of the crowds who thronged to do her homage. 
 While, in the groves of Science, beneath a sky 
 as pure and serene as ever soothed the passions, 
 or as nurtured thought, the philosopher poured 
 into the ears of his auditors, who were seated 
 around him, those instructions which his own 
 travels, or his own reflection, had supplied. 
 While on the neighbouring plain, Pleasure, in 
 a variety of forms, gladdened the hearts and 
 softened the manners of all her votaries. 
 
78 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 During the middle ages, to establish a fair 
 was the prerogative of our kings; and all 
 persons holding a fair without a charter, were 
 liable to a penalty. The privilege was usually 
 granted to a corporate town, or to a favorite 
 nobleman, or to a religious establishment. 
 Persons frequenting the fairs were exempt from 
 arrest for debt during the fair, and during the 
 time of going and returning. The parties to 
 whom the privilege was granted, were usually 
 allowed to impose tolls or customs upon the 
 goods which were sold. These fairs, too, were 
 often regarded as sacred to some particular 
 saint. The only fair of this kind now remain- 
 ing in London, is, as you know, dedicated to 
 St. Bartholomew. 
 
 Whenever a market is established, there are 
 regulations appointed by the magistrates with 
 reference to the weights and measures. Most 
 of our measures of length appear to have been 
 derived from parts of the human body. Thus, 
 carpenter's work is measured by ihefoot. We 
 speak of a horse being so many hands high. 
 In measuring cloth, we have a nail, the six- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 79 
 
 teenth part of a yard; the ell, which means 
 the arm; the yard is half a fathom. When 
 a person stretches out both his hands, the dis- 
 tance from the finger of one hand to the middle 
 finger of the other is styled a fathom, and half 
 that distance is a yard ; a cubit is the distance 
 from the elbow to the finger, the word cubit 
 means elbow. The present yard, consisting of 
 thirty-six inches, was fixed by Henry I., who 
 fixed it at that measure, as that was the length 
 of his own arm. A. pace is another measure, 
 signifying as far as we can step. With regard 
 to the ancient measures, we are not aware of 
 any connexion between the measures of length, 
 the measures of weight, and the measures of 
 capacity. This connexion has been fixed in our 
 own country by the Act of Parliament estab- 
 lishing the imperial measure. A cubic foot of 
 distilled water contains a thousand ounces avoir- 
 dupoise, and sixteen of these ounces make a 
 pound. If, therefore, all our pound weights 
 were to be lost, or the standard become un- 
 known, we could easily ascertain the right 
 
80 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 weight by filling a cubic vessel with water, and 
 taking 16-1000ths for the pound. 
 
 By the same act, the gallon measure is to 
 contain ten pounds of distilled or rain water. 
 So that, if the gallon should be lost, we could 
 ascertain the standard gallon by weighing out 
 ten pounds weight of water, and the vessel 
 which would hold exactly that quantity would 
 be a gallon. Thus, all our weights and mea- 
 sures depend upon the linear measures; the 
 foot measures the pound, the pound measures 
 the gallon. 
 
 It is of importance that there should be only 
 one weight and one measure throughout the 
 country, and also that articles sold by weight 
 in one part of the kingdom, should not be sold 
 by measure in another part. Corn is sold by 
 weight in Ireland, and by measure in England. 
 A barrel of wheat, in Ireland, does not mean as 
 much wheat as will fill a barrel, it means a weight 
 of twenty stone, of fourteen pounds to the 
 stone ; a barrel of barley is sixteen stone, and 
 a barrel of oats fourteen stone. 
 
MONETARY INSTITUTIONS. 81 
 
 V. Commerce is promoted by institutions 
 which facilitate the circulation of money. 
 
 There are two institutions which tend to the 
 circulation of money a mint and a bank. 
 
 In my former lecture I mentioned, that the 
 Egyptians used as money, gold and silver bul- 
 lion. The Greeks, however, were, at a very 
 early period, acquainted with the art of coining. 
 In every nation, the coining of money has been 
 considered a prerogative of the government, 
 and each nation has adopted some peculiar de- 
 vice to place upon the coin. Kings have usually 
 placed their heads on one side of the coin, and 
 the national emblem on the other. The coin 
 of most nations is of a circular form, though 
 there are some exceptions. 
 
 Were we to form what we should call "a 
 Pence Table" for Grecian money, we should say, 
 
 6 oboles make one drachma. 
 100 drachmas make one mina. 
 60 minas make one talent. 
 An obolus was a silver coin, worth about 
 three-halfpence of our money. There was 
 also a silver coin, called a semi-obolus or half 
 
 E 3 
 
82 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 obolus, worth three farthings. And there were 
 also silver pieces of two oboles, three oboles, 
 four oboles, and five oboles. Then came the 
 drachm, a silver coin, worth six oboles, or 
 about ninepence of our money ; and there 
 were also two-drachm pieces, and four-drachm 
 pieces all these were of silver. Although the 
 Athenians had mines of copper, they seem to 
 have had a great aversion to a copper coinage. 
 And hence, to express low values, they made 
 their silver coins so small that they are said to 
 have resembled the scales of fishes. Ultimately 
 they were persuaded to the use of copper 
 coins, though the orator who advocated the 
 measure was afterwards nicknamed " the man 
 of brass." The smallest copper coin was the 
 eighth of an obolus equal to three-fourths of 
 a farthing. 
 
 Gold was not abundant in Greece, and gold 
 coins were not numerous. The chief, if not the 
 only one, was the didrachm, or two-drachm 
 piece, called a stater, equal in value to twenty 
 silver drachms, and worth above fifteen shillings 
 of our money. 
 
MONETARY INSTITUTIONS. 83 
 
 The Athenian coins had a figure of Minerva 
 on one side, and the figure of an owl, the bird 
 sacred to Minerva, on the other. But the coins 
 of different states, and of different ages, differ 
 very much from each other ; and hence some of 
 our learned men have been abundantly puzzled 
 upon matters connected with the coins of 
 Greece. 
 
 We may observe, that in a point or two the 
 coinage of Greece resembled that of England. 
 At one time all our coins were of silver, gold 
 was not coined till the year 1344, nor copper 
 till the year 1609 ; and to denote small values 
 the silver penny was cut into halves and quar- 
 ters, called halfpennies and fourthings or far- 
 things. When copper was coined this practice 
 was prohibited, and the small leaden tokens 
 previously issued by private individuals were 
 suppressed.* 
 
 The Greeks had no coin for the mina 
 (3Z. 15s.), nor for the talent (225 J.) These were 
 "monies of account," in the same way as we 
 
 * See Gilbart's History and Principles of Banking. 
 
84 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 reckoned all our money by " pounds sterling," 
 although for centuries we had no coin exactly 
 equal to a pound. 
 
 Banking institutions cannot flourish in any 
 society in which property is insecure, whether 
 that insecurity arises from the tyranny of the 
 government the turbulence of the people, or 
 the incursions of foreign enemies. In oriental 
 countries, where the possession of wealth invites 
 the rapacity of the government, people conceal 
 their wealth by burying it in the earth, and 
 hence we read in Scripture of " treasures hid 
 in a field." A similar practice prevailed in 
 Europe during the times of the feudal system ; 
 and treasure-trove was a source of Royal 
 revenue, as all the concealed treasure, when 
 found, belonged to the king. In the early ages 
 of Greece property was very insecure; partly 
 from the turbulence of the people, partly from 
 the incursions of the neighbouring states. In 
 this state of society, the temples were employed 
 as banks. People who had got money lodged it 
 with the priests, and the sanctity of the place 
 
BANKERS OF GREECE. 85 
 
 preserved it from violation. Even hostile tribes 
 would not take this treasure, lest they should 
 incur the vengeance of the Deity to whom the 
 temple was consecrated. 
 
 .But though the temples served one purpose of 
 banks, that of being a safe place for the deposit 
 of treasure, they did not supersede banks formed 
 for other purposes; and when society became 
 more advanced, the trade of banking was car- 
 ried on by individuals. The operations of 
 oriental banking are thus referred to in the 
 parable of the Slothful Servant, who had hid 
 his talent in the earth a very common prac- 
 tice in the East instead of placing it with a 
 banker: "Thou oughtest to have put my money 
 to the exchangers, and then at my coming, 
 I should have received my own with usury ." 
 These bankers were money-changers, money- 
 borrowers, and money-lenders. They exchanged 
 small coins for large ones, and the money of 
 their own country for that of strangers. They 
 also borrowed money. They received and paid 
 out money at their tables in the same way as 
 bankers now keep current accounts with their 
 
86 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 customers. They also received large sums 
 " talents" on which they allowed interest 
 "usury." The rate at Athens was usually 12 
 per cent, per annum, or rather 1 per cent, for 
 every new moon. People who were about to 
 go a journey left their money with their bankers 
 upon interest, to receive it " on their return." 
 In most of these bargains there were no wit- 
 nesses, and sometimes a banker would deny 
 having received the money ; but if he did this 
 more than once, he lost the confidence of the 
 public. These bankers were, of course, money- 
 lenders, otherwise they would have had no use 
 for the money they had borrowed. The busi- 
 ness of a banker consists in borrowing of one 
 party and lending to another ; and the differ- 
 ence in the rate of interest which he gives and 
 receives forms the source of his profit. The 
 bankers of Greece did not lend their money by 
 discounting bills of exchange, as bills did not 
 then exist ; but they lent it chiefly on personal 
 security to persons who were engaged in trade, 
 or who wanted it for other purposes. They often 
 lent to merchants who were fitting out a cargo 
 
USURY LAWS. 87 
 
 for a foreign port. In this case, the banker 
 would sometimes send a person in the ship to 
 receive payment of the loan, as soon as the 
 cargo was sold. At other times the banker 
 would wait for payment until the return of the 
 ship. As the banker, thus shared in the risks 
 of the voyage, the rate of interest paid to him 
 was sometimes so high as 30 per cent. But 
 though a banker might lend to a merchant for 
 the purpose of fitting out a cargo, neither he 
 nor any other citizen could send his money 
 abroad, except in exchange for corn, or for 
 some other commodity allowable by law. He 
 who suffered his money to be exported for other 
 purposes was to be prosecuted to have no writs 
 or warrants issued against the persons to whom 
 he had lent the money and the archons weie 
 not to permit him to institute any trial in the 
 judicial courts. 
 
 There were no usury laws at Athens. Every 
 banker could charge or allow what rate of in- 
 terest he pleased ; but if he agreed to one rate, 
 he could not afterwards charge a higher rate. 
 Among individuals usury was practised to a 
 
88 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 great extent. The failure of a banker always 
 caused a great sensation, and sometimes lie was 
 obliged to hide himself, in order to escape the 
 popular indignation. A similar feeling appears 
 in after times to be excited on such occasions 
 in the Italian states. You are aware that the 
 word bank-rupt arises from the practice of 
 breaking the benches or seats in the market- 
 place of those Italian bankers who were unable 
 to discharge their obligations. 
 
 Thus we find that the commercial principles 
 suggested to us by the history of Greece are, 
 that commerce is promoted by the security of 
 private property by the impartial administra- 
 tion of public justice by the formation of 
 towns and cities by the establishment of mar- 
 kets and fairs and by institutions that facilitate 
 the circulation of money. 
 
 We shall now consider the commercial cha- 
 racter of the Greeks. 
 
 1 . The Greeks were superstitious. " Ye men 
 of Athens," said St. Paul to the Athenians, " I 
 perceive that in all things ye are too supersti- 
 tious ;" and at that time the city was " wholly 
 
COMMERCIAL CHARACTER OF THE GREEKS. 89 
 
 given to idolatry." A merchant should not be 
 " superstitious/' He should not be a devotee, 
 nor allow the ceremonial observances of religion 
 to interfere with the duties of the counting- 
 house. But he ought at all times to remember 
 that there is a Superior Power, who " giveth to 
 all life and breath, and all things, and who hath 
 made of one blood all nations who dwell on the 
 face of the earth," who " giveth us rain from 
 heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts 
 with joy and gladness," who " commands the 
 winds and the seas, and they obey him," and 
 who " giveth the power to get wealth." When 
 a merchant of Greece was about to take a voy- 
 age, he went to the Temple of Minerva, or of 
 Neptune, or of Mercury, or of some god that 
 was presumed to preside over his particular 
 calling, and implored a benediction on the 
 enterprise he was about to undertake, and on 
 his return he placed a portion of his gains, as a 
 thank-offering, on the altar of the deity whose 
 assistance he had invoked. Athens, who owed 
 her greatness mainly to her fleet, and Corinth, 
 who gained her wealth by her manufactures, 
 
90 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 were remarkable for the number of their temples. 
 A portion of the wealth obtained by commerce 
 was thus consecrated to the service of religion. 
 Ye Christian merchants, and manufacturers, and 
 shipowners, go to Athens, to Corinth, to the 
 other maritime cities of Greece, and amid the 
 ruins of temples, reared in part by the com- 
 merce of a former age, see if ye cannot gather 
 lessons for your own instruction. Jf their reli- 
 gion was superstitious, and existed apart from 
 morality, will not your condemnation be the 
 greater, if, with a more enlightened faith, and a 
 purer code of morals, you exhibit less devotion ? 
 2. The Greeks are accused of having been 
 regardless of their oaths. The inhabitants of 
 every state in Greece have been subject to this 
 accusation. When a Greek appeared as a wit- 
 ness in a Roman court of justice, his evidence 
 was received with suspicion. If they were 
 regardless of their oaths it may be inferred 
 that they were still more regardless of their 
 word. We cannot imagine a greater defect in 
 the commercial character. If a merchant wishes 
 to maintain his respectability, he must punctu- 
 
FONDNESS FOB LITIGATION. 91 
 
 ally perform all his agreements, and all his 
 promises. Tell me not that the matter in which 
 you have failed is of no importance. Be assured 
 that it is of importance. However trifling the 
 matter may be in itself, your having promised to 
 perform it has made it of importance. It is of 
 importance to your own character that you 
 keep your word. If you are regardless of 
 your word in matters of little importance, you 
 will soon become equally regardless in mat- 
 ters of greater moment. " He that is unfaith- 
 ful in little is unfaithful also in much," 
 
 3. The Greeks were very litigious. Men of a 
 strong imagination, and of a great subtlety of 
 genius, are prone to become litigious; their 
 imagination misleads their judgment, and their 
 subtlety finds arguments to support their erro- 
 neous opinions. There is no profession more 
 respectable none more essential to the exist- 
 ence of civil society, than that of the law ; but 
 fondness for litigation shows a corrupt taste 
 and a depraved heart. It is best for a merchant 
 to have no dealings with such people ; for, how- 
 ever cautious he may be, some point may be 
 
92 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 raised which will involve him in a law-suit, and 
 should he even gain the cause, the success will 
 not compensate for the anxiety and the delay it 
 will occasion. " Law," says Mr. Stephens, in 
 his ' Lecture on Heads,' " is like a new fashion, 
 people are glad to get into it ; and law is like a 
 shower of rain, people are glad to get out of it." 
 One bad effect of a fondness for litigation is, 
 that it has a tendency to produce a disposition 
 to take the law of the land as the standard of 
 morality. This is a great error. The law sanc- 
 tioned the African slave trade, but that did not 
 make it innocent. The law allows you to give 
 to your labourers any wages they may be will- 
 ing to accept, and to employ them for as many 
 hours a- day as they are willing to work ; but, 
 if you take advantage of their necessities to 
 exact from them hard bargains, you shall not be 
 morally guiltless. If you have been a bankrupt, 
 and have obtained your certificate, the law will 
 not allow your creditors to enforce payment of 
 your debts; but you are, nevertheless, morally 
 bound to pay them should you ever have the 
 power. Beware of supposing that what is not 
 
HABITS OF BUSINESS. 93 
 
 illegal is, therefore, not immoral. There are 
 many vices and crimes which human laws can- 
 not reach. You may, in various ways, act un- 
 justly and dishonourably without violating the 
 letter of the law. You must, therefore, learn to 
 distinguish between law and justice, and not 
 take advantage of legal .quibbles, either to 
 enforce claims to which you have no right, or 
 to exonerate yourselves from responsibilities 
 to which you are justly liable. 
 
 4. The Greeks were deficient in habits of busi- 
 ness. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles 
 that, " All the Athenians and strangers which 
 were there, spent their time in nothing else but 
 either to tell or to hear some new thing." A 
 newsmonger is seldom a good man of business. 
 Habits of business is a phrase which includes 
 a variety of qualities industry, arrangement, 
 calculation, prudence, punctuality and perseve- 
 rance ; and these virtues are exercised, not from 
 the impulse of particular motives, but from 
 habit. If you hear a man boast of being indus- 
 trious, you may safely infer that he does not 
 possess the habit of industry ; for what a man 
 does from habit, he does mechanically, without 
 
94 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 thinking of the merits of his actions, though 
 they may be highly meritorious. The Greeks 
 were inquisitive and active, capable of immense 
 exertion when under the stimulus of powerful 
 motives, but when the stimulus was removed, 
 they sunk into frivolity. They were eccentric, 
 capricious, fickle, and possessed none of that 
 steady uniformity of character necessary to men 
 of business. Those who are fond of drawing 
 parallels between ancient and modern nations, 
 have fancied that there is a resemblance between 
 the ancient Egyptians and the modern Spaniards 
 the ancient Greeks and the modern French 
 the ancient Romans and the modern English. 
 Perhaps, in some points, these parallels may 
 hold good, but in others they are defective. 
 However that may be, it is certain that 
 habits of business are essential to a merchant. 
 But though essential to a merchant, they 
 are not peculiar to him. They are as neces- 
 sary to a professional man as to a merchant ; 
 as necessary to ladies as to gentlemen; as 
 necessary for the government of a family 
 as for the government of a commercial 
 establishment. The greater the intellectual 
 
FONDNESS FOR AMUSEMENT* 95 
 
 talents of the individual, the more necessary are 
 habits of business to keep him steady in his 
 course. The more canvas he spreads, the more 
 ballast he requires. If we examine the history 
 of those illustrious characters who have risen to 
 eminence, as the masters, the legislators, or the 
 instructors of mankind, we shall find they have 
 been as much distinguished by their habits of 
 business as by the superiority of their intellect. 
 While, on the other hand, we could easily point 
 out, in every science and in every path of life, 
 some young men who, though of towering 
 genius, have become lost to themselves, and 
 have disappointed the hopes of all their Mends 
 through a want of habits of business. They 
 have burst upon the world with more than 
 noontide splendour; they have attracted uni- 
 versal notice; they have excited big expecta- 
 tions, and suddenly they have darted into an 
 oblique course and passed into oblivion. 
 
 5. The Greeks were fond of amusement, and 
 kept many holidays. The ancient nations were 
 chiefly agricultural, and in all agricultural na- 
 tions holidays are numerous in the intervals 
 
96 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 between the seasons of agricultural labour. As 
 nations became commercial the number of 
 holidays was reduced. The operations of com- 
 merce are more uniform throughout the year, 
 and time at all seasons is valuable, and hence 
 the annual amount of labour is considerably 
 increased. 
 
 Too many holidays are a national evil. They 
 consume time that might be usefully employ ed, 
 they destroy the habit of industry, so that even 
 the labour of the working days is less produc- 
 tive, and they often lead to immoral practices. 
 On the other hand, incessant labour has a ten- 
 dency to impair the faculties of both body 
 and mind. Intervals of recreation are essential 
 to health. It is perhaps essential to healthy 
 and vigorous existence that a portion of every 
 day should be passed in amusement, or at 
 least in some kind of exercise different from 
 that required by our professional calling. And 
 he who employs a portion of the day in im- 
 proving his mental powers, or in acquiring know- 
 ledge, even when that knowledge has no imme- 
 diate reference to his profession, is more likely 
 
THE AMUSEMENTS OF A MERCHANT. 97 
 
 to acquire professional distinction than he who 
 blunts his powers by a course of monotonous 
 exertion. 
 
 The amusements of a merchant should cor- 
 respond with his character. He should never 
 engage in those recreations which partake of 
 the nature of gambling, and but seldom in 
 those of a frivolous description. A judge is not 
 always on the bench, a clergyman is not always 
 in the pulpit, nor is a merchant always on 
 'change ; but each is expected to abstain at all 
 times from any amusements which are not 
 consistent with his professional character. The 
 credit of a merchant depends not merely on his 
 wealth, but upon the opinion generally enter- 
 tained of his personal qualities, and he should 
 cultivate a reputation for prudence and pro- 
 priety of conduct as part of his stock in trade. 
 
 There is one holiday which a merchant should 
 always observe he should always observe the 
 Sabbath day. 
 
 The design of the Sabbath is to ensure an 
 interval of bodily repose, more especially for 
 the humbler classes of society; to change the 
 
98 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 current of thought, and thus to preserve the 
 mental powers in a state of vigour and fresh- 
 ness; to give leisure for reflection, and thus 
 enable man to look above him, and around him, 
 and within him, and consider his own character 
 and destiny ; and to furnish opportunity for the 
 discharge of those duties of piety, of kindness, 
 and of benevolence, which devolve upon him 
 as a moral and religious being. 
 
 The institution of the Sabbath day must not 
 be regarded as diminishing the sum of animal 
 labour, By improving the habits and invigo- 
 rating the mental powers, it increases the annual 
 produce of labour, both in regard to nations 
 and individuals. 
 
 The labour of Sunday tends not to wealth. 
 It is not the man who " adds Sunday to the 
 the week" of toil, who employs that holy day 
 in attending to his ordinary business or in 
 making up his books no, it is not he who is in 
 the surest road to riches. It is the man who 
 when the Sunday dawns, feels his mind expand 
 with new and cxhilirating and ennobling 
 associations; who, accompanied by his family, 
 
THE SABBATH DAY. 99 
 
 appropriately attired,, pays his morning homage 
 in the temple of religion, and passes the remain- 
 der of the day in works of charity or piety, or 
 in innocent relaxations corresponding with the 
 sanctity of the day that is the man who, by 
 improving the intellectual, the moral, and the 
 social faculties of his mind, is adopting the 
 surest means of acquiring wealth and respect- 
 ability in the world. 
 
 They greatly err who imagine they are plead- 
 ing the cause of the poor when they endeavour 
 to remove the religious sanctions of the Sabbath 
 day. Should the mass of the population once 
 entertain the impression that the observance of 
 Sunday is not required by religion, but is 
 merely a matter of convenience or expediency, 
 the poor will then have no security for cessation 
 from toil. Reasons will soon be found, based 
 apparently upon a regard for the poor, for in- 
 creasing their labour. Let the Sunday be 
 regarded no longer as a day of devotion, but 
 merely as a day of pleasure, and it will soon 
 become a day of toil. 
 
 Were the Sunday abolished, the poor man 
 
 F 2 
 
100 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 would receive no more wages for Ms seven days 
 labour than he now does for his six. His scale 
 of comforts would be reduced, as he would have 
 no occasion for a Sunday's attire. His oppor- 
 tunities of social intercourse and of moral im- 
 provement would be abolished. In this and in 
 other cases it is shown that religion, while she 
 is the guide and solace of the wealthy, is pre- 
 eminently the friend and guardian of the poor.* 
 6. The Greeks were proficients in knowledge. 
 They excelled, not only in those sciences which 
 depend on taste and imagination, such as the 
 fine arts, but also in those which depend on the 
 abstract powers of the intellect, such as logic 
 and geometry. In some others they were in- 
 ferior to the moderns. In the various branches 
 of natural philosophy they were much inferior, 
 especially in chemistry. Electricity, and galvan- 
 ism, were wholly unknown. In natural history, 
 botany, and mineralogy, their knowledge was 
 limited. In mathematics, they understood 
 
 * These paragraphs were inserted in a pamphlet I 
 printed (not published) last year, entitled "The Moral 
 and Religious Duties of Public Companies." 
 
ANCIENT AND MODERN SCIENCES. 101 
 
 algebra and geometry, but were unacquainted 
 with logarithms and fluxions. In astronomy and 
 navigation they were unequal to the moderns, 
 and also in the mechanical arts. Though Archi- 
 medes had machines by which he could raise a 
 ship out of water, yet the Greeks were ignorant 
 of the power of steam, and seem never to 
 have applied the pressure of the atmosphere, 
 the force of the wind, or of a current of water 
 to any of their mechanical engines. The 
 various philosophical instruments we possess, 
 such as telescopes, microscopes, barometers, 
 thermometers, and others, though they have 
 names derived from the Greek language, are 
 the invention of modern times. But though 
 unacquainted with recent discoveries, the 
 Greeks manifested in the sciences they studied 
 the highest degree of intellectual strength. 
 Nothing shows more strongly the power of 
 MIND than the influence which, after the lapse 
 of thousands of years, the Greeks still possess 
 in our own days. The demonstrations of Euclid 
 still bear sway in our schools. Aristotle still re- 
 gulates our mode of thinking and of reasoning. 
 
102 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 Homer is still regarded as the first of poets, 
 and Demosthenes as the first of orators ; while 
 our architects and our sculptors are not the 
 rivals, but only the imitators of those of 
 ancient Greece. 
 
 Knowledge is necessary to a merchant. The 
 same kind of knowledge which is necessary 
 to a statesman is necessary to a merchant. 
 To carry on extensive commerce he must be 
 acquainted with the productions of every part 
 of the world. He should know where any com- 
 modity is found in abundance, and where it is 
 deficient ; what are the habits and opinions 
 of all the nations of the earth; and what will 
 be the effect of any proposed measures or of 
 passing events upon different branches of trade. 
 Such is now the rapidity of communication, that 
 the events of a distant part of the world may 
 affect the price of an article even of home growth. 
 The price of whiskey, for instance, in Waterford, 
 may be affected by the produce of the sugar- 
 crops in the West Indies the harvest of Russia 
 the vineyards of Portugal or of France. 
 Ignorance of other countries may involve the 
 
KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY TO A MERCHANT. 103 
 
 merchant in serious loss. It would be a bad spe- 
 culation to send a cargo of wine to Turkey, for 
 the Mahometans are forbidden to drink wine. 
 Soon after the independence of the South Ame- 
 rican colonies, some merchants sent out a large 
 quantity of machinery to work the mines of 
 Peru, but they were so unacquainted with 
 the country that they did not know that there 
 were no roads leading to the mining districts, 
 and the people had no wheel-carriages, hence 
 the steam-engines were left to rust on the 
 coast. I have been told by a provision mer- 
 chant that the price of bacon in Waterford is 
 affected by the price of cabbages in London. 
 The English people are in the habit of eating 
 bacon and cabbage together; and, when there 
 is an abundant crop of cabbages in England 
 there is a greater demand for Irish bacon. 
 But a merchant should not only have an ex- 
 tensive knowledge of facts, but also of princi- 
 ples. Not only should he be acquainted with 
 the natural history of the commodities in which 
 he deals, and the various processes they undergo 
 before they become articles of merchandize 
 
104 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 not only should he know the habits, tastes, 
 characters, and mercantile laws of the various 
 nations of the earth, he ought also to study 
 the various circumstances which influence the 
 rate of wages, the fluctuations of prices, the 
 scale of profit, and the value of money, and 
 also the effects of the imposition and abolition 
 of taxes, and the general principles of national 
 finance. 
 
 In conclusion, we may remark, that com- 
 merce has been in our time the chief means 
 of extending the knowledge of the arts and 
 sciences. No new discovery can be made in 
 the sciences, or any new invention in the arts, 
 but, by means of our extensive commerce it is 
 quickly known throughout the world. The winds 
 of commerce have wafted the seeds of science 
 to every land ; they have fallen and taken root, 
 and in every country they have visited we now 
 see the trees of knowledge stretching wide their 
 branches, adorned with blossoms and laden 
 with fruit. 
 
 Our extended commerce furnishes one of the 
 surest guarantees for the permanence of modern 
 
PERMANENCE OF MODERN CIVILIZATION. 105 
 
 science. Greece and Rome were overthrown, 
 and the sciences were buried beneath their 
 ruins. But modern science depends not upon 
 the conquest of a city or the subversion of an 
 empire. If the present seats of science should 
 again be deluged with barbarism, Commerce 
 would receive into her ark the germ of every 
 science, and perpetuate in distant regions every 
 species of intellectual excellence. 
 
 Not only may we expect that modern civilisa- 
 tion will be permanent, but we may expect that 
 it will increase. When we see what a spirit of 
 daring enterprise is diffused by commerce 
 throughout the whole population when we see 
 what mighty powers are daily engaged in en- 
 deavouring to enlarge the boundaries of science 
 when we see what exertions are making to 
 extend education throughout all classes of the 
 community who can tell what will be the result? 
 who can tell but that the lower classes will be 
 raised as high in knowledge as the higher classes, 
 and the knowledge of the higher classes be pro- 
 portionably advanced that this will be the case 
 not only in one nation, but in every nation 
 
 F 3 
 
106 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 and that the whole world, in this high state of 
 improvement, shall go on to make further and 
 still further discoveries, until human society 
 shall attain a degree of perfection of which we 
 have now no conception ? Who can tell but the 
 human mind, thus placed in new circumstances, 
 shall exhibit powers which it is not now known 
 to possess, and society shall be advanced as far 
 above its present state of civilization as its pre- 
 sent state is superior to that of the savage? 
 Who can say to the human mind Thus far 
 shalt thou advance, but no farther ? Go, arrest 
 the motion of the winds stop the diurnal revo- 
 lution of the earth, or stay the planets in their 
 course. Do this, and then but not till then 
 hope to arrest the progress of the human mind. 
 Great is truth, and shall prevail. As certain 
 as the laws of nature as certain as the appear- 
 ance of Aurora foretells the rising sun so 
 sure shall the present twilight of knowledge 
 be succeeded by the blazing splendours of 
 meridian day. 
 
107 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Origin of Navigation. Rise of Tyre and Carthage 
 Maritime Power Influence of Navigation on 
 Commerce Advantages of an Insular Situation 
 
 Ships of the Ancients Long Voyages 
 Carrying Trade. Manufactures Weaving 
 Dyeing Pottery Tanning Working of 
 Metals. Colonies Colonial Trade Rate of 
 Wages Emigration. Accumulation of Capital 
 Credit Banking Bottomry Partnerships 
 
 Joint Stock Companies. Commercial Cha- 
 racter of the Carthaginians. 
 
 IN my first Lecture I laid down some of the 
 elementary .principles of commercial science. 
 We stated that the commerce of a country de- 
 pended on its productions on its consumption 
 on its position on its means of communi- 
 cation on the state of its arts and sciences on 
 the nature of its laws, and on the genius and 
 
108 THE COMMERCE OP TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 character of the people. We endeavoured to 
 illustrate these propositions by facts taken from 
 the history of Ancient Egypt. In my last 
 Lecture we traced the progress of society from 
 an uncivilized to a commercial state ; \ve viewed 
 the establishment of the right of private pro- 
 perty the administration of justice the 
 founding of cities the appointment of markets 
 and fairs and the introduction of money and 
 bankers. These principles we endeavoured to 
 illustrate by facts taken from the history of 
 Ancient Greece. We now view society arrived 
 at a state of maturity. Property is respected 
 the laws are enforced the arts and sciences 
 are cultivated the necessaries of life are ac- 
 quired a taste for luxury has arisen and the 
 people are looking about in quest of the means 
 to enrich themselves with those productions 
 which their own soil and climate cannot supply. 
 
 If we wish to trace the means by which these 
 desires are gratified, how can we do better than 
 to investigate the history of Tyre and of 
 Carthage ? 
 
