That Ptolemy Philadelphus Was Extremely Desirous To Improve The Navigation Of The Red Sea, Is Evident From His Having Built Myos Hormos, Or Rather Improved It, Because It Was More Convenient Than Arsinoe, On Account Of The Difficulty Of Navigating The Western Extremity Of That Sea:

He afterwards fixed on Berenice in preference to Myos Hormos, when the navigation and commerce on this sea was extended and improved, since Berenice being lower down, the navigation towards the straits was shorter, as well as attended with fewer difficulties and dangers.

But there is no evidence that his fleets, which sailed from Berenice, were destined for India, or even passed the Straits of Babelmandeb. It is, however, not meant to be asserted that no vessels passed these straits in the time of this Ptolemy. On the contrary, we know that his admiral, Timosthenes, passed the straits as low as Cerne, which is generally supposed to be Madagascar; but commerce, which in our times, directed by much superior skill and knowledge, as well as stimulated by a stronger spirit of enterprize and rivalship, and a more absorbing love of gain, immediately follows in the track of discovery, was then comparatively slow, languid, and timid as well as ignorant; so that it is not surprizing that it did not follow the track of Timosthenes. Ptolemy Philadelphus also pushed his discoveries by land as far as Meroc: he opened the route between Coptus and Berenice, establishing ports and opening wells; and from these and other circumstances he seems to have been actuated by a stronger wish to extend commerce, and to have formed more plans for this purpose, than any of his successors.

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