A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 / Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and / Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth / Century, By William Stevenson

by Robert Kerr; William Stevenson

Though it will carry us rather out of chronological order, it may be proper to notice in this place a second treaty of commerce between the Carthaginians and Romans, which was entered into about 333 years before Christ, during the consulship of Valerius Corvus, and Popilius Laenas. The Carthaginians came to Rome for the purpose of concluding this treaty: it differed in some particulars from the former, and was to the following effect. The Romans and their allies were to possess the friendship of the people of Carthage, the Tyrians, and the inhabitants of Utica, provided they carried on no hostilities against them, and did not trade beyond the fair promontory, Mastica and Tarseium. In case the Carthaginians should take any town in Italy, not under the jurisdiction of the Romans, they might plunder it, but after that they were to give it up to the Romans. Any captives taken in Italy, who in any Roman port should be challenged by the Romans as belonging to any state in amity with Rome, were to be immediately restored. The Romans, in case they put into the harbours of the Carthaginians, or their allies, to take in water or other necessaries, were not to be molested or injured; but they were not to carry on any commerce in Africa or Sardinia; nor even land on those coasts, except to purchase necessaries, and refit their ships: in such cases, only five days were allowed them, at the expiration of which they were to depart. But, in the towns of Sicily belonging to the Carthaginians, and even in the city of Carthage itself, the Romans were permitted to trade, enjoying the same rights and privileges as the Carthaginians; and, on the other hand, the Carthaginians were to be allowed to traffic in Rome on terms equally favourable.

It is not our intention, because it would be totally foreign to the object and nature of this work, to give a history of Carthage; but only to notice such events and transactions, supplied by its history, as are illustrative of the commercial enterprise of by far the most enterprising commercial nation of antiquity. In conformity to this plan, we shall briefly notice their first establishment in Spain, as it was from the mines of this country that they drew great wealth, and thus were enabled, not only to equip formidable fleets and armies, but also to extend their traffic very considerably.

The city of Cadiz, was founded by the Phoenicians, as well as Carthage; and as there was a close connection between most of the Phoenician colonies, it is probable that some time before the Carthaginians established themselves in Spain, they traded with the people of Cadiz: at any rate it is certain, that when the latter were hard pressed by the Spaniards, they applied to the Carthaginians for assistance: this was readily given, and being effectual, the Carthaginians embraced the opportunity, and the pretext thus afforded for establishing themselves in the part of Spain adjoining Cadiz. It is singular, however, that though the Carthaginians were in possession of Majorca and Minorca from so remote an antiquity, "that their first arrival there is prior to every thing related of them by any historian now extant," yet they do not seem to have established themselves on the main land of Spain till they assisted the people of Cadiz. With respect to the other foreign possessions of the Carthaginians, we have already seen that, at the period of their first treaty with the Romans, they occupied Sardinia and part of Sicily; and there are several passages in the ancient historians, particularly in Herodotus, which render it highly probable that they had establishments in Corsica about the same time. Malta and its dependent islands were first peopled by the Phoenicians, and seem afterwards to have fallen into the possession of the Carthaginians.

Of the particular voyages undertaken by the Carthaginians, for the purpose either of discovery or of commercial enterprise, we possess little information; as, however, these topics are most particularly within the scope of our work, it will be indispensable to detail all the information relating to them which can be collected. The voyages of Hamilcar or Himilco, as he is called by some historians, and of Hanno, are the most celebrated, or, rather, to speak more accurately, the only voyages of the Carthaginians of which we possess any details, either with regard to their object or consequences. Himilco, who was on officer in the navy of Carthage, was sent by the senate to explore the western coasts of Europe: a journal of his voyage, and an account of his discoveries, were, according to the custom of the nation, inscribed in the Carthaginian annals. But the only information respecting them which we now possess, is derived from the writings of the Latin poet Rufus Festus Avienus. This poet flourished under Theodosius, A.D. 450, translated the Phænomena of Aratus, and Dionysius's Description of the World, and also wrote an original poem, on the sea coasts. In the last he mentions Himilco, and intimates that he saw the original journal of his voyage in the Carthaginian annals. According to the account of Festus, the voyage of Himilco lasted four months, or rather he sailed for the space of four months, towards the north, and arrived at the isles Ostrymnides and the coast of Albion. In the extracts given by Avienus from the journal of Himilco, frequent mention is made of lead and tin, and of ships cased with leather (or, more probably, entirely made of that material, like the coracles still used by the Greenlanders, and even in Wales, for crossing small rivers). In these parts, he adds, the East Rymni lived, with whom the people of Tartessus and Carthage traded: we have given this appellation to the inhabitants of the isles Ostrymnides, because in the first part of the latter word, the Teutonic word, OEst, distinctly appears.

Hanno was sent by the senate to explore the western coast of Africa, and to establish Carthaginian colonies wherever he might deem it expedient or advantageous. He sailed from Carthage with a fleet of 60 vessels, each rowed with 50 oars, and had besides, a convoy containing 30,000 persons of both sexes. He wrote a relation of his voyage, a fragment of a Greek version of which is still remaining, and has lately been illustrated by the learning and ingenuity of Dr. Falconer of Bath: his voyage is also cited by Aristotle, Pomponius Mela, and Pliny. The era at which it was performed, and the extent of the voyage, have given rise to much discussion. Isaac Vossius fixes the date of it prior to the age of Homer: Vossius the father, subsequent to it: Wesseling doubts whether it was even prior to Herodotus. Campomanes fixes it about the 93d Olympiad: and Mr. Dodwell somewhere between the 92d and the 129th Olympiad. According to Pliny, Hanno and Himilco were contemporaries; the latter author mentions the commentaries of Hanno, but in such a manner as if he had not seen, and did not believe them.