 The country called Phoenicia was situated on 
 
THE HISTORY OF TYRE. 109 
 
 the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the 
 north-west of Canaan, and to the south-west of 
 Syria. The territory was but small, and, like 
 most other ancient countries, was at first sub- 
 divided into several independent states. The 
 two largest cities were Tyre and Sidon. Old 
 Tyre was situated on the land, and withstood 
 a siege for thirteen years by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 Ultimately it was taken ; but the Tynans hav- 
 ing the command of the sea, removed them- 
 selves, their families, and their property, before 
 Nebuchadnezzar could take possession of the 
 place. The Tynans afterwards returned, and 
 built New Tyre, which was at a little distance 
 from the land, and was founded on a rock about 
 three miles in circumference. This new city 
 was besieged by Alexander the Great, and 
 taken, with great slaughter, after a siege of 
 seven months. Tyre is thus described in the 
 Holy Scriptures : " A joyous city, whose anti- 
 quity is of ancient days, whose merchants are 
 princes, whose traffickers are the honourable 
 of the earth." " Tyrus did build herself a 
 stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, 
 
110 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 and fine gold as the mire of the street. When 
 the waves went forth out of the seas, thou 
 filledst many people; thou didst enrich the 
 kings of the earth with the multitude of thy 
 riches and of thy merchandize." Tyre carried 
 on a considerable traffic with the adjacent 
 country of Judea. Solomon, king of Israel, 
 made a treaty with Hiram, king of Tyre, by 
 virtue of which the Tynans hewed timber in 
 the forest of Lebanon, and brought it down in 
 fleets to Joppa, from whence it was carried to 
 Jerusalem, to construct the Temple, and other 
 public buildings, and in return Solomon sup- 
 plied Hiram annually with wheat and barley, 
 and wine and oil, all of which Judea produced 
 in abundance. Afterwards, when Solomon fitted 
 out a fleet at Eziongeber to go to Tarshish, 
 Hiram furnished him with sailors, as the Ty- 
 nans understood maritime affairs much better 
 than the Israelites. In a subsequent period, 
 after the division of the ten tribes, Ahab, the 
 king of Israel, married Jezebel, the daughter of 
 Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and introduced the 
 worship of Baal, the god of the Sidonians ; and 
 
THE TRADE OF TYRE WITH JUDEA. Ill 
 
 afterwards the worship of the same idol was 
 introduced by her daughter, Athaliah, into the 
 kingdom of Judah. At a still later period in the 
 Jewish history, we find the Tyrians brought fish, 
 and all manner of wares to Jerusalem, and were 
 threatened with punishment by Nehemiah for 
 exposing them for sale on the Sabbath day. 
 
 The Tyrians were remarkable for their know- 
 ledge of navigation, their skill in manufactures, 
 and the extent of their commerce. The most 
 ample account we have of the commerce of 
 ancient Tyre is contained in the 27th chapter 
 of the Prophecy of Ezekiel. In the prosecu- 
 tion of their commerce they found it useful to 
 establish colonies for conducting their trade 
 with those countries in which the colonists were 
 settled. They are said to have planted above 
 forty colonies on different parts of the coast of 
 the Mediterranean Sea. In point of govern- 
 ment these colonies, like those of Greece, were 
 independent of the mother country, and had 
 the entire management of their own affairs. 
 Among these colonies, the most celebrated is 
 Carthage. 
 
112 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Carthage stood on the coast of Africa, at 
 about half way from Phoenicia to the straits 
 of Cadiz. It was situated on a peninsula, 
 about forty-five miles in circumference, which 
 joined the main continent by a neck of 
 land about three miles across. The city, 
 in the zenith of its greatness, was about twenty- 
 three miles in circumference, and contained a 
 population of about 700,000 people. At this 
 time it held dominion over all the coasts of 
 Africa, a territory above 1,400 miles in length, 
 and containing three hundred cities; it also 
 possessed the greater part of Spain and Sicily, 
 and all the islands in the Mediterranean Sea 
 to the Strait of Sicily. This extensive empire 
 was not acquired so much by conquest as by 
 commerce and colonization. The government, 
 like that of most ancient states, was republican, 
 but what is remarkable, and what distinguishes 
 it from other ancient republics is, that during the 
 whole six hundred years of its existence, there 
 was no instance of a civil war. Ancient writers 
 attribute this to the excellency of the Cartha- 
 ginian political constitution, but it was probably 
 
THE HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 113 
 
 owing to the good sense and commercial habits 
 of the people. 
 
 The Carthaginians excelled in the arts and 
 sciences, but all the monuments of their great- 
 ness were destroyed by the Romans. We 
 have no account of the Carthaginians except 
 from Greek and Roman writers, the latter of 
 whom were their enemies and destroyers. Had 
 we as minute an account of the rise and pro- 
 gress of Carthage, as we have of Greece and of 
 Rome, it would probably form the most useful 
 branch of ancient history. 
 
 The following account is given of their trade : 
 " The commodities they supplied other 
 nations with in great abundance seem to have 
 been corn, and fruits of all kinds, divers sorts of 
 provisions, and high sauces, wax, honey, oil, 
 the skins of wild beasts, &c., all the natural 
 produce of their own territories. Their staple 
 manufactures were utensils, toys, cables, made 
 of the shrub Spartum, a kind of broom, all 
 kinds of naval stores, and the color from them 
 called Punic, the preparation of which seems to 
 have been peculiar to them. From Egypt they 
 
114 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 fetched fine flax, paper, &c. ; from the coasts of 
 the Red Sea, spices, frankincense, perfumes, 
 gold, pearls, and precious stones. From Syria 
 and Phoenicia, purple, scarlet, with stuff tapes- 
 try, costly furniture; and from the western parts 
 of the world, in return for the commodities car- 
 ried thither, they brought back iron, tin, lead, 
 copper, &c. So famous was Carthage for its 
 artificers, that any singular invention or exqui- 
 site piece of workmanship, seems to have been 
 called Punic even by the Romans. Thus the 
 Punic beds or couches, the Punic windows, the 
 Punic winepresses, the Punic lanterns, were 
 esteemed the more neat and elegant by that 
 people." 
 
 The history of Carthage, even imperfect as it 
 is, seems adapted to teach us those means by 
 which nations arrive at an extensive commerce. 
 These means will form the topics of the present 
 Lecture. I observe, then 
 
 First. Commerce is extended by means of 
 maritime power. 
 
 Secondly. Commerce is extended by means 
 of the establishment of manufactures. 
 
MARITIME POWEtl. 115 
 
 Thirdly, Commerce is extended by the 
 planting of colonies* 
 
 Fourthly. Commerce is extended by the 
 accumulation of capital. 
 
 These will form the four heads of my Lecture. 
 I begin with the first : 
 
 I. Commerce is extended by means of mari- 
 time power. 
 
 In warm climates the necessity of cleanliness 
 is so great, that bathing in water was in almost 
 all countries enjoined as a religious duty. 
 From bathing in water, and from seeing other 
 animals, man would soon acquire the art of 
 swimming. At the same time he would occa- 
 sionally see branches of trees broken down by 
 the wind, carried along the current, and this 
 would suggest to him the idea of making a 
 canoe or boat by cutting out a hollow in the 
 trunk of a tree. Hence we find that the art of 
 navigation commenced in warm countries. 
 When the art of constructing boats was once 
 discovered, fresh improvements would neces- 
 sarily be introduced as mankind improved in 
 the arts and sciences, and as they had occasion 
 
116 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 to make longer voyages. From the construction 
 of vessels adapted only to carry themselves man- 
 kind would proceed to the construction of vessels 
 adapted to carry cargoes of commodities. Hence 
 navigation would be employed as a means of 
 trade. It would soon be found that very heavy 
 bodies could be floated down a river in less 
 time and at a less expense than it could be 
 conveyed by land; trade would extend, and 
 ship-building and navigation would improve. 
 Those families of mankind who resided on the 
 sea-coasts would become habituated to a mari- 
 time life, and the sea would be regarded as a 
 source of wealth and power. 
 
 Navigation has a great influence on commerce. 
 Commerce consists in an exchange of the super- 
 abundant productions of different countries. 
 But two countries situated near to each other, 
 having the same climate and the same soil, 
 will produce nearly the same kind of commo- 
 dities, and but little commerce may take 
 place between them; while countries situated 
 at a distance from each other, and in dif- 
 ferent climates, will produce very different 
 
THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ISLAND. 117 
 
 commodities, and here is the foundation of an 
 extended commerce. But commerce cannot very 
 well be carried on between two distant coun- 
 tries by land. There would be great delay, and 
 great expense, and great liability to interrup- 
 tion or robbery from the inhabitants of the 
 lands through which you pass. All these 
 inconveniences are obviated by means of a 
 sea voyage. The transportation of goods is 
 effected with less expense, in less time, and is 
 less liable to interruption. In consequence of 
 these facilities, the goods imported or exported 
 can be sold at a cheaper rate. This tends to 
 increase the demand for them, and commerce 
 is thus more widely extended. 
 
 In most cases, an island presents greater ad- 
 vantages for commerce than a country situated 
 on a continent. In proportion to its size, an 
 island has a larger extent of sea coast than any 
 continental country can have. The climate is 
 usually milder and more even, so that the 
 operations of commerce are not disturbed by 
 the seasons. The sea is a natural fortification, 
 so that there is less danger of an invasion from 
 
118 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 a foreign enemy, and a less proportion of the 
 population are required to be enlisted in the 
 army. And, as all commerce with other 
 nations is necessarily carried on by sea, the 
 inhabitants naturally acquire maritime habits; 
 ship-building and navigation are more generally 
 studied, and the people have more skill and 
 courage in maritime warfare. In ancient his- 
 tory, the islands of Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus 
 were celebrated for their commerce. 
 
 Islands have also the advantage of being 
 able to carry on the trade between the several 
 provinces by sea. What in other countries 
 is an inland trade, and is conducted by means 
 of roads and canals, is, in islands, a coast- 
 ing trade. An interchange of commodities 
 between the different parts of the country is 
 effected, by means of shipping, in less time and 
 at a less expense. 
 
 The vessels of the ancients were different 
 from those of modern times. The Grecian seas 
 were land-locked, filled with small islands, and 
 subject to violent storms and frequent calms ; 
 hence sails were not generally used. Their 
 
THE SHIPS OF THE A 
 
 ships were rowed by oars, and in sailing, the 
 mariners kept near to the coasts. Ships of war 
 were called long ships those of burden were 
 called round ships. The ships of the Phoe- 
 nicians being adapted for commerce, were 
 broader and deeper than those intended for 
 war. In the time of Homer, hempen cordage 
 seems to have been unknown ; leathern thongs 
 were used instead ; and the ships had only one 
 mast, and that a moveable one. The greatest 
 number of men on board any one ship was one 
 hundred and twenty. Navigation was in its 
 infancy; but the principal constellations had 
 been observed, and by means of these the 
 Greeks had navigated as far as Cyprus, Phoe- 
 nicia, and Egypt. 
 
 Ships had usually several banks of oars rising 
 one above another, in the manner of stairs. 
 On going on board a ship, you would first step 
 on the side. This was the first bank of oars. 
 Here the rowers had short oars. The next 
 step was higher, and farther from the sea. 
 This was the second bank of oars. Here the 
 rowers had longer oars. The next step was the 
 
120 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 third bank of oars. Here the rowers had still 
 longer oars, and, consequently, the work was 
 harder, and the men had higher pay. Some of 
 the ancient ships had two rudders on each side 
 afterwards they had a rudder at each end ; 
 but at length they had a rudder only in the 
 stern, and the prow or bow of the ship became 
 ornamented with a figure-head. The ships of 
 war were not adapted for carrying any cargo ; 
 the chief object was swiftness in rowing. The 
 men could never sleep, nor even conveniently 
 eat on board. In their naval expeditions 
 they kept close to the shore, and landed 
 to take their meals, as stage-coaches stop for 
 the passengers to take their dinner. When 
 about to engage, they took down their sail, and 
 depended entirely on their oars, as they could 
 then advance or retreat, according to circum- 
 stances. The ships of war being long and 
 narrow, and crowded with men, could not 
 bear up against a high wind ; but the ships of 
 burden, or the round ships, as they were called, 
 were adapted for the wind ; they were worked 
 by fewer hands, and fit for long voyages. 
 
THE SHIPS OF TYRE. 121 
 
 The principal vessels used at first, were tri- 
 remes, or ships with three banks of oars; but the 
 Phoenicians or the Carthaginians constructed 
 vessels of four and even five banks of oars; 
 vessels built for stateliness and show had some- 
 times a greater number. Ships of war had, 
 usually, a beak of wood covered with brass 
 placed on their prows, for the purpose of an- 
 noying the ships of the enemy. 
 
 The ships of Tyre are thus described by the 
 Prophet Ezekiel : " They have made all thy 
 ship boards of fir-trees of Senir; they have 
 taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for 
 thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made 
 thine oars. The company of the Ashurites 
 have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of 
 the isles of Chittim. Fine linen, with broidered 
 work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest 
 forth to be thy sail blue and purple from the 
 isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 
 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arpad were thy 
 mariners thy wise men, O Tyre, that were in 
 thee, were thy pilots." 
 
 The Greeks confined their navigation entirely 
 
122 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 to their own seas. Even Sicily was, for many 
 ages, the land of fable and monsters with which 
 they were utterly unacquainted. But the 
 Phoenicians extended their voyages throughout 
 the whole of the Mediterranean; they passed 
 through the Straits of Gibraltar, and visited 
 the coasts of Britain. These voyages required 
 ships of a larger size, and also a superior 
 knowledge of navigation. It seemed, however, 
 that whenever they could they kept near 
 to the shore. You are aware that in the 
 Mediterranean sea there are no tides, but a 
 current is always running into the German 
 Ocean. On passing into the ocean, a different 
 kind of navigation might become necessary. 
 A trade that will pay the expense of a long 
 voyage must be a profitable one, as there must 
 be a greater outlay of capital in the equipment, 
 and a longer period before it can be realized. 
 In trading with the uncivilized nations of 
 Britain, the Phoenicians appear to have ex- 
 changed commodities of but comparatively 
 little value, for those which to them were of 
 considerable worth. They brought to England 
 
THE CARRYING TRADE. 123 
 
 salt, and earthenware, and trinkets made of 
 brass; and took tin, hides, and wool. The 
 trade was so valuable that the Carthaginians 
 kept it to themselves. A Roman ship followed 
 a Carthaginian ship to discover the place to 
 which she sailed. The Carthaginian captain 
 designedly ran his ship aground, the Roman 
 ship followed, and ran aground also. The 
 Carthaginian captain threw out his cargo, and 
 got his ship off. The Senate of Carthage 
 commended his conduct and made good his 
 loss, 
 
 The Carthaginians not only traded directly 
 with the places they visited, but they also 
 conducted the trade between those places, 
 buying at one place and selling at the others. 
 This is now usually called the carrying trade. 
 Countries may have commodities sufficient to 
 form the basis of an extensive commerce, and 
 yet may not have sufficient capital to export 
 them. Thus, the American Indians could 
 furnish abundance of fur, but had no ships; 
 and if there be two nations in this state, it is 
 a great advantage to both if any third nation 
 
 G 2 
 
124 THE COMMERCE OP TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 will undertake to carry their respective exports 
 for the consumption of the other. The Dutch 
 had for a considerable time the carrying trade 
 of Europe. Even now, the Americans will 
 bring tea from China and sell it in France. 
 The bonding system of England resembles a 
 carrying trade, for goods may be brought from 
 one country, placed in bond for a while, 
 and then exported, without duty, to another 
 country. The Carthaginians possessed this 
 kind of trade. They might take from England 
 tin, which they might exchange in Egypt for 
 linen cloth ; they might take corn from Egypt 
 to Spain, and take gold from Spain to Egypt. 
 As they did not carry for hire, but were deal- 
 ers in all these commodities, they acquired a 
 profit on all the trade carried on with these 
 respective nations, and they obtained all 
 these advantages by means of their maritime 
 power. 
 
 Secondly. I observe, that commerce is ex- 
 tended by the establishment of manufactures. 
 
 A commodity is said to be manufactured 
 when it has undergone some change in conse- 
 
MANUFACTURES. 125 
 
 quence of the application of human labour. The 
 material of the manufacture is called raw 
 material. Thus cloth is a manufacture, and 
 wool is the raw material. Flour is called a 
 manufacture, the corn being raw material. So, 
 in Waterford, we often hear bacon called the 
 manufactured article, pigs, of course, being the 
 raw material. 
 
 Some manufactures, however, are made from 
 materials previously manufactured. Thus, we 
 speak of a glove manufacture, the manu- 
 facture of shoes and of nails, although the 
 materials, leather and iron, had previously been 
 manufactured. 
 
 The word manufacture signifies made with 
 the hand, a term not now exactly appropriate, 
 as most of our manufactures are made in a 
 great degree by machinery. A Manufacturer 
 is a person who makes articles in great quan- 
 tities, and sells them wholesale. A Maker 
 makes only a few articles, and sells them 
 immediately to the consumers. 
 
 All countries have some kind of manu- 
 
126 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 facture for the use of its inhabitants. But, 
 by a manufacturing country, we generally 
 mean a country that manufactures goods not 
 merely for its own consumption, but also for 
 exportation to other nations. A nation which 
 can thus increase its surplus productions, 
 will, of course, increase its exports. By this 
 means, too, it will also increase its imports, 
 because it will be able to purchase a larger 
 quantity of the productions of other nations. 
 All nations that have become manufacturing 
 nations, have become commercial nations ; and 
 have, consequently, become wealthy. 
 
 Manufacturing nations rise to wealth from 
 the additional value which they give to the raw 
 materials. For there is an immense difference 
 between the value of the raw materials and the 
 value of the same materials in a manufactured 
 state. Thus, for instance, it has been stated 
 that a pound of cotton wool, when spun, has 
 been worth five pounds sterling ; and when wove 
 into muslin, and ornamented in the tambour, is 
 worth fifteen pounds, yielding 5,900 per cent. 
 
MANUFACTURES PRODUCE WEALTH. 127 
 
 on the raw material. An ounce of fine Flanders 
 thread has been sold in London for four pounds. 
 Such an ounce made into lace may be sold for 
 forty pounds, which is ten times the price of 
 standard gold, weight for weight. Steel may 
 be made three hundred times dearer than 
 standard gold, weight for weight. Six steel wire 
 springs for watch pendulums weigh one grain, to 
 the artist seven shillings and sixpence each, equal 
 to two pounds five shillings. One grain of gold 
 costs only two-pence. So a service of cut glass, 
 or of fine Porcelain, will cost many hundred 
 times the value of the raw materials of which it 
 is composed. Mr. Babbage also states that 
 the pendulum spring of a watch, which governs 
 the vibrations of the balance, costs at the retail 
 price, two-pence, and weighs i of a grain, while 
 the retail price of a pound of the best iron, the 
 raw material out of which 50,000 such springs 
 are made, is exactly the same sum of two-pence. 
 A quantity of lead that cost one pound, when 
 manufactured into small printing type, will sell 
 for twenty-eight pounds. A quantity of bar 
 iron that cost one pound, when made into 
 
128 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 needles will sell for seventy pounds ; into the 
 finest kind of scissors it will sell for 446 ; as 
 gun barrels it will sell for 238 ; as blades of 
 penknives, 657; as sword handles, polished 
 steel, 972. He likewise states that four men, 
 four women, and two children are able to make 
 above 5,500 pins in less than eight hours. 
 
 Now you are not to suppose that the manu- 
 facturers of these articles get higher profits than 
 other manufacturers do. Their high prices 
 arise from the immense quantity of labour which 
 is expended upon them. And this is the reason 
 why manufacturing nations get wealthy, because 
 they give employment to the whole population. 
 Men, women, and children, all are employed, 
 and every day, and all day long, and part of the 
 night too, without any interruption from the 
 weather, or the change of season. The effect on 
 national wealth may be thus illustrated. If I 
 had an estate so fertile, that for every bushel 
 of seed I should have a crop of 600 bushels, 
 I should soon get rich. But if for the price 
 of a bushel of wheat I can buy a quantity 
 of raw material, and by the labour I bestow 
 
THE ADVANTAGES OF MACHINERY. 129 
 
 upon it, I can sell it for the price of 600 bushels, 
 it is the same thing to me as though I had an 
 estate which yielded a crop of 600-fold. In 
 manufactures, too, you can introduce a greater 
 quantity of machinery. As all the additional 
 value bestowed upon the raw material is derived 
 from labour, men have racked their minds 
 to make the most of labour, to increase its 
 power by subdivision, and to invent machines 
 by which the rivers, the winds, the air, and 
 steam are compelled to do the work of men. 
 Similar machinery has in some cases been 
 introduced into agriculture, but it cannot 
 be adopted to the same extent. Agriculture 
 labours under this disadvantage, that whatever 
 machinery we apply, all we can do is to increase 
 the crop, and to cheapen some of the opera- 
 tions ; we cannot quicken the process, at least, 
 not to any extent. We may by machinery 
 weave a piece of cotton or silk, or make a pair 
 of razors in half the time heretofore employed, 
 but we cannot make a field produce a crop of 
 wheat, barley, or potatoes in half the usual 
 time. Seed time and harvest will go on, and 
 
 G 3 
 
130 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 the operations of nature will not be stimulated, 
 to any great extent, by any machinery we can 
 apply. 
 
 When a manufacture is established in any 
 country, it is usually in consequence of that 
 country possessing either an abundance of the 
 raw material, or a facility for manufacturing it. 
 Thus, an iron manufacture will scarcely ever 
 be established, except in a country that pro- 
 duces iron stone, and even that will not be 
 sufficient, unless it also produce coal or wood. 
 Ores cannot be smelted without fire; all the 
 copper ore in the county of Cornwall is taken 
 to Swansea to be smelted, for Cornwall pro- 
 duces no coal. So copper ore is brought from 
 South America to Liverpool to be smelted, 
 because there is no coal in that part of America. 
 
 But, where there are great facilities for the 
 manufacture, manufactories may be established 
 in countries which do not produce the raw 
 material. England produces no cotton, and 
 yet has an immense cotton manufacture. But 
 the moving power in all our cotton manufactories 
 is steam ; steam is made by fire ; and fire by 
 
CAUSES OF MANUFACTURES.. 131 
 
 coal ; hence the coal mines of England are the 
 cause of her having the manufacture of cotton. 
 
 When a country has, from its physical 
 advantages, or from the ingenuity of its people, 
 acquired the art of manufacturing any articles 
 cheaper and better than other nations, then those 
 other nations will, in most cases, find it their 
 interest to apply their own labour and capital 
 to those pursuits in which they have an advan- 
 tage, and so purchase the manufactured commo- 
 dities rather than manufacture for themselves. 
 Hence manufactures promote commerce. 
 
 The manufactures in which Tyre and Carthage 
 excelled, were weaving, dyeing, pottery, tanning, 
 and the working of metals. 
 
 One of the most ancient arts is that of 
 weaving. Although mankind at first clothed 
 themselves with the skins of beasts, they soon 
 learned the art of spinning wool and weaving 
 it into cloth. Among all ancient nations this 
 was performed by the female members of the 
 family. 
 
 Both in profane and sacred history, weaving 
 is referred to and . recorded as the employ- 
 
132 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 merit of ladies of the most illustrious rank. 
 In the last chapter of Proverbs, where we 
 have an enumeration of the qualities of a good 
 wife, she is said to take wool and flax and 
 work willingly with her hands, "and she not 
 only supplied her own household, but also 
 delivered girdles unto the merchant." In the 
 middle ages, a similar practice existed, and 
 even to this day, the legal title of an unmarried 
 lady is a " spinster." 
 
 Although the Egyptians were celebrated for 
 the manufacture of linen, and the Phoenicians 
 for the manufacture of woollen, it is not likely 
 that either of them had any manufactories 
 in the sense in which we use the term. We 
 know very well that the north of Ireland has 
 for many years been remarkable for the 
 manufacture of linen, and yet it is only very 
 recently that manufactories have been erected 
 at Belfast, where an attempt has been made 
 to apply the machinery used in the manufacture 
 of cotton to the manufacture of linen. The 
 linen is spun at home by women, and wove at 
 home generally by men. It is then brought to 
 
MANUFACTURES OF LINEN AND WOOLLEN. 133 
 
 market in small quantities and purchased by 
 the bleachers, who prepare it for the market.* 
 In a similar manner, probably, was the linen 
 and woollen manufacture carried on in ancient 
 times. When Moses wanted coverings for the 
 Tabernacle, which he erected immediately after 
 the Israelites came out of Egypt, he did not 
 order them of a manufacturer, but "all the 
 women that were wise-hearted did spin with 
 their hands, and brought that which they had 
 spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, 
 and of fine linen." 
 
 In ancient times the common people wore 
 both their garments, the tunic and the mantle, 
 of the natural colour of the wool, without any 
 kind of dying; but the more wealthy had 
 their garments dyed of various colours. The 
 most esteemed was the purple, hence the Roman 
 Emperors always wore purple, and a purple 
 robe became the emblem of royalty. When 
 soliciting the votes of their fellow-citizens, the 
 
 * See an account of the linen manufacture in the north 
 of Ireland, in the Evidence given before the Parliamentary 
 Committee of 1826, to inquire into the abolition of small 
 notes in Ireland and Scotland. 
 
134 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Romans wore a white garment, the Latin word 
 for white is candidus, hence they were called 
 candidates. The word candidate literally means 
 a man in a white cloak. 
 
 The Tyrians at a very early age became 
 renowned for the beauty of their dyes, and 
 they retained this character for a considerable 
 period. In fact, secrets in dying are more 
 easily kept than secrets in most other trades. 
 Dyes usually require an intermediate substance, 
 called a " mordant." This word means a biter. 
 This substance bites the cloth and bites the 
 dye, and so keeps them both together. If you 
 dye a piece of cloth with any color without 
 using a mordant, the color will come out on 
 the first washing. The great secret of dyeing 
 is to find out what particular mordant is 
 adapted to each particular dye : for different 
 mordants will produce different colors, even 
 with the same dye. If you dip a piece of cloth 
 in a solution of alum, which is a very common 
 mordant, and then dye it with cochineal, it 
 will produce a beautiful scarlet ; but if you dip 
 it in oxide of iron, and then dye it with cochi- 
 
THE ART OF DYEING. 135 
 
 neal, it will be a perfect black. Sometimes a 
 colour will be produced different from that of 
 either the mordant or the dye. If you boil 
 a piece of cloth in a blue mordant, and then 
 dip it in a yellow dye, the color produced will 
 not be either blue or yellow, but a perfect green. 
 What kind of substances the Phoenicians used 
 to produce their colours is now unknown. Their 
 most beautiful purple is supposed to have been 
 obtained from some part of a fish, then found 
 in the Mediterranean sea ; but the mode of its 
 preparation is now unknown. 
 
 The ancients highly esteemed the art of 
 dyeing. Jacob gave to his favorite son Joseph 
 a coat of many colours. The tabernacle, made 
 by the Israelites in the wilderness, had curtains 
 of fine twined linen, and blue and purple 
 and scarlet. The mother of Sisera antici- 
 pated the return of her son arrayed in a 
 garment of divers colours of divers colours 
 of needlework on both sides, meet for the 
 necks of them that take the spoil. The veil 
 of Solomon' s temple was made of blue and 
 purple and crimson and fine linen. Kings 
 
136 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 wore a purple robe. " Mordecai went out from 
 the presence of the King in royal apparel of 
 blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, 
 and with a garment of fine linen and purple." 
 The prophet Ezekiel, in addressing Tyre, said, 
 " blue and purple was that which covered thee." 
 And, in the New Testament, a certain rich man 
 is described as one who was clothed in purple 
 and fine linen and fared sumptuously every 
 day. 
 
 Earthenware is mentioned as one of the 
 articles imported by the Carthaginians into 
 England. This art appears to have been known 
 at a very early period in the history of the 
 world. Potter's vessels are mentioned in the 
 Jewish history, and the Hebrew poets often 
 refer to them as an emblem of fragility. " Thou 
 shall dash them in pieces like a potter's 
 vessel." The prophet Jeremiah describes the 
 process of this manufacture, and it appears that 
 " earthen pitchers " were but little esteemed. 
 In our own time, we are aware to what a degree 
 of elegance and perfection the manufacture of 
 earthenware may be earned, and in this art 
 
POTTERY THE WORKING OF METALS. 137 
 
 the Phoenicians are said to have eminently 
 excelled. 
 
 As soon as mankind had learned to use the 
 the skins of beasts, they would acquire some 
 knowledge of the art of tanning. At a very 
 early period, we read of leather. Before 
 the discovery of hempen cordage, thongs of 
 leather were used for ropes ; and leather was 
 also employed in the making of bottles. Hence 
 we read that, " no man putteth new wine into 
 old bottles the bottles will burst; but new 
 wine must be put into new bottles, and both 
 are preserved." Our first parents were clothed 
 with skins, and, as this occurred before the 
 permission to eat animal food, it is presumed 
 that these were the skins of animals which 
 had been offered in sacrifice. 
 
 The Carthaginians appear to have had a 
 perfect knowledge of the working of metals. 
 They employed above 40,000 men in the mines 
 of Spain, from which they obtained gold, silver, 
 copper, and tin ; afterwards they obtained tin in 
 greater abundance from the mines of Cornwall. 
 They regularly visited England, taking thence 
 
138 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 tin, skins, and wool, and leaving in exchange 
 salt, earthenware, and utensils made of brass. 
 It is a singular circumstance, that although the 
 county of Cornwall contains copper in as great 
 quantities as tin, yet this appears to have been 
 quite unknown at the time of the Carthaginians. 
 The English actually imported all the brass in- 
 struments they used. The people were probably 
 unacquainted with the mode of smelting copper, 
 especially as the county of Cornwall produces 
 neither coals nor wood. The extraction of 
 copper from the ore is a much more severe 
 process than the extraction of tin ; and copper 
 again is extracted with less difficulty than iron. 
 The Tyrians are said by Ezekiel to have obtained 
 from Tarshish, silver, iron, tin, and lead. They 
 obtained iron also from Dan and Jovan. Some 
 of the arts for which the Phoenicians were 
 remarkable, are enumerated in the letter ad- 
 dressed by Solomon to Hiram, King of Tyre. 
 " Send me now therefore a man cunning to 
 work in gold and in silver, and in brass and in 
 iron, and in purple and crimson and blue ; and 
 that can skill to grave with the cunning men 
 
THE PLANTING OF COLONIES. 139 
 
 that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, 
 whom David, my father, did provide. Send 
 me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees 
 out of Lebanon, for I know that thy servants 
 have skill to cut timber in Lebanon." 
 
 Thirdly. Commerce is extended by the 
 planting of colonies, 
 
 Commerce is considerably promoted by a 
 wise system of colonization. If we are in the 
 habit of importing any articles of commerce 
 from a distant country, it is evident our trade 
 is liable to many interruptions. Political dif- 
 ferences may arise with its government, or for 
 some other reason it may give a preference to 
 other nations. Our rivals may have exemptions 
 from customs, or other privileges which are not 
 granted to us, and hence we may be unable 
 to obtain its productions at so cheap a rate as 
 before. On 'the other hand, if we have been 
 in the habit of supplying this country with 
 the productions of our own, we may be sup- 
 planted by others, who may send similar articles 
 to the same market, and who may be favoured 
 
140 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 with peculiar privileges. But if this distant 
 country be one of our colonies, neither of these 
 effects can occur. Its productions cannot then 
 be taken from us by exclusive privileges being 
 granted to foreigners, nor can we be deprived 
 of this market for the produce of our home 
 industry. It may be desirable to possess colo- 
 nies, even when the articles produced are of 
 the same kind as those which are produced in 
 the mother country. As population increases, 
 the price of raw materials increases ; the quan- 
 tity of land taken into tillage diminishes that 
 which remains for pasture, and this occasions 
 a rise in the price of cattle, and, consequently, 
 of leather, of hides, of horns, of tallow, and of 
 other materials. As, too, the community, to sup- 
 ply itself with food, takes additional quantities 
 of land into tillage, it is compelled to cultivate 
 poorer soils; and, from the increased expense 
 of cultivation, an advance will take place in the 
 price of provisions. Hence, it follows, that in 
 a thickly populous nation, the inhabitants of 
 which are fed by the products of their own 
 
ADVANTAGES OF COLONIES. 141 
 
 soil, provisions must be at a high price. To a 
 country thus thickly populated, where all the 
 most fertile lands are in a state of cultivation, 
 and where the people are engaged in manufac- 
 tures, it must be a great advantage to find a 
 country possessing immense tracts of fertile 
 land, on which food may be raised at a com- 
 paratively trifling expense, and which can easily 
 be made to produce raw materials for the 
 support of the manufacturers of the mother 
 country. In this newly discovered country 
 colonies may be established. The colonists 
 would select the most fertile spots for tillage 
 the pasturage for their cattle would cost them 
 nothing they would have no rent to pay, and 
 would be exempted from those taxes which 
 necessarily exist in all old-established countries. 
 With these advantages, it is evident that the 
 colony could produce corn and other raw 
 materials, which, after paying the expenses of 
 freight, might be sold at a much lower price 
 than that at which they could be produced by 
 the mother country. Hence it would be for 
 
142 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 the advantage of the parent state to draw its 
 raw produce from the colonies, and supply them 
 with manufactured goods. 
 
