The Britons, however, certainly did not themselves engage much in the traffic with Gaul, and therefore could not require many vessels of either description for this purpose. From the earliest period, of which we have any record, till long after the invasion by Caesar, the commodities of Britain seem to have been exported by foreign ships, and the commodities given in exchange brought by these.
In our account of the commerce of the Phoenicians, their trade to Britain for tin has been described. Pliny, in his chapter on inventions and discoveries, states that this metal was first brought from the Cassiterides by Midacritus, but at what period, or of what nation he was, he does not inform us. This trade was so lucrative, that a participation in it was eagerly sought by all the commercial nations of the Mediterranean, and even by the Romans, who, as we have seen, were not at this period, much given to commerce. This is evident, by the well known fact, of one of their vessels endeavouring to follow the course of a Phoenician or Carthaginian vessel, in her voyage to Britain. The Greeks of Marseilles, according to Polybius, first followed, successfully, the course of the Phoenicians, and, about 200 years before Christ, began to share with them in the tin trade. Whether, at this period, they procured it exclusively by direct trade with Britain, is not known; but afterwards, as we have already mentioned, Marseilles became one of the principal depots for this metal, which was conveyed to it through Gaul, and exported thence by sea.
If we may believe Strabo, the Romans had visited Britain before it was invaded by Caesar, as he expressly mentions that Publius Crassus made a voyage thither: if he means P. Crassus the younger, he was one of Caesar's lieutenants in Gaul; and, as he was stationed in the district of the Vanni, it is not improbable that he passed from thence into Britain; or he may have been sent by Caesar, at the same time that Volusenus was sent, and for the same purpose.
However this may be, there was no regular intercourse between Britain and Rome till some time after Caesar's invasion; in the time of Tiberius, however, and probably earlier, the commerce of Britain was considerable. Strabo, who died at the beginning of that emperor's reign, informs us, that corn, cattle, gold, silver, tin, lead, hides, and dogs, were the commodities furnished by the Britons. The tin and lead, he adds, came from the Cassiterides. According to Camden, 800 vessels, laden with corn, were freighted annually to the continent; but this assertion rests on very doubtful authority, and cannot be credited if it applies to Britain, even very long after the Roman conquest. Though Strabo expressly mentions gold and silver among the exports, yet Caesar takes notice of neither; and Cicero, in his epistles, writing to his friend, respecting Britain, states, on the authority of his brother, who was there, that there were neither of these metals in the island. The dogs of Britain formed a very considerable and valuable article of export; they seem to have been known at Rome even before Caesar's expedition: the Romans employed them in hunting, and the Gauls in hunting and in their wars: they were of different species. Bears were also exported for the amphitheatres; but their exportation was not frequent till after the age of Augustus. Bridle ornaments, chains, amber, and glass ware, are enumerated by Strabo among the exports from Britain; but, according to other authors, they were imported into it. Baskets, toys made of bone, and oysters, were certainly among the exports; and, according to Solinus, gagates, or jet, of which Britain supplied a great deal of the best kind. Chalk was also, according to Martial, an article of export: there seems to have been British merchants whose sole employment was the exportation of this commodity, as appears by an ancient inscription found in Zealand, and quoted by Whitaker, in his history of Manchester. This article was employed as a manure on the marshy land bordering on the Rhine. Pliny remarks that its effect on the land continued eighty years. The principal articles imported into Britain were copper and brass, and utensils made of these metals, earthen ware, salt, &c. The traffic was carried on partly by means of barter, and partly by pieces of brass and iron, unshaped, unstamped, and rated by weight. The duties paid in Gaul, on the imports and exports of Britain, formed, according to Strabo, the only tribute exacted from the latter country by the Romans in his time.
Of that part of Europe which lies to the north of Gaul, the Romans, at the period of which we are treating, knew little or nothing, though some indirect traffic was carried on with Germany. The feathers of the German geese were preferred to all others at Rome; and amber formed a most important article of traffic. This was found in great abundance on the Baltic shore of Germany: at first, it seems to have been carried the whole length of the continent, to the Veneti, who forwarded it to Rome. Afterwards, in consequence of the great demand for it there, and its high price, the Romans sent people expressly to purchase it in the north of Germany: and their land journies, in search of this article, first made them acquainted with the naval powers of the Baltic. The Estii, a German tribe, who inhabited the amber country, gathered and sold it to the Roman traders, and were astonished at the price they received for it. In Nero's time it was in such high request, that that emperor resolved to send Julianus, a knight, to procure it for him in large quantities: accordingly, a kind of embassy was formed, at the head of which he was placed. He set out from Carnuntum, a fortress on the banks of the Danube, and after travelling, according to Pliny, 600 miles, arrived at the amber coast. There he bought, or received as a present, for the emperor, 13,000 pounds weight, among which was one piece that weighed thirteen pounds. The whole of this immense quantity served for the decoration of one day, on which Nero gave an entertainment of gladiators. In the time of Theodoric, king of the Goths, the Estii sent that monarch a large quantity of amber, as the most likely present by means of which they could obtain his alliance. They informed the ambassadors, whom he sent with a letter acknowledging this present, that they were ignorant whence the amber came, but that it was thrown upon their coast by the sea, a fact which exactly agrees with what occurs at present.
Whether the Estii, with whom the Romans carried on this traffic, were a maritime nation, we are not informed; but there was another nation or tribe of Germans on the Baltic, of whose maritime character some notices are given. These were the Sitones, who, according to Tacitus, had powerful fleets; their ships were built with two prows, so as to steer at both ends, and prevent the necessity of putting about; their oars were not fixed, like those of the Mediterranean vessels, but loose, so that they could easily and quickly be shifted: they used no sails. The people of Taprobane (Ceylon)--the Byzantines, and, on some occasions, the Romans also, employed vessels, like those of the Sitones, which could be steered at both ends.
One of the most considerable revolutions in the maritime and commercial affairs of Rome, was brought about by the battle of Actium. The fleet of Anthony was composed chiefly of ships belonging to the Egyptians, Tyrians, and other nations of the east, and amounted, according to some accounts, to 200 sail, whereas the fleet of Augustus consisted of 400 sail. Other authors estimate them differently; but all agree that the ships of Anthony were much larger, stronger, and loftier, than those of Caesar: they were consequently more unwieldy. We have the express testimony of Plutarch, that it was principally this victory which convinced Caesar of the advantages and extraordinary use of the Liburnian ships; for though they had been employed before this time in the Roman fleet, yet they had never been so serviceable in any previous battle. Augustas, therefore, as well as most of the succeeding emperors of Rome, scarcely built any other ships but those according to the Liburnian model.
One of the first objects of Augustus, after he had obtained the empire, was to secure the command of the sea: he made use of the ships which he had captured from Anthony to keep the people of Gaul in subjection; and he cleared the Mediterranean of the pirates which infested it and obstructed commerce. He formed two fleets, one at Ravenna, and the other at Misenum; the former to command the eastern, the latter the western division of the Mediterranean: each of these had its own proper commanders, and to each was attached a body of several thousand mariners. Ravenna, situated on the Adriatic, about ten or twelve miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, was not a place of much consequence till the age of Augustus: that emperor, observing its advantages, formed at the distance of about three miles from the old town and nearer the sea, a capacious harbour, capable of containing 250 ships of war. The establishment was on a large and complete scale, consisting of arsenals, magazines, barracks, and houses for the ship-carpenters, &c.: the principal canal, which was also formed by Augustus, and took its name from him, carried the waters of the river through the middle of Ravenna to the entrance of the harbour. The city was rendered still stronger by art than nature had formed it. As early as the fifth or sixth centuries of the Christian era the port was converted, by the retreat of the sea, into dry ground, and a grove of pines grew where the Roman fleet had anchored.
Besides the principal ports of Ravenna and Misenum, Augustus stationed a very considerable force at Frejus, on the coast of Provence, forty ships in the Euxine, with 3000 soldiers; a fleet to preserve the communication between Gaul and Britain, another near Alexandria, and a great number of smaller vessels on the Rhine and the Danube. As soon as the Romans had constant and regular fleets, instead of the legionary soldiers, who used to fight at sea as well as at land, a separate band of soldiers were raised for the sea service, who were called Classiarii; but this service was reckoned less honourable than that of the legionary soldiers.
The period at which we are arrived seems a proper one to take a general view of the commerce of the Roman empire; though, in order to render this view more complete, it will be necessary in many instances to anticipate the transactions posterior to the reign of Augustus. We shall, therefore, in the first place, give a statement of the extent of the Roman empire when it had reached its utmost limits; secondly, an account of its roads and communications by land; and, lastly, an abstract of the principal imports into it, and the laws and finances, so far as they respect its commerce.