The Chief And Most Valuable Articles On Which, By This
Rescript, Duties Were To Be Levied, Were Cinnamon, Myrrh, Pepper, Ginger,
And Aromatics; Precious Stones; Parthian And Babylonian Leather; Cottons;
Silks, Raw And Manufactured:
Ebony, ivory, and eunuchs.
Till the reign of Justinian, the straits of the Bosphorus and Hellespont
were open to the freedom of trade, nothing being prohibited but the
exportation of arms for the service of the barbarians: but the avarice, or
the profusion of that emperor, stationed at each of the gates of
Constantinople a praetor, whose duty it was to levy a duty on all goods
brought into the city, while, on the other hand, heavy custom duties were
exacted on all vessels and merchandize that entered the harbour. This
emperor also exacted in a most rigorous manner, a duty in kind: which,
however, had existed long before his time: we allude to the annona, or
supply of corn for use of the army and capital. This was a grievous and
arbitrary exaction: rendered still more so "by the partial injustice of
weights and measures, and the expence and labour of distant carriage." In a
time of scarcity, Justinian ordered an extraordinary requisition of corn to
be levied on Thrace, Bithynia, and Phrygia; for which the proprietors, (as
Gibbon observes,) "after a wearisome journey, and a perilous navigation
received so inadequate a compensation, that they would have chosen the
alternative of delivering both the corn and price at the doors of their
granaries."
Having thus given a connected and general view of the Roman commerce, we
shall next proceed to investigate the progress of geographical knowledge
among them. In our chronological arrangement of this progress, incidental
and detached notices respecting their commerce will occur, which, though
they could not well be introduced in the general view, yet will serve to
render the picture of it more complete.
It is evident that the principal accessions to geographical knowledge among
the Romans, at least till their ambition was satinted, or nearly so, by
conquest, must have been derived from their military expeditions. It is
only towards the time of Augustus that we find men, whose sole object in
visiting foreign countries was to become acquainted with their state,
manners, &c.
Polybius is one of the earliest authors who give us a glimpse of the state
of geographical knowledge among the Romans, about the middle of the second
century before Christ, the period when he flourished. lie was the great
friend of Scipio, whom he accompanied in his expedition against Carthage.
From his enquiries while in Africa, he informed himself of the geography of
the northern parts of that quarter of the world; and he actually visited
the coast as far as Mount Atlas, or Cape Nun, beyond which, however, he
does not seem to have proceeded. He wrote a Periplus, or account of his
voyage, which is not in existence, but is referred to and quoted by Pliny.
He possessed also more accurate information of the western coasts of Europe
than was had before; derived, it would appear, from the voyages of some
Romans.
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