This Is The More
To Be Lamented, As Pliny Informs Us That The Places Which Were Visited
During This Expedition Are Not To Be Found In Authors Previous To His Time.
Gallus was directed by the emperor to explore Ethiopia, the country of the
Troglodytae and Arabia.
The expedition against Ethiopia, which Gallus
entrusted to Petronius, we shall afterwards examine, confining ourselves at
present to the proceedings and progress of Gallus himself. His own force
consisted of 10,000 men, to which were added 500, supplied by Herod, king
of the Jews; and 1000 Nabathians from Petra; besides a fleet of eighty
ships of war and 130 transports. Syllaeus, the minister of the king of the
Nabathians, undertook to conduct the expedition; but as it was not for the
interest either of his king or country that it should succeed, he betrayed
his trust, and, according to Strabo, was executed at Rome for his treachery
on this occasion. His object was to delay the expedition as much as
possible: this he effected by persuading Gallus to prepare a fleet, which
was unnecessary, as the army might have followed the route of the caravans,
through a friendly country, from Cleopatris, where the expedition
commenced, to the head of the Elanitic Gulf. The troops, however, were
embarked, and, as the navigation of the Sea of Suez was intricate, the
fleet was fifteen days in arriving at Leuke Kome: here, in consequence of
the soldiers having become, during their voyage, afflicted with various
disorders, and the year being far advanced, Gallus was obliged to remain
till the spring. Another delay was contrived by Syllaeus on their leaving
Leuke Kome. After this, they seem to have proceeded with more celerity, and
with very little opposition from the natives, till they came to a city of
some strength: this they were obliged to besiege in regular form; but,
after lying before it for six days, Gallus was forced, for want of water,
to raise the siege, and to terminate the expedition. He was told that at
this time he was within two days' journey of the land of aromatics and
frankincense, the great object which Augustus had in view. On his retreat,
he no longer trusted to Syllaeus, but changed the route of the army,
directing it from the interior to the coast. At Nera, in Petraea, the army
embarked, and was eleven days in crossing the gulf to Myos Hormos: from
this place it traversed the country of the Troglodytes to Coptus, on the
Nile. Two years were spent in this unfortunate expedition. It is extremely
difficult to fix on the limit of this expedition, but it is probable that
the town which Gallus besieged, and beyond which he did not penetrate, was
the capital of the Mineans. From the time of this expedition, the Romans
always maintained a footing on the coast of the Red Sea; and either during
the residence of Gallus at Leuke Kome, or soon afterwards, they placed a
garrison in this place, where they collected the customs, gradually
extending their conquests and their geographical knowledge down the Gulf,
till they reached the ocean.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 186 of 524
Words from 96818 to 97341
of 273188