 The Greeks established colonies for the 
 purpose of getting rid of a superabundant 
 population, and their colonies soon became 
 independent. The Roman colonies were estab- 
 lished partly for the same purpose, and partly 
 for the purpose of acting as garrisons, and thus 
 keeping possession of the countries they had 
 conquered. The Tyrians and Carthaginians 
 established colonies for the purpose of extending 
 their trade. The Tyrians are said to have 
 planted forty colonies in different parts of the 
 Mediterranean, and the Carthaginians perio- 
 dically sent out a number of their citizens in 
 new places where they thought an advantageous 
 trade might be opened. These small colonists 
 were probably at first little more than factors 
 and agents. In this way the English at first 
 colonized some parts of North America. They 
 traded to America for fur, but the Indians did 
 not think of getting the fiir until the ships had 
 
COLONIAL TRADE. 143 
 
 arrived. Hence the importers appointed persons 
 to remain in the country during the winter and 
 collect fur against the return of the season. 
 The Indians brought the fur to these settle- 
 ments. The number of settlers increased. The 
 animals from whose skins the furs were obtained 
 soon diminished in number. It was necessary 
 for the Indians to proceed further inland. A 
 fresh settlement of colonists was made further 
 up the country. The first settlement became a 
 city, and was surrounded by a variety of smaller 
 settlements ; and thus, in course of time, the 
 whole territory between these different settle- 
 ments became subject to the mother country. 
 
 Colonial, like all other trade, must consist of 
 imports and exports. The imports from colonies 
 consist of those commodities which either cannot 
 be produced in the mother country, or which 
 cannot be produced in sufficient quantity. The 
 Carthaginians imported gold and silver from 
 Spain; tin from England; iron, silk, fur, and 
 other articles which were not found in Carthage. 
 But the mother country also imported those 
 
144 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 things which she produced, but not in sufficient 
 quantity. These were chiefly corn, wool, fur, 
 timber, and the various metals. These are 
 called raw produce. They are the materials of 
 manufacture ; and they can almost always be 
 produced at a cheaper rate in a colony than 
 in an old country. 
 
 While the imports from the colony will 
 consist of raw produce, the exports to the 
 colony will consist of manufactured goods; 
 for though newly peopled countries have the 
 advantage in raising raw produce, yet old 
 countries have the advantage in manufactures. 
 There the people are collected into cities ; the 
 division of labour is more complete ; machinery 
 is more perfect, and the processes are better 
 understood. The mother country has then a 
 double advantage from the colony. She has an 
 advantage in obtaining raw products at a cheaper 
 rate than she otherwise could obtain them, and 
 she has an advantage of obtaining a certain 
 market for her own manufactured produce. 
 Again, the colony has a double advantage from 
 
THE RATE OF WAGES. 145 
 
 the mother country. The colony has the 
 advantage of a market for her raw produce in 
 the mother country, and also the advantage of 
 obtaining from the mother country manufac- 
 tured goods cheaper and better than they could 
 be made in the colony. The trade, therefore, 
 between mother country and colony is of the 
 same kind as that which is carried on between 
 town and country it is an exchange of produce 
 between the farmer and the artizan. The 
 colony sends her produce to the mother country 
 as a farmer brings with him the produce of 
 his fields to the market-town, and takes back 
 those articles which are supplied by the work- 
 shops of the town. 
 
 The rate of wages is regulated by the pro- 
 portion that may exist between the demand for 
 labour and the supply. In all old and thickly 
 peopled countries, the supply of labour usually 
 exceeds the demand, and hence wages are low ; 
 in new colonies the demand exceeds the supply, 
 and wages are high. Colonists always settle 
 in uninhabited, or in thinly peopled countries. 
 The very circumstance of being thinly peopled 
 
146 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 renders the supply of labour scanty, while the 
 demand for labourers to cultivate the earth, in 
 order to send the produce to the mother country, 
 is great. Labourers are disposed to emigrate 
 from a country where wages are low and pro- 
 visions are dear, to one where wages are high 
 and provisions are cheap. Land being abundant, 
 is cheap ; persons can become proprietors at 
 a small purchase. People of small capital, 
 who can barely provide themselves at home 
 with those comforts which are considered 
 essential to their class in society, are induced 
 to emigrate to a colony where the necessaries 
 of life may be obtained in abundance, and 
 where there is a prospect of acquiring wealth 
 with the improved condition of the colony. 
 
 At Carthage, the colonists were sent out by 
 the state; and, in all cases, it seems desirable 
 that the Government of the mother country 
 should superintend the establishment of the 
 colony. The resources of the new country 
 should be explored the places fixed upon 
 where towns and cities are to be built and 
 roads, and other means of communication, 
 
THE CHARACTER OF COLONISTS. 147 
 
 accurately marked out. Such arrangements 
 ought not to be left to individual caprice. It 
 may materially retard the development of the 
 resources of a colony if the towns are badly 
 situated, or if the roads are badly arranged. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose, that in planting 
 a colony you ought to send out the poorest, 
 the most ignorant, and the most destitute of 
 the population. If you send out people who 
 have been accustomed to live on buttermilk 
 and potatoes, and to reside in the same apart- 
 ments as the swine, they will labour only till 
 they have acquired the same necessaries to 
 which they have b.een accustomed at home; 
 but if you send out people who are in com- 
 fortable circumstances men who have been 
 accustomed to have a kitchen and a parlour, 
 neatly furnished to have two or three suits of 
 clothes, and to see their wives and their chil- 
 dren dressed smart on a Sunday, these men 
 will not only improve the colony more rapidly 
 by their superior knowledge, and by the 
 little capital they may take with them, but 
 they will also retain a taste for those comforts 
 
 H 2 
 
148 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 to which they have been accustomed; and 
 as these comforts cannot be manufactured so 
 cheaply in the colony, they will be obtained 
 from the mother country. The best colonists, 
 therefore, are those who are poor enough to be 
 willing to work hard, and rich enough to have 
 a taste for the comforts of life. The desire of 
 obtaining these comforts will induce them to 
 extend the cultivation of the colony, and the 
 supplying of these comforts will promote the 
 manufactures of the mother country, and thus 
 create additional employment for the population 
 at home. In these various respects we find 
 that the establishment of colonies is a means of 
 extending commerce. 
 
 Fourthly. Commerce is extended by the 
 accumulation of capital. 
 
 A merchant's capital is the property he 
 employs in carrying on his business. In 
 proportion to the amount of his capital is 
 the extent of the business in which he can 
 engage. What applies to one individual, 
 applies to many. A country where capital 
 abounds can carry on a more extensive trade 
 
THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL. 149 
 
 than a country which has but little capital. 
 Capital is increased by industry and frugality. 
 A merchant must first make a profit, and then 
 apply a portion of that profit as a means of 
 further production. The profit thus employed 
 as capital again yields a profit, which is again 
 applied as capital. Thus, capital results out of 
 savings from profits, and the profits upon those 
 savings. Capital is employed in the purchase 
 of raw materials, in the erection of machinery, 
 in the payment of wages. The more raw 
 materials a manufacturer can purchase, the 
 more machines he can erect, the more men 
 he can employ, the more extensive is the 
 business in which he can engage. The capital 
 of a country consists in the amount of raw 
 produce, either in the mines, the fisheries, or 
 corn or cattle, in the manufactures, or machines 
 for fabricating these into useful commodities, 
 in the numbers of its ships, in its stock of 
 money or goods for the payment of wages ; in 
 proportion to the amount of these is the extent 
 of its exports, and in proportion to the extent 
 of its exports is its ability to purchase imports. 
 
150 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 An accumulation of capital enables an ex- 
 porting country to give long credit. This is 
 one means by which, the English merchants 
 are said to have kept possession of the foreign 
 markets. The merchants of other countries 
 being comparatively poor, are obliged to sell 
 for ready money, or, at least, at short credit. 
 Whereas, the English merchant, from his 
 great capital, can give extensive credit. The 
 length of his credit is of less importance to 
 him, provided he knows that his capital will 
 ultimately be returned with a proportionate 
 profit. Hence, the foreign importer of English 
 goods may be able to sell the goods and get 
 the money, before he is called upon to pay 
 the English manufacturer ; and, consequently, 
 he is able to carry on a more extensive 
 trade. So, if a manufacturer sells to a shop- 
 keeper upon credit, the shopkeeper may sell at 
 least some of the goods, and receive the money, 
 by the time he has to pay the manufacturer. 
 Thus, the shopkeeper is able to keep a larger 
 stock of goods, and to transact more business, 
 than though he were to pay ready money for 
 
DEALERS IN CAPITAL. 151 
 
 all his purchases. The extent of credit in any 
 country is no proof of want of capital. On the 
 contrary, it may be a proof of the abundance 
 of capital. It is the abundance of capital 
 which enables a merchant to give credit, and 
 the person to whom credit is given has usually 
 some capital, also, which enables him to extend 
 his credit. When we observe, by way of re- 
 proach, that such a person trades upon credit, 
 we mean that he is accustomed to take longer 
 credit than is usual in his trade, or that he 
 takes credit where it is usual to pay ready 
 money, or that he raises money by accommo- 
 dation bills, or other fictitious means. 
 
 In all countries where capital has accumu- 
 lated, there is a class of men who become 
 dealers in capital. They are not themselves 
 engaged in trade, but they furnish merchants 
 and traders with such temporary supplies of 
 capital as they may occasionally or periodically 
 require. These men are styled bankers. It is 
 their business to economise the national capital, 
 to increase the rapidity of its circulation 
 and thus to render it more productive. In a 
 
152 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 district where there is no banker, a merchant 
 or trader must always keep by him a sum of 
 money adequate to meet any sudden demand. 
 But when a bank is established, he need not 
 retain this sum. He may trade to the full 
 amount of his capital, and if he should have 
 occasion for a temporary loan, he may obtain 
 it, by way of discount, from the bank. Thus 
 the productive capital of this country is in- 
 creased. The banker is a depository of capital. 
 He is like the fly-wheel of an engine, he either 
 receives or communicates power, as the occa- 
 sion may require, and thus maintains the 
 firmness and increases the efficiency of the 
 machinery of commerce. 
 
 Bankers are not merely lenders of capital ; 
 they are dealers in capital. They borrow of 
 those who wish to lend; they lend to those 
 who wish to borrow. The borrowing of capital 
 is effected by the system of deposits. Not 
 merely merchants and traders, but persons out 
 of trade, noblemen, gentlemen, farmers, and 
 others, have usually in their possession small 
 sums of money, which they keep by them to 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BANKING. 153 
 
 meet their occasional expenses. When a bank 
 is established in their neighbourhood, they 
 lodge these sums of money upon interest with 
 the bankers. Individually, they may be of 
 small amount, but, collectively, they make a 
 considerable sum, which the banker employs in 
 granting facilities to those who are engaged 
 in trade and commerce. Thus, these little 
 rivulets of capital are united, and form a 
 powerful stream, which propels the wheels of 
 manufactures, and sets in motion the machinery 
 of industry. 
 
 Bankers also employ their own credit as 
 capital. They issue notes, promising to pay 
 the bearer a certain sum on demand. As long 
 as the public are willing to take these notes as 
 gold, they produce, to a certain extent, the same 
 effects. The banker, who first makes advances 
 to the agriculturist, the manufacturer, or the 
 merchant, in his own notes, stimulates as much 
 the productive powers of the country, and pro- 
 vides employment for as many labourers, as if, 
 by means of the philosopher's stone, he had 
 created an amount of gold equal to the amount 
 
 H 3 
 
154 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 of notes permanently maintained in circulation. 
 It is this feature of our banking system that 
 has been most frequently assailed. It has been 
 called a system of fictitious credit a raising 
 the wind a system of bubbles. Call it what 
 you please, we will not quarrel about names; 
 but, by whatever name you may call it, it is a 
 powerful instrument of production. If it be 
 a fictitious system, its effects are not fictitious ; 
 for it leads to the feeding, the clothing, and 
 the employing of a numerous population. If it 
 be a raising of the wind, it is the wind of 
 commerce, that bears to distant markets the 
 produce of our soil, and wafts to our shores 
 the productions of every climate. If it be a 
 system of bubbles, they are bubbles which, like 
 those of steam, move the mighty engines that 
 promote a nation's greatness, and a nation's 
 wealth. 
 
 Thus, a banker in three ways increases 
 the productive powers of capital. First, he 
 economizes the capital already in a state of 
 employment. Secondly, by the system of 
 deposits, he gives employment to capital that 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BANKING. 155 
 
 was previously unproductive. Thirdly, by the 
 issue of his own notes, he virtually creates 
 capital by the substitution of credit. 
 
 The means which a banker possesses of 
 granting facilities to trade and commerce, will 
 be in proportion to the amount of these three 
 sources of capital. If his own capital amounts 
 to 100,000, and the deposits in his hands 
 amount to 100,000, and his notes in circula- 
 tion amount to 100,000, he has then at his 
 command the sum of 300,000, with which he 
 may discount bills for his customers. But if 
 the public say to him, "we will take your 
 notes no longer, give us gold," he will issue 
 gold, but he must then reduce his discounts 
 from 300,000 to 200,000. If the depositors 
 also demanded the return of their deposits, he 
 must reduce his discounts from 200,000 to 
 100,000. His capital will then be reduced to 
 the original sum of 100,000 the sum raised 
 by deposits being again rendered unproductive in 
 the hands of the owners, and that raised by the 
 circulation of notes being altogether annihilated. 
 
 Banking promotes the prosperity of a 
 
156 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 country, chiefly by increasing the amount and 
 efficiency of its capital. In the history of 
 commerce, we find no principle more firmly 
 established than this : that as the capital of a 
 country is increased, agriculture, manufactures, 
 commerce, and industry will flourish; and 
 when capital is diminished, these will decline. 
 The man who attempts to annihilate any por- 
 tion of the capital of the country in which he 
 dwells, is as forgetful of his own advantage as 
 the miller who should endeavour to dry up the 
 mountain- stream which turns the wheels of 
 his machinery, or the farmer who should desire 
 to intercept the sun and the showers which 
 fertilize his fields.* 
 
 The Phoenicians are said to have been the 
 first inventors of coin, though some writers 
 have attributed this honour to the Lydians. 
 We have already stated an opinion, that the 
 "money current with the merchants/' in the 
 
 * At the time this Lecture was delivered (March, 1833), 
 there was a run for gold upon all the banks in the south 
 of Ireland. The above paragraphs were then inserted 
 in the Waterford papers, and now form a part of my 
 * History of Banking in Ireland.' 
 
MONEY OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 157 
 
 time of Abraham, consisted of bars, or pieces 
 of silver, bearing some stamp or mark denoting 
 the quality and the weight, and that this mark 
 or stamp was placed on them by Phoenician 
 merchants. It was no great transition to cut 
 these bars into smaller pieces, and to place on 
 them a stamp denoting their value, and the 
 country by which they were issued. The issue 
 of such coins would soon fall into the hands of 
 the government, who would fix the value at 
 which they should pass current. 
 
 There are both silver and copper coins of 
 Tyre now extant in the British Museum. They 
 bear the head or figure of their god Melkart, or 
 Hercules, the same denoted in Scripture by 
 the name of Baal, and supposed to represent 
 the Sun. Some of the Phoenician coins bear 
 the figure of the fish which supplied the 
 celebrated purple. It is said that at Carthage 
 leather money was issued by the state, and 
 passed current. It would be interesting, and 
 might be instructive to know under what circum- 
 stances this money was issued by what rules 
 the amount was regulated and whether, in its 
 
158 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 properties and effects, it bore any resemblance 
 to the paper money of modern times. 
 
 When capital has accumulated in any coun- 
 try, it gives rise to the trade or business of 
 money-lending. Other persons, besides bankers, 
 who have money, make a profit, not by going 
 into trade themselves, but by lending it to those 
 who are in trade. The Carthaginians are said 
 to have introduced one branch of this business 
 that of lending money on bottomry ; that is, 
 upon the security of shipping. A person who had 
 a ship, and wanted money to purchase a cargo, 
 might borrow from one of these money-lenders, 
 upon the security of the bottom of the ship ; 
 when the ship returned the money was repaid. 
 The lender had no interest in the cargo; but 
 the ship was pledged to him whether the ad- 
 venture were successful or not. This kind of 
 business is carried on in the present day. A 
 ship may be mortgaged like an estate, and the 
 sum advanced is entered on the registry. 
 
 Capital is rendered more productive by the 
 formation of partnerships. It would often be 
 very convenient if a merchant could be in 
 
PARTNERSHIPS. 159 
 
 two places at the same time. But this can- 
 not be done. If, however, there are two or 
 three partners in a firm, these partners may 
 be in distant places, and thus the inte- 
 rests of the whole may be properly attended 
 to. By dividing their business into distinct 
 branches, and each partner superintending a 
 branch, the business may flourish as much as 
 if the establishment belonged to one indivi- 
 dual, who had the convenient attribute of 
 ubiquity. One partner may superintend the town 
 department the other, the country; one the 
 manufacturing the other, the selling branch; 
 one the books the other, the warehouse ; and 
 by this division of labour, each branch of the 
 business will have the advantage of being con- 
 stantly under the superintendence of a prin- 
 cipal of the firm. Another advantage is, that 
 by mutual discussion upon their affairs, the 
 concern will be conducted with more discretion. 
 The ignorance of one may be supplied by the 
 knowledge of the other; the speculative dis- 
 position of one may be restrained by the 
 phlegmatic disposition of the other ; the care- 
 
160 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 lessness of one may be counteracted by the 
 prudence of the other. 
 
 But the great advantage arising from part- 
 nerships is, that capital accumulates faster: 
 there can be a greater division of labour in a 
 large establishment ; there will be a less pro- 
 portionate expense; the firm will be able to 
 gain a greater amount of credit; and more 
 confidence will be placed in their honour and 
 integrity. It is very rare that a dishonest 
 failure is made by a firm. 
 
 A Joint Stock Company is a partnership with 
 many partners. The partners being so numerous, 
 the management is necessarily entrusted to a 
 few of them, who are styled directors. Such 
 companies are very useful, and even necessary, in 
 those operations which require a larger amount 
 of capital than can be raised by an individual 
 capitalist : such as the peopling of a new colony, 
 the supplying of a town with water or gas ; or 
 which are so speculative that no individual 
 would like to take the whole risk on himself, 
 such as mining; or which, to be carried on 
 successfully, require a large share of public con- 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 CHARACTER OP THE CARTHAGINIANS. 161 
 
 fidence, such as fire and life insurance, and 
 banking. In these cases, and, perhaps, in a few 
 others, joint-stock companies cannot be sup- 
 planted by individual competition. But, in the 
 production or sale of articles destined for general 
 consumption, no public company can stand a 
 contest against individual enterprise. The price 
 at which any article can be sold must be regu- 
 lated by the cost of production. Experience 
 proves, that commodities cannot be produced by 
 a company at so low a cost as they can be pro- 
 duced by individuals ; hence the individual will 
 always be able to undersell the company. 
 
 Thus, then, we are taught, by the history of 
 Tyre and Carthage, that commerce is extended 
 by the means of maritime power the estab- 
 lishment $f manufactures the planting of 
 colonies and the accumulation of capital. 
 We shall now consider the commercial cha- 
 racter of the Carthaginians. 
 
 1. The Carthaginians were remarkable for a 
 love of justice. It was a maxim with them, 
 that if any citizen was injured, the community 
 were bound to see it redressed. 
 
162 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 I believe it will be found to accord with his- 
 torical truth, that the more nations are commer- 
 cial, the more honest they are in their dealings. 
 Half civilized nations, who have no idea of com- 
 merce, are proverbial for their dissimulation, 
 treachery,. and fraud. But when the individuals 
 of any country have dealings with each other 
 in trade, they necessarily acquire correct ideas 
 of the principles of equity and the rights of 
 property ; and the public voice condemns false 
 balances and deceitful weights, false represen- 
 tations and exorbitant prices. The public voice 
 proclaims that you violate justice when you 
 give to your labourers less wages than their 
 due ; when you take advantage of the inex- 
 perience or inadvertence of your customers ; 
 when your goods are of an inferior quality, or 
 when you do not abide by your agreement. You 
 also violate justice when you engage in specu- 
 lations, the profits of which, if successful, will 
 belong to yourself; but the losses, if unsuccess- 
 ful, will fall upon your creditors. You violate 
 justice when you provide comforts for your 
 family, or use hospitality towards your friends, 
 
A LOVE OF JUSTICE. 163 
 
 or bestow charity on the poor at other people's 
 expense. A virtue that cannot be exercised, but 
 by a violation of justice, is no longer a virtue. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that rogues 
 are generally clever men. It is very easy for 
 any man who is supposed to be honest, to per- 
 petrate one act of successful villany, by abusing 
 the confidence placed in him; but as soon 
 as his character is known, he is successful no 
 longer, and the cleverness he has manifested 
 is found to resemble that of the man who 
 ripped up the goose which laid the golden eggs. 
 His honesty would have supported him for life ; 
 but one act of villany has reduced him for ever 
 to poverty and infamy. Hence, you will find 
 that rogues are generally poor. The number 
 of rogues who are even successful is very few 
 as compared with the number of honest men ; 
 and success in one instance prevents success 
 in every subsequent enterprise. In the book 
 of Proverbs a book which, apart from its 
 sacred character, contains the best instruc- 
 tions for obtaining success in life the rogue 
 is always styled a fool. 
 
164 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 But if a man is a fool to expect to attain 
 wealth by dishonest means, he is a still greater 
 fool if he expects that wealth so acquired will 
 afford him any enjoyment. Enjoyment did I 
 say? Is it possible, that in such a case, any 
 man can expect enjoyment? What! enjoy- 
 ment for you you who have obtained wealth 
 by falsehood by deception by extortion 
 by oppression you expect enjoyment? Listen 
 listen to the hearty denunciations of all 
 honest men; to the awful imprecations of 
 those you have injured; to the reproaches of 
 your family, whose name you have dishonored ; 
 to the accusations of that conscience whose 
 voice you have stifled, and to the wrathful 
 thunder of that heaven whose laws you have 
 outraged ! Listen to these these are the enjoy- 
 ments that will attend your ill-gotten wealth : 
 " He that getteth riches and not by right, shall 
 leave them in the midst of his days : and at his 
 end shall be a fool." 
 
 And here I would advise you to have no 
 dealings with a man who is known to be a 
 rogue, even though he should offer a bargain 
 
REGARD FOR WEALTH. 165 
 
 that may, in that instance, be for your advan- 
 tage to accept. To avoid him is your duty, 
 on the ground of morality ; but it is, moreover, 
 your interest in a pecuniary point of view : for, 
 depend upon it, although he may let you get 
 money by him at first, he will contrive to cheat 
 you in the end. An additional reason is, that 
 your own reputation, and even your moral sen- 
 sibilities, may be endangered by the contact. 
 If you get money by a rogue, there is a danger 
 that you will feel disposed to apologise for 
 his rogueries ; and, when you have once become 
 an apologist for roguery, you will probably, on 
 the first temptation, become a rogue yourself. 
 
 2. The Carthaginians had a high regard for 
 wealth. 
 
 The desire of wealth is either a virtue or 
 a vice, according to the motives from which it 
 proceeds. When a man desires wealth, to pro- 
 vide against the contingencies of life and the 
 infirmities of age to settle his family credit- 
 ably in the world to increase his power of 
 serving his friends or his country to enable 
 him to be more charitable to the poor or, to 
 
166 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 extend the influence of religion his desire is 
 a virtue, and he may reasonably expect, that 
 with prudence, honesty, and industry, his exer- 
 tions will ultimately be successful. It is much 
 to be regretted, that the declamations of some 
 moralists, and the pictures of some poets, have 
 countenanced the sentiment, that wealth is 
 unfriendly to virtue or to happiness; that 
 these are found only in a cottage; and, that 
 as wealth increases, men depart from sim- 
 plicity and rectitude. 'Tis perfectly true, that 
 virtuous poverty is always deserving of respect, 
 and that wealth, associated with vice, is always 
 to be despised; but it is not correct that 
 poverty, more than wealth, is friendly to virtue. 
 "Pis not correct that the possession of wealth, 
 honestly acquired, has any tendency either to 
 enervate the intellect, to corrupt the morals/ 
 or to impair the happiness of man. The fact is 
 the reverse. 'Tis poverty which is the source 
 of crime 'tis poverty which is the great barrier 
 to the acquisition of knowledge 'tis poverty 
 which is the great source of human woe. If you 
 wish to increase your knowledge, increase your 
 
THE ADVANTAGES OF WEALTH. 167 
 
 wealth : you will then have more leisure to 
 study, and be better able to purchase the means 
 of instruction. If you wish to increase your 
 virtue, increase your wealth : you will then 
 have a higher character to support, and fewer 
 and less powerful temptations to act dishonour- 
 ably and disreputably. If you wish to increase 
 your happiness, increase your wealth : you will 
 then have more numerous sources of pleasure, 
 and, above all, you will be able to indulge in 
 the luxury of doing good. Away with the 
 notion that wealth is an evil. If wealth be an 
 evil, industry is a vice; for the tendency of 
 industry is to produce wealth. If wealth be 
 an evil, commerce should be abandoned; for 
 the object of commerce is to acquire wealth. 
 If wealth be an evil, those efforts which are 
 made by benevolence or patriotism, to improve 
 the condition of the poor, are deserving, not 
 of support, but of execration. But wealth is 
 not an evil. However much the doctrine may 
 have been countenanced by pseudo moralists 
 or dreaming poets, it has never been generally 
 acted upon, for it is one opposed to the common 
 
168 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 sense of mankind. Both to individuals and to 
 nations wealth is a blessing. It is only when 
 nations become wealthy that the population 
 are well fed and well clothed, and reside in 
 roomy habitations well furnished. It is only 
 when nations become wealthy that the cities 
 and towns have wide streets, well formed for 
 carriages and for foot passengers, and apparatus 
 for conveying the water to every private habi- 
 tation, and for supplying light in the streets 
 at night. It is only when nations become 
 wealthy that famines are less frequent, epidemic 
 and contagious disorders less fatal, and insti- 
 tutions are formed for relieving the distresses 
 and promoting the education of the poor. It 
 is only when nations have become wealthy that 
 men have leisure for study that literature 
 nourishes that science is explored that me- 
 chanical inventions are discovered and that 
 the fine arts are patronised and encouraged : 
 all these are the effects of wealth. 
 
 3. The desire of wealth was associated with 
 habits of prudence and economy. 
 
 The only way by which capital can increase 
 
HABITS OF ECONOMY. 169 
 
 is by saving. If you spend as much as you get 
 you will never be richer than you are. 'Tis 
 not what a man gets, but what he saves, that 
 constitutes his wealth. Go, learn the first two 
 rules of arithmetic learn addition and sub- 
 traction. Add to your present capital any 
 amount you please subtract the sum which 
 you add, and tell me if the last amount will 
 not be the same as the first. Every merchant 
 should, in every year of his life, make some 
 addition to his capital. You say you get 
 but little : never mind ; spend less than that 
 little, and then next year you will get more, 
 for you will have the profit upon the sum you 
 save. There is no royal road to wealth any 
 more than to geometry. The man who goes 
 on spending all he gets, and expects that by 
 some lucky hit he shall be raised to wealth, 
 will most likely sink into poverty, for, in case 
 of adverse fortune, he has then no resource; 
 whereas, by economy, he may lay by a stock 
 that may serve as a provision in case of ad- 
 versity. You may say that the times are bad 
 the seasons are bad the laws are bad. Be 
 
 i 
 
170 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 it so; but, were the case reversed, it would 
 make no difference to you. Look at home ; 
 you spend more than you get : how then can 
 you be otherwise than poor? How many a 
 respectable family have fallen from a high sta- 
 tion, which they worthily and honourably filled, 
 merely because neither the gentleman nor the 
 lady had been familiar with the first four rules 
 of arithmetic. Had they known how to check 
 the accounts of their agents, their tradesmen, 
 and their servants ; had they known how to 
 compare their receipts with their expenditure, 
 and to see which preponderates, all their diffi- 
 culties might have been avoided. A very small 
 acquaintance with the principles of commerce 
 is sufficient to teach, that if a man spends 
 every year more than he receives, he will, 
 necessarily, fall into poverty. 
 
 4. It is said, that the Carthaginians allowed 
 no man to hold office in the state, unless he 
 was more or less wealthy. It will be remem- 
 bered that Carthage was a republic, and had 
 no hereditary aristocracy. Hence, wealth 
 formed the chief distinction. It might, there- 
 
PROPERTY GIVES POWER. 171 
 
 fore, be a good rule, that those who had most 
 influence in the state should possess the most 
 political power : that, ' ' to have a stake in the 
 hedge," should be deemed a necessary qualifi- 
 cation for those who were to govern the state. 
 When a man of wealth accepts an office in 
 the state, his individual property gives ad- 
 ditional respectability to his official station. 
 
 Rank, and talents, and eloquence, and learn- 
 ing, and moral worth, all receive respect ; but, 
 unconnected with property, they have much 
 less influence in commanding the services of 
 other men. These may attract admiration, 
 but it is property that gives power. Detached 
 from property, their influence is as evanescent 
 as the fragrance of flowers detached from the 
 soil. It may be true, the soil has little that 
 claims our respect, but still the virtues which 
 the flowers extract from the soil give and main- 
 tain their fragrance and their strength. Thus, 
 the clod of wealth, though in itself it adds 
 nothing to individual character, yet, having 
 its influences purified and varied by the chan- 
 nels through which they pass, gives additional 
 
 i2 
 
172 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 beauty and energy to both the public and 
 the private virtues; it imparts firmness to 
 patriotism ; it gives a lovelier hue to benevo- 
 lence, and a more extensive charm to religion. 
 The example of a man of property has a wider 
 influence, and, when exercised in the path of a 
 patriot, a philanthropist, and a Christian, is 
 more likely to be followed. 
 
 One advantage of rendering wealth the road 
 to honor may have been that individuals 
 would be more anxious to acquire wealth, and 
 also that those who had acquired honors would 
 not suffer their own estate to fall into decay, 
 lest they should have again to abdicate their 
 official stations. It is a good maxim, and one 
 likely to have been current in a commercial 
 state, that if a man does not take care of his 
 own affairs, he is not likely to attend well to 
 those of other people. They "who sit in high 
 places" ought to be noble, and generous, and 
 magnanimous ; but no man ought to be 
 generous beyond his means. The man who 
 has squandered his property in gratifying a 
 vain ostentation, falsely called hospitality, has 
 
COMMERCE TREATED WITH RESPECT. 173 
 
 grasped at the shadow, but lost the substance. 
 From this cause many who are born rich, 
 die poor. He who had thus squandered away 
 his own property, would not, at Carthage, 
 have been entrusted with the treasures of the 
 State. 
 
