Haran and Cane, and Eden, and the merchants of Sheba,
Assyrians and Chilmedians dealt with thee;
They dealt with thee in costly clothes,
In blue and embroidered mantles,
With store of clothes
Which, bound up with cords,
They brought to thy mart.
But the ships of Tarshish were chief in thy mart,
(By them) thou wast filled with treasures and renowned in the midst of the seas.”—Ezek. xxvii.
“A splendid, but not an exaggerated picture,” said Myron, “of the commerce of Tyre. Yet with all its luxury and splendour it was so little to my taste, that I left it and went to [Damascus]. But how, Helon, shall I describe to thee this eye of the east, this terrestrial Elysium? Imagine a lovely plain, fruitful, well watered, full of trees and meadows, bordered on both sides by hills, but at a considerable distance; by Antilibanus on the one hand, and the Arabian chain on the other. From Antilibanus descends a stream which is called Chrysorrhoas; on entering the plain it divides into three branches, of which the principal flows straight towards Damascus, and separating its amber waters into a multitude of little streams, refreshes every street of the city. Reuniting below the city with the other two branches, they all form a lake of great extent on the eastern verge of the plain. In the red soil of which this plain is composed, every variety of fruit-tree grows in greater perfection than elsewhere. The city itself is one of the oldest in the world. I had passed my time there most happily, and nothing would have drawn me from it so soon but your friendly invitation. I have been waiting here for you since yesterday.”