Now, As
The Roman Historians Are Diffuse In The Accounts They Give Of The Wars Of
The Romans, But Take
No notice of their commercial transactions, we may
safely conclude, from their not mentioning any maritime wars, or
expeditions of
A date so early as these coins, that the ships at that
period preserved by the Romans, and deemed of such consequence as to be
struck on their coins, were employed for the purposes of commerce.
The Tuscans and the Grecian colonies in the south of Italy, certainly had
made great progress in commerce at an early period; and as, - if their
example did not stimulate the Romans to enterprises of the same kind, - the
Romans, at least when they conquered them, became possessed of the commerce
which they then enjoyed, it will be proper to take a brief view of it.
If we may credit the ancient historians, the Etrurians or Tyrrhenians, even
before the reign of Minos, had been for a long time masters of the greatest
part of the Mediterranean Sea, and had given their name to the Tyrrhenian
Sea, upon which they were situate. Piracy, as well as commerce, was
followed by them; and they became at last so expert, successful, and
dangerous, for their piracies, that they were attacked, and their maritime
power greatly abridged, by the Carthaginians and the Sicilians. Their most
famous port was Luna, which was situated on the Macra, a river which,
flowing from the Apennines, divided Liguria from Etruria, and fell into the
Tyrrhenian Sea.
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