 5. The Carthaginians looked upon com- 
 merce with respect. 
 
 No man will excel in his profession if he 
 thinks himself above it; and commerce will 
 never nourish in any country where commerce 
 is not respected. Commerce nourished in 
 England, because there a merchant was re- 
 spected, and was thought worthy of the highest 
 honour his country could bestow. Commerce 
 never nourished in France, because there it 
 was despised; and the character of un riche 
 bourgeois, a rich citizen, was the character 
 which their dramatic writers were fond of 
 introducing as the subject of ridicule. Com- 
 merce will never nourish in a country where 
 young men, whose fathers are barely able to 
 maintain a genteel appearance, think it beneath 
 their rank to enter a counting-house, and 
 
174 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 prefer sustaining the character of segar-smoking 
 loungers. Commerce will never nourish in 
 a country where property acquired by in- 
 dustry is considered less deserving of respect 
 than property acquired by inheritance. Com- 
 merce will never flourish in a country where 
 men in business, instead of bringing up their 
 sons to the same business, think it more re- 
 spectable to send them to professions. Com- 
 merce will never flourish in a country where 
 men, as soon as they get a few thousand pounds 
 by trade, are anxious to get out of trade, and 
 to mix with the society of the fashionable 
 world. What is it that gives respectabili ty ? 
 Is it knowledge? What profession requires 
 so much, and such varied knowledge, as that 
 of a merchant ? Is it utility to the state ? 
 What order of men tend more to increase the 
 wealth and happiness of the state than that of 
 merchants ? Is it moral character ? To whom 
 is moral character so essential as to a mer- 
 chant ? Without this he is despised. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that people who 
 have realised a little money by trade should 
 
RETIREMENT FROM BUSINESS. 175 
 
 retire and take out their capital, and thus 
 reduce the commercial capital of the country. 
 What reason can you assign for this? You 
 say you are independent : go on, get wealthy. 
 You say you are wealthy: go and get more 
 wealth. The more wealth you get, the more 
 you serve your country, and the greater power 
 you have of doing good to others. You say 
 you are getting old : take a young partner ; 
 do you find capital and knowledge, and let him 
 find labour and activity. You say you have 
 toiled long enough; you wish to retire and 
 enjoy yourself. Retirement will be no enjoy- 
 ment to you : to a man of your active habits 
 solitude and idleness will have no charms. 
 The most effectual means you can adopt to 
 make yourself wretched, and to shorten your 
 days, will be to place yourself in a situation 
 where you will have nothing to do. But you 
 say, you think it will be more respectable 
 to be out of business to have an establish- 
 ment like a nobleman and to introduce your 
 sons and daughters into fashionable society. 
 Oh, if that is the reason, by all means go : if 
 
176 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 you have become so high that you look down 
 upon your business, the sooner you leave it 
 the better. I have now nothing more to say 
 to you. 
 
177 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Origin of Agriculture. Characteristics of an Agri- 
 cultural and a Commercial State of Society. 
 Agriculture of the Romans Influence of Agri- 
 culture on Commerce. Wars of the Romans 
 Influence of War upon Commerce. Conquests 
 of the Romans Influence of extended Empire 
 upon Commerce. Slavery of the Romans 
 Influence of Domestic Slavery upon Ancient 
 Commerce. Roman Roads Transmission of 
 Letters. Roman Bankers Money. Marine 
 Insurance Assurance of Lives. Commercial 
 Character of the Romans. 
 
 THERE is no branch of ancient history with 
 which we are so intimately acquainted as that 
 of Rome, nor is there any which is more closely 
 associated with the ideas and habits of modern 
 times. The language of Rome enters largely 
 
 i 3 
 
178 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 into many of the languages of modern Europe, 
 and it is the language associated with the 
 ideas of our earliest youth. From Rome we 
 have derived several of the principles of our 
 laws, and the knowledge of several branches 
 of literature and of science. 
 
 Rome, as well as most ancient nations, com- 
 menced with a very small territory, and a small 
 population. In tracing the early history of 
 almost every nation, we shall find that it ori- 
 ginally consisted of a number of small tribes 
 or clans, wholly independent of each other. 
 The heads of these tribes were the children or 
 descendants of the chiefs of some illustrious 
 family. When a younger son wished to emi- 
 grate, he took with him such of his father's 
 retainers as were willing to accompany him, 
 and either took possession of some inhabited 
 district, or dispossessed those who were pre- 
 viously its occupiers. In this way, Rome was 
 founded by Romulus, about 700 years before 
 the Christian era. The people of Rome were 
 rude and uncivilised, possessing little know- 
 ledge of the arts of social life, and knowing 
 
ORIGIN OF ROME. 179 
 
 none of its luxuries. But, though rude, they 
 were not barbarians. They had a fixed place 
 of residence they understood the rights of 
 private property they had a settled form of 
 government and they understood the art of 
 cultivating the earth. They devoted themselves 
 to agriculture; and, in the interval between 
 seed time and harvest, they amused themselves 
 by making war with the petty tribes by whom 
 they were surrounded. Though generally suc- 
 cessful in their contests, they did not rapidly 
 acquire the dominion they ultimately obtained. 
 At the time of Alexander the Great, the ter- 
 ritory of Home did not extend much beyond 
 the present limits of the Ecclesiastical States. 
 
 I shall consider Home in three points of 
 view : 
 
 First, As an agricultural tribe. 
 
 Secondly, As a warlike nation. 
 
 Thirdly, As an extended empire. 
 
 These three points of view will correspond 
 pretty nearly with the three periods of its 
 kingly, republican, and imperial form of go- 
 vernment ; and will give us the opportunity of 
 
180 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 tracing the influence of agriculture, war, 
 and extended empire upon the interests of 
 commerce. 
 
 First. Let us consider the ancient Romans 
 as an agricultural tribe, and trace the influence 
 of agriculture upon commerce. 
 
 We find that soon after the creation of the 
 world, tillage and pasturage were practised. 
 Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a 
 tiller of the ground. Immediately after the 
 Deluge, Noah planted a vineyard, a circum- 
 stance which shows that this art was known 
 to the antedeluvian world, and was communi- 
 cated by Noah to his successors. Egypt and 
 .Babylon, founded by his immediate offspring, 
 became remarkable for their agriculture. The 
 tribes which separated from the rest of man- 
 kind, and lost their knowledge of the arts of 
 civilised life, neglected agriculture; but when 
 they became acquainted with settlers from 
 foreign countries, the first art they learned was 
 the art of cultivating the earth. Others became 
 enamoured of a shepherd's life, and devoted 
 themselves to pasturage; but when the earth 
 
ORIGIN OF AGRICULTURE. 181 
 
 became more densely peopled, they were under 
 the necessity of occupying a settled habitation, 
 and of attending to the cultivation of the soil. 
 The ancient patriarchs were shepherds, who 
 drove their flocks to wherever they could find 
 pasture and water. A pastoral state is, in 
 some degree, a commercial state, as the shep- 
 herds must purchase those commodities which 
 their own mode of life does not produce. 
 
 The ancient Romans were devoted to 
 agriculture, and their most illustrious com- 
 manders were sometimes called from the 
 plough. The senators commonly resided in 
 the country, and cultivated the ground with 
 their own hands; and the noblest families 
 derived their surnames from cultivating parti- 
 cular kinds of grain. To be a good husband- 
 man was accounted the highest praise; and 
 whoever neglected his ground, or cultivated it 
 improperly, was liable to the animadversions 
 of the Censors. At first no citizen had more 
 ground than he could cultivate himself: 
 Romulus allotted to each only two acres. After 
 the expulsion of the kings, seven acres were 
 
182 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 granted to each citizen, and this continued for 
 a long time to be the usual portion assigned 
 to them in the division of conquered lands. 
 
 An agricultural population, being employed 
 in the open air, necessarily enjoys, in a 
 high degree, strong physical powers. They 
 have strength of body, and, usually, strength 
 or firmness of mind, a capacity to en- 
 dure labour and fatigue. A consciousness of 
 strength produces courage and frankness of 
 behaviour. In our own time, recruits for 
 the army, raised in agricultural districts, 
 are always found superior to those raised in 
 towns and cities. 
 
 An agricultural population, being scattered 
 over a great extent of country, have not the 
 same means of intercourse which are to be 
 found in commercial towns. From this cir- 
 cumstance they have less general information, 
 less artificial courtesy of manners, and a less 
 acquaintance with what is called the world. 
 There is, also, usually less suspicion, and a 
 less acquaintance with the luxuries and the 
 vices of mankind ; they are more distinguished 
 
CHARACTER OF AGRICULTURISTS. 183 
 
 for the domestic virtues, and have a less taste 
 for general associations. 
 
 An agricultural population is necessarily in a 
 state of gradation of rank; the landlord is 
 superior to the farmer, the farmer is superior 
 to the labourer, and their different ranks are 
 like so many casts, preserved for ages in the 
 same families. Hence, an agricultural population 
 is usually characterised by a submission to 
 authority, an attachment to ancient families and 
 to ancient customs, and an aversion to change. 
 
 An agricultural population depends for its 
 success upon the seasons, over which man has 
 no control. From this, arises a consciousness 
 of their dependence upon a superior power. 
 We usually find, that an agricultural population 
 is attentive to the observances of religion. 
 
 All these observations were illustrated in the 
 history of the earlier Romans. 
 
 They were strong, athletic men, possessed of 
 undaunted courage, and they improved their 
 strength and their courage by severe discipline 
 and constant practice. They were remarkable 
 for the simplicity of their manners. Some of 
 
184 THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 their greatest men came from the plough, to 
 act as the temporary governors of the nation ; 
 and when the occasion for their services had 
 ceased, again returned to labour on their farms. 
 They were remarkable for the practice of 
 the domestic virtues, for their conjugal fidelity, 
 for their attention to the education of their 
 children, and for the discipline of their 
 households. They were remarkable for their 
 subordination to the constituted authorities. 
 Even that invidious distinction of patrician and 
 plebeian was continued for several centuries. 
 A Roman consul possessed more power during 
 the year he was in office, than any king in 
 modern Europe. Though they sometimes re- 
 sisted their governors, it was usually for the 
 redress of some practical grievance, not with a 
 view of depriving them of power. They were 
 remarkable for their attention to the worship 
 of the immortal gods. They held their oaths 
 most sacred. Any omen, which could be con- 
 sidered as an indication of the displeasure of a 
 deity, filled them with dismay. Even the 
 gods of the countries they conquered were 
 
INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURE ON COMMERCE. 185 
 
 adopted as objects of their worship, and placed 
 in Rome among the original deities. 
 
 Now let us trace the influence of agriculture 
 on commerce. 
 
 An agricultural country may, without manu- 
 factures, carry on an extensive commerce. If 
 the country yields more food than is necessary 
 for the consumption of the inhabitants, that 
 superabundant portion may be exported, in 
 exchange for the manufactured commodities 
 of other nations ; but, as the whole population 
 of such a country cannot be employed in cul- 
 tivating the soil, many persons will be idle. 
 This spirit of idleness will affect those who are 
 engaged in productive industry, and hence the 
 soil itself will not be fully cultivated. There 
 will therefore be great poverty, unless the un- 
 employed hands emigrate to other countries, 
 where manufactures are carried on, or where 
 there are waste lands to cultivate. 
 
 Agriculture, also, supplies the materials 
 for establishing manufactures. If a country 
 produces abundance of wool, it may have a 
 woollen manufactory; if cattle, it may make 
 
186 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 articles of leather or of horn ; if timber, it may 
 construct ships and barges ; if it produces corn, 
 it may make flour, beer, and spirits. The raw 
 materials of most of our manufactures are 
 derived from agriculture. 
 
 The extension of agriculture has the effect 
 of lowering the wages of those who are 
 employed in manufacture and commerce. 
 Improvements in agriculture increase the 
 supply of food, and hence lower its price. A 
 reduction in the price of food causes a reduction 
 in the price of labour, and the reduction of 
 wages stimulates manufactures, either by re- 
 ducing the price of the commodity to the 
 consumers, or by increasing- the profit of the 
 manufacturer. In those several ways does 
 agriculture possess an influence on commerce. 
 
 We thus see that commerce promotes agri- 
 culture, and agriculture promotes commerce. 
 We do wrong when we consider the commercial 
 interests as opposed to the agricultural interests. 
 They both harmonize they are two wheels of 
 the same machine; and, although they may 
 seem to move in opposite directions, yet each, 
 
WARS OF THE ROMANS. 187 
 
 in its own way, promotes the public wealth, 
 and any obstruction to the movement of one, 
 would soon retard the motion of the other. 
 
 Secondly. Let us consider the Romans as a 
 warlike nation, and trace the influence of war 
 upon commerce. 
 
 The Romans made war their principal con- 
 cern. By constant discipline they acquired 
 expertness, and, by almost constant practice, 
 they acquired experience. The Roman citizens 
 formed a disciplined standing army, while 
 their opponents were generally a mere militia, 
 hastily formed to resist the invader. They 
 were at all times anxious to improve their 
 military skill, and borrowed, even from their 
 enemies, all their improvements in arms. Their 
 courage in battle was not less conspicuous than 
 their fortitude under defeat. They never made 
 peace when defeated. Their social institutions 
 were friendly to their military aggrandizement. 
 As a Roman consul remained in office but 
 one year, he was anxious to distinguish his 
 consulate by some remarkable event, and 
 nothing could distinguish him so much as a 
 
188 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 successful war. The prudent maxims of their 
 government were also additional causes of their 
 success. When they conquered a country they 
 incorporated it with their own. They gave the 
 chief men the privilege of Roman citizens, 
 and suffered the people to govern themselves 
 according to their own laws, reserving to 
 themselves the power of making new regula- 
 tions, and of inflicting capital punishments. 
 In making war with a distant nation, they 
 always secured first the assistance of some 
 neighbouring people. When two nations quar- 
 relled, the Romans assisted the weaker nation, 
 and, in cases of civil war, they took the side of 
 the weaker party. The Romans assisted their 
 allies to conquer their opponents; and, ulti- 
 mately, both the belligerents became subject 
 to Rome. By a constant adherence to this 
 system, the Roman power became gradually 
 extended. 
 
 To maintain a martial spirit among the 
 people, a triumph was usually decreed to the 
 successful general. 
 
 Nothing could be more calculated to cap- 
 
A ROMAN TRIUMPH. 189 
 
 tivate the imagination than a Roman triumph. 
 A splendid arch was erected, beneath which 
 the procession was to pass; the streets were 
 strewed with flowers, whose fragrance perfumed 
 the air; the citizens thronged to meet with 
 acclamations the returning warrior; before 
 him were carried the spoils which he had 
 taken from the vanquished foe ; then followed 
 the most illustrious captives, who had been 
 compelled to submit to the prowess of his 
 arms; the hero himself, clothed in purple, 
 and crowned with laurel, then followed in an 
 open chariot. Patriotism shouted his praises 
 - beauty saluted him with her sweetest smiles 
 music poured forth her most melodious 
 sounds and even religion placed on her altar 
 more costly offerings, and clouds of incense 
 ascended from her temples. 
 
 But now let us change the scene, and view 
 the country he has conquered. The fields lie 
 waste for want of labourers ; her manhood and 
 her youth have fallen on the field of battle ; her 
 old men, who were placed to defend the walls of 
 her cities, were slain in the assault ; her princes 
 
190 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 and her heroes who have escaped the sword are 
 loaded with chains, and carried as slaves into a 
 foreign land. The statues and the pictures, and 
 the ornaments of her palaces and her temples, 
 are taken to swell the spoils of the conqueror. 
 The cities are burnt, and now, amid' the 
 smouldering ruins, nothing is seen but deso- 
 late females, bewailing the loss of those they 
 loved, and half famished children asking why 
 they weep. 
 
 We wait not here to consider the humanity 
 or the policy of war. Our object is to trace its 
 influence upon commerce. 
 
 The object of war and of commerce are the 
 same, that is, to obtain possession of what we 
 do not possess. But though the object is the 
 same, the means are different. "War exclaims 
 " See ! the people of yonder country have com- 
 forts and luxuries which our country does not 
 produce ; we are stronger than they, let us go 
 and kill them, and take their country for our- 
 selves." " No ! " says commerce, " while their 
 country produces commodities which ours does 
 not, our country produces commodities which 
 
COMMERCE AND WAR. 191 
 
 theirs does not; let us then take some of 
 the commodities of which we have a greater 
 abundance than we need, and offer them in 
 exchange for those commodities we wish to 
 acquire. By this course we shall avoid the 
 guilt of a quarrel, and the danger of a defeat ; 
 we shall obtain an ample supply of all the en- 
 joyments we need ; and we shall promote the 
 happiness of other nations as well as our own." 
 Thus, by means of commerce, we can obtain a 
 large supply of all the productions that are to 
 be found in the whole world as effectually as 
 though we had conquered all its provinces with 
 the sword, and compelled all its inhabitants to 
 toil for our enjoyment. But mankind have, 
 unfortunately, preferred war to commerce ; and 
 the certain advantages that might have been 
 derived from trade have been sacrificed to 
 the hazardous speculations of war. 
 
 While, however, we contend that the spirit 
 of war is opposed to the spirit of commerce, we 
 must not be understood to mean that com- 
 mercial nations are on that account the less 
 capable of carrying on war. Their indisposition 
 
192 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 to war arises not from want of courage, but 
 from a peaceable disposition, and a feeling of 
 justice. They are not led away by a love of 
 glory or a desire for revenge. They take a 
 business-like view of the question; they ex- 
 amine the debtor and the creditor side of the 
 account, and calculate beforehand what they 
 shall gain by fighting. But, when once com- 
 pelled to draw the sword, commercial nations 
 are foes not to be despised. Look at ancient 
 Tyre, that for thirteen years resisted the power 
 of Babylon, led on by Nebuchadnezzar ; at new 
 Trye a town built on a rock that for seven 
 months arrested the progress of Alexander the 
 Great; at Carthage, that for centuries con- 
 tended with the armies of martial Rome; 
 and come to modern history, and trace the 
 wars of Venice and Genoa, of Holland, and of 
 England, and tell me if commercial nations have 
 shewn themselves deficient in that valour and 
 enterprize which are the foundations of success- 
 ful war. It is remarkable that the commercial 
 city of Corinth supplied excellent military 
 commanders, insomuch that the other states of 
 
WAR INJURES COMMERCE. 193 
 
 Greece preferred Corinthian generals to native 
 of their own states. May we not infer from 
 this that the commercial virtues of foresight, 
 calculation, diligence, arrangement, and perse- 
 verance, united to a knowledge of military 
 tactics, laid the foundation of their success ? 
 
 But though commercial nations have been 
 sometimes compelled to engage in war, and 
 have generally waged it successfully, yet war 
 is injurious to commerce. 
 
 War injures commerce by consuming, un- 
 productively, a portion of the produce of the 
 land and labour of the community. That 
 capital which is employed in providing the 
 material for war, might be employed in pro- 
 moting trade and commerce. The labour and 
 capital which are employed in constructing 
 fortifications, might be employed in building 
 manufactories, or warehouses, or harbours, or 
 bridges, or commodious houses for the people 
 to inhabit. What is consumed in cannons and 
 muskets might be employed in making rail- 
 roads ; the food and clothing which are given 
 to soldiers might be given to husbandmen, or 
 
194 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 to manufacturers; and those men who are 
 employed every day at drill, or in fight, might 
 be employed in cultivating the soil, or in the 
 production of valuable articles, or in the 
 management of ships. A nation resembles an 
 individual. If I have 600 men at work on my 
 land, I have a profit on the labour of 600 
 men ; but if I am obliged to employ 200 of 
 these men as soldiers to defend the remaining 
 400, then I have a profit only on the labour 
 of 400 men, and out of that profit I must 
 pay the wages of the 200, whose labour is 
 wholly unproductive. In this way, war neces- 
 sarily retards the accumulation of national 
 capital. 
 
 War is also injurious to commerce by ren- 
 dering the people less able to purchase foreign 
 commodities. As a certain quantity of national 
 capital is abstracted to carry on the war, less 
 remains in the hands of the people, and, con- 
 sequently, their means of enjoyment are 
 diminished. A man who has to pay an in- 
 creased amount of taxes has less money to 
 expend in food and clothing for his family; 
 
PEACE IS FRIENDLY TO TRADE. 195 
 
 and there is consequently a less demand for the 
 productions of trade. 
 
 War is also injurious to commerce by the 
 obstructions given to the transport of com- 
 mercial commodities. Nations who are at war 
 cease to trade with each other; hence there is 
 a loss of all the advantages they might acquire 
 by their trade. The trade with neutral nations 
 is also obstructed. The ships must be con- 
 voyed the rate of insurance is increased the 
 price of the commodity is raised to the con- 
 sumers to meet these increased charges the 
 increased price diminishes the consumption, 
 and a less quantity is produced. 
 
 On the other hand, peace is friendly to trade. 
 The sailors who were on board ships of war, 
 are now on board merchant ships ; the soldiers 
 are employed at the plough, or at the loom; 
 the capital employed in providing the material 
 of war is employed in trade and commerce; 
 taxes upon industry are diminished; and, 
 above all, the mental power and energy which 
 was employed in devising means of destruction, 
 are now engaged in cultivating the arts and 
 
 K 2 
 
196 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 sciences. How much more useful to the com- 
 munity are those naval officers employed who 
 are inventing life-boats, constructing new 
 lamps for light-houses, or in attempting to 
 discover the North Pole, than though they had 
 been called to expend the blood and treasure 
 of the country in even the most honorable or 
 the most successful war ? 
 
 Thirdly. Let us consider Rome as an ex- 
 tended empire, and take a view of the influence 
 of extended empire upon the interests of 
 commerce. 
 
 The conquests of the Romans, however 
 achieved, were ultimately beneficial to the 
 nations they conquered. The nations whom 
 they conquered they civilized ; they introduced 
 the arts and sciences among the people ; they 
 established roads and constructed bridges; 
 they built cities and aqueducts in all the con- 
 quered countries ; they extended and improved 
 the cultivation of the soil. This they would 
 do for their own advantage, as the tax imposed 
 on a conquered country was usually one-tenth, 
 or sometimes one-twentieth, of the produce. 
 
CONQUESTS OF ROME.. 197 
 
 One great advantage of the Roman conquest was 
 the diminution of war. Previous to their con- 
 quest,, Greece, Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Britain, 
 the most civilized and the most barbarous 
 nations, were each divided into a number of 
 small independent states, which were perpetually 
 at war with each other; but, when all these 
 states were brought under the Roman power, 
 their domestic and international contests were 
 necessarily at an end. Though Rome was a 
 despotic, she was not a tyrannical mistress. She 
 delivered the people of Asia from the tyranny 
 of their monarchs, and the people of the West 
 from that of the Druids. Sometimes inde- 
 pendent nations petitioned to be placed under 
 the Roman government. The mildness of the 
 Roman authority is obvious from the very 
 few insurrections that occurred among the' 
 conquered countries; except those in Spain 
 and Britain, fomented by the Druids, there 
 were none deserving of attention. The Roman 
 army consisted of fewer than half a million of 
 men, and these were employed on the- fron- 
 tiers, to defend the empire against the incur- 
 
198 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 sions of barbarians; and, when the Roman 
 empire fell, it fell not by an insurrection from 
 within, but by a power from without. So 
 firmly was it fixed in the affections and the 
 habits of the people, that even the vices and 
 follies of the emperors could not destroy its 
 greatness, until the barbarian came and 
 plucked it up by the roots. 
 
 The Romans kept possession of Britain, 366 
 years; of Spain, 785 years; of Gaul, 425 years. 
 The length of time the Romans kept possession 
 of these countries shews that the people were 
 happy under their government. 
 
 It is the opinion of some writers that 
 Europe was more populous, and better culti- 
 vated, in the time of the Romans, than it is 
 at the present day. In this comparison, how- 
 ever, we must leave out Germany and all the 
 northern nations, as these were never subdued 
 by the Roman arms; but Italy is said to have had 
 1,197 cities Gaul, 1,200 Spain, 360 Africa, 
 300 Asia, 500 and the cities of Antioch and 
 Alexandria were almost rivals of Rome. 
 
 In the time of Augustus Caesar the boun- 
 
EXTENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 199 
 
 daries of the empire were, on the west, the 
 Atlantic Ocean; on the north, the Rhine. and 
 the Danube ; on the east, the Euphrates ; and 
 on the south, the deserts of Arabia and Africa. 
 To these were afterwards added the conquests 
 of Britain and Dacia. Trajan subsequently 
 conquered the Parthians; but the conquests 
 were relinquished by his successor, Hadrian. 
 Thus, the Roman empire included, in Europe, 
 Britain, Spain, Gaul comprising Belgium, 
 France, part of Germany and Switzerland, 
 Italy, Greece, and the islands in the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea; in Asia, it included all Asia 
 Minor, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Syria; in 
 Africa, it included Egypt, and all the coast 
 from Egypt to the Straits of Cadiz, a greater 
 extent of country than was ever before in- 
 cluded under one government, being about 
 3,000 miles long and 2,000 miles broad. Let 
 us now trace the effects of this extended empire 
 upon commerce : 
 
 The extended empire of Rome was beneficial 
 to commerce by increasing the demand for 
 luxuries. 
 
200 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 In an extended empire the standard of 
 wealth is higher, and there is a greater number 
 of wealthy men. We read, that among the 
 Romans there were men whose wealth far 
 surpassed that of private individuals in modern 
 times. The possession of wealth furnished 
 the means of obtaining those enjoyments 
 which are usually distinguished by the name 
 of luxuries. 
 
 In the early periods of the Roman history, 
 Italy produced nothing that could be desired 
 by other nations. Agriculture furnished the 
 Romans with all the necessaries of life, and 
 they had no taste for its luxuries. But, after 
 they became wealthy by conquest, they became 
 desirous of the comforts which wealth can 
 supply. Their houses, their dress, their food, 
 their furniture, and their equipage, were all 
 of a more costly kind. Italy was converted 
 into gardens, so that even corn, the neces- 
 sary of life, was imported from the provinces. 
 The Romans purchased these commodities, not 
 by giving agricultural or manufactured produce 
 in return, as was the case with Carthage, but 
 
IMPORTS OF ROME. 201 
 
 with the money obtained from the provinces 
 themselves. The revenues of the republic were 
 spent in Eome. The wealthy men in Rome had 
 extensive estates in the provinces. The money 
 sent to Rome as tribute, or as rent, was returned 
 to the provinces as the purchase of their pro- 
 duce. Rome was supplied with corn chiefly from 
 Sicily and Egypt; from the barbarians of the 
 North, she obtained amber; from Malta, she 
 obtained fine cloths; from the East Indies, she 
 obtained silks and spices and precious stones; 
 from her various provinces, she obtained the 
 produce of their mines, their soil, their climate, 
 or their industry. Thus, the trade with Rome 
 was altogether a trade of imports. She re- 
 ceived everything; she exported nothing, 
 nothing but money, which she obtained at 
 first from the provinces themselves. A large 
 portion of the imports of Rome consisted, 
 probably, of raw produce, for all the great 
 men had large establishments of slaves, who 
 understood the art of manufacturing most of the 
 articles necessary for ordinary use. The more 
 elegant and costly articles, for the use of the 
 
 K 3 
 
202 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 wealthy, were imported from those provincial 
 towns that were distinguished for these pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 We shall confine our details of Roman 
 luxury to that of the table. 
 
 The luxury of the table commenced about 
 the period of the battle of Actium, and con- 
 tinued till the reign of Galba. Their delicacies 
 consisted of peacocks, cranes of Malta, nightin- 
 gales, venison, and wild and tame fowls; they 
 were also fond of fish. The reigning taste 
 was for a profusion of provisions ; whole wild 
 boars were served up, filled with various small 
 animals and birds of different kinds. This 
 dish was called the Trojan Horse, in allusion 
 to the horse filled with soldiers. Fowls and 
 game of all sorts were served up in pyra- 
 mids, piled up in dishes as broad as mode- 
 rate tables. Mark Anthony provided eight 
 boars for twelve guests. Caligula served up 
 to his guests pearls of great value, dissolved in 
 vinegar. Lucullus had a particular name for 
 each apartment, and a certain scale of expense 
 attached to each. Cicero and Pompey agreed 
 
LUXURY OF THE ROMANS. 203 
 
 to take supper with him, provided he would 
 not order his servants to prepare anything 
 extraordinary. He directed the servants to 
 prepare the supper in the room Apollo. His 
 friends were surprised at the magnificence of 
 the entertainment. He then informed them, 
 that when he mentioned the name of the 
 room, his servants knew the scale of expense. 
 Whenever he supped in the room of Apollo, 
 the supper always cost 1,250. He was equally 
 sumptuous in his dress. A Roman Praetor, 
 who was to give games to the public, request- 
 ing to borrow one hundred purple robes for 
 the actors, Lucullus replied, that he could lend 
 him two hundred if he wanted them. The 
 Roman furniture in their houses corresponded 
 with their profuseness in other respects. Pliny 
 states, that in his time more money was often 
 given for a table, than the amount of all the 
 treasures found in Carthage when it was con- 
 quered by the Romans. 
 
 The extended empire of Rome was also bene- 
 ficial to commerce, by making her the centre 
 of the trade of some of her colonies. 
 
204 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 All capital cities acquire a traffic of this 
 kind. There is generally a facility of commu- 
 nication between the capital and the provinces, 
 while the direct communication between pro- 
 vince and province may be more difficult. In 
 this case each province will send its productions 
 to the capital, which will become the general 
 market for the productions of all the provinces. 
 The capital, too, being the place of general 
 resort, a greater number of purchasers are there 
 likely to be found. Thus, in London, you may 
 obtain the choicest productions of Belfast, 
 Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, 
 and Norwich. Thus, at Athens, you might 
 have obtained the products of all the states 
 of Greece. And thus, in ancient Rome, all 
 the articles of luxury that were produced in 
 any part of her extended empire, might be 
 obtained of the choicest quality and in the 
 greatest abundance. 
 
 Although the city of Rome produced nothing 
 to give in exchange for her imports, yet she 
 must thus have had considerable traffic from 
 being the centre of communication between 
 
TRADE OF THE ROMAN PROVINCES. 205 
 
 her several provinces. The inhabitants of Gaul 
 or Spain would purchase in Rome the produce 
 of Greece or Egypt, or of India, while the 
 inhabitants of Greece, of Asia, and of Egypt, 
 would buy in Rome the productions of the 
 western provinces. As there was a direct com- 
 munication between each province and Rome, 
 the inhabitants of the different provinces would 
 find it more convenient to exchange their 
 superabundant productions through the inter- 
 vention of Roman merchants, than to trade 
 direct with each other. Every large city which 
 is situated between two districts which yield 
 different productions, has a trade of this kind: 
 and it is precisely the kind of trade which is 
 carried on by every sea-port town. Rome was 
 not a sea-port; yet, as she was the centre of 
 attraction and of communication of all her 
 provinces, she became their general market, 
 and thus acquired a trade somewhat similar 
 to that of Tyre and Alexandria. The difference 
 was, that Rome was not a sea-port, and did 
 not herself produce for exportation any kind 
 of manufactures. 
 
206 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 The extended empire of Rome was further 
 useful to commerce by facilitating the direct 
 trade between those countries which were under 
 her government. 
 
 Every country possesses some physical ad- 
 vantages, in consequence of which the outlay 
 of labour and capital will produce a larger 
 quantity of particular commodities than could 
 be produced in other countries. The climate 
 of one country is friendly to the production of 
 silk and wine; another yields corn and cattle; 
 a third has mines of coal, and copper, and 
 iron; another has extensive forests of timber. 
 Now, it is for the general interests that each 
 country should produce those commodities 
 for which it has a natural advantage, and 
 exchange it for the superabundant productions 
 of other countries. If the inhabitants of any 
 country say, " We will have no trade we will 
 produce all these commodities from our own 
 soil," it will be found that those people will 
 produce very badly some commodities, which 
 they might otherwise have had in perfection, and 
 will have but a scanty supply of some comforts, 
 
RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE. 207 
 
 which they might otherwise have had in 
 abundance; while, at the same time, it will 
 Jiave no market for its own surplus pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 When each country has been an indepen- 
 dent state, conduct like this has, more or less, 
 been often adopted with reference to particular 
 commodities, both in ancient and in modern 
 times. Sometimes nations have prohibited the 
 importation of the productions of other coun- 
 tries, in order to encourage the growth of 
 similar productions at home. Or they have 
 laid on a certain duty or tax, in order to 
 enable the home production to come into com- 
 petition with the foreign. On the other hand, 
 nations have sometimes prohibited the exporta- 
 tion of commodities, lest enough should not 
 remain for home consumption, or lest other 
 nations should obtain some advantage from 
 their possession. Latterly, nations have been 
 more disposed to lay prohibitions on imports 
 than on exports. 
 
