During the reign of King Solomon the Jews made an attempt to wrest from the Phoenicians at least a part of the world's trade. Solomon built ships and imported Phoenician sailors for his fleet. For a time it seemed as if the Israelites might become the rivals of their teachers in the art of navigation and in the mysteries of trade; but their peculiar religious customs in that early day proved a serious impediment to commercial ascendancy, as it rendered them incapable of that unreserved intercourse with strangers so essential in commerce. The monopoly of the sea, at least of the Mediterranean, passed to the Carthaginians, their descendants. The latter extended their navigation toward the west and north. They planted colonies and opened new harbors, and up to the time of the Punic wars kept almost the entire trade of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean in their hands. After the downfall of Carthage the control of the commerce of Southern Europe and Northern Africa descended to the Romans. When Rome became the capital of the world, it gathered the wealth and valuable productions of all its provinces. Under the consuls and the earlier emperors the vigilance of the Roman magistrates and the spirit of the Roman government gave every possible security to commerce and prevented for a time the rise of monopoly. Nowhere was national union so complete or commercial intercourse so perfect as in the Roman empire. The intelligence and the power of Rome stimulated and regulated the industry of her people and permitted them to enjoy the fruits of their efforts without public or private restrictions. We have seen that the intercourse of Rome and her provinces was facilitated by the construction of roads and the establishment of imperial posts. During the decline of the empire the maintenance of these posts led, however, to a grave abuse. We are informed by Gibbon in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire":