The citie of Alexandria.
Marueylous rychesse.
The gouernaunce and reuenues of the Romanes.
Trogloditica and India.
The gulfe of Arabia.
Ethiope.
Rych customs.
The rychesse whiche were brought in olde time from India and the redde sea.
The commission of Themperours Marcus and Comodus.
as are brought by lande, by reason of the ryuer of Nilus, whereby they may bee easely conueyed to Alexandria, beyng by these commodities the rychest citie of merchauntes that is in the worlde. The reuenues of Egypt are so great, that Marcus Tullius sayth in one of his orations, that kyng Pto- lomeus, surnamed Auleta, the father of queene Cleopatra, had of reuenues twelue thousande and fyue hundred talentes, whiche are seuen millions and a halfe of golde. If therefore this kyng had so great reuenues when Egypt was gouerned of so fewe and so negligently, what myght it then be woorth to the Romanes, by whom it was gouerned with great dili- gence, and theyr trade of merchaundies greatly increased by the trafficke of Trogloditica[1] and India: wheras in tyme past there coulde hardly be founde xx shyppes togeather that durst enter into the gulfe of Arabie, or shewe theyr prowesse without the mouth of the same. But at this present, great nauies sayle togeather into India, and to the furthest partes of Ethiope, from whence are brought many rich and pretious merchandies into Egypt, and are carried from thence into other countreys. And by this meanes are the customes re- doubled, aswel by such thynges as are brought thither, as also by suche as are caryed from thence, forasmuche as great customes aryse of thynges of great value. And that by this voyage infinite and pretious merchaundies were brought from the redde Sea and India, and those of dyuers other sortes then are knowen in our tyme, it appeareth by the fourth volume of the ciuile lawe, wherein is described the commission of Themperours Marcus and Commodus, with the rehearsall of all such stuffe and merchandies, wherof custome shoulde be payde in the redde sea, by suche as
1 The Troglodytes were so called from their practice of dwelling in caves; the name being derived from (
Greek characters), a cavern, and (Greek characters), to enter. They were located in various parts of the east; but their most considerable settlement, called Trogloditica, was on the western shores of the Red Sea, about the region of modern Abyssinia: ancient authors, however, differ as to the extent of their territory.
- ↑ 1