 But when these rival countries become 
 united under one government, and form one 
 
208 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 nation, such restrictions do not exist. What 
 was formerly a foreign trade, now becomes a 
 domestic trade. Each nation employs its capital 
 and labour in the productions of those commo- 
 dities which its physical or acquired advantages 
 enable it to produce with the least cost and 
 in the greatest perfection; and a free inter- 
 change takes place between them, uninterrupted 
 by war, or national jealousy, or fiscal regula- 
 tions. It is clearly not for the interests of 
 commerce that the family of mankind should 
 be subdivided into a great number of small 
 independent states. It is the interest of com- 
 merce that small nations or states should unite 
 and form large ones. If all Germany formed 
 one kingdom, there would be more trade 
 between the respective divisions. If all Italy 
 formed one state, the internal trade would be 
 increased; and if France and Italy, and Spain 
 and Portugal and England, were united under 
 one government, as they were in the days of 
 the Romans, the commerce between these 
 countries would be unrestricted, and, conse- 
 quently, more extensive. Extended empire 
 
COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 209 
 
 then, in these various ways, is friendly to 
 commerce. 
 
 Having now considered the Romans as 
 an agricultural tribe, a warlike nation, and an 
 extensive empire, I shall now take a view 
 of those institutions which have a connexion 
 with commerce. These are 
 
 First, The institution of domestic slavery. 
 
 Secondly, The institutions for the transmis- 
 sion of letters. 
 
 Thirdly, Institutions for buying and selling. 
 
 Fourthly, The institutions for insuring pro- 
 perty. 
 
 I. The institution of domestic slavery : 
 The following accounts are given us respecting 
 the domestic slavery of the Romans : 
 
 Men became slaves among the Romans by 
 being taken in war, by sale, by way of punish- 
 ment, or by being born in a state of servitude. 
 The masters had an absolute power over their 
 slaves. They might scourge or put them to 
 death at pleasure. When slaves were beaten, 
 they were commonly suspended, with a weight 
 tied to their feet that they might not move. 
 
210 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 When punished capitally, they were crucified. 
 If a master of a family was slain at his own 
 house, and the murderer not discovered, all 
 his servants were liable to be put to death. 
 We find no less than 400 in one family 
 punished on this account. Slaves were not 
 esteemed as persons, but as things, and might 
 be transferred from one owner to another, like 
 any other effects. They could not appear as 
 witnesses in a court of justice, nor make a will, 
 nor inherit anything, nor serve as soldiers, 
 nor was there any regular marriage among 
 them. 
 
 The influence of domestic slavery on ancient 
 commerce was exceedingly injurious. 
 
 Slavery prevailed more or less in all ancient 
 nations. The lands were cultivated by slaves 
 the various branches of manufacture were 
 carried on by slaves. Each landlord had an 
 establishment of slaves, whose labour supplied 
 him with most of the articles necessary for his 
 domestic consumption. In some cases, the 
 slaves sold, for the benefit of their masters, the 
 articles they had made. Commerce was carried 
 
DOMESTIC SLAVERY. 211 
 
 on chiefly by freed-men, or the inferior class 
 of citizens. 
 
 The result of this was that manufacturing 
 labour was looked upon with contempt. In 
 all slave countries there is an aversion to 
 labour, at least an aversion to that kind of 
 labour which is performed by slaves. At the 
 commencement of the Roman state, agriculture 
 was considered honorable, and the greatest 
 of her sons worked at the plough; but, when 
 agriculture was performed by slaves, the citizens 
 refrained from labour, and Home imported her 
 provisions from abroad. This change produced 
 disastrous effects. As the poorer citizens could 
 not engage in manual work, they were, when 
 not engaged in war, dependent on the bounty 
 of the state, and received a certain sum for 
 their support. Had not slavery existed they 
 might have become artizans; but, as slaves 
 were artizans, the citizens became paupers. 
 
 But this was not the worst. Had the citizens 
 received with quietness the public bounty, the 
 evil would have been comparatively light; but 
 wealthy men, who were ambitious of political 
 
212 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 honors, sought to attain their object by feast- 
 ing the poorer citizens. Hence, every rich man 
 had the means of keeping constantly in his pay 
 a turbulent party, who would go any lengths 
 in support of the man from whom they derived 
 their subsistence; and, as they were all sol- 
 diers, they were ready to embroil their 
 country in a civil war in support of their 
 patron. It was by means only of his wealth 
 that Crassus obtained the chief honours of 
 the state. 
 
 The institution of slavery compelled every 
 citizen to be a soldier. Had no foreign wars 
 been feared, it would still have been found 
 necessary that every citizen should acquire the 
 use of arms, in order to keep down the slaves. 
 A slave country resembles a sleeping volcano 
 an eruption may take place in a moment the 
 citizens must be always on their guard. The 
 military spirit which was thus maintained was 
 exceedingly unfriendly to commerce. 
 
 Notwithstanding this military spirit, the 
 defensive position of a country is weakened by 
 slavery. In a country where all are free, 
 
EFFECTS OF SLAVERY ON COMMERCE. 213 
 
 every man, in case of invasion, will become a 
 soldier: the weaver will leave his loom, the 
 dealer his shop, the husbandman his plough 
 all fly to arms to fight for their country. But 
 a slave has no country; it matters not to him 
 who may be the proprietor of the soil on which 
 he is doomed to labour. The slaves cannot be 
 trusted with arms to fight for their masters, 
 because they may turn those arms against their 
 masters. 
 
 Again, slaves consume less than freemen; 
 hence the imports of a country will be less. 
 They are not allowed those comforts and 
 luxuries in which, were they free, they would 
 be able to indulge. Slaves also produce less 
 than freemen; hence the exports of a country 
 will be less. It is the interest of a slave to 
 work as little as he can, as his remuneration 
 will be the same; it is the interest of a freeman 
 to work as much as he can, because his reward 
 is in proportion to his work. 
 
 Slavery is an obstacle to improvement in the 
 art of production. People who have laid out 
 large sums of money in the erection of 
 
214 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 machines, sometimes object to the introduction 
 of new machinery, lest they should diminish 
 the value of the old. So, in slave countries, 
 the proprietors do not introduce machinery, 
 because the value of the slaves will thus be 
 diminished; and the slaves themselves do 
 not invent machinery, nor probably would 
 their invention be adopted if they did. In 
 these respects slavery is injurious to commerce. 
 
 II. We will notice those institutions that 
 have a reference to travelling, and the convey- 
 ance of letters. 
 
 Dr. Adams states, that the public ways were, 
 perhaps, the greatest of all the Roman works. 
 They were made with great labour and ex- 
 pense, and extended to the utmost limits of 
 the empire, from the pillars of Hercules to the 
 Euphrates, and the southern confines of Egypt. 
 The first road which the Romans paved was to 
 Capua, afterwards continued to Brundusium, 
 about 350 miles long. It was paved with the 
 hardest flint, so firmly, that in several places it 
 remains entire to this day., It was so broad 
 that two carriages might pass one another. 
 
ROMAN ROADS. 215 
 
 The stones were of different sizes, from one 
 to five feet every way, but so artfully joined 
 that they appeared but one stone. There 
 were two strata below; the first strata of rough 
 stones, cemented by mortar, and the second 
 of gravel, the whole being about three feet 
 thick. The roads were so raised as to command 
 a prospect of the adjacent country. On each 
 side there was usually a row of larger stones 
 for foot passengers. The charge of the public 
 ways was entrusted only to men of the highest 
 dignity. From the principal ways there were 
 cross roads, which led to some places of less 
 note. The inns, or stages along the roads, were 
 commonly at the distance of half a day's 
 journey from each other. At a less distance 
 there were places for relays, where the public 
 couriers changed horses. These horses were 
 kept in constant readiness, at the expense of 
 the emperor, but could only be used by those 
 employed on the public service, without a par- 
 ticular permission, notified to the innkeeper 
 by a diploma. The Romans had no public 
 posts as we have. 
 
216 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 The first invention of public couriers is 
 ascribed to Cyrus. Augustus first introduced 
 them among the Romans, but they were em- 
 ployed only to forward political dispatches, 
 or to convey intelligence. It is surprising they 
 were not sooner used for the purposes of com- 
 mercial and private communication. Louis XI 
 first established them in France in the year 
 1474; but it was not till the first of Charles II, 
 anno 1660, that the post-office was settled in 
 England by Act of Parliament. 
 
 The state of its post-office is, perhaps, in 
 modern times, no bad criterion of the state 
 of knowledge and civilization which exists in 
 any country. Nothing is of more importance 
 to a merchant than a rapid conveyance of 
 letters. It is of importance to him to have 
 the earliest information of any events that 
 may affect his trade of any change in the 
 markets of the character or failure of his 
 correspondents of the payment or non-pay- 
 ment of his bills, of the execution of his orders, 
 or of the dispatch of his merchandise. In all 
 modern nations the carrying of letters has 
 
THE POST OFFICE. 217 
 
 been undertaken by the government. It is 
 found that when a large number of letters 
 are dispatched at the same time, a moderate 
 charge upon each is not only sufficient to 
 bear the expense of the carriage, but leaves a 
 surplus that affords a considerable revenue to 
 the state. 
 
 III. Those institutions that have a reference 
 to buying and selling ; the chief of these relate 
 to money and banking. 
 
 The Romans, like other ancient nations, 
 had, at first, no coined money, but either ex- 
 changed commodities against one another, or 
 used a certain weight of uncoined brass. 
 The various names of money also denoted 
 weights, in the same way as with us, who now 
 use the word " pound" to denote a coin, whereas 
 it first denoted a pound of silver. Indeed, 
 we have borrowed this practice from the 
 Romans ; and over the figures that denote the 
 pounds, we do not place the letter P, but the 
 letter L the first letter in the word libra the 
 Latin word for a pound. The Roman pound 
 was equal to about twelve ounces avoirdupois. 
 
 L 
 
218 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 The table of Roman money would stand 
 thus : 
 
 10 asses make one denarius. 
 25 denarii make one aureus. 
 The as was of brass, the denarius of silver, and 
 the aureus of gold. 
 
 All the Roman money was originally of 
 brass; and hence the word as, which in Latin 
 denotes brass, is also employed to denote 
 money. Silver was not coined in Rome until 
 the year of the city 484 ; that is, 269 years 
 before the Christian era, and gold, 62 years 
 later, or 207 years before the Christian era. 
 
 Servius Tullius first stamped pieces of brass 
 with the image of cattle, oxen, and swine. The 
 Latin name for these is pecudes, hence, money 
 was called pecunia; from which we derive our 
 word pecuniary. The AS was a brass coin that 
 weighed a pound. There were other brass 
 coins, weighing one-half, one-fourth, and one- 
 sixth of a pound. 
 
 The practice of depreciating the currency, 
 by issuing coins, sustaining the same names 
 as the previous coins, but containing a less 
 
ROMAN MONEY. 219 
 
 quantity of metal, was adopted by the Romans 
 to a greater extent than in our own country. 
 With us, a pound weight of silver that was 
 formerly coined into twenty shillings, is now 
 coined into sixty-six shillings. In the first 
 Punic war money became so scarce that the 
 Romans coined asses that weighed only two 
 ounces, or the sixth part of a pound, which 
 passed for the same value as those of a pound 
 weight had done; by this means the republic 
 gained five-sixths, and thus discharged its 
 debts. Such an example could not fail to 
 have imitators among succeeding statesmen. 
 In the second Punic war, while Fabius was 
 dictator, the asses were made to weigh only 
 one ounce, and subsequently they were reduced 
 to half an ounce. 
 
 The denarius was of silver. The Romans 
 had three silver coins the denarius, the 
 quinarius, and the sestertius. The first was 
 equal to ten asses, that is, to ten pounds of 
 brass; the second, to five asses; and the third, 
 to two asses and a-half. 
 
 A pound of silver was coined into a hundred 
 
220 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 denarii; so that, at first, a pound of silver was 
 equal to a thousand pounds of brass, a cir- 
 cumstance which proves that silver was then 
 comparatively scarce. But afterwards the case 
 was altered; for, when the weight of the as 
 was diminished, it bore the same proportion to 
 the denarius as before, till it was reduced to 
 one ounce, and then a denarius passed for 
 sixteen asses. The weight of the silver 
 money also varied, and was different under 
 the emperors from what it had been under the 
 republic. 
 
 We translate the word denarius by the word 
 penny, and over figures denoting pence we 
 put the letter D, being the first letter in the 
 word denarius, the Latin for a penny. But 
 the Roman penny was not made of copper, nor 
 of brass, but of silver, and, at the time of the 
 Christian era, was worth about sevenpence- 
 halfpenny of our money. We learn from the 
 New Testament history, that the Roman penny 
 bore the image and superscription of the 
 emperor, and was used in the payment of 
 taxes; that it was the usual wages for a day's 
 
ROMAN BANKERS. 221 
 
 labour; and that two-pence would provide a 
 night's entertainment at a public inn. 
 
 The aureus was of gold. It was first struck 
 at Rome in the second Punic war (207 years 
 before the Christian era), and was equal in 
 weight to two-and-a-half denarii, and in value 
 to twenty-five denarii, or one hundred sestertia. 
 The common rate of gold to silver, under the 
 republic, was tenfold. At first, forty aurei were 
 made from a pound of gold; but, under the 
 later emperors, they were mixed with alloy, 
 and thus their intrinsic value was diminished. 
 
 Among the Romans, money was computed 
 by sestertium. A sestertium was the name of 
 a sum, not of a coin, and was equal to a 
 thousand of the coins called sestertius. A 
 sestertius is equal in English money to one 
 penny, three farthings, and three-fourths of a 
 farthing. 
 
 The system of banking at Rome was some- 
 what similar to that which is in use in modern 
 times. Into these institutions the state or the 
 men of wealth caused their revenues to be 
 paid, and they settled their accounts with their 
 
222 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 creditors by giving a draft or cheque on the 
 bank. If the creditor also had an account 
 at the same bank, tHe account was settled 
 by an order to make the transfer of so much 
 money from one name to another. These 
 bankers, too, were money-changers. They 
 also lent money on interest, and allowed a 
 lower rate of interest on money deposited in 
 their hands. In a country where commerce 
 was looked upon with contempt, banking could 
 not be deemed very respectable. Among most 
 of the ancient agricultural nations, there was 
 a prejudice against the taking of interest for 
 the loan of money. Hence, the private bankers 
 at Rome were sometimes held in disrepute, 
 but those whom the government had estab- 
 lished as public cashiers, or receivers-general, 
 as we may term them, held so exalted a rank, 
 that some of them became consuls. 
 
 The Romans had also loan banks, from 
 which the poor citizens received loans without 
 paying interest. We are told, that the con- 
 fiscated property of criminals was converted 
 into a fund by Augustus Caesar, and that from 
 
MERCURY THE GOD OF MERCHANTS, ETC. 223 
 
 this fund sums of money were lent, without 
 interest, to those citizens who could pledge 
 value to double the amount. The same system 
 was pursued by Tiberius. He advanced a 
 large capital, which was lent for a term of two 
 or three years to those who could give landed 
 security to double the value of the loan. 
 Alexander Severus reduced the market -rate 
 of interest, by lending sums of money at a 
 low rate, and by advancing money to poor 
 citizens to purchase lands, and agreeing to 
 receive payment from the produce. 
 
 The deity who presided over commerce 
 and banking was Mercury, who, by a strange 
 association, was also the god of thieves and of 
 orators. The Romans, who looked upon mer- 
 chants with contempt, fancied there was a 
 resemblance between theft and merchandise, 
 and they easily found a figurative connection 
 between theft and eloquence, and hence, thieves, 
 merchants, and orators were placed under the 
 superintendence of the same deity. On the 
 17th of May in each year the merchants held 
 a public festival, and walked in procession to 
 
224 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 the temple of Mercury, for the purpose, as the 
 satirists said, of begging pardon of the deity 
 for all the lying and cheating they had found 
 it convenient to practise, in the way of business, 
 during the preceding year. 
 
 IV. Those institutions that have a reference 
 to insurances. 
 
 The Romans are said to have introduced 
 the practice of the insurance of ships. This 
 is of the highest importance to a nation 
 having many ships. If a register were kept of 
 all the ships engaged in any particular trade, 
 and a record of all those which, during a cer- 
 tain period, had been wrecked, it would be easy, 
 after a time, to construct a table showing what 
 premiums an owner ought to pay to any party 
 who would insure his ship. If the ship is 
 not lost, the insurers have the premiums 
 as their profit, as pay for the risk they have 
 ran; if the ship is lost, the insurers pay 
 the value to the owner; and thus, a loss that 
 might ruin an individual, becomes divided 
 among a number of parties, who can better 
 afford it. Now, such registers are kept, and 
 
MARINE INSURANCE. 225 
 
 this kind of business is extensively carried on 
 in most large maritime cities. You have heard 
 of the underwriters at Lloyds. The under- 
 writers are marine insurers. If a person wishes 
 to insure his ship, he submits all the particulars 
 of the ship, the voyage, and the cargo, to these 
 parties, and each individual under writes his 
 name and the amount to which he is disposed 
 to insure. To a maritime nation, this practice 
 is of high importance. 
 
 The principles of life insurance are the same 
 as those of marine insurance. You must first 
 get a record of the number of persons that 
 die, out of a certain population. These records 
 are called " bills of mortality," and from these 
 are constructed "tables," showing how long 
 a person of any given age is likely to live; 
 this term is called "the probability of life." 
 Having obtained this, you can easily calculate 
 how much a year he ought to pay during his 
 life to entitle his executors to receive jl,000, 
 or any other sum, at his death, taking into 
 account the rate of interest at which these 
 annual payments are presumed to accumulate, 
 
 L 3 
 
226 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 and the profits to be made by the party who 
 grants the insurance. 
 
 We are not aware that any of the nations 
 of antiquity kept a register of the births and 
 deaths, so as to form the foundation of tables of 
 mortality sufficiently minute for the purposes of 
 life assurance. Such tables are of very modern 
 date even in our own country. The oldest 
 tables we have are the Northampton, calcu- 
 lated by Dr. Price, from the bills of mortality 
 in the town of Northampton. There is an 
 easy rule by which any of you may fcnow the 
 probability of your own lives, according to 
 the Northampton tables : Take your own age 
 from the number 86, divide the remainder by 
 2, and that will give the probability of life. 
 Thus : Suppose you are now 20 years of age ; 
 take 20 from 86, that leaves 66 ; divide 66 by 2, 
 and you have 33, which is the probable number 
 of years that you will live it is the average 
 duration of life of persons of your age. 
 
 Three new facts have recently been dis- 
 covered in the science of life insurance. First, 
 that people live longer now than they did a 
 
LIFE ASSURANCE. 227 
 
 century ago. Secondly, that the wealthy 
 classes live longer than the indigent. Thirdly, 
 that ladies live longer than gentlemen. 
 
 People live longer now than they did a 
 century ago : By this it is not meant that 
 the extreme of life is prolonged, but that 
 fewer people die at an earlier age. Thus, if 
 we compare the Carlisle and the Northampton 
 tables, we shall find the following results : 
 
 Northampton. Carlisle. 
 
 At 66 years of age, the expecta- Ye ars. Year*. 
 
 
 tionoflifeis - 13 
 
 14 
 
 50 
 
 17 - 
 
 21 
 
 40 
 
 23 
 
 27 
 
 TCV/ 
 
 30 
 
 28 - 
 
 & t 
 
 34 
 
 20 
 
 33 
 
 41 
 
 And, at birth, the expectation of life by the 
 Northampton tables, is 25 years, and by the 
 Carlisle tables, 38. Thus, the difference be- 
 tween the two tables, at 60 years of age, 
 is only one year, and on the day of birth 
 it is 13 years. So people do not live to a 
 more advanced age now than some persons 
 did a hundred years ago, but fewer die young. 
 This improvement in the expectation of life, is 
 
228 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 the result probably of increased regard to 
 cleanliness on the part of the poor, to increased 
 attention paid to the public health, to the im- 
 provements in medical science, and particularly 
 to the discovery of vaccination. This increased 
 prolongation of life is not confined to England. 
 In France, it has been estimated that the value 
 of life has been doubled since the fourteenth 
 century, and has gained nearly one-third since 
 the year 1781. 
 
 Another new fact connected with life assu- 
 rance is, that the wealthy classes live longer 
 than the indigent. Although the late hours, 
 the crowded assemblies, and the variety of 
 indulgences enjoyed by the wealthy must be 
 considered unfavorable to longevity, yet, on 
 the other hand, they are exempt from the evils 
 of want, from the scarcity of food, and from 
 the anxieties of business. If unwell, they have 
 the best medical advice, and can immediately 
 remove to any part of the country that is 
 more friendly to their recovery. Hence, the 
 lives of the rich are better than those of the 
 poor. 
 
THE CAUSES OF LONGEVITY. 229 
 
 Though females are exposed to some contin- 
 gencies from which men are exempt, yet, from 
 being more free from dangerous employments, 
 and from cares and anxieties of mind, and, espe- 
 cially, from being more temperate in the use 
 of wine and ardent spirits, they live longer 
 than men. A medical writer has pleasantly 
 remarked, that one cause of the superior 
 longevity of women may be, that they talk 
 more; talking, by exercising the lungs, being 
 exceedingly beneficial to health. 
 
 The original object of life insurance was to 
 enable a person to secure to his family the 
 receipt of a certain sum at his death. But 
 it is now applied also to a variety of com- 
 mercial purposes. Some people insure the lives 
 of their debtors, others insure their own lives 
 for the benefit of their creditors. In every 
 form, the system seems to produce unmingled 
 
 good. It promotes habits of forethought and 
 
 
 economy on the part of the insured, and tends, 
 
 by the accumulation of savings, to increase the 
 amount of the national capital. 
 We may reasonably expect that this system 
 
230 THE COMMERCE OP ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 will be extended and improved. We may 
 hereafter have tables that shall show the 
 expectation of life, not only in regard to people 
 in health, but also to those afflicted with every 
 kind of disease ; and shall also show the effect 
 of different occupations and localities on the 
 duration of life. The system of insurance may 
 be applied to every calamity, as soon as we 
 have tables that will show correctly the pro- 
 bability of its occurrence. We thus find, that 
 the study of statistics, the least inviting in 
 appearance of all the sciences, has produced 
 most important benefits ; and that even 
 Death, capricious as he seems, may have his 
 course previously marked out by the hand of 
 Science. 
 
 We have thus, in our present lecture, 
 considered Rome as an agricultural tribe, a 
 warlike nation, and an extended empire. We 
 have also taken a view of some of her 
 social institutions that have a reference to 
 domestic slavery, travelling and the con- 
 veyance of letters, money and banking, and 
 marine insurances. 
 
COMMERCIAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. 231 
 
 We shall now bring under your notice the 
 commercial character of the Romans. 
 
 1. The Romans were honorable men. 
 
 However strongly we may condemn the 
 spirit of war, we must not suppose that the 
 profession of arms is incompatible with per- 
 sonal excellence of character. We read, in 
 the New Testament, of an officer in the Roman 
 army who was " a devout man, and one that 
 feared God, with all his house, who gave much 
 alms to the people, and prayed to God alway" 
 whose "prayers were heard, and whose alms 
 were had in remembrance in the sight of 
 God." And, in the same book, we have a 
 confirmation of the honorable character of the 
 Roman law, which was very different from 
 that which prevailed among Asiatic nations. 
 "It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver 
 any man to die, before that he which is ac- 
 cused have the accusers face to face, and have 
 license to answer for himself concerning the 
 crime laid against him." 
 
 A merchant should be an honorable man. 
 Although a man cannot be an honorable man 
 
232 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 without being an honest man, yet a man may 
 be strictly honest without being honorable. 
 Honesty refers to pecuniary affairs; honor 
 refers to the principles and feelings. You 
 may pay your debts punctually, you may 
 defraud no man, and yet you may act disho- 
 norably. You act dishonorably when you give 
 your correspondents a worse opinion of your 
 rivals in trade than you know they deserve. 
 You act dishonorably when you sell your com- 
 modities at less than their real value, in order 
 to get away your neighbour's customers. You 
 act dishonorably when you purchase at higher 
 than the market price, in order that you may 
 raise the market upon another buyer. You 
 act dishonorably when you draw accommo- 
 dation bills, and pass them to your banker for 
 discount, as if they arose out of real trans- 
 actions. You act dishonorably in every case 
 wherein your external conduct is at variance 
 with your real opinions. You act dishonorably 
 if, when carrying on a prosperous trade, you 
 do not allow your servants and assistants, 
 through whose exertions you obtain your 
 
HONORABLE MEN. 233 
 
 success, to participate in your prosperity. You 
 act dishonorably if, after you have become 
 rich, you are unmindful of the favors you 
 received when you were poor. In all these 
 cases there may be no intentional fraud. It 
 may not be dishonest, but it is dishonorable 
 conduct. 
 
 2. The Romans were patriotic men. They 
 loved their country, and a merchant should 
 love his country. When we say that a mer- 
 chant is a citizen of the world, and is free from 
 national prejudices, think not we mean that a 
 merchant has no attachment to his country; 
 think not we mean, that the land of his fore- 
 fathers the land in which his ancestors lived 
 and acted, and in which their ashes now repose 
 the land which gave him birth, and the land 
 of his earliest associations the land, under the 
 laws of which he has acquired wealth, and in 
 whose institutions he participates the land, 
 the language of which awakens the sweetest 
 and the holiest associations; think not we mean 
 that he regards this land with no sentiments 
 of filial regard, no feelings of preference, 
 
234 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 no aspirations for her honor and prosperity. 
 No! 'tis a false philosophy that would tell us to 
 merge all individual or local attachments in 
 one general feeling of philanthropy. He 
 who has no personal attachments, has no 
 general attachments. He who does not love 
 his country has no love for mankind. Local 
 attachment is the basis of general attachment. 
 He who is the best husband, the best father, 
 and the best friend, he it is that will make the 
 best philanthropist. While, therefore, a mer- 
 chant is free from that littleness of mind which 
 would induce him to despise other nations, he 
 is still susceptible of all the delightful sensa- 
 tions that arise from pure and disinterested 
 patriotism. He should love his country too 
 well to encourage the industry of other 
 countries to the injury of his own. He 
 should cheerfully pay those taxes or duties 
 which the laws of his country have imposed 
 for the public good. He should readily serve 
 those offices in the commonwealth, though 
 burdensome or expensive, which his station in 
 society impose upon him. He should use his 
 
PATRIOTIC MEN. 235 
 
 influence in preserving order, in maintaining 
 the rights of property, and in upholding the 
 supremacy of the law. He should liberally 
 support those institutions that have for their 
 objects the preservation of the public morals, 
 the diffusion of useful knowledge, and the relief 
 of the distresses of the poor. Ah ! it is here that 
 patriotism gathers her sweetest and her softest 
 laurels, laurels which will give composure to 
 the head that wears them, and which will main- 
 tain their freshness when the blood-stained 
 garland of the conqueror shall have faded into 
 insignificance, or have withered into oblivion. 
 
 3. The Romans were grave, methodical, and 
 systematic men. 
 
 They conducted everything upon system. 
 They owed their success in arms to their supe- 
 rior discipline. They maintained their domi- 
 nion by acting upon certain fixed principles, 
 and by the uniformity with which they ad- 
 hered to these principles. Rome was not 
 built in a day. The Roman empire was not 
 the result of one daring enterprise, one bold 
 speculation, one grand achievement, it was 
 
236 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 the result of adhering for centuries to fixed 
 rules of action. The sons adopted the maxims 
 of their fathers, and generation after gene- 
 ration followed up those principles which 
 experience had shown to be adapted to the 
 end in view. This may teach us some 
 important commercial lessons. A nation, a 
 company, or an individual, who shall for a 
 length of time adhere inflexibly to sound 
 rules of conduct, will seldom fail of success. 
 The road to wealth is a beaten road, and it 
 requires but ordinary sagacity to discover the 
 path. Industry, honesty, prudence, and per- 
 severance, these are the finger-posts that will 
 direct your steps; follow their guidance, and 
 the end will be gained. But you who disregard 
 the counsels of experience you gratify your 
 love of self-indulgence you nourish the spirit 
 of speculation you stray from the right path, 
 and meddle with matters that you do not 
 understand and when you have reaped the 
 fruit of your own doings, then you tell your 
 creditors that you have been " unfortunate ;' 
 and the hard earnings of their honest industry 
 
SYSTEMATIC MEN. 237 
 
 are swept away, and their families are pinched 
 in their enjoyments, because you have thought 
 proper to follow a course of unprincipled reck- 
 lessness. 
 
 A merchant should not only be systematic 
 in his adherence to right principles, he should 
 also be so in the details of his counting house. 
 In everything, system is essential to a mer- 
 chant. He should be systematic in the 
 arrangement of his business, systematic in the 
 division of his labours, systematic in the 
 Keeping of his books, systematic in the em- 
 ployment of his time. By system, he saves 
 much time, avoids hurried feelings, and gets 
 through much more work. I do not think 
 the better of a merchant if I see him always 
 in a hurry; if he tells me that he received 
 my letter, but was so hurried that he had not 
 time to answer it, or that he put it somewhere 
 among his papers, and when he wished to 
 answer it he could not find it. A man who 
 acts systematically will arrange his business 
 beforehand, and thus find time to do it all. 
 
 4. The Romans were not loquacious men. 
 
238 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 They were much inferior to the Greeks in vivid- 
 ness of imagination and in affluence of speech. 
 I do not, hy any means, intend to recommend 
 taciturnity in general company. Conversation 
 is one of the means by which knowledge is 
 communicated, and the character of mankind 
 is improved. As rough diamonds become 
 smooth by being shaken together in a bag, 
 so the asperities of men are softened down 
 by their intercourse with each other. But it 
 adds nothing to the character of a merchant, 
 to make use of many words in matters of 
 business; this argues either great indecision 
 of character, or great prodigality of time. 
 Time is money; talk as much as you please 
 when you have nothing else to do, but don't 
 talk more than is necessary until your business 
 is done. The late Mr. Wesley, the venerable 
 founder of the body of the Wesleyan Metho- 
 dists, a body who have done much good in 
 educating the poor, laid it down as one 
 qualification for admission into his society, 
 that the candidate should not use many words 
 in buying and selling. A most excellent rule, 
 
EVILS OF LOQUACITY. 239 
 
 and one which, if steadily adhered to, would 
 save much time, and produce other good 
 effects. 
 
 Not only should you avoid many words in 
 commercial conversation, you should also avoid 
 too many words in your commercial corres- 
 pondence. Long letters on matters of business 
 are exceedingly tiresome. Let all your letters 
 be as short as the subject will admit. Come 
 at once to the point, express your meaning 
 clearly in a few plain words, and then close. 
 The man who introduces a variety of unneces- 
 sary circumstances, who is fond of using tropes 
 and figures of speech, or has a lengthy, prosy 
 style, is very ill qualified to conduct the corres- 
 pondence of a commercial establishment. You 
 
 ought also to be careful to write a plain hand ; &, 
 
 n 
 you impose upon your correspondents a very 
 
 unnecessary and a very unpleasant tax, if you 
 require them to go over your letters two or 
 three times in order to decipher your writing. 
 It is presumed, that when you write a letter, 
 you write for the purpose of communicating 
 your ideas to the person to whom the letter is 
 
240 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 addressed; why, then, throw difficulties in the 
 way, by writing in an illegible hand. A 
 business hand is equally opposed to a very 
 fine hand. A letter written in fine, elegant 
 writing, adorned with a variety of flourishes, 
 will give your correspondents no very high 
 opinion of you as a man of business. Some 
 persons have contended that a man's character 
 may be discovered by his hand- writing. It may 
 be doubted whether a man's intellectual powers 
 can be ascertained in this way, but perhaps 
 his moral qualities may thus be sometimes 
 exhibited. For instance, if he write an illegible 
 hand, it may be inferred that he is not very 
 anxious about the comfort of the parties to 
 whom he writes. 
 
