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 StevensonKerr, Robert
History
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
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
his war against them. As there was no passage into the interior of this
part of Gaul, except either through the Rhone or this canal, the
Marseillians, who were now masters of both, enriched themselves
considerably, partly by the traffic they carried on, and partly by the
duties they levied on all goods which were sent up the canal and the river.
In the civil war between Pompey and Cæsar, they took part with the former,
who, in return, gave them all the territory on the western bank of the
Rhone. Cæsar, exasperated at their hostility towards him, and at their
ingratitude (for he, on the conquest of Gaul, had enlarged their
territories, and augmented their revenues), blocked up their port by sea
and land, and soon obliged them to surrender. He stripped their arsenals of
arms, and obliged them to deliver up all their ships, as well as deprived
them of the colonies and towns that were under their dominion.
The Marseillians, in the pursuit of commerce, made several voyages to
distant, and, till then, unknown parts of the world: of these, the voyage
of Pytheas, the extent, direction, and discoveries of which we have already
investigated, was the most remarkable and celebrated. Euthymenes, another
Marseillian navigator, is said to have advanced to the south, beyond the
line; but little credit seems due to the very imperfect accounts which we
possess of his voyage. The Marseillians also planted several colonies on
the coasts of Gaul, Italy, and Spain, viz. Nicæa, Antipolis (Antibes,) Telo
Martius (Toulon,) &c.
Arelas (Arles) was also a place of some trade, and celebrated for its
manufactures, especially its embroidery, and its curious and rich works in
gold and silver. It was at this place that Cæsar built, in the short period
of thirty days, the twelve galleys which he used in blocking up the port of
Marseilles; and he manned them with its inhabitants;--a proof, as Huet
observes, that they were well versed in maritime affairs at this time.
Narbo Marcius (Narbonne) was founded by Marius: it soon became, according
to Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, a place of very great trade. The British
tin, besides other articles, was brought by land-carriage through the
centre of Gaul, and exported, either from it or Marseilles, to the
different countries on the Mediterranean. It derived great importance and
wealth, from its being a convenient place of rest and refreshment for the
Roman troops, as they passed from the Pyrennees to the Alps, or from the
Alps to the Pyrennees. Its harbour was crowded with ships from Africa,
Spain, Italy, &c.; but, in the latter ages of the Roman Empire, it fell
into decay, principally in consequence of the course of the river being
changed, so that it no longer ran through it. The Romans endeavoured to
supply this misfortune, by cutting a canal to the sea, the traces and
remains of which are still visible.
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