It Was Peculiarly Valuable To Them On Account Of Its Extreme
Fertility In Corn; And By This Circumstance It Seems
To have been
distinguished in very early times; for there can be no doubt that by its
being represented by
The poets as the favourite residence of the goddess
Ceres, the fertility of the island in corn, as well as its knowledge of
agriculture, were intended to be represented. When Gelon offered to unite
with the Greeks in their war with Xerxes, one of his proposals was that he
would furnish the whole Greek army with corn, during all the time of
hostilities, if they would appoint him commander of their forces. In the
latter period of the Roman republic, it became their principal dependence
for a regular supply of corn.
Sardinia seems to have been as little explored by and known to the
ancients, as it is to the moderns. The treaty between the Carthaginians and
Romans, the year after the expulsion of the Tarquins, proves that the
former nation possessed it at that time. Calaris, the present Cagliari, was
the principal town in it. From the epithet applied to it by Horace, in one
of his odes, _Opima_, it must have been much more fertile in former times
than it is at present; and Varro expressly calls it one of the granaries of
Rome. Its air, then, as at present, was in most parts very unwholsome; and
it is a remarkable circumstance that the character of the Sardi, who, after
the complete reduction of the island by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, were
brought to Rome in great numbers, and sold as slaves, and who were
proverbial for their worthlessness, is still to be traced in the present
inhabitants; for they are represented as extremely barbarous, and so
treacherous, and inhospitable, that they have been called the Malays of the
Mediterranean. The island of Corsica, which, indeed, generally followed the
fate of Sardinia, was another of the fruits of the first Punic war which
the Romans reaped, in some degree favourable to their commerce. It
possessed a large and convenient harbour, called Syracusium. The
Carthaginians must have reduced it at an early period, since, according to
Herodotus, the Cyrnians (the ancient name for the inhabitants), were one of
the nations that composed the vast army, with which they invaded Sicily in
the time of Gelon.
During the interval between the first and second Punic wars, the Roman
commerce seems to have been gradually, but slowly extending itself,
particularly in the Adriatic: we do not possess, however, any details on
the subject, except a decisive proof of the attention and protection which
the republic bestowed upon it, in repressing and punishing the piracies of
the Illyrians and Istrians. These people, who were very expert and
undaunted seamen, enriched themselves and their country by seizing and
plundering the merchant vessels which frequented the Adriatic and adjacent
Mediterranean sea; and their piracies were encouraged, rather than
restrained by their sovereigns. At the period to which we allude, they were
governed by a queen, named Teuta, who was a woman of a bold and
enterprising spirit: the Roman merchants, who traded, in the Adriatic, had
frequently been plundered and cruelly treated by her subjects; upon this,
the Roman senate sent two ambassadors to her, to insist that she should put
a stop to these measures. The Romans had also other grounds of complaint
against her and her subjects; for the latter extended their piracies to the
allies of Rome, as well as to the Romans themselves, and the former was at
that time besieging the island of Issa, in the Adriatic, which was under
the protection of the republic. The inhabitants of this island seem to have
been rather extensively engaged in commerce, and were celebrated for
building a kind of light ships, thence called _Issaei lembi_.
Teuta received and treated the Roman ambassadors with great scorn and
haughtiness; she promised, indeed, that she would no longer authorise the
piracies of her subjects; but, with regard to restraining them, she would
not do it, as they enjoyed a perfect and full right to benefit themselves
as much as possible, and in every way they could, by their skill and
superiority in maritime affairs. On the ambassadors' replying in rather
threatening language, she ordered one of them to be put to death.
For a short time Teuta was alarmed at the probable consequences of her
conduct, and endeavoured to avert them by submission; but, the Romans being
otherwise engaged, and she having experienced some successes over the
Acheans, her haughtiness and confidence revived, and she sent a fleet to
assist in the reduction of Issa. Upon this, the Romans resolved to act with
immediate vigour; and they had little difficulty in compelling Teuta to sue
for peace. It was granted to her, on condition that not more than three
ships of war should at any one time sail beyond Lyssus, on the frontier of
Macedonia, and that the islands of Corcyra, Issa, and Pharos, together with
Dyrrhachium should be given up to the Romans.
It was not, however, to be supposed that the Illyrians and Istrians, who
had been so long accustomed to piracy, and who in fact derived nearly all
their wealth from this source, would totally abstain from it. A few years
after this treaty of peace, they resumed their depredations, which they
carried on with so much audacity and disregard to the power of Rome, that
they even seized the ships that were laden with corn for Rome. As this
commerce was one of the greatest consequence to the Romans, in which the
Roman government, as well as individuals, principally embarked, and on the
regularity and safety of which the subsistence and tranquillity of the city
itself depended, the senate resolved to punish them more effectually; and
this resolution was strengthened by the Illyrians having broken the terms
of the peace by sending no fewer than 50 vessels of war beyond the
prescribed limits, as far as the Cyclades.
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