 5. The great defect in the commercial cha- 
 racter of the Romans was their military spirit. 
 
 In every age of the world military men 
 have looked upon merchants as a class vastly 
 inferior to their own. And this will always be 
 the case, so long as mankind shall pay more 
 respect to the arts of war than to the arts of 
 peace. But it is more surprising, that mer- 
 
COMMERCIAL DUELS. 241 
 
 chants themselves, instead of forming more 
 correct notions of their own importance, have 
 fallen in with the popular prejudice, and aped 
 the manners of the military class. Hence, we 
 find that merchants have sometimes settled 
 their disputes with each other by duelling. 
 That military men should do this may excite 
 no surprise. Though, when we consider, that 
 among the heroic Greeks and the martial 
 Romans the practice of duelling was unknown, 
 it can never be contended that this practice 
 is necessary to maintain the personal courage 
 of our military officers. On this ground we 
 might also permit duelling among the common 
 men. But if military men, when they have 
 none of their country' s enemies to shoot, wish 
 to keep themselves in practice by shooting one 
 another, they may allege that they are acting 
 according to the principles of their profession. 
 But nothing can be more out of character 
 than for a mercantile man to be engaged in 
 a duel. When a case came before the late 
 Lord Ellenborough, in which one merchant had 
 attempted to provoke another to fight a duel, 
 
 M 
 
242 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 his Lordship observed, that merchants would 
 be much better employed in posting their 
 books than in posting one another. 
 
 One effect of the military spirit is, that it 
 leads to cruelty of disposition. The Romans 
 were cruel men, cruel towards their slaves, 
 cruel towards their conquered enemies, cruel 
 in their punishments, cruel in their amuse- 
 ments. No -disposition is more opposed than 
 this to the spirit of commerce, and yet, on 
 some occasions, merchants have become the 
 instruments of cruelty. Is there nothing cruel 
 in selling spirituous liquors to half- civilised 
 nations ? nothing cruel in supplying the muni- 
 tions of war to untutored tribes who would 
 otherwise remain at peace ? and was there no- 
 thing cruel in the African slave trade a traffic 
 that must be numbered among the blackest of 
 our country's crimes, the most crimson of our 
 national sins ? Merchants should not only act 
 honestly in their trade, but should also ascertain- 
 that the trade itself is an honest trade. For, 
 although it be true, upon the ordinary prin- 
 ciples of profit and loss, that honesty is the best 
 
THE MILITARY SPIRIT. 243 
 
 policy, yet we should not practice honesty solely 
 from motives of policy, nor infer the honesty 
 of an enterprise from its apparent policy. 
 Beware of taking a mere commercial view of 
 questions of morality. Crimes the most atro- 
 cious have sometimes been profitable. But 
 you see not the whole of the balance sheet. 
 There are items in the account which no 
 arithmetic can express. What estimate will 
 you place upon infamy of character, remorse 
 of conscience, the retributive justice of God 
 in the present life, and his vengeance in the 
 next? Take these into your calculation, and 
 then sum up the amount of your gains. 
 
 As commerce extends her sway, the military 
 spirit may be expected to subside, and peace 
 and equity prevail. Commerce will teach 
 mankind that it is their interest to live at 
 peace with each other. Commerce will teach 
 the slave owner that the man who keeps in 
 bondage his fellow man, sins no less against 
 his own interest than against the feelings of 
 humanity and the injunctions of religion. 
 Commerce will show to those who " sit in high 
 
 M 2 
 
244 THE COMMERCE OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 places," that the vulgar maxim, "honesty is 
 the best policy," is as applicable to the affairs 
 of communities, as to the transactions of 
 individuals, and that what is morally wrong 
 can never be politically right. Commerce 
 will inculcate upon nations, that the prosperity 
 of one people is not an injury, but an advan- 
 tage to the others; that national greatness can 
 arise only from superiority in industry and 
 in knowledge; and that nations, like indivi- 
 duals, should seek each other's welfare, and 
 endeavour to promote universal peace. When 
 these sentiments are acknowledged, the Demon 
 of national discord will be driven from the 
 earth the clangour of arms, and the shrieks 
 of the vanquished, will be heard no more 
 and the Genius of War, in his dying moments, 
 will surrender the palm of victory into the 
 hands of Commerce. 
 
245 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS WITH THE 
 EAST INDIES. 
 
 Origin of Luxury. India Its Social Institutions. 
 Productions Spices Precious Stones Silk. 
 Indian Commerce previous to the time of 
 Alexander the Great. Conquests of Alexander. 
 Alexandria founded. Conquest of Egypt by the 
 Romans. Silk sold at Rome for its weight in 
 gold. Conquest of Egypt by the Mahometans. 
 Importation of Silk Worms into Europe. Dis- 
 covery of the Passage to India by the Cape of 
 Good Hope. Exportation of Bullion Principles 
 of the Foreign Exchanges. Conclusion. 
 
 AFTER having considered the commerce of 
 ancient Egypt, Greece, Tyre and Carthage, and 
 Rome, I shall now conclude this course of 
 Lectures by a consideration of the commerce 
 of the ancients with the East Indies. 
 
246 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Almost every country produces the neces- 
 saries of life : and were mankind satisfied with 
 those things only which are essential to exist- 
 ence, they would seldom engage in commerce. 
 The object of commerce is to obtain the con- 
 veniencies and luxuries of life. We acknowledge 
 that it is not easy to draw the line of demarca- 
 tion between necessaries and luxuries to say at 
 what precise point necessaries end and luxuries 
 begin. Food of some kind is a necessary of 
 life; but in some climates it is possible to 
 live without clothing and without a settled 
 habitation: here clothing and dwellings are 
 luxuries. Some writers have distinguished 
 between primary and secondary necessaries. 
 The primary necessaries are those which are 
 essential to existence, such as food, and in 
 some climates, clothing and lodging. The 
 secondary necessaries are those which are 
 essential to comfortable existence, such as shoes 
 and stockings, household furniture, and similar 
 articles; and luxuries are those which man- 
 kind could very conveniently do without, such 
 as spices, gold and silver, silk, furs, and precious 
 
NATURE OF LUXURY. 247 
 
 stones. We need not be very anxious about 
 this classification. We know there is a dis- 
 tinction between luxuries and necessaries, and, 
 although there may be difficulty in ascertaining 
 under which denomination some commodities 
 ought to be arranged, yet, in by far the ma- 
 jority of cases, no such difficulty exists. 
 
 In the present Lecture, I will take the term 
 "luxury" in its most restricted signification, 
 as denoting things which are not essential to 
 comfortable existence. If you ask me what 
 things are luxuries, I will say, diamonds, pearls, 
 and precious stones are luxuries. With regard 
 to your taste, pepper, nutmeg, and various 
 spices and sauces are luxuries. With regard 
 to smell, all kinds of perfumes and snuffs are 
 luxuries. With regard to hearing, music is a 
 luxury. With regard to clothing, gold chains, 
 diamonds, pearls, and precious stones, and all 
 sorts of gems, are luxuries. With regard to 
 furniture, all ornaments are luxuries, and even 
 many of those articles which custom has 
 induced us to consider as indispensable con- 
 veniences. 
 
248 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Man, in even a savage state, is not satisfied 
 without some one or other of the luxuries of 
 life. To those luxuries that have a reference 
 to diet or to lodging he is more indifferent 
 than to those which have a reference to dress. 
 But here, unlike the practice of civilised life, 
 the man monopolises to himself all the finery 
 he can collect, and gives none to the woman. 
 It is her business to assist in decorating her 
 lord and master. But when man has renounced 
 the savage state, and betaken himself to the 
 cultivation of the soil, the circle of his luxuries 
 becomes enlarged. It is soon found that 
 the man who cultivates the earth can pro- 
 duce more food than is necessary for his 
 own subsistence. The surplus of this food 
 he is willing to impart to the man who has 
 no ground to cultivate, upon receiving some 
 value in return. In a rude state of society, 
 when the arts and sciences are but imperfectly 
 known, the number of those who minister to 
 luxury will not be numerous. But, as improved 
 modes of cultivation, and means of abridging 
 labour, are discovered, those who cultivate the 
 
ORIGIN OF LUXURY. 249 
 
 soil will have a larger amount of surplus 
 produce to exchange for luxuries ; and, at the 
 same time, those who supply the luxuries will 
 be able to give a larger quantity for the same 
 value. As the division of labour becomes 
 extended, and human exertion is assisted by 
 the introduction of machinery, the quantity 
 of commodities produced will be increased, the 
 articles of luxury will be multiplied, new con- 
 veniencies will be discovered, artificial wants 
 will be created, and, again, new inventions 
 supplied for their gratification. The increase 
 of wealth will enable many to live without 
 labour. These will employ their time in 
 cultivating their taste, or in the acquisition 
 of knowledge ; hence will arise literature, and 
 the study of the sciences. 
 
 Luxuries, then, arise from wealth. When 
 comes wealth, then comes luxury. 'Tis not 
 the taste for luxuries that causes them to be 
 produced, but they are first produced, and 
 then men have a desire for them, and by use, 
 they come at last to think them necessary. 
 
 It may be observed, that articles which at 
 
 M3 
 
200 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 first were luxuries, ceased to be regarded as 
 such when they became abundant. Tea 
 and sugar were at first luxuries, and their 
 enjoyment was confined to the wealthy, and 
 so were many other articles of diet, and 
 of dress. Had they never been enjoyed as 
 luxuries, they would never have become 
 abundant. As the taste for them increased, 
 the cultivation was increased, and the supply 
 increased; they became abundant and, con- 
 sequently, cheap. Linen, and cotton, and 
 silk, which were luxuries among the Romans, 
 are now enjoyed in great abundance by even 
 the ordinary classes in our own country. The 
 family of a tradesman is now more finely 
 attired than the wives and daughters of the 
 Roman emperors. Glass windows were ori- 
 ginally a luxury, but are now very common. 
 
 The effect of a taste for luxury is to stimulate 
 industry. As the enjoyment of luxuries is 
 attended with pleasure, people are willing to 
 undergo some degree of labour in order to 
 obtain them. The supply of luxuries fur- 
 nishes employment to a large number of 
 
EFFECTS OF LUXURY. 251 
 
 labourers, who would otherwise be idle. The 
 class who supply luxuries become usually more 
 wealthy than those who supply bare necessaries, 
 and form a middle class in society, who are 
 equally distant from the owners and from the 
 cultivators of the soil. We cannot observe 
 the effects of luxuries better than by contrasting 
 the present state of Europe with its state 
 during the middle ages. At that period, the 
 food, the clothing, and the lodgings of the 
 population were of the plainest kind. The 
 owners of the soil were the only wealthy men, 
 and the surplus produce which was paid to 
 them as rent, was employed in maintaining in 
 idleness a number of retainers, who were ready 
 to obey their orders, and to fight their battles. 
 Upon the introduction of luxury, the landowner 
 employed his rent, not in maintaining retainers, 
 but in purchasing those articles of finery for 
 which he had a taste. The retainers could 
 now support themselves only by producing 
 those commodities for which the new taste of 
 the landowner created a demand. From idle 
 dependants, they became industrious artizans. 
 
252 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 The landowners vied with each other, not in 
 bringing into the field a number of men to 
 kill one another, but in the elegance of their 
 dress, their houses, or their equipage, in their 
 taste for the fine arts, or in their literary 
 and intellectual attainments. There are other 
 advantages arising from luxury. When the mass 
 of the people enjoy a variety of luxuries they 
 have a resource in seasons of scarcity. If they 
 live on the lowest kind of food, and the supply 
 of that food should fail, they cannot substitute 
 a better kind, because it is dearer. Some 
 people have complained against the luxuries 
 which consume those articles which are used 
 as food, but so far from being condemned, they 
 ought to be regarded as storehouses against 
 famine. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted, that when 
 people indulge in luxuries which they cannot 
 afford, the result is injurious to themselves and 
 others ; and it is probably on this account that 
 sumptuary laws, or laws against luxury, have 
 been established, both in ancient and in modern 
 times. 
 
LAWS AGAINST LUXURY. 253 
 
 Among the Romans, the sumptuary laws 
 were numerous. By one law,, the number of 
 guests at feasts was limited, though without 
 any limitation of the charges. By another 
 law, it was enacted that more than 10 asses 
 should not be spent at an ordinary enter- 
 tainment. For the solemn festivals, as the 
 Saturnalia, &c., 100 asses were allowed, 10 of 
 which, was the price of a sheep, and 100 of 
 an ox. By a subsequent law it was decreed, 
 that the former sumptuary laws should be in 
 force, not only in Rome, but throughout all 
 Italy, and for every transgression, not only 
 the master of the feast, but all the guests, 
 too, should be liable to the penalty. The 
 spirit of these laws has been adopted in 
 comparatively modern times. In 1337, lux- 
 ury was restricted in England, by a law, 
 wherein the prelates and nobility were confined 
 to two courses at every meal, and two kinds 
 of food in every course, except on great 
 festivals. It also prohibited all who did not 
 enjoy a free estate of 100 per annum, from 
 wearing furs, skins, or silk; and the use of 
 
254 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 foreign cloth was confined to the royal family 
 alone, to all others it was prohibited. Under 
 Henry IV, it was proclaimed, that no man 
 should wear shoes above six inches broad at 
 the toes; and, under Edward IV, no person 
 under the condition of a lord was allowed to 
 wear a short mantle. In Ireland, a law was 
 passed, in the year 1447, against gilt bridles 
 and harness. It enacted, that if any person 
 should be so hardy as to ride a horse with a 
 gilt bridle or harness, any person who chose 
 should be at liberty to seize the horse, bridle, 
 and harness, and keep it for his own use, and 
 as his own property. 
 
 In every age the choicest luxuries have been 
 imported from India ; yet the social institutions 
 of India were not friendly to commerce. The 
 population of India, like that of ancient Egypt, 
 was divided into castes; the individuals of these 
 castes could not intermarry, nor leave the em- 
 ployment to which they were born. Hence, 
 there was but little invention in India, but 
 considerable dexterity in manual operations; 
 and the manufactures of India, in those remote 
 
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF IND 
 
 times, were superior to those of Europe. The 
 other institutions of India seem also to have 
 fostered feelings unfriendly to trade; the 
 natives could not leave their country, and they 
 had an aversion to the sea, hence, navigation 
 and commerce could not nourish. They were 
 also prohibited the use of animal food; so, 
 while they were temperate and amiable, they 
 were, at the same time, deficient in strength, 
 in courage, in enterprize, and in a taste for the 
 comforts and enjoyments of life. The fertility 
 of their own land furnished them with all the 
 commodities they desired, and their trade was 
 chiefly a trade of export, in which they have 
 sold their superfluous commodities for the 
 money of other countries. Their exports 
 consisted chiefly of spices, precious stones, 
 and silk, for which they received payment, 
 mostly in gold and silver. Of these we shall 
 speak more hereafter. 
 
 I shall distinguish the history of the trade 
 to India into the following epochs : 
 
 I. The trade to India previous to the time 
 of Alexander the Great B.C. 331. 
 
256 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 II. The trade of India, from the time of 
 Alexander the Great to the conquest of Egypt 
 by the Romans B.C. 30. 
 
 III. The trade to India, from the conquest 
 of Egypt by the Romans, to the conquest of 
 Egypt by the Mahometans A.D. 649. 
 
 IV. The trade to India, from the conquest 
 of Egypt by the Mahometans, to the discovery 
 of the passage to India by the Cape of Good 
 Hope A.D. 1498. 
 
 First. The trade with India previous to the 
 time of Alexander the Great. 
 
 Previous to the time of Alexander, the Greeks 
 had no direct commercial intercourse with India. 
 The Persian empire, which included all the 
 countries between Greece and India, and also 
 Egypt, interposed, and would have effectually 
 prevented any commercial intercourse, even had 
 the states of Greece been disposed to engage in 
 this kind of trade. The Egyptians, the Phoeni- 
 cians, the Jews, and the Persians, might, how- 
 ever, have engaged in this traffic, and probably 
 all of them, at some period or other of their 
 history, had commercial intercourse with India. 
 
TRADE BETWEEN EGYPT AND INDIA. 257 
 
 Although a similarity between the social in- 
 stitutions of Egypt and of India have led some 
 writers to believe that there must have been, 
 originally a great intercourse between the two 
 countries; yet we have no historical account 
 of any trade between them at that early period. 
 If the history of Sesostris be true, he conquered 
 all the lands on the sea-coast between Egypt 
 and India; but if these conquests were made, 
 they were not long retained by the Egyptians. 
 The Indian commodities, for which they had 
 occasion in the embalming of their dead, or for 
 other purposes, were probably purchased from 
 the Arabian merchants, who, after the manner 
 of the East, periodically visited Egypt, to sell 
 their merchandise. 
 
 The Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon carried 
 on an extensive trade with India. They took 
 possession of some harbours at the bottom of 
 the Arabian Gulf. The Indian commodities 
 were brought from thence by land to the coast 
 of the Mediterranean Sea, where they were 
 re-shipped for Tyre. 
 
 The Jews, in the reign of David, con- 
 
258 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 quered from the Edomites the ports of Elath 
 and Eziongeber, situated on the Red Sea. 
 In the reign of Solomon, fleets were fitted 
 out from these ports for Tarshish and Ophir, 
 from whence were imported gold and silver, 
 and precious stones, and ivory, apes, and 
 peacocks. Among learned men, there is a 
 difference of opinion as to whether these 
 places are situated in the East Indies, or on the 
 eastern coast of Africa ; the latter opinion now 
 generally prevails. If this be the case, the 
 Jews cannot be numbered among those nations 
 who traded to India by sea; and we have no 
 certain evidence that they traded thither by 
 land. Solomon built Tadmor in the wilderness. 
 This city was about eighty-five miles from the 
 river Euphrates, and was afterwards much cele- 
 brated under the name of Palmyra: it was built 
 on a fertile spot, surrounded by an ocean of 
 sand. Whether Solomon built this city with a 
 view to carry on the trade to India, we are 
 not informed: if so, it is likely that the trade 
 was abandoned by his successors. It seems 
 probable that the Jews obtained all the Indian 
 
TRADE BETWEEN PERSIA AND INDIA. 259 
 
 productions they wanted from the Phoeni- 
 cians. We are expressly informed,, in the 
 twenty-seventh chapter of the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel, that the Jews traded in the fairs of 
 Tyre; and we know, that all the productions 
 of India were exposed for sale in those 
 fairs: indeed, the chief productions for which 
 the Jews had occasion, seem to have been 
 spices and frankincense, to burn in the 
 temple. 
 
 During the enterprising reign of Darius, an 
 expedition was fitted out to explore India. 
 The fleet sailed down the river Indus, and, 
 in the course of two years and six months, 
 reached the Arabian Gulf. From the reports 
 given of the country through which they 
 passed, Darius was induced to attack the 
 country; he extended his conquests as far as 
 the river Indus; and the tribute derived from 
 these provinces formed nearly a third part of 
 the whole revenue of the Persian empire. As 
 Persia lay so near to India, it seems probable 
 that some degree of trade was at all times carried 
 on between these countries. The Persians were 
 
260 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 remarkable for their luxury and effeminacy; 
 and they had a taste for the spices, the 
 silks, and the other productions imported from 
 India. 
 
 Secondly. The trade with India, from the 
 time of Alexander the Great to the conquest 
 of Egypt by the Romans. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Philip, King of 
 Macedon, having been appointed generalissimo 
 of the armies of Greece, overthrew the Persian 
 empire, conquered a part of India, and would, 
 probably, have conquered the whole, if his sol- 
 diers had not refused to follow him. Notwith- 
 standingthecharacterofAlexanderwasblemished 
 by ambition, intemperance, vanity, passion, and 
 occasional cruelty, yet he was a man of en- 
 larged and enlightened views as a statesman. 
 In the whole page of history, there is no other 
 instance of so young a monarch laying the 
 foundations of so extensive an empire; and so 
 firmly were the foundations laid, that even 
 after his death, the conquered nations quietly 
 submitted to the government of his generals. 
 But if we view the circumstances in which he 
 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 26] 
 
 was placed, we shall not, perhaps, so much 
 wonder at his conquests. He had the com- 
 mand of an army, raised and disciplined by 
 his father, and taught a mode of warfare, 
 previously unknown. He had, also, Greek 
 soldiers, who had been kept in practice by 
 their wars with each other; and he was 
 attended by the most enlightened men then 
 in the world. On the other hand, the people 
 he attacked were Asiatics, enervated by a 
 warm climate, and by indolence -people who 
 for two centuries had been but little engaged 
 in war, and who were distributed over many 
 provinces which had but little regard for each 
 other. It must be observed, that though 
 Alexander contended against the power of 
 Persia, but few of the people, comparatively, 
 were Persians. The Persians, who were pre- 
 viously but a very small nation, had, under 
 Cyrus the Great and some of his successors, 
 made extensive conquests. The inhabitants of 
 the conquered countries, though not strongly 
 opposed to the Persian government, were 
 quite ready to join a new conqueror such as 
 
262 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Alexander, who treated his conquered enemies 
 with great generosity. This was especially 
 the case with the Egyptians, who had several 
 times attempted, without success, to throw 
 off the Persian yoke. 
 
 Alexander having conquered Persia, penetrated 
 into India, subdued some of its states, and sail- 
 ing down the Indus, returned by sea to Persia. 
 From the great difficulty which he experienced 
 in the conquest of Tyre, he had full opportunity 
 for witnessing the effects of commerce in giving 
 strength to nations. And, from his conquest 
 of Egypt and India, he could perceive that the 
 Indian trade could be carried on more advaif- 
 tageously through Egypt, than by the previous 
 route. To facilitate this trade, he built a new 
 city in Egypt, to which he gave the name of 
 Alexandria, calling it after his own name. 
 After his death, Seleucus seized the Asiatic 
 provinces, and penetrated farther into India 
 than Alexander had done, but the Assyrian 
 monarchs did not maintain any permanent 
 possessions in India. 
 
 Ptolomy, another of Alexander's generals, 
 
ALEXANDRIA. 263 
 
 acquired possession of Egypt, and commenced a 
 commercial intercourse with India. The city of 
 Tyre having been destroyed, that branch of the 
 Indian trade which had been carried on by the 
 Phoenicians would now be carried on through 
 Alexandria. The Egyptian monarch paid par- 
 ticular attention to this subject. Ptolomy 
 Philadelphus founded the city of Berenice, on 
 the coast of the Red Sea. The Indian com- 
 modities were brought by sea from India to 
 Berenice, then they were carried by land to the 
 city of Coptos, a distance of two hundred and 
 fifty-eight Roman miles, and from Coptos, by 
 water, to Alexandria. In consequence of this 
 trade, Egypt became wealthy and prosperous, 
 until it was conquered by the Romans. 
 
 In the meantime, the Persians, and the other 
 subjects of the Syrian monarchy, obtained 
 the productions of India by land. These 
 commodities were carried by land from the 
 river Indus to the river Oxus, thence to the 
 Caspian Sea, and thus distributed over the 
 northern provinces. The goods intended for 
 the southern provinces were taken from the 
 
264 COMMERCE WITH THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Caspian Sea to some of the great rivers, and 
 thus circulated throughout the country. 
 
 Thirdly. The trade with India, from the 
 conquest of Egypt by the Romans to its con- 
 quest by the Mahometans. 
 
 Egypt was conquered by Julius Caesar, about 
 thirty years before the Christian era, and 
 after the battle of Actium, was reduced to 
 the form of a Roman province by Augustus. 
 For a hundred years previous to this event, 
 luxury had been advancing rapidly at Rome. 
 The rival power of Carthage had been de- 
 stroyed, the Roman conquests had extended in 
 all directions, and, latterly, Syria had been 
 subdued by Pompey. The sudden introduction 
 of wealth had led to the most extravagant 
 luxury. This was not the luxury of taste and 
 refinement: it was the luxury of vulgar men, 
 who had suddenly become wealthy; it was the 
 luxury of soldiers carousing in a camp, amid 
 the spoils of victory. Men showed their im- 
 portance by profuse expense; and to display 
 their wealth was a point of more consequence 
 than to enjoy it. 
 
SPICES AND AROMATICS. 265 
 
 The taste for luxury at Rome gave a new 
 impulse to the trade to the East Indies. We 
 transcribe from Dr. Robertson's 'Historical 
 Disquisition on Ancient India/ the following 
 account of the estimation in which the pro- 
 ductions of India were held at Rome. The 
 chief articles were First, spices and aromatics. 
 Second, precious stones and pearls. Third, 
 silk : 
 
 "First. Spices and aromatics. From the 
 mode of religious worship in the heathen 
 world from the incredible number of their 
 deities, and of the temples consecrated to them, 
 the consumption of frankincense and other 
 aromatics, which were used in every sacred 
 function, must have been very great. But the 
 vanity of men occasioned a greater consump- 
 tion of these fragrant substances than their 
 piety. It was the custom of the Romans to 
 burn the bodies of their dead, and they deemed 
 it a display of magnificence to cover, not only 
 the body, but the funeral pile on which it was 
 laid, with the most costly spices. At the 
 funeral of Sylla, 210 burdens of spices were 
 
 ' N 
 
266 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 strewed upon the pile. Nero is reported to 
 have burnt a quantity of cinnamon and cassia 
 at the funeral of Pappcea, greater than the 
 countries from which it was imported produced 
 in one year. "We consume in heaps these 
 precious substances with the carcases of the 
 dead/' says Pliny; "we offer them to the 
 gods only in grains." It was not from India, 
 I am aware, but from Arabia, that aromatics 
 were first imported into Europe; and some 
 of them, particularly frankincense, were pro- 
 ductions of that country. But the Arabians 
 were accustomed, together with spices of native 
 growth, to furnish foreign merchants with 
 others of higher value, which they brought 
 from India, and the regions beyond it. The 
 commercial intercourse of the Arabians with 
 the eastern parts of Asia was not only early 
 but considerable. By means of their trading 
 caravans, they conveyed into their own country 
 all the valuable productions of the East, among 
 which spices held a chief place. In every 
 ancient account of Indian commodities, spices 
 and aromatics of various kinds form a principal 
 
PRECIOUS STONES. 267 
 
 article. Some authors assert that the greater 
 part of those purchased in Arabia were not the 
 growth of that country, but brought from 
 India. That this assertion was well founded, 
 appears from what has been observed in 
 modern times. The frankincense of Arabia, 
 though reckoned the peculiar and most precious 
 production of the country, is much inferior in 
 quality to that imported into it from the East ; 
 and it is chiefly with the latter that the 
 Arabians at present supply the extensive 
 demands of various provinces of Asia for this 
 commodity. It is upon good authority, then, 
 that I have mentioned the importation of 
 spices as one of the most considerable branches 
 of ancient commerce with India. In the 
 Augustan age, an entire street in Rome seems 
 to have been occupied by those who sold 
 frankincense, pepper, and other aromatics. 
 
 "Second. Precious stones, together with 
 which pearls may be classed, seem to be the 
 articles next in value imported by the Romans 
 from the East. As these have no pretension 
 to be of any real use, their value arises entirely 
 
 N 2 
 
268 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 from their beauty and their rarity, and even 
 when estimated most moderately is always 
 high, But among nations far advanced in 
 luxury, when they are deemed not only orna- 
 ments, but marks of distinction, the vain and 
 the opulent vie so eagerly with one another 
 for the possession of them, that they rise in 
 price to an exorbitant and almost incredible 
 height. Diamonds, though the art of cutting 
 them was imperfectly known to the ancients, 
 held an high place in estimation among them as 
 well as among us. The comparative value of other 
 precious stones varied according to the diver- 
 sity of tastes and the caprice of fashion. The 
 immense number of them mentioned by Pliny, 
 and the laborious care with which he describes 
 and arranges them, will astonish, I should sup- 
 pose, the most skilful lapidary or jeweller of 
 modern times, and shows the high request in 
 which they were held by the Romans. 
 
 " But among all the articles of luxury, the 
 Romans seem to have given the preference to 
 pearls. Persons of every rank purchased them 
 with eagerness ; they were worn on every part 
 
PEARLS SILK. 269 
 
 of dress ; and there is such a difference, both 
 in size and in value, among pearls, that while 
 such as were large and of superior lustre 
 adorned the wealthy and the great, smaller 
 ones and of inferior quality gratified the vanity 
 of persons in more humble stations of life. 
 Julius Caesar presented Servilia, the mother 
 of Brutus, with a pearl, for which he paid 
 .47,457. The famous pearl earrings of Cleo- 
 patra were in value .161,458. Precious stones, 
 it is true, as well as pearls, were found not only 
 in India, but in many different countries, and 
 all were ransacked in order to gratify the pride 
 of Rome. India, however, furnished the chief 
 part, and its productions were allowed to be 
 most abundant, diversified, and valuable. 
 
 " Third. Another production of India in 
 great demand at Home, was silk ; and when 
 we recollect the variety of elegant fabrics into 
 which it may be formed, and how much these 
 have added to the splendour of dress and 
 furniture, we cannot wonder at its being held 
 in such estimation by a luxurious people. The 
 price it bore was exorbitant ; but it was deemed 
 
270 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 a dress too expensive and too delicate for 
 men, and was appropriated wholly to women 
 of eminent rank and opulence. This, however, 
 did not render the demand for it less eager, 
 especially after the example of the dissolute 
 Elagabalus introduced the use of it among the 
 other sex, and accustomed men to the disgrace 
 (as the severity of ancient ideas accounted it) 
 of wearing this effeminate garb. Contrary to 
 what usually takes place in the operations of 
 trade, the more general use of that commodity 
 seems not to have increased the quantity im- 
 ported in such proportion as to answer the 
 growing demand for it, and the price of silk 
 was not reduced during the course of 250 years 
 from the time of its being first known in Rome. 
 In the reign of Aurelian, it still continued to 
 be valued at its weight in gold." 
 
 After Egypt was conquered by Julius Caesar, 
 the Romans continued the trade with India, by 
 way of Egypt; and they also opened an inter- 
 course by land by way of Palmyra, the same 
 city which, as we have stated, was, under 
 Solomon, called Tadmor in the wilderness. 
 
PALMYRA TRADE WINDS. 271 
 
 Palmyra was situated 85 miles from the 
 river Euphrates, and 117 from the Medi- 
 terranean sea, on a fertile spot in the midst 
 of sandy deserts. By means of its trade 
 with India, it arose to great opulence. It 
 was at first under the government of the 
 kings of Syria, and, on the conquest of that 
 kingdom, it remained a free state for upwards 
 of 200 years. It carried on trade with both 
 the rival powers, the Parthians and the Romans; 
 and through this channel, Rome obtained the 
 productions of India. Palmyra was ultimately 
 conquered by Aurelian, and became subject 
 to the Roman empire. 
 
 About eighty years after the conquest of 
 Egypt by the Romans, they made an important 
 discovery, which greatly facilitated the trade 
 with India. This was the discovery of the 
 periodical winds, which, from the advantages 
 they confer upon trade, are now called the trade 
 winds. Near the equator, there are regular 
 winds which follow the course of the sun. As 
 the sun passes from east to west, the winds blow, 
 on the north side of the equator N.E., and on 
 
272 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 the south side S.E., occasionally to more or 
 less E. These winds, which blow in the same 
 direction all the year round, are called trade 
 winds, from their utility to trade. Thus, if 
 we wish to sail to the West Indies, we sail due 
 south, till we get into the trade winds, and 
 then sail due west. At a greater distance 
 from the equator than the trade winds, are 
 the winds called monsoons. The word mon- 
 soon signifies season. These winds blow for 
 six months in the year from east to west, and 
 in the remaining six months from west to east. 
 There is such a monsoon as this between the 
 Red Sea and India; between April and Oc- 
 tober it blows from the N.W., and during the 
 other months from the South East, keeping 
 constantly parallel to the coast of Arabia. 
 The ancients, who were in the practice of 
 giving names to particular winds, called this 
 wind Hippalus, that being the name of the 
 discoverer. Instead of sailing round the coast 
 as they had hitherto done, they now stretched 
 across the gulf, and thus diminished the time 
 consumed in the voyage. And in this way, 
 
SILK WORMS. 273 
 
 the trade to India was carried on for upwards 
 of fourteen hundred years. 
 
