This Is Evident, By The Well Known Fact, Of One Of Their Vessels
Endeavouring To Follow The Course Of A Phoenician Or Carthaginian Vessel,
In Her Voyage To Britain.
The Greeks of Marseilles, according to Polybius,
first followed, successfully, the course of the Phoenicians, and, about 200
years before Christ, began to share with them in the tin trade.
Whether, at
this period, they procured it exclusively by direct trade with Britain, is
not known; but afterwards, as we have already mentioned, Marseilles became
one of the principal depots for this metal, which was conveyed to it
through Gaul, and exported thence by sea.
If we may believe Strabo, the Romans had visited Britain before it was
invaded by Caesar, as he expressly mentions that Publius Crassus made a
voyage thither: if he means P. Crassus the younger, he was one of Caesar's
lieutenants in Gaul; and, as he was stationed in the district of the Vanni,
it is not improbable that he passed from thence into Britain; or he may
have been sent by Caesar, at the same time that Volusenus was sent, and for
the same purpose.
However this may be, there was no regular intercourse between Britain and
Rome till some time after Caesar's invasion; in the time of Tiberius,
however, and probably earlier, the commerce of Britain was considerable.
Strabo, who died at the beginning of that emperor's reign, informs us, that
corn, cattle, gold, silver, tin, lead, hides, and dogs, were the
commodities furnished by the Britons. The tin and lead, he adds, came from
the Cassiterides. According to Camden, 800 vessels, laden with corn, were
freighted annually to the continent; but this assertion rests on very
doubtful authority, and cannot be credited if it applies to Britain, even
very long after the Roman conquest. Though Strabo expressly mentions gold
and silver among the exports, yet Caesar takes notice of neither; and
Cicero, in his epistles, writing to his friend, respecting Britain, states,
on the authority of his brother, who was there, that there were neither of
these metals in the island. The dogs of Britain formed a very considerable
and valuable article of export; they seem to have been known at Rome even
before Caesar's expedition: the Romans employed them in hunting, and the
Gauls in hunting and in their wars: they were of different species. Bears
were also exported for the amphitheatres; but their exportation was not
frequent till after the age of Augustus. Bridle ornaments, chains, amber,
and glass ware, are enumerated by Strabo among the exports from Britain;
but, according to other authors, they were imported into it. Baskets, toys
made of bone, and oysters, were certainly among the exports; and, according
to Solinus, gagates, or jet, of which Britain supplied a great deal of the
best kind. Chalk was also, according to Martial, an article of export:
there seems to have been British merchants whose sole employment was the
exportation of this commodity, as appears by an ancient inscription found
in Zealand, and quoted by Whitaker, in his history of Manchester.
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