With respect to the extent of his voyage along the western coast of Africa, some modern writers assert, without any authority, that he doubled the Cape of Good Hope: this assertion is made in direct unqualified terms by Mickle the translator of the Lusiad. Other writers limit the extent of his navigation to Cape Nun; while, according to other geographers, he sailed as far as Cape Three Points, on the coast of Guinea. That there should be any doubt on the subject appears surprising; for, as Dr. Vincent very justly remarks, we have Hanno's own authority to prove that he never was within 40 degrees of the Cape.

That the Carthaginians, before the voyage of Hanno, had discovered the Canary Islands, is rendered highly probable, from the accounts of Diodorus Siculus, and Aristotle: the former mentions a large, beautiful, and fertile island, to which the Carthaginians, in the event of any overwhelming disorder, had determined to remove their government; and Aristotle relates that they were attracted to a beautiful island in such numbers, that the senate were obliged to forbid any further emigration to it on pain of death.

The voyages of the Carthaginians were, from the situation of their territory, and the imperfect state of geography and navigation at that period, usually confined to the Mediterranean and to the western shores of Africa and Europe; but several years antecedent to the date usually assigned to the voyages of Himilco and Hanno, a voyage of discovery is said to have been accomplished by the king of a nation little given to maritime affairs. We allude to the voyage of Scylax, undertaken at the command of Darius the son of Hystaspes, about 550 years before Christ. There are several circumstances respecting this voyage which deserve attention or examination; the person who performed it, is said by Herodotus, (from whom we derive all our information on the subject), to have been a native of Caryandria, or at least an inhabitant of Asia Minor: he was therefore most probably a Greek: he was a geographer and mathematician of some eminence, and by some writers is supposed to have first invented geographical tables. According to Herodotus, Darius, after his Scythian expedition, in order to facilitate his design of conquest in the direction of India, resolved, in the first place, to make a discovery of that part of the world. For this purpose he built and fitted out a fleet at Cespatyrus, a city on the Indus, towards the upper part of the navigable course of that river. The ships, of course, first sailed to the mouth of the Indus, and during their passage the country on each side was explored. The directions given to Scylax were, after he entered the ocean, to steer to the westward, and thus return to Persia. Accordingly, he is said to have coasted from the mouth of the Indus to the Straits of Babelmandel, where he entered the Red Sea; and on the 30th month from his first embarking he landed at Egypt, at the same place from which Necho, king of that country, had despatched the Phoenicians to circumnavigate Africa. From Egypt, Scylax returned to Susa, where he gave Darius a full account of his expedition.

The reality of this voyage, or at least the accuracy of some of the particulars it records, has been doubted. Scylax describes the course of the Indus to the east; whereas it runs to the south-west. It is also worthy of remark, that as Darius, before the voyage of Scylax, was master of the Attock, Peukeli, and Multan, he needed no information respecting the route to India, as every conqueror has followed this very obvious and easy route. Dr. Vincent also objects to the authority of this voyage, or rather to the track assigned to it: "I cannot believe," he observes, "from the state of navigation in that age, that Scylax could perform a voyage round India, from which the bravest of Alexander's navigators shrunk, or that men who had explored the desert coast of Gadrosia, should be less daring than an experienced native of Caryandria. They returned with amazement from the sight of Mussenden and Ras-al-had, while Scylax succeeded without a difficulty upon record. But the obstacles to such a voyage are numerous; first, whether Pactzia be Peukeli, and Caspatyrus, Multan: secondly, if Darius were master of Multan, whether he could send a ship or a fleet down the sea, through tribes, where Alexander fought his way at every step: thirdly, whether Scylax had any knowledge of the Indian Ocean, the coast, or the monsoon: fourthly, if the coast of Gadrosia were friendly, which is doubtful, whether he could proceed along the coast of Arabia, which must be hostile from port to port: these and a variety of other difficulties which Nearchus experienced, from famine, from want of water, from the construction of his ships, and from the manners of the natives, must induce an incredulity in regard to the Persian account, whatever respect we may have to the fidelity of Herodotus."

Such are the objections urged by Dr. Vincent to the authority of this voyage. In some of the particular objections there may be considerable force; but with respect to the general ones, from the manners or hostility of the natives inhabiting the coasts along which the voyage was performed, they apply equally to the voyages of the Carthaginians along the western coasts of Africa and Europe, and indeed to all the voyages of discovery, or distant voyages of the ancients. It may be added, that according to Strabo, Posidonius disbelieved the whole history of Scylax. In the Geographi Minores of Hudson, a voyage ascribed to Scylax is published; but great doubts are justly entertained on the subject of its authenticity. Dodwell is decidedly against it. The Baron de Sainte Croix, in a dissertation read before the Academy of Inscriptions, defends the work which bears the name of Scylax as genuine. Dr. Vincent states one strong objection to its authenticity: mention is made in it of Dardanus, Rhetium, and Illium, in the Troad; whereas there is great doubt whether Rhetium was in existence in the time of the real Scylax: besides, it is remarkable that nothing is said respecting India in the treatise now extant. That the original and genuine work described India is, however, undoubted, on the authority of Aristotle, who mentions that there was such a person as Scylax, that he had been in India, and that his account of that country was extant in his (Aristotle's) time.