CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA.

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were circumscribed within very narrow limits, SECand that under the Ptolemies no considerable pro- I,gress was made rn the discovery of India".

Erom this monopoly oi the commerce by seabetween the east and west, which Egypt longenjoyed, it derived that extraordinary degree ofopulence and power for which it was conspicuous.

In modern times, acquainted with the vigilantand enterprising activity of commercial rivalship,there is hardly any circumstance in ancient storywhich.appears more surprising, than that the sove-reigns of Egypt- should have been permitted toengross this lucrative trade without competition,or any attempt to wrest it out of their hands>especially as the powerful monarchs of Syria might,from the Persian Gulf, have carried on an inter*course with the same parts of India, by a shorterand safer course of navigation. Different consider-ations seem to have induced them so tamely torelinquish all the obvious advantages of this com-merce. The kings of Egypt, by their attentionto maritime affairs, bad formed a powerful fleet,which gave them such decided command of thesea, that they could- have crushed with ease anyrival in trade. No commercial intercourse seemsever to have been carried on by sea betweenPersia and India. The Persians had such an insu-perable aversion to that element, or were so muchafraid of foreign invasion , that their monarchs(as I have already observed) obstructed the navi-. gation of the great rivers, which gave access to

" See NOTE XVU.

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