of the world, and particularly in Afia Minor, in the ages we are speaking of at prefent. It is true, as I have just faid, that we are ignorant of the details and particulars. We can only judge from certain tracts difperfed in the writings of the hiftorians of antiquity.

What fable, for example, declares of Midas, King of Great Phrygia, that he turned into gold every thing he touched, must be understood, I think, of the skill of that prince to improve the productions of his country, and of his attention to make trade flourish there. Such was

the fource of the riches of this prince, fo boafted of in antiquity. May not one fay, by a metaphor, which is not too far fetched, that the effect of trade is to turn all into gold? This conjecture appears to me fo much the more probable, as Midas was particularly attached to the perfecting navigation. They fay he had invented the anchor which they used to ftop their fhips P. We alfo see that the Phrygians were looked upon, for fome time, as masters of the fea. None but trading nations could pretend to that fort of fuperiority.

The Phrygians alfo paffed in antiquity for the inventors of waggons with four wheels, fo commodious for carrying merchandise by land. I had forgot to mention, that an ancient tradition attributed to Demodice, wife of Midas, the invention of coining money f. We must then conclude, from all thefe facts, that the people of Great Phrygia were then much given to trade.

We might fay as much of thofe who inhabited the Leffer Phrygia. Trade must have been very flourishing in that country. Tantalus, who reigned there about the middle of the ages which now employ us, had been equally renowned as well for his riches as for his fordid avarice'. Mafter of a great treafure, he durft not touch it. His fon

• See Plin. 1. 33. fest. 15. p. 613. & 614. P Paufan. 1. 1. c. 4. p. 12.

q Syncell. p. 181.

r Plin. 1. 7. fe&t. 57. p. 415.

See Mezeriac. ad epift. Ovid. t. 2, p. 329.

Pollux, 1. 7. c. 6. §83. p. 1063.; Heraclid, in polit. verbo

Pelops made a better ufe of it. Obliged to renounce the throne of his father, and to fly his country, he went into Greece when Acrifius reigned in Argos. Pelops had brought great riches from Afia. That prince knew to disperse them he owed to

properly. They owed to him a degree of power that foon raised them above all the fovereigns of Greece, though at be that that time very poor and very indigent, trade being still un-him above known in that part of Europe.

I have nothing particular to say at this time on the commerce of the Lydians. We have seen in the first part of this work, that these people were addicted to trade in very early times". They continued it with fo much fuccefs, that Crofus, their last sovereign, was reputed the richest monarch in the universe.

It is alfo certain, that trade muft have been in great esteem in the kingdom of Troy. The riches of Priam do not permit us to doubt of it. The ftates of that prince were fituated very advantageously. They were extended over all the western coaft of the Hellefpont: the ifles of Tenedos and of Lefbos were even comprehended in them. The Trojans had known to profit by that happy fituation, to addict themselves to commerce and navigation. They had good ports and fkilful builders of fhips. Eneas and Antenor were able, even after the ruin of their country, to equip each a fleet, confiderable enough to look out for, and form new fettlements .

2

I know not whether we must put the Carians in the number of trading nations. The origin of these people is not otherwife known. It is only known, that they pretend to have inhabited, time immemorial, that province of Afia Minor, which, from their name, is called Caria. It appears, that the Carians frequented the fea very early. But it was not with a view to trade. They only did it to rob and pil

lage the coafts. This at leaft is the idea that ancient authors give us. We fee in effect, that under the reign of Cecrops the Carians came to make defcents, and to ravage the coaft of Attica. They infefted by their piracies the Egean fea before the time of Minos. They were even fettled in the Cyclades. If we believe Thucydides, Minos came there to drive them out. I fay, if we believe Thucydides, for Herodotus does not agree with that author about the manner in which Minos treated the Carians. He pretends, that the King of Crete did not drive them from the Cyclades ; they were permitted to stay there, on condition, that they joined a number of their veffels to the fleets which that prince fhould think proper to equip. Though it be thus properenay in these two narrations, it always refults, that the Carians were addicted to navigation in very early antiquity; but it is not feen that they applied equally to commerce.

Of the Greeks.

