Of The Grecian Colonies In The South Of Italy, That Of Tarentum Was The
Most Celebrated For Its Commerce.
Polybius expressly informs us, that
Tarentum, their principal city, was very prosperous and rich, long before
Rome made any figure, and that its prosperity and riches were entirely the
fruit of the extensive and lucrative trade they carried on, particularly
with Greece.
The city of Tarentum stood on a peninsula, and the citadel,
which was very strong, was built on the narrowest and extremest part of it;
on the east was a small bay, on the west the main sea; the harbour is
represented by ancient historians as extremely large, beautiful and
commodious. Its vicinity to Greece, Sicily, and Africa, afforded it great
opportunities and facilities for commerce. The inhabitants are represented
by some authors as having been the inventors of a particular kind of ship,
which retained in some degree the form of a raft or float. Their
government, which at first was aristocratical, was afterwards changed to a
democracy; and it is to this popular form of government that their
prosperity and wealth are ascribed. The number of people in the whole state
amounted to 300,000; Tarentum had twelve other cities under its dominion.
Besides a considerable fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, they had constantly
on foot a very large army, principally of mercenaries. Eighteen years
before the first Punic war, the Romans had entered into a maritime treaty
with the Tarentines; according to this treaty, neither party were to
navigate beyond the Cape of Lacinia. Soon afterwards, however, the Roman
fleet accidentally appearing near Tarentum, the inhabitants took the alarm,
sunk four of the ships, killed or took prisoners the commander and some
other officers, sold the seamen for slaves, and behaved with great
insolence to the ambassador whom the Romans sent to remonstrate and demand
satisfaction. They were soon, however, obliged to submit to the superior
power of the Romans. In the second Punic war, it was finally subdued, and a
Roman colony planted there.
The Spinetes, Liburnians, and Locrians, were also celebrated for their
skill in naval affairs, and for their commerce, before Rome manifested the
slightest wish to distinguish herself in this manner. Indeed, the situation
of Italy naturally turned the attention of its inhabitants (especially of
those who were early civilized, as the Tuscans, or those who had emigrated
from a civilized country, as the nations in the south of Italy,) to naval
affairs and maritime commerce. Washed by three seas, the Adriatic on the
north-east, the Tyrrhenian on the west, and the Ionian on the south, Italy
enjoyed advantages possessed by few nations of antiquity. Of the first of
these seas, the Spinetes became masters, of the second the Tuscans, and of
the third the Tarentines. The Spinetes, were originally Pelasgi, who had
emigrated and settled by chance rather than design, on the south banks of
the Po. Spina, their capital, was situated on the north side of the
southernmost mouth of that river.
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