From
Thence The Goods Were Transported To The City Of Coptus, And Afterwards
To Alexandria, Which Became Rich And Famous,
Through its trade with India,
beyond any other city in the world; insomuch that it is asserted that the
customs
Of Alexandria yielded every year to Ptolemy Auletes, the father
of Cleopatra, seven millions and a half of gold, though the traffic had
then scarcely subsisted in that direction for twenty years[36]. After the
reduction of Egypt and Alexandria under the power of the Romans, the
customs are said to have advanced to double that amount; and the trade
was so great, that 120 ships used to be sent yearly from Myos-Hormos to
India. The ships set sail every year from Myos-Hormos about the middle of
July, and returned back within the year[37]. The merchandize they carried
amounted to the value of one million two hundred thousand crowns; and the
returns were an hundred for one; and through this prodigious increase of
wealth, the matrons and noble ladies of those days in Alexandria, were
exceedingly profuse in decorating themselves with purple, pearls, and
precious stones, and in the use of musk, amber, and other rich perfumes
of various kinds; of all which the historians and other writers of that
age treat at great length[38].
Pliny[39], on the authority of Cornelius Nepos, says that one Eudoxus,
flying from Ptolemy Lathyrus, passed by sea through the gulf of Arabia,
and sailing along the eastern coast of Africa, doubled the cape of Bona
Speranca arrived by the Atlantic at Cadiz; and it would appear that this
navigation was as often used in those days as it now is. Caius Caesar,
the son of Augustus, going into Arabia, found in the Red Sea certain
pieces of the ships which had gone thither from Spain.
Long after these days it was usual to pass to India by land. This was
done by the kings of the Sogdians, the princes of Bactria, and other
famous captains and many merchants, who travelled thither and into
Scythia by land. Marcus Paulus Venetus writes largely of these countries;
and though his book at first was reckoned fabulous, yet what he and
others have reported is now found true, by the experience of travellers,
and merchants who have since been to the same parts.
It is reported that the Romans sent an army by sea to India, against the
great khan of Cathaia, 200 years before the Incarnation; which, passing
through the Straits of Gibraltar, and running to the north-west, found
ten islands opposite to Cape Finisterre; producing large quantities of
tin, which perhaps may have been those afterwards called the Cassiterides.
Being come to 50 degrees of latitude, they found a strait passing to the
west, through which they arrived in India, and gave battle to the king of
Cathaia, after which they returned to Rome. Whether this story may appear
possible or not, true or false, I can only say that I give it as I found
it written in the histories of these times.
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