 After the removal of the seat of government 
 from Rome to Constantinople, in the year 329, 
 the Roman empire was still supplied with the 
 productions of India, by way of Egypt. The 
 trade that might have been carried on between 
 [ndia and Constantinople, by land, was pre- 
 vented by the Persians. 
 
 Although Europe had been receiving the 
 India silk for above a thousand years, they 
 had never known how it was produced. It 
 was supposed to be a sort of down, that 
 grew upon a tree like cotton, or formed of a 
 plant like flax. It was never supposed that 
 this elegant material was the production of 
 a worm. But in the year 581, two Persian 
 monks, who had been on a mission to some 
 Christian churches, which were scattered in 
 some parts of India, had observed the rearing 
 of silk-worms, and became acquainted with 
 the process of manufacturing silk. They 
 informed the Emperor Justinian of the true 
 origin of silk, and were induced by his 
 
 N3 
 
274 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 promises of reward, to bring some of the 
 worms into Europe. They, accordingly, 
 brought to Constantinople some of the eggs 
 of the silk- worm concealed in a hollow cane. 
 From these were raised numerous insects, 
 which were carried to different parts of Gaul 
 and Greece, particularly the Peloponessus; 
 and the island of Sicily became remarkable 
 for the production of silk. In proportion 
 as silk was produced at home, the de- 
 mand for Indian silk of course declined. 
 
 Fourthly. The trade to India from the 
 conquest of Egypt by the Mahometans, to 
 the discovery of the passage by the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 As no trade was carried on between the 
 Mahometan and Christian nations, the cap- 
 ture of Alexandria prevented the nations of 
 Europe obtaining the commodities of India 
 through Egypt. But, such was the anxiety to 
 obtain Indian produce, that the merchants of 
 Constantinople successfully attempted to carry 
 on the Indian trade in a new channel. And, 
 though the route was circuitous, yet, for 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 275 
 
 more than two centuries, Europe was by this 
 means supplied with the commodities of the 
 East. 
 
 While the supply of Indian commodities 
 was thus curtailed, the state of Europe at that 
 time diminished the demand. The whole of 
 Europe was in a rude state of society, having 
 but little taste for the enjoyments of life, and 
 little means of purchasing. The most powerful 
 states were in a state of hostility to each other. 
 The feudal system was established throughout 
 Europe. Each country was thus broken down 
 into a number of small states or baronies. 
 Each baron was anxious to extend the 
 number of his vassals, and thus to acquire 
 distinction among the rulers of the state. 
 War was the only means of acquiring distinc- 
 tion, and the luxuries acquired by commerce 
 were regarded as effeminate and degrading. 
 The entertainments of the nobility were dis- 
 tinguished, not by the choiceness, but by the 
 abundance of the provisions. 
 
 The arts and sciences, and, consequently, 
 a taste for luxury, first revived in Italy. The 
 
276 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 republics of Venice and Genoa turned their 
 attention to commerce. The Venetians procured 
 silk -worms from Sicily, and became remarkable 
 for the silk manufacture; they also obtained 
 the productions of India, by way of Constan- 
 tinople, and supplied the whole of Europe. 
 An important advance in civilization and 
 refinement was made in western Europe by 
 means of the crusades. Although immense 
 numbers of people were destroyed, yet those 
 who returned brought back with them a taste 
 for the comforts and luxuries of the East. 
 During their absence, too, the cause of good 
 government had been promoted, by the ab- 
 sence of many turbulent barons, and by the 
 annexation to the crown of many large estates. 
 The feudal system received a fatal blow, and 
 order and peace and luxury began to extend. 
 In the year 1204, Venice, assisted by the 
 soldiers of the fourth crusade, who went out 
 to fight the Mahometans, turned their arms 
 against the Christian city of Constantinople, 
 and kept possession of it for 57 years, when 
 they were expelled by the Greeks, assisted by 
 
THE VENETIANS. 277 
 
 the Genoese. While the Venetians had pos- 
 session of Constantinople, they had great 
 advantages in carrying on the Indian trade, 
 but after they were expelled, and the Greeks 
 recovered possession of their city, the Genoese 
 obtained the privileges which the Venetians 
 had possessed, and the Venetians were ex- 
 cluded. The Venetians then, in defiance of 
 their religious scruples, made a treaty with 
 the Mahometans, and obtained the produce of 
 India through Egypt. But the discovery of 
 a passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, 
 ruined for ever the trade and power of Venice. 
 The latter end of the sixteenth century 
 was distinguished by a great spirit of discovery. 
 The nations of Europe had, in preceding centu- 
 ries, been engaged in foreign or domestic broils, 
 and now they seemed to be looking abroad for 
 other engagements. Constantinople as well as 
 Egypt having fallen into the hands of the Ma- 
 hometans, Christendon was put under contribu- 
 tion to the Mahometans for all the luxuries of the 
 East. It then naturally became a matter of in- 
 quiry, whether these luxuries could be obtained 
 
278 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 through some other channel. Christopher 
 Columbus, a Genoese, the native of a country 
 whose commerce had been supplanted by the 
 artifices of the Venetians, had conceived the plan 
 of sailing to the East Indies by a new course. 
 For many centuries it had been admitted 
 by philosophers that the world was globular ; 
 and, if so, it was clear that you might arrive at 
 any point by travelling westward, with as much 
 certainty as if you travelled eastward. Columbus 
 having prevailed on the Court of Spain to grant 
 him two ships, sailed westward in search of 
 India. In about thirty days he arrived at 
 St. Domingo. He supposed he had arrived in 
 India; and, consequently, the islands he dis- 
 covered still retain the name of the West Indies, 
 and the countries which originally bore the 
 name of India, are now distinguished by the 
 title of East Indies. But while Columbus was 
 attempting, under the patronage of Spain, to 
 discover India by sailing westward, the Portu- 
 guese Admiral, Vasco de Gama, discovered the 
 true way, by sailing south. The object of the 
 Portuguese expedition was merely to explore 
 
PASSAGE BY THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 279 
 
 the western coast of Africa. But, having 
 arrived as far as the Cape of Good Hope, they 
 observed some of the productions of India; 
 they continued their voyage, and ultimately 
 arrived at Calcutta, on the 22nd May, 1498, 
 ten months and two days after they had 
 left Lisbon. The Portuguese fitted out new 
 expeditions, not merely with a view to com- 
 merce, but also to make permanent settlements 
 in the East. For nearly a century the whole 
 of this trade was entirely in their hands ; and, 
 notwithstanding the sovereigns of Egypt and 
 the Venetians made every effort to frustrate 
 their attempts, they ultimately succeeded in 
 obtaining establishments in Asia. 
 
 We have now closed the historical portion 
 of our Lecture, and shall add only a few 
 observations on the principles on which the 
 trade to India has been conducted. 
 
 The principal objection to which the Indian 
 trade has been exposed, both in ancient and in 
 modern times, is, that it takes from Europe 
 a large amount of the precious metals. As 
 the imports from India has always exceeded 
 
280 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 the exports, the balance has necessarily been 
 paid with gold or silver bullion. But this is 
 no objection at all. Gold and silver are 
 nothing more than commodities. If they are 
 found in our own soil, their exportation is no 
 greater evil than the exportation of tin or 
 copper, or any other metal that may be found 
 in our mines. If they are not raised from 
 our own soil, they must be purchased by the 
 exportation of some other commodity. The 
 exportation of gold and silver, therefore, is no 
 more an evil than the exportation of those 
 commodities with which the gold and silver are 
 purchased. If we sell hardware and cottons 
 to America for gold, and send that gold to 
 India for silks and spices, it amounts to the 
 same thing as though we sent our hardware 
 and cottons to India, and exchanged them 
 directly for silks and spices. 
 
 This objection to the Indian trade arises 
 from considering gold and silver not as com- 
 modities, but as currency. We have been 
 accustomed to measure our wealth by the 
 precious metals, and hence we have been led 
 
EXPORTATION OF GOLD. 281 
 
 to consider them as wealth. In all languages 
 the word "money" is used as synonymous 
 with wealth. We say, " to get money/' 
 .when we mean, "to get rich." But money 
 is very distinct from wealth. A merchant 
 may have his warehouses filled with goods, 
 and have many ships on the ocean, and 
 yet not have a hundred pounds in money. 
 Gold is not money until it is coined, and 
 even then the value of the coin will be re- 
 gulated by its value as a commodity. You 
 are aware that gold is coined into money in 
 England at the Mint price of 3 17s. \Q\d. 
 per ounce. A pound weight of gold used to 
 be coined into forty-four guineas and a half. 
 It is now coined into forty-six sovereigns, 
 and there is a remainder equal to 14s. 6d. 
 3 17s. lOJd., multiplied by 12, the number 
 of ounces in a pound troy, make ^846 14s. 6d. 
 
 Since in every age the precious metals have 
 been sent to India, it has naturally been 
 asked, What has become of them, as we do 
 not find in India that abundance of gold or 
 silver that might naturally be expected? To 
 
282 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 tliis inquiry the reply has been, that they are 
 buried in the earth. The insecurity of pro- 
 perty, arising from the despotism of the 
 governments, and the frequent wars among 
 the respective tribes or nations, has, from time 
 immenforial, induced the inhabitants of all 
 oriental countries to conceal their money by 
 burying it in the earth. There is a prevalent 
 opinion in the East, that the soil contains a 
 vast amount of hidden treasure. We find, 
 from the New Testament history, that land 
 was sometimes purchased, in order to obtain 
 a legal right to the treasure it contained. " The 
 Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid 
 in a field, the which, .when a man hath found 
 he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth 
 all that he hath and buyeth that field." We 
 can fancy that a curious destiny may have 
 attended a portion of ancient gold. It may 
 have been taken from the mines of Spain in 
 the form of ore, then smelted by the Cartha- 
 ginians, and sent to Athens in payment for 
 oil ; at Athens it may have been coined into a 
 stater, and stamped with the figure of Minerva. 
 
FOREIGN EXCHANGES. 283 
 
 It may have been circulated among the states 
 of Greece until it fell into the hands of a corn 
 merchant, who sent it to Egypt in payment 
 for corn; at Egypt, it may have been given 
 in exchange for spices to an Arabian merchant, 
 who may have passed it into India, where it 
 may again have been entombed in the earth, 
 and there remain. 
 
 We might here extend our observations by 
 explaining the principles of the foreign ex- 
 changes, and the circumstances which regulate 
 the transmission of the precious metals from one 
 country to another; but this subject will more 
 properly come under our notice when we con- 
 sider the invention of bills of exchange, and 
 similar topics, in a course of Lectures on the 
 History and principles of Modern Commerce; 
 to which, on some future occasion, we hope to 
 invite your attention.* 
 
 The subjects we have discussed will teach us to 
 
 * This occasion never occurred, as I left Waterford in 
 the latter end of the year 1833, to become the Manager 
 of the London and Westminster Bank, which was opened 
 on the 10th March, 1834. 
 
284 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 admire the goodness of our Creator towards his 
 creature man. Viewed merely as an animal, 
 his pleasures are far superior to those of any 
 other animal; he has a greater variety of food, 
 and of clothing, and of habitation, and of those 
 supernumerary enjoyments which are styled 
 luxuries. Providence might have given to man 
 only one kind of food, one kind of clothing, and 
 one form of habitation, and have limited his 
 means of existence to what might be supplied 
 by his immediate neighbourhood. But we find 
 this is not the case. Count the various kinds of 
 food, you will find that their number is greater 
 than at first you would imagine; count the 
 various articles of your dress, the materials 
 of which it is composed, the substances used 
 in producing the colours, and the instruments 
 employed in the different processes it has gone 
 through; count the materials used in the con- 
 struction of your habitation, and the numberless 
 articles of furniture it contains: then inquire 
 into the natural history of all these substances'; 
 ask where were they produced how they were 
 gathered when brought to this country and 
 
THE SUPERIOR PLEASURES OF MAN. 285 
 
 through what preparation they passed, in order 
 to be adapted for your use? Do all this, and 
 you will find that the birds of the air, and the 
 beasts of the field, and the fishes of the sea, 
 and even the reptiles that crawl upon the 
 earth, have been compelled to contribute to 
 your enjoyments. 
 
 But the pleasure which man derives from 
 these luxuries is greatly increased by the powers 
 of association, reflection, and reasoning, with 
 which he is endowed. He not only enjoys the 
 physical gratification which these objects pro- 
 duce on the senses, but he regards them as 
 proofs of a Power that is omnipotent of a 
 Wisdom that is infinite and of a Goodness 
 that is boundless; and thus his animal enjoy- 
 ments lead to mental and moral gratifications. 
 "When I consider thy heavens, the work of 
 thy fingers the moon and the stars, which 
 thou hast ordained; Lord, what is man, that 
 thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, 
 that thou visitest him ? For thou hast made 
 him a little lower than the angels, and hast 
 crowned him with glory and honour. Thou 
 
286 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 madest him to have dominion over the works 
 of thy hands: thou hast put all things under 
 his feet ; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts 
 of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish 
 of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through 
 the paths of the sea. He causeth the grass 
 to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service 
 of man, that he may bring forth food out of 
 the earth. And wine that maketh glad the 
 heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, 
 and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. 
 How manifold are thy works, O Lord! in 
 wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth 
 is full of thy riches." 
 
 The retrospect we have taken of ancient 
 commerce, will also impress us most forcibly 
 with the powers and achievements of the 
 human mind. Though inferior to many other 
 animals in the greatness of his stature, in the 
 strength of his muscles, in the acuteness of his 
 senses, and in the fleetness of his motions, 
 yet what does he not effect? The beasts 
 of the field cannot resist his power, nor can 
 the birds of the air fly beyond his reach. 
 
THE POWERS OF THE MIND. 287 
 
 The valleys are clothed with verdure, and the 
 plains abound with corn, the result of his 
 industry ; lofty mansions and splendid edifices, 
 magnificent domes and aspiring columns rise 
 at his command. Even the ocean, the most 
 terrific of all the works of God, places no 
 barrier to the exertions of man. He removes 
 the forests from their seats he constructs an 
 habitation adapted to the watery element 
 he compels the stars to be his guide he yokes 
 the winds to his car, and wafts himself to every 
 corner of the world ! To what, but to the 
 cultivation of his intellectual powers is man 
 indebted for the production of these prodigious 
 effects ? 
 
 When endowed with such powers, should 
 we Hot be guilty of ingratitude to the Being 
 by whom they were bestowed, ' were we to 
 neglect their cultivation? And when we see 
 other men endowed with similar powers, should 
 we not be deficient in wisdom and in kindness 
 were we to refrain from supplying them with 
 the means of improvement? In the pursuit 
 of wealth, or honor, or power, or fame, our 
 
288 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 rivals who are engaged in the same pursuit 
 will endeavour to impede our progress; but, 
 in the pursuit of knowledge, all who are en- 
 gaged in the same course will be anxious to 
 accelerate our speed. And even when those 
 objects are attained, they may suddenly be 
 snatched from our possession; but this treasure 
 is lodged in the mind, " where rust doth not 
 corrupt, and where thieves cannot break 
 through and steal." In the possession of this 
 mental treasure lies the true honor and dignity 
 of man : 
 
 " Were I as tall to reach the pole, 
 
 Or mete the ocean with my span, 
 I would be measured by my soul, 
 
 The mind's the standard of the man !" 
 
 Let us, then, while engaged in the honorable 
 pursuit of wealth, engage at the same time, 
 with at least equal eagerness, in the pursuit of 
 knowledge. If Providence should smile on 
 our exertions to obtain wealth, our intel- 
 lectual attainments will enable us to enjoy 
 that wealth with elegance and taste to employ 
 that wealth, so as to promote the happiness 
 of others to move with honor in that higher 
 
WISDOM SUPERIOR TO GOLD. 289 
 
 class of society to which our wealth will intro- 
 duce us and to discharge faithfully any public 
 duties which our country' s voice may call us to 
 perform. But if, on the other hand, the winds 
 of heaven should scatter our ships, the fire 
 devour our storehouses, or the sons of wicked- 
 ness rob us of the fruits of our industry, 
 still, amid the wreck of our fortunes, our 
 intellectual and moral worth will secure the 
 respect of those around us, and we shall 
 have within ourselves a source of happiness 
 more pure, more serene, more constant than 
 all the wealth, and all the luxuries of India 
 can supply. " Happy is the man that findeth 
 wisdom, and the man that getteth under- 
 standing. For the merchandise of it is better 
 than the merchandise of silver, and the gain 
 thereof than fine gold. It cannot be valued 
 with the gold of Ophir, with the precious 
 onyx or the sapphire. No mention shall be 
 made of coral or of pearls, for the price of 
 wisdom is above rubies. Wisdom is the 
 principal thing, therefore, get wisdom, and 
 with all thy getting, get understanding. 
 
290 COMMERCE OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she 
 shall bring thee to honor when thou dost 
 embrace her. She is more precious than 
 rubies, and all the things thou canst desire 
 are not to be compared unto HER." In 
 proportion as we increase our knowledge, in 
 proportion as we improve our mental facul- 
 ties, in such proportion do we widen the 
 distance between ourselves and the brutes, 
 and approach that state of existence where 
 man, in all the grandeur of unclouded reason 
 in all the beauty of spotless innocence shall 
 attain the full perfection of his character, and 
 be conformed to the image of that Supreme 
 Intelligence by whom our intellectual powers 
 are bestowed. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abraham, paid away, by weight, "money current with 
 the merchants," 30. 
 
 Abstinence from food, effect of the doctrine of transmi- 
 gration of souls, 17. 
 
 Accommodation bills, or kites, 232. 
 
 Accounts, art of computing, essential to commerce, 28. 
 
 Activity. He who wishes to be a useful man must be 
 an active man, 45. 
 
 Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 88, 89, 93, 228, 229. 
 
 Advantages of commerce, 3. 
 
 Advocates at Athens, allowed to speak a certain time, 
 according to the importance of the cause, 63. 
 
 Africa, a question whether Tarshish and Ophir were situ- 
 ated in the East Indies, or on the eastern coast of 
 Africa, 258. 
 
 African Slave-Trade legal, but not innocent, 92 ; The most 
 crimson of our national sins, 242. 
 
 Agriculture, origin of, 180 ; Influence of on commerce, 
 185, 
 
 Agricultural tribes, Rome considered, as one, 180. 
 
 Alexander the Great, conquered Tyre, 109 ; Causes of his 
 success, 260 ; Founded Alexandria, 262. 
 
 o2 
 
292 INDEX. 
 
 America, injudicious exports to, from want of knowledge 
 of the country, 103; Colonies established in, 142. 
 
 Amusements, the Greeks fond of, 95 ; Amusements of a 
 merchant, 97. 
 
 Ancestors, dead bodies of, lodged as security for debt, 
 37 ; Introduced at festivals in Egypt, 37. 
 
 Anecdote of a Spartan mother, 57; Of a Carthaginian 
 captain, 123. 
 
 Animals, Egypt did not abound in, 11 ; Some held sacred, 
 and not used for food, 1 1 ; Swine held in abhorrence, 
 11. 
 
 Apologist for roguery, will probably become a rogue him- 
 self, 165. 
 
 Arabia, spices of, imported from India, 23; Had a 
 warm climate, but the inhabitants were active and 
 enterprising, 41 ; Its trade promoted by religious fes- 
 tivals, 75. 
 
 Aristotle, his instructions to pleaders, 62 ; Still regulates 
 our modes of thinking and reasoning, 101. 
 
 Arithmetic, useful to both ladies and gentlemen, 170; 
 Some things cannot be expressed by, 243. 
 
 Arms, the profession of, not incompatible with personal 
 piety, 238. 
 
 Armj', the Roman, 187. 
 
 Aromatics and spices, imported from India, 265. 
 
 Art, discoveries of, circulated by commerce, 4 ; Of 
 navigation essential to commerce, 28. 
 
 Assurance of ships known to the Romans, 224 ; Not of 
 lives, 226. 
 
 Astronomy, ancients made use of in their navigation, 
 28. 
 
 Athens, situation of, 66; Coin of, 83; Bankers of, 86; 
 Cause of her greatness, 89. 
 
 Attica, the soil produced abundance of olives, but not 
 corn, 59. 
 
INDEX. 293 
 
 B. 
 
 Babylon, the inhabitants at all times in a state of civiliza- 
 tion, 51. 
 
 Banking, principles of, 151. 
 
 Bankers, among the Greeks, 84; Laws relating to at Athens, 
 87; Business of, 85; Among the Carthaginians, 157 ; 
 Among the Romans, 221. 
 
 Banks, the temples of Greece used as banks, 84; the 
 London and Westminster, 283. 
 
 Barbarous nations civilized by commerce, 5. 
 
 Barley, a liquor made from, drank by the Egyptians, 17. 
 
 Bottomry, known to the Carthaginians, 158. 
 
 Brass, the Roman money made of, 218. 
 
 Britain, the trade of the Carthaginians with, 122; Its 
 possession by the Romans, 198. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabbages, the abundance of, affects the demand for ba- 
 con, 103. 
 
 Canaan, the description of, a negative description of 
 Egypt, 15. 
 
 Canals, very extensive in Egypt, 26. 
 
 Candidate, meaning of the word, 134. 
 
 Capital, a means of extending commerce, 148; Made by 
 saving, 148; Increased by banking, 154; Increased by 
 partnerships, 158; Increased by life insurance, 229. 
 
 Carlisle, tables for life insurance, 227. 
 
 Carrying trade, in the hands of the Carthaginians, 123. 
 
 Carthage, situation and history of, 112; Its trade, 113. 
 
 Carthaginians, commercial character of, 161. 
 
 Castes, institution of, in ancient Egypt and in India, 35, 
 254, 257. 
 
 Causes of the success of the Romans, 188. 
 
294 INDEX. 
 
 Character of a people will influence their commerce, 40; 
 Of an individual, 40; Can it be discovered by his hand- 
 writing, 240. 
 
 Charles II, the post-office first established in his reign, 
 216. 
 
 Cities, the establishment of friendly to commerce, 64; 
 Formed by commerce, 65; Cities of Greece, 66; Usually 
 dedicated to some deity, and a festival established to 
 his honor, 72. 
 
 Civil government essential to commerce, 28. 
 
 Civil wars, none in Carthage, 1 12. 
 
 Civilization, introduced among barbarous nations by com- 
 merce, 5 ; Has always been imported by savage nations, 
 50 ; The original state of man, 50 ; How maintained in 
 Babylon and Egypt, 51 ; Causes of its decline among 
 the inhabitants of other countries, 52 ; Test of the extent 
 of in a country, 64, 21 6; The permanency of modern, 105. 
 
 Clothing, some of the materials of supplied by commerce, 
 2. 
 
 Coin, none in Egypt, 29 ; Coins of Athens, 83 ; Roman 
 coins, 218; Coins of Tyre and Carthage, 157. 
 
 Colonial trade, principles of, 143. 
 
 Colonies of Greece not dependent on the mother coun- 
 try, 55 ; Of the Tyrians established for the purposes of 
 trade, 142; Their use to commerce, 139. 
 
 Comet, a man of genius without habits of business com- 
 pared to, 95. 
 
 Commerce, advantages of, 3 ; Promotes the happiness of 
 the whole world, 4 ; Circulates the discoveries of art 
 and science, 4 ; Has laid the foundation of the mightiest 
 empires, 5 ; the principles of studied as a science, 
 59. 
 
 Commerce of a country, depends on its productions, 9; 
 Upon its consumption, 16 ; Upon its geographical posi- 
 tion, 24 ; Upon its means of internal and external com- 
 munication, 25; Upon the state of the arts and 
 
INDEX. 295 
 
 sciences, 28 ; Upon its laws, 34 ; Upon the genius and 
 character of the people, 40. 
 
 Commercial character of the Egyptians, 41 ; Of the Greeks, 
 
 88; Of the Carthaginians, 161 ; Of the Romans, 231. 
 
 Communication, facility of by means of roads or canals, 
 
 useful to commerce, 25. 
 
 Conquests of Rome beneficial to the nations they con- 
 quered, 196. 
 
 Constantinople, its trade with India intercepted by the 
 Persians, 273 ; The merchants of discover a new route 
 for India commerce, 274; Is taken by the Venetians and 
 the Crusaders, 276 ; Retaken by the Greeks, assisted by 
 the Genoese, who thus obtain the advantages of the 
 Indian commerce, 277 ; Is captured by the Mahomet- 
 ans, who thus obtain the whole of the commerce with 
 India, 277. 
 
 Consumption of a country regulates its commerce, 16. 
 
 Copper, obtained from the mines of Spain by the Car- 
 thaginians, 137; Money made of in Greece; the pro- 
 poser called the man of brass, 82; When coined in 
 England, 83. 
 
 Corinth, produced excellent generals, 193; A wealthy city 
 raised by commerce, 68 ; And manufactures, 89. 
 
 Corn, abundance in Egypt, 10; Sold by the Egyptians 
 to the Phoenicians, 24 ; Scarce in Athens, 59 ; Laws 
 relating to at Athens, 60. 
 
 Cornwall, visited by the Carthaginians to obtain tin, 137. 
 
 Credit, a means of extending commerce, 151. 
 
 Crete, possessed at one time great maritime power, 
 70, 118. 
 
 Cruelty, of the Romans, opposed to the spirit of com- 
 merce, 240. 
 
 Customs of a country have an effect on its commerce, 
 22. 
 
 Cyprus, an island famous for commerce, 1 18. 
 
 Cyrus, first employed public couriers, 216. 
 
296 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 D. 
 
 D, why placed over figures denoting pence, 220. 
 
 David, provided artizans to build the temple at Jeru- 
 salem, 139; In his reign is the first mention of gold 
 being used as money, and it was paid by weight, 30 ; 
 He conquered Elath and Ezion-geber, two ports on the 
 Red Sea, from which Solomon sent ships to Tarshish, 
 257; His 8th and 104th psalm quoted, 289. 
 
 Dead bodies, lodged as security for money borrowed, 
 37 ; Sometimes produced at festivals, 37- 
 
 Debt, imprisonment for, not practised in Egypt, 37. 
 
 Deluge, date of and subsequent events, 6 ; At this time 
 mankind were in a state of civilization, 50. 
 
 Deposits in a bank, 85. 
 
 Depreciation of the currency among the Romans, 219. 
 
 Diet of the Egyptians, 16. 
 
 Discoveries of art and science, circulated by commerce, 4. 
 
 Disposition unsociable, not friendly to commerce, 43. 
 
 Dress of the Egyptians, 19. 
 
 Dnigs, obtained by Egypt from the Arabian merchants, 
 23. 
 
 Duelling, inconsistent with the character of a merchant, 
 241. 
 
 Dyeing, the Carthaginians excelled in, 133. 
 
 E. 
 
 Earthenware, brought to Britain by the Carthaginians, 
 
 136. 
 Egypt, history of, 6 ; Our knowledge of derived from Greek 
 
 writers, 8 ; Boundaries of, 24 ; Its trade with Arabia, 
 
 Phrenicia, India, Palestine, 24; Conquered by Julius 
 
 Caesar, 264 ; Alexandria founded, 262. 
 Egyptians, at all times in a state of civilization, 51; Their 
 
 trade with India, 257 ; Their commercial character, 41. 
 
INDEX. 297 
 
 Embalming the dead, 23; The practice of in Egypt, 
 caused a demand for foreign spices, 23; The practice 
 arose from the doctrine of transmigration, 22. 
 
 Emigration, the causes and principles of, 146. 
 
 Empire, extent of the Roman, 199; Influence on com- 
 merce, 191. 
 
 Empires, the foundation of some laid by commerce, 5. 
 
 Employment of the people the motive for erecting the 
 pyramids of Egypt, 33, 
 
 Englishmen, character of similar to the Romans, 94. 
 
 Exports of a country depend on its productions, 9 ; 
 Of Egypt, 12 ; Of Athens, 59 ; Of India, 255. 
 
 Ezekiel, his description of the trade of Tyre, (ch. xxvii.), 
 33; Of their ships, 12 L 
 
 F. 
 
 Fairs, the establishment of, promoted commerce, 71 ; 
 
 Privileges of persons frequenting, 78. 
 Family, habits of business necessary to the government 
 
 of, 94. 
 Father, who had not taught his son a trade could not, if 
 
 poor, demand to be supported by him, according to the 
 
 laws of Athens, 61. 
 Female lives better than male, 229. 
 Fertility of the land a cause of idleness, 41. 
 Festivals, ancient, friendly to commerce, 75 ; Object of 
 
 ancient legislature in establishing, 73 ; in Greece, 75. 
 Feudal system, unfriendly to commerce, 35; A view 
 
 of the, 251. 
 
 Figs, the exportation of, prohibited at Athens, 59. 
 Fisheries, abundant in Egypt, 10, 13. 
 Fishmongers, laws relating to, at Athens, 61. 
 Flax, abundant in Egypt, 12. 
 Food, articles of, supplied by commerce, 1 ; Of the 
 
 Egyptians, 13, 16. 
 
 o3 
 
298 INDEX, 
 
 Fool, in the book of Proverbs a rogue always described 
 as a fool, 163; He who gets wealth by dishonest 
 means is one, 164. 
 
 Foreigners, not allowed to exercise any trade in Athens, 
 nor to sell wares in the markets, 61. 
 
 Forests, none in Egypt, 10. 
 
 Forgery of a certificate punished with death in Egypt, 36, 
 
 French character compared to that of the Greeks, 94. 
 
 Funeral tribunal of the Egyptians, 38. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gaul, its possession by the Romans, 198. 
 
 Genius, men of, sometimes fail in their pursuits through 
 want of habits of business, 95. 
 
 Geometry, said to have been invented by the Egyptians, 29. 
 
 Gold, not abundant in Greece, 82 ; Obtained from the 
 mines in Spain by the Carthaginians, 137; Imported 
 by Solomon from Ophir, 258 ; When coined at Rome, 
 218; The mint price of, 281. 
 
 Government, civil, essential to commerce, 28. 
 
 Gradation of ranks in an agricultural state, 183. 
 
 Greece, early history of, 49; State of, 52; How colo- 
 nized, 53 ; Commerce of, 55. 
 
 Greeks, the sciences cultivated by, 60 ; Character of 
 compared to that of the French, 94. 
 
 H. 
 
 Habits of mental discipline, how formed, 46; Habits of 
 business, what, 93 ; The Greeks deficient in, 93 ; 
 Essential to a merchant, 94; And to eminence in every 
 other profession, 94 ; Young men of genius fail in their 
 pursuits through want of, 95. 
 
 II and- writing, in commercial correspondence, should be 
 plain, 240. 
 
INDEX. 299 
 
 Happiness of others, a great pleasure in promoting, 48. 
 
 Harbours of Egypt, 26. 
 
 Hats, not worn in ancient Egypt, 20. 
 
 Health, enjoyed in an agricultural state, 182. 
 
 Henry VII, permitted the barons to alienate their es- 
 tates, 35. 
 
 Historians, of Egypt were Greeks, 8 ; Do not notice so 
 much the affairs of commerce as those of war, 8. 
 
 History of commerce more instructive than that of war, 9. 
 
 Holidays, effects of, 76 ; Evils of when too numerous, 96. 
 
 Honors, conferred at Athens on those who excelled in 
 their profession, 61. 
 
 Honor necessary to a merchant, 231. 
 
 Honorable men, the Romans were, 231 : A man may be 
 honest without being honorable, 232 ; Violations of 
 honor on the part of a merchant, 232. 
 
 Horses, Egyptians remarkable for, 12; Sold them to 
 Solomon, 13. 
 
 Houses, materials of, supplied by commerce, 2. 
 
 I. 
 
 Idleness, not allowed in Ancient Egypt, 36 ; Egyptians 
 prone to, 41 ; Produced by warm climates and abun- 
 dant provisions, 41 ; The court of Areopagus took cog- 
 nizance of, at Athens, 62. 
 
 Illustrious men have always been men of business, 95. 
 