F the reader will call to mind what I have faid in the preceding books of the ancient state of Greece, he will eafily perceive, that commerce must have been unknown there for many ages. The first inhabitants of that part of Europe had no connection nor communication, and by confequence no traffic nor trade. Their best hiftorians agree in this. Nearly about the time of Abraham, fome colonies going out of Egypt paffed into Greece. These new migrations civilized the inhabitants a little, and communicated to them fome tinctures of the arts and fciences; but these first feeds were foon choaked ". Lafly, they faw fucceffively,

e See Thucyd. 1. 1. p. 6.

f Philocor. apud Strab. 1. 9. p. 609.

h Ibid.

i L.I. n. 171.

8 Thucyd. 1. 1. p. 4.

* See part 1. book 1. art. 5.; part 2. book 1. c. 4. & book 2. fe&t. 2. c. I.

1 See Thucyd. 1. 1. p. 2.

See fupra, b. 2. p. 173.

and

and at last, in the space of one age, Cecrops, Cadmus, Danaus, &c. come and form new eftablishments in Greece. These laft colonies fucceeded more happily than the first in polishing that country. Their chiefs fucceeded in perfuading the Greeks to addict themfelves to agriculture". From thence commerce was feen to fpring up among these people. Thefe facts are perfectly conformable to all that remains of ancient traditions. They teach us, that the cuftom of trafficking was not introduced into Greece till fome years after the arrival of Cadmus. It is to Bacchus, grandfon of this prince, that antiquity attributes the inftitution of all the rules relative to this object.

I faid in the first part of this work, that originally trade was only carried on by exchange, and that it was by eftimation they then regulated the price of the effects with which they would trade. We have there also seen, that the people were not long of perceiving the inconveniencies of that way of trading, and had fought for means to remedy it, and that fucceffively they had invented measures, then weights and fcales. I remarked, that they had afterwards introduced metals into commerce, as common figns and reprefentations of merchandife; and that in the firit times it was the weight which regulated the price; and that, laftly, they had found out the art of making money properly so called ». The hiftory of commerce among the Greeks, gives us a faithful image of thefe different gradations; but it is dif ficult to mark the epoch, and affign the time of the greatest part of thefe cuftoms.

It is certain, that the primitive manner of buying and felling by exchange originally had place in Greece. This manner of trafficking was ftill ufed at the time of the war of Troy. In the Odyffey, Minerva disguised in the figure of a stranger, fays, that the traded on the fea, and that the was going to Temefe to look for tin to exchange against iron. Exchange not only had place in trading by wholefale, but likewife in trading by retail. In the Iliad, many

fhips loaded with wine arrived from Lemnos at the Grecian camp; immediately the troops try to procure it, fome for tin, others for iron, thefe for fkins, and thofe for oxen. They even gave flaves .

In thefe paffages Homer does not fay, that they measured or weighed the goods with which they trafficked; but it must be understood. We fee in effect by other places of this poet, that measures and balances were then known. We must not therefore depend upon thofe authors, who would make Pheidon of Argos pafs for the inventor of weights and measures in Greece. That prince did not appear till fome time after Homer. I fhall entirely agree, that Pheidon found the art of perfecting weights and measures: that is the fentiment of many writers of antiquity ».

Although the manner of trafficking by exchange was still used at the time of the war of Troy, yet from that time metals were introduced into commerce. Homer often fpeaks of talents of gold. It appears plain enough, that in early times it was the weight that determined the value of metals among the Greeks, as well as among the ancient people. We might even say, that we find a proof of it in the etymology of the word talent, which was the fame with the Greeks as the French ideal livre, or livre of account. That term fignified originally in Greek balances, weights.

With refpect to money, it is almoft impoffible to be able to determine with precifion, the time the ufe of it was introduced into Greece. The ancients are divided as well about the epoch as about the author of that invention. Some give the honour to Erichthonius fourth King of Athens. This

"Plin. 1. 7. fect. 57. p. 414.; Eufeb. chron. 1. 2. p. 112.; Schol. Pindar, ad Olymp. od. 13.

See Marfh. p. 420.

y Syncell. p. 198.; Ifidor. orig. 1. 16. c. 24. This is what fhould be concluded from the manner they exprefs themselves about Pheidon. Herod, 1. 6. n. 127.; Strab. 1. 8. p. 549.

2 See Feith. antiq. Hom. 1. 2. c. 10. p. 201.

a See Hygin. fab. 274. p. 327.; Plin. 1. 7. fect. 57. p. 414.; Pollux, 1. 9. c. 6. p. 1063.