The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 02

by Unknown

This is exactly the state in which the navigation of the Phœnicians is first presented to our notice, in the time of Homer—the earliest period at which we catch an authentic glance at it from any definite accounts.

The Phœnicians at this period visited the Greek islands and the coasts of the continents as robbers, or merchants, according as circumstances offered. They came with trinkets, beads, and baubles, which they sold at a high price to the inexperienced and unwary Greeks; and they thus gained opportunities of kidnapping their boys and girls, whom they turned to good account in the Asiatic slave markets, or who were redeemed at heavy ransoms by their parents and countrymen. A most faithful and lively picture of the state of society in these respects is drawn by the Greek bard himself, in the narrative which he makes Eumæus relate of his birth and early adventures.

This kind of intercourse, however, could not last beyond the infancy of Grecian civilisation. As this advanced, and that people grew formidable upon the seas, and Athenian and Ionian squadrons covered the Mediterranean, it must of itself have assumed another shape, as piracy would no longer be tolerated. But notwithstanding this, the connection between Phœnicia and Greece, in the flourishing period of the latter, seems not to have continued so strong as might naturally have been expected. There is no trace of an active intercourse between Tyre and Athens, or Corinth; there is no vestige of commercial treaties, such as frequently were closed between Carthage and Rome. Commercial jealousy, common to both nations, in some measure accounts for this phenomenon. (How much less has the intercourse between England and France always been than it might have been, considering the situation and magnitude of the two kingdoms!) I trust, however, that the following observations will be deemed satisfactory upon this subject.

First. The principal source of trade among all great seafaring nations must ever be directed toward their colonies. It is only there that mutual exchange of commodities can be effected upon an extensive scale; all other sales are by retail, or in small quantities. The truth, which the experience of the greatest maritime states of modern times confirms beyond a doubt, was felt both by Phœnicians and Greeks: hence the chief commerce of both nations was confined to their colonies.

Secondly. The Greeks could the more easily abstain from purchasing of the Phœnicians as they could import nearly all the wares they required from their own colonies in Asia Minor, which maintained the same intercourse with the countries of inner Asia as Tyre and Sidon; and obtained and exported in a great degree the same Asiatic merchandise.

Thirdly. During the time of their greatest splendour, that is, from the commencement of the Persian wars, the Greeks were not only the rivals of the Phœnicians, but their declared political enemies. The hatred of the Phœnicians toward the Greeks is shown in nothing clearer than in their ready willingness to lend their fleets to the Persians; and in the active share they took in the Persian expeditions against the whole of Greece, or against the separate states. How, then, can it be expected, that under such circumstances a very lively or regular commerce could have existed between them?

The Phœnicians, however, still possessed the advantage of furnishing the Greeks with certain articles of the most costly description, in great demand, which they could not obtain from their own colonies, and the Phœnicians alone could supply. To these belong especially, perfumes and spices, which they imported from Arabia, and which were absolutely necessary to the Greeks in their sacrifices to the gods. They also supplied them with the manufactures of Tyre: its purple garments, its rich apparel, its jewels, trinkets, and other ornaments, which could be obtained nowhere else of such fine workmanship, or so decidedly in accordance with the prevailing fashion.

The same causes which limited the commerce of the Phœnicians with Greece tended also to diminish it with its colonies on the coast of Asia Minor and in Sicily. History has preserved us no express information upon this particular; but to the causes already cited there remains to be added the fact, that in proportion as the trade of the Phœnicians decreased in the western Mediterranean, that of the Carthaginians increased, till at length they possessed it almost exclusively.

When the first Phœnicians visited Spain, it is said they found silver there in such abundance, that they not only freighted their ships with it to the water’s edge, but made their common utensils, anchors not excepted, of this metal. Thus laden, they returned back to their native country, which lost no time in taking possession of this ancient Peru, and founding colonies there, whose name and situation we have already described.

When the Phœnicians first settled here, artificial mine works were quite unnecessary. The silver ore lay exposed to view, and they had only to make a slight incision to obtain it in abundance. The inhabitants themselves were so little acquainted with its value, that their commonest implements were composed of this metal. The demands of the Phœnicians, and their avidity to possess it, first taught them its worth; and it is probable that the arrival and settlement among them of these strangers, who could supply them with so many useful articles, in exchange for that upon which they set such little store, was to them a source of gratification. But when the stock they had in hand was exhausted, and the insatiable foreigners saw it necessary to open mines, the lot of the poor Iberians became truly pitiable. That the Spanish mines were worked by slaves is clear from Diodorus, who describes their wretched fate; and even though his statement may refer to the time of the Romans, there can be but little doubt that the same practice had long previously existed. Whether the natives were compelled to this labour we know not positively; but they scarcely could have escaped it altogether, though the extensive traffic of the Phœnicians in slaves would have rendered it easy for them to introduce sufficient hands from abroad. Even if only employed as free labourers, their lot was sufficiently hard. That, however, the mines in Spain were not worked merely by digging, is clear from Diodorus, whose relation of itself proves that shafts were opened, and the subterraneous water forced out by machines; even if the interesting allusion to mine works in the Book of Job should not be admitted as referring to the Phœnicians.