 Imperial measure, fixed by Act of Parliament, 79. 
 
 Imprisonment for debt, not practised in Egypt, nor gene- 
 rally in slave countries, 37. 
 
 Imports, regulated by consumption, 16 ; Articles imported 
 into Egypt, 23 ; Into England by the Carthaginians, 122 ; 
 Trade of Rome chiefly consisted of, 201. 
 
 Income, those who live beyond their income must always 
 be poor, 170. 
 
300 INDEX. 
 
 India, its social institutions, 254 ; Its productions, 255 ; 
 Trade with, by the Persians, 256; Egyptians, 257; 
 Jews, 258; Greeks, 262; Romans, 265; Venetians, 
 276; Genoese, 277; Portuguese, 279. 
 
 Industry promoted by luxury, 251. 
 
 Inscription, on a dead body, 37 ; On a pyramid, 41. 
 
 Institutions, commercial, among the Romans, 209. 
 
 Instruments, philosophical, have names derived from the 
 Greek language, but were unknown to the Greeks, 101. 
 
 Insurance, of ships, 224 ; Of lives, 225. 
 
 Intervals of relaxation necessary to professional distinc- 
 tion, 96. 
 
 Ireland, north of, remarkable for the linen trade, 132 ; 
 Laws in, against luxury, 254. 
 
 Iron, smelting of, 138. 
 
 Islands, advantages of, for commerce, 117. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jeremiah, his prediction respecting ill-gotten wealth, 164; 
 His description of the manufacture of earthenware, 136. 
 
 Jews, their trade with India, 258. 
 
 Jezebel introduced the worship of Baal, the god of the 
 Phoenicians, into Israel, 110. 
 
 Job, quoted on the value of wisdom above gold, 289. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., quoted, 42. 
 
 Joint-stock companies, in what cases useful, 160. 
 
 Joseph, sold in Egypt by Arabian merchants, 25 ; When 
 made prime minister was arrayed in a robe of linen, 
 13; Gave five changes of raiment to his brother Ben- 
 jamin, 21. 
 
 Judea, Moses's description of, 15; Its trade with the 
 Phoenicians, 110; With India, 258; With Egypt, 25. 
 
 Justice, impartial administration of, essential to com- 
 merce, 58; Love of, among the Carthaginians, 161; 
 How violated, 162; Prevails most in commercial coun- 
 \ries, 162. 
 
INDEX. 301 
 
 K. 
 
 King Henry VII permitted the barons to alienate their 
 
 estates, and thus promoted commerce, 35. 
 Kings, it was the prerogative of our kings to establish 
 
 fairs, 78. 
 Knowledge, the kind of, necessary to a merchant, 102; 
 
 In what respects a little knowledge is a bad thing, 
 
 47 ; Its superiority to gold, 289. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labour, no man loves it for its own sake, 42, 56 ; Sub- 
 division of, friendly to civilization, 51. 
 
 Labourers, the laws relating to, 92 ; Violations of justice 
 regarding, 162; Should be allowed to participate in 
 the prosperity of their employers, 232. 
 
 Land in Egypt belonged to the king, and could not be 
 sold, 35 ; Under the feudal system in Europe the land 
 belonged to the king, and was subject to certain services, 
 35 ; Henry VII permitted the barons to alienate their 
 estates, and then commerce began to flourish, 35. 
 
 Laws of a country influence its commerce, 34; Of Ly- 
 curgus, 57 ; Referring to trade in Greece, 58. 
 
 Law, courts of, at Athens, 62 ; A quotation about, from 
 Mr. Stephens, 92; Distinct from justice, 93; Laws, 
 sumptuary, among the Romans, 253 ; In England and 
 Ireland, 254. 
 
 Letters on business should not be too long, 239. 
 
 Life Insurance, the principles of, 225 ; Various purposes 
 of, 229; Utility of, 230. 
 
 Linen, fine, manufactured in Egypt, 12, 13. 
 
 Literary class in Egypt entitled to one-third of the taxes, 
 34 ; The tribe of Levi was the literary class among the 
 Jews, 34. 
 
 Literary and scientific institutions, advantages arising 
 from, 46. 
 
302 INDEX. 
 
 Litigiousness of disposition, a great defect in the cha- 
 racter of a merchant, 91. 
 
 Loan banks among the Romans, 222. 
 
 London and Westminster bank, when opened, 283. 
 
 Loquacity, one cause of female longevity, 229 ; The 
 Romans not remarkable for, 237 ; A defect in a mer- 
 chant, 238. 
 
 Luxury, the nature of, 247; The origin of, 249; The 
 effects of, 251; Laws against, 253; Of the Romans, 
 202, 264. 
 
 Luxuries, articles of, supplied by commerce, 2; A taste for, 
 essential to commerce, 42; Prohibited at Sparta, 57. 
 
 Lycurgus, his laws unfriendly to commerce, 57- 
 
 M. 
 
 Machinery can be applied to manufactures, to a greater 
 extent than to agriculture, 129; Is not invented by 
 Slaves, 214. 
 
 Man, the savage state not the natural state of, 50 ; 
 In a savage state has a taste for luxury, 248; His 
 numerous sources of enjoyment, 284 ; The powers of his 
 mind, 286; His capacity for improvement, 105; When 
 he shall attain the perfection of his character, 290. 
 
 Manufactures, nature of, 124; Source of wealth, 126; 
 Of Egypt, linen and paper, 12; Manufactured goods, 
 sold by the Phoenicians to the Egyptians, 24 ; Com- 
 merce extended by, 124 ; Of Carthage, 131 ; Causes of 
 their establishment in a country, 130 ; of Corinth, 68. 
 
 Mariners' compass, unknown to the ancients, 28. 
 
 Maritime power, commerce extended by, 114. 
 
 Marble, excellent in Egypt, 9. 
 
 Markets, establishment of promote commerce, 71 ; object 
 of the ancient legislators in establishing, 76. 
 
 Marriage, Egyptians would not intermarry with persons 
 who kept pigs, 1 1 . 
 
INDEX. 303 
 
 Measure, imperial, how formed, 79. 
 
 Mercury, the Deity who presided over commerce and 
 banking among the Romans, 223. 
 
 Metals, the working of, Carthaginians excelled in, 137. 
 
 Michaelis's commentaries on the laws of Moses, quoted, 
 18, 74. 
 
 Middle class, composed chiefly of those who supply 
 luxuries, 251. 
 
 Military spirit, unfriendly to commerce, 191; The Romans 
 remarkable for, 240 ; Leads to cruelty of disposition, 242. 
 
 Milk and honey, a country flowing with, very attractive 
 to people who had neither tea nor sugar, 60. 
 
 Minerva and Neptune contended which should give a name 
 to Athens, 59. 
 
 Mind, means of its dicipline, 46 ; Its capabilities of im- 
 provement, 106 ; Its great powers, 286; Its state of per- 
 fection, 290. 
 
 Mii^es, none in Egypt, 9 ; Of Spain, worked by the Car- 
 thaginians, 137. 
 
 Mint price of gold 3 17s. W%d. per ounce, 281 ; Insti- 
 tutions connected with money, mints, and banks, 81. 
 
 Money, of the Egyptians, 29 ; But little in Egypt, 31 ; The 
 quantity of in every country will be regulated by its 
 trade, 31; Greek money, 81; Roman money, 217; 
 Phoenician money, 157. 
 
 Morality, the law of the land not a standard ofj 92; 
 Questions of, should not be considered in a merely com- 
 mercial point of view, 243. 
 
 Mountains, one cause of the loss of civilization, 52. 
 
 Moses, learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, 28 ; copied 
 some of the social institutions of Egypt 34 ; His descrip- 
 tion of Canaan a negative description of Egypt, 15 ; His 
 law with regard to lending on pledges, 21 ; his conduct 
 in building the tabernacle, 133; His institution of festi- 
 vals friendly to commerce, 73 ; Michaelis's commenta- 
 ries on his laws, 18, 74. 
 
304 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 N. 
 
 NAMES AND COMMODITIES, ARTICLES OF 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 Almonds, 14. 
 
 Apes, 258. 
 
 Aromatics, 365. 
 
 Bacon, 103, 125. 
 
 Balm, 14. 
 
 Beer, 1?. 
 
 Brass, 15, 123. 
 
 Bricks, 21. 
 
 Cabbages, 103. 
 
 Cranes, 202. 
 
 Cloth, 73, 125. 
 
 Coal, 130. 
 
 Colours, 113. 
 
 Copper ore, 130, 137, 138. 
 
 Copper, 27. 
 
 Cora, 10, 15, 54, 59, 60, 
 
 110, 124. 
 Cotton wool, 126. 
 Cotton, 4, 12, 130, 250. 
 Drugs, 3. 
 
 Earthenware, 123, 136. 
 Figs, 15, 59. 
 Fish, 10,61, 111,202. 
 Flax, 27. 
 Flour, 125. 
 Fowls, 202. 
 Fur, 123, 142. 
 Girdles, 132. 
 Glass, 127, 250. 
 Gold, 31, 124, 137, 258. 
 Gloves, 125. 
 Hides, 123. 
 
 Honey, 15, 60. 
 
 Horses, 12, 59. 
 
 Iron,15,27,57,125, 127,138. 
 
 Ivory, 258. 
 
 Lace, 127. 
 
 Lead, 127, 138. 
 
 Leather, 125, 137. 
 
 Linen, 12, 19, 132, 250. 
 
 Marble, 9, 21. 
 
 Metals, 4,9. 
 
 Milk, 60. 
 
 Muslin, 126. 
 
 Myrrh, 14. 
 
 Nails, 125. 
 
 Needles, 228. 
 
 Nightingales, 202. 
 
 Nuts, 14. 
 
 Oil, 15,60, 110. 
 
 Olives, 15, 54, 59. 
 
 Onions, 13. 
 
 Paper, 12. 
 
 Peacocks, 202, 258. 
 
 Pearls, 267. 
 
 Penknives, 128. 
 
 Pitch, 59. 
 
 Pomegranates, 15. 
 
 Porcelain, 127. 
 
 Pork, 11. 
 
 Precious stones, 258, 267. 
 
 Printing type, 127. 
 
 Salt, 123. 
 
 Saltpetre, 23. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 305 
 
 Scissors, 128. 
 Shoes, 125, 254. 
 Silk, 4, 73, 250, 269. 
 Silver, 30, 137, 188. 
 Skins, 131. 
 Spices, 14, 23, 365. 
 Steel, 127. 
 Sugar, 60. 
 Swords, 128. 
 Tables, 203. 
 Tapestry, 13. 
 Tea, 60, 124. 
 
 Thread, 427. 
 
 Timber, 2, 10, 24, 27, 60, 
 
 110, 130, 139. 
 Tin, 123, 124, 137, 138. 
 Trinkets, 123. 
 Venison, 202. 
 Vegetables, 13. 
 Watch Springs, 127. 
 Wax, 113. 
 Wine, 10, 54, 110. 
 Wool, 19, 54, 59, 123, 
 
 132, 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 Africa, 6, 54, 112, 198, 
 
 199. 
 
 Alexandria, 198, 205, 262. 
 America, 142. 
 Antioch, 198. 
 Arabia, 23, 24, 41, 99. 
 Asia, 197, 198, 199. 
 Asia Minor, 6. 
 Atlantic Ocean, 199. 
 Attica, 53. 
 
 Athens, 53, 55, 59, 204. 
 Babylon, 6, 49, 51. 
 Belfast, 132, 204. 
 Belgium, 199. 
 Berenice, 263. 
 Birmingham, 204. 
 Brand usium, 214. 
 Britain, 122, 197, 198, 199. 
 Cadiz, 199. 
 Canaan, 14, 60, 109. 
 Cape of Good Hope, 277, 
 
 279. 
 
 Capua, 214. 
 
 Carlisle, 225. 
 
 Carthage, 112. 
 
 Caspian Sea, 263. 
 
 China, 124. 
 
 Constantinople, 273, 277. 
 
 Coptos, 263. 
 
 Cornwall, 130, 138. 
 
 Corinth, 66, 68, 102. 
 
 Crete, 66, 70, 118. 
 
 Cyprus, 118. 
 
 Dacia, 199. 
 
 Danube, 199. 
 
 Delphi, 77. 
 
 East Indies, 201, 205, 
 
 254. 
 Egypt, 6, 9, 49, 51, 201, 
 
 205, 270. 
 England, 35, 130, 413, 
 
 129. 
 
 Ethiopia, 10. 
 Europe, 199, 275. 
 Euphrates, 199. 
 
306 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 France, 103, 124,199,208. 
 
 Gaul, 197, 198, 205. 
 
 Germany, 198, 199, 208. 
 
 Genoa, 192. 
 
 Gilead, 14. 
 
 Greece, 49, 52, 197, 205. 
 
 Holland, 192. 
 
 India, 24, 54, 110. 
 
 Ireland, 80. 
 
 Italy, 88, 197, 198, 200, 
 
 208. 
 
 Judea, 101. 
 Lebanon, 121, 139. 
 Leeds, 204. 
 Lisbon, 279. 
 Liverpool, 130. 
 London, 60, 66, 78, 204. 
 Macedon, 260. 
 Mediterranean Sea, 24, 54, 
 
 109,111,122. 
 Malta, 201, 202. 
 Manchester, 204. 
 Nemea, 77. 
 Nile, 10, 26. 
 Northampton, 224. 
 Norwich, 204. 
 Ophir, 258, 289. 
 Olympia, 77. 
 Palmyra, 258,2/0,271. 
 
 Parthia, 199,2/1. 
 
 Persia, 259. 
 
 Peru, 103. 
 
 Phoenicia, 108. 
 
 Portugal, 103,208,279. 
 
 Rhine, 199. 
 
 Rhodes, 66, 70, 118. 
 
 Rome, 177. 
 
 Russia, 102, 
 
 Sheffield, 204. 
 
 Sicily, 112, 201. 
 
 Sidon, 109. 
 
 South America, 130. 
 
 Spain, 143, 197, 185, 
 
 250, 208. 
 Sparta, 57, 61. 
 St. Domingo, 278. 
 Switzerland, 199. 
 Swansea, 130. 
 Syria, 264. 
 Syracuse, 66, 69. 
 Tadmor, 258. 
 Tarshish, 138, 258. 
 The River Oxus, 263. 
 Turkey, 103. 
 Tyre, 109, 121, 205. 
 Venice, 192, 276. 
 Waterford, 66,102, 125. 
 West Indies, 102, 278. 
 
 NAMES OF PERSONS. 
 
 Abel, 180. 
 Abraham, 30. 
 Adams, Dr., 216. 
 Alexander, 7, 109, 192. 
 Araunah, 31. 
 
 Aristotle, 62, 101. 
 Augustus, 216, 198, 264, 
 
 267. 
 
 Aurelian, 260, 270, 271. 
 Babbage, Mr., 127. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 Belshazzar, 30. 
 
 Cain, 180. 
 
 Caligula, 202. 
 
 Cenops, 53. 
 
 Charles II, 216. 
 
 Cicero, 202. 
 
 Cleopatra, 269. 
 
 Columbus, 278. 
 
 Cyrus, 6,216, 261. 
 
 Daniel, 30. 
 
 David, 30, 139, 257, 285. 
 
 Darius, 259. 
 
 Demosthenes, 102. 
 
 Elagabalus, 270. 
 
 Ellenborough, Lord, 24. 
 
 Euclid, 101. 
 
 Ezekiel, 111, 121, 138. 
 
 Ham, 6. 
 
 Henry VI I, 35. 
 
 Hercules, 157. 
 
 Herodotus, 11. 
 
 Hiram, 110, 138. 
 
 Hippalus, 272. 
 
 Homer, 102, 119. 
 
 Jacob, 135. 
 
 Jeremiah, 30, 136, 164. 
 
 Jezebel, 110. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 42. 
 
 Joseph, 12, 135. 
 
 Julius Ca;sar, 264, 269. 
 
 Justinian, 273. 
 
 Lewis XI, 216. 
 
 Lucullus, 202. 
 
 Lycurgus, 657. 
 
 Mark Anthony, 202. 
 
 Mercury, 222, 89. 
 
 Michaelis, 17, 74. 
 
 Minerva, 59, 89. 
 
 Moses, 15, 28, 133. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 109, 192. 
 
 Nehemiah, 111. 
 
 Neptune, 59, 89. 
 
 Nero, 266. 
 
 Noah, 6, 50, 180. 
 
 Plato, 68. 
 
 Pliny, 266. 
 
 Pompey, 202. 
 
 Ptolomy Lagus, 7 ' 
 
 Ptolomy, 262. 
 
 Robertson, Dr., 265. 
 
 Romulus, 178. 
 
 Seleucus, 262. 
 
 Servius Tullius, 218. 
 
 Sesostris, 257- 
 
 Shem, 6. 
 
 Sisera, 135. 
 
 Solomon, 28, 110,138,258. 
 
 Solon, 68. 
 
 St. Paul, 88. 
 
 Sylla, 265. 
 
 Trajan, 199. 
 
 Vasco de Gama, 278. 
 
 National prejudices unfriendly to commerce, 430. 
 Nations, barbarous, civilized by commerce, 5. 
 Navigation, origin of, 115; Art of, useful to commerce, 
 116 j Facilities for, in Egypt, 27. 
 
308 IND.EX. 
 
 Nehemiah, threatened the men of Tyre for selling their 
 
 wares at Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, 111. 
 Neptune and Minerva, contended which should give a 
 
 name to Athens, 59. 
 
 Newsmonger, a, not generally a good man of business, 193. 
 Nile, water of, had excellent taste, and was very fattening, 
 
 17. 
 Noah planted a vineyard, a proof of a state of civilization 
 
 before the flood, 50. 
 Northampton tables, for life insurance, 226. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oaths, the Greeks said to be regardless of, 90 ; The 
 
 Romans attentive to, 184. 
 
 Olives abounded in Attica, 59 ; And in Canaan, 15. 
 Onions of Egypt highly prized, 10. 
 Ophir, where situated, 258 ; Solomon's imports from, 
 
 258 ; Its gold not equal to wisdom, 289. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paper manufactured in Egypt from the Papyrus, 12. 
 Parents reduced to poverty in Egypt, were required to be 
 
 supported by their daughters, not their sons, 36. 
 Partnerships, advantages of, 158. 
 Patriotic, the Romans were, a merchant should be so, 
 
 233 ; Ways of showing it, 234. 
 Peace, its influence on commerce, 195. 
 Penny, the Roman, worth 7%d., 220. 
 People, the employment of, the motive for erecting the 
 
 pyramids, 33. 
 Permanency of modern science secured by commerce, 
 
 104. 
 Persians, their trade with India, 263. 
 
INDEX. 309 
 
 Phoenicia, where situated, 108; Its trade with India, 
 
 257. 
 Phoenicians, their trade with Egypt, 24; Employed by 
 
 Solomon to hew timber for the purpose of building the 
 
 temple in Jerusalem, 25. 
 Pilgrimages promoted trade, 75. 
 Pitch, the exportation of, prohibited at Athens, 59. 
 Pompey, the conquest of Syria led to the introduction of 
 
 luxury at Rome, 264. 
 Poor, the, would be injured by the abolition of Sunday, 
 
 99, 
 Pork, held in abhorrence in Egypt, 1 1 ; probable origin 
 
 of the feeling, 1 1 . 
 Posting of letters among the Romans, 125; Post-office a 
 
 test of civilization, 216. 
 Pottery, the Carthaginians excelled in, 136 ; Imported 
 
 into England from the Carthaginians, 123. 
 Poverty not more friendly than wealth to virtue, 166. 
 Pound sterling, English accounts kept in, though for cen- 
 turies there was no coin of that amount, 84 ; Of silver 
 
 coined into sixty-six shillings, 219 ; Of gold, coined into 
 
 ,=46 14. 6d., 226. 
 
 Prejudices, national, unfriendly to commerce, 43. 
 Prices of commodities, the principles which regulate, 
 
 should be studied by merchants, 103. 
 Principles, commercial, derived from Egypt, 107; From 
 
 Greece, 88; From Tyre and Carthage, 161; From 
 
 florae, 209. 
 Probability of life, how calculated, 225 6 ; Difference 
 
 of, by the Northampton and the Carlisle tables, 227. 
 Productions of a country regulates its commerce, 9. 
 Profession, no man will excel in his, if he thinks himself 
 
 above it, 173. 
 
 Property, security of private, essential to commerce, 56. 
 Prosperity of any country or city depends mainly upon 
 
 the character and conduct of its inhabitants, 44. 
 
310 INDEX. 
 
 Proverbs, book of, contains the best maxims for getting 
 on in the world, 163; Quoted, on the superior advan- 
 tages of wisdom to wealth, 289. 
 
 Provinces, trade between Rome and her provinces, 204. 
 
 Public duties, intellectual attainments necessary to the 
 discharge of, 289, 
 
 Public spirit, distinct from party spirit, a most noble 
 virtue, 45. 
 
 Punic, the term applied to every excellent piece of work- 
 manship, even at Rome, 114. 
 
 Punishments, no imprisonment for debt in Egypt, 37; 
 
 -Forgery punished with death, 36; Theft not punished 
 
 in Sparta, 61 ; At Athens, 61 ; Romans cruel in, 224 ; 
 
 Of luxury at Rome, 253 ; and in Ireland, 254 ; Future, 
 
 164, 243. 
 
 Pyramids of Egypt, probable cost of, 33. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Questions of Morality, not to be received in a merely 
 
 commercial point of view, 243. 
 Quotations from Dr. Johnson, 42; From Stephens, 92; 
 
 From Dr. Watts, 288; From Dr. Robertson, 265; 
 
 From Dr. Adams, 214; From Michaelis, 18, 74. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rate of interest charged by the bankers at Athens, 
 86, 87. 
 
 Republican government at Carthage, 112. 
 
 Religion, a merchant should respect, 89 ; Of the Greek 
 merchants, 89; Of the Roman merchants, 223; Agricul- 
 tural nations respect the observances of, 183; Of the 
 Egyptians, 17, 22 ; Of the Carthaginians, 110; Of the 
 Indians, 255 ; The friend and guardian of the poor, 
 100. 
 
INDEX. 311 
 
 Respect, the Carthaginians regarded commerce with. 
 173. 
 
 Retail trade, not formerly carried on by a distinct class 
 of persons, 73. 
 
 Retirement from business not advisable, 1/5. 
 
 Rhodes, a commercial city, 70; Island of, famous for 
 commerce, 118. 
 
 Rich men, then.' example very influential, 1 72. 
 
 Roads of the Romans, 214. 
 
 Rogues, not generally clever men, 163; Few as com- 
 pared with honest men, 163; Represented in the 
 Book of Proverbs, as fools, 163; Their enjoyments 
 wheu successful, 164; Should always be avoided, 
 even when they offer good bargains, 165; An 
 apologist for, usually becomes one, 165. 
 
 Rome, rise of, 178; Its commerce, 201. 
 
 Rudders of Ships, 120. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabbath-day, Nehemiah threatened to punish the Tyrians 
 for selling their wares on, 41 ; Its design and ad- 
 vantages, 97. 
 
 Sacred animals in Egypt not used for food, 1 1 . 
 
 Saints, fairs were dedicated to in the middle ages, as St. 
 Bartholomew's fair, in London, 78. 
 
 Savage state, not the natural state of man, 50 ; Cannot 
 be a commercial state, 56 ; Its luxuries, 248. 
 
 Saving, essential to the increase of wealth, 1 68 ; The 
 means of acquiring wealth, 169. 
 
 Science, discoveries of, circulated by commerce, 4. 
 
 Scripture, reference to, 12; Presents taken to Joseph, 
 14; Moses's description of the land of Caanan, 14; 
 Description of an oriental voluptuary, 20 ; Of the trade 
 of Tyre, 109. 
 
 Sculpture, reference to, 12. 
 
 Security of private property essential to commerce, 56. 
 
312 INDEX. 
 
 Ships of Egypt, how employed, 27; Of the Greeks 
 and Phoenicians, 118; Of Tyre, described by the 
 Prophet Ezekiel, 121. 
 
 Shoes, not worn by the ancient Egyptians, 20. 
 
 Shopkeepers, advantages derived from, 73. 
 
 Sicily, Syracuse the capital, a commercial city, 69. 
 
 Sidon, its rise, 109 ; The idolatry of introduced into 
 Israel and Judah, 110. 
 
 Silk, the produce of the East Indies, 255; Highly 
 esteemed at Rome, 269. 
 
 Silver, a pound of coined into sixty-six shillings, 219 ; 
 Obtained from the mines of Spain by the Cartha- 
 ginians, 137 ; When coined at Rome, 218. 
 
 Slander, he who ridiculed another on account of his trade 
 subject to an action of slander at Athens, 61. 
 
 Slavery, among the Romans, 209 ; Imprisonment for 
 debt does not exist in slave countries, 37; Produces 
 an aversion to that kind of labour performed by slaves, 
 211 ; Compels the free population to bear arms, 212; 
 Injurious to commerce by producing less and con- 
 suming less, 213; At Rome the slaves became arti- 
 sans, and, consequently, the free men became paupers, 
 211. 
 
 Solomon, was wiser than the Egyptians, 28 ; His treaty 
 with the King of Tyre, 110; His expeditions to Tar- 
 shish, 258 ; His letter to Hiram, 138 ; Built Tadmor 
 in the wilderness, possibly to trade with India, 258 ; 
 Represents a good wife as skilled in weaving, 132 ; 
 His language on the superiority of wisdom to wealth, 
 289. 
 
 Son, a, not bound by the laws of Athens to support his 
 father reduced to poverty, if the father had not taught 
 him some trade, 61. 
 
 Spain, the Carthaginians had mines in, 137; Its possession 
 by the Romans, 198 ; Adventures of a portion of gold 
 from, 282. 
 
INDBX. 313 
 
 Sparta, its institutions unfriendly to commerce, 57. 
 Spendthrift, he who has squandered away his own pro- 
 perty should not be trusted with other people's, 73. 
 Spices, the produce of the East Indies, 265. 
 Spinster, the legal title of an unmarried lady, 132. 
 St. Paul, his address to the Athenians quoted, 88 ; His 
 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, 69 ; His character of the 
 
 the Cretans, 70. 
 Statistics, a science, apparently uninviting, but practically 
 
 useful, 230. 
 
 Stockings, not worn by the ancient Egyptians, 19. 
 Sugar, the ancients unacquainted with, 60. 
 Sumptuary laws among the Romans, 253; In England 
 
 and Ireland, 254. 
 Superfluous productions of a country, derive a value from 
 
 commerce, 4, 207. 
 Superstition at Athens, 88 ; Not suitable to a merchant, 
 
 89. 
 Surnames of the Roman families derived from agriculture, 
 
 181. 
 System, the Romans conducted every thing upon, 
 
 235 ; Necessary to a merchant, 236 ; Should be shewn 
 
 in the details of business as well as in the choice of 
 
 principles, 237. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tables, for Greek money, 81 ; For Roman money, 218. 
 
 Tadmor in the Wilderness, afterwards called Palmyra, 
 built by Solomon, possibly with a view to trade with 
 India, 258. 
 
 Talking, one cause of female longevity, 229 ; Much, un- 
 suitable to the character of a merchant, 238 ; Prohi- 
 hibited by Mr. John Wesley, 238. 
 
 Tanning, practised by the Carthaginians, 137. 
 
 Taste for luxury, 248 ; Egyptians deficient in, 42; The 
 effects of, 250. 
 
314 INDEX. 
 
 Tea, the ancients unacquainted with, 60. 
 
 Thefts, how punished at Athens, 61 ; Not punished at 
 
 Sparta, 61. 
 Tin, obtained by the Carthaginians from the mines in 
 
 Spain, and from Cornwall, 137. 
 Timber, supplied by commerce, 2; None in Egypt, 10; 
 
 Phoenicians supplied Egypt, 27; Solomon employed 
 
 the Phoenicians to hew timber in Lebanon, 25. 
 Toga, description of, worn by the Egyptians, 1 9 ; Among 
 
 the wealthy it was dyed purple, 20. 
 Towns, denote the degree of civilization in a country, 
 
 64; Symptoms of wealth in, 168. 
 Trade, carrying, 123. 
 Transmigration of souls, doctrine believed in Egypt, 22 ; 
 
 Led to the practice of embalming the dead body, 23. 
 Treasure, mental, the most secure and permanent, 288. 
 Treasure-trove, a source of royal revenue, 84. 
 Tribunal, funeral of the Egyptians, 38 ; Effects on com- 
 merce, 39 ; Suppositions proceedings at, 39. 
 Triumph, a Roman, 188. 
 Truth is great, and shall prevail, 106. 
 Tunic, description of, 19 ; Was made of woollen among 
 
 the Romans, and of linen among the Egyptians, 19. 
 Tyre, history of, 109; Scriptural description of, 109 ; The 
 
 principles of its commerce, 114; Its colonies, 110; 
 
 Conquered by Alexander, 262. 
 
 V. 
 
 Variety of soil, climate, and productions of different coun- 
 tries, the cause of commerce, 2. 
 
 Vessels, form of in the time of Homer, 119. 
 
 Vices of a merchant, 41, 42, 43 ; Disregard of his oath 
 or word, 90 ; Neglect of punctuality, 91 ; Litigiousness 
 of disposition, 91. 
 
 Vineyards, none in Egypt, 10. ; g 
 
INDEX. 315 
 
 Virtue, wealth friendly to, 167. 
 Virtues of a merchant, 193. 
 
 Voyages, long, first undertaken by the Carthaginians, 
 122. 
 
 U. 
 
 Useful to others, great pleasure in having been, 48; 
 
 Activity essential to usefulness, 45. 
 Usury laws, none at Athens, 87. 
 Utility of commercial knowledge, 103. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wages, the rate of, probably low in ancient Egypt, 33 ; 
 Were Sunday abolished the poor would not receive 
 more for seven days' labour than they now receive for 
 six, 100; principles which regulate, 145. 
 
 War, influence of, on commerce, 190; Will be supplanted 
 by commerce, 244 ; Horses, used chiefly in war, 59 ; 
 The emblem of peace preferred to that of war, 59 ; 
 Its effect on commerce, 193. 
 
 Warlike nation, Rome considered as one, 187- 
 
 Water of the Nile, the chief drink of the Egyptians, 17. 
 
 Watts, Dr., quoted on the utility of lectures, Preface; 
 on " The Mind's the standard of the Man," 288. 
 
 Wealth, highly esteemed among the Carthaginians, advan- 
 tages of, 165; Incorrect notions respecting, 166; The 
 labour of Sunday tends not to, 98 ; Advantages of, to 
 men holding public stations, 1/1. 
 
 Wealthy people, live longer than the indigent, 228 ; More 
 numerous in large states than in small ones, 200. 
 
 Weaving, the Carthaginians excelled in, 131. 
 
 Weights and measures, 78 ; Should be uniform through- 
 out the country, 80. 
 
 Wesley, Rev. John, condemned the use of many words in 
 buying and selling, 238. 
 
316 INDEX. 
 
 Wife, a prudent, should know how to keep the family 
 accounts, 170; A good one described in the last chap- 
 ter of Proverbs, 132. 
 
 Wine, not produced in Egypt, 10; Not generally drank 
 by the Egyptians, 19. 
 
 Women, the dress of the ancient Egyptian, 20 ; Managed 
 all matters of trade, 36; Wore jewels of silver and 
 gold, 32; Phoenician, an Egyptian man would not 
 kiss one, 43 ; Israelitish borrowed their ornaments from 
 the Egyptian women, 32; Wove coverings for the 
 tabernacle in the wilderness, 133; In the days of Solo- 
 mon, decked their beds with tapestry and fine linen of 
 Egypt, 13; Ancient, were all weavers, 131 ; The legal 
 name of an unmarried one is spinster, 132 ; Roman, 
 were fond of silk dresses, 270 ; Live longer than men, 
 227 ; Their longevity promoted by talking, 229. 
 
 Wool, the exportation of, prohibited at Athens, 59. 
 
 World, happiness of, promoted by commerce, 4, 43. 
 
 Writing, plain, necessary in commercial correspondence, 
 239. 
 
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