6. Bonds and bankers. — The bond {syngrapha) and the banker {trapezita, tarpessita [Plant.]) were Greek institutions, as their Greek names show {crvyypa(pri, T/jaTrefiri;? ; cf. Mt 25", Mk 11'°, and ||). In early Roman times a man's word was his bond. Contracts {sponsiones, stipulationes) were verbal, made in the presence of witnesses, and not written down. The whole system of credit had been elaborated by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period. The universality of the Greek language was accompanied by the Greek commercial system. The Romans readily adapted themselves to it. Syngrapha was used to indicate a bond, perinutatio a bill of exchange, and perscriptio a cheque or banker's draft. The men who engaged in financial operations were called negotiatores, and are origin- ally to be distinguished from the mereatores, merchant princes ; but in Imperial times the dis- tinction became obliterated. Two instances of the value of the negotiatores may be given. Cicero, in spite of his good government of the large pro- vince of Cilicia (the name included in his time Cilicia, Cilicia Tracheia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Pisidia, Isaurica, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and part of Galatia [Ramsay, Historical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, London, 1899, map opposite to p. 103]), was able to acquire about £18,000, whicli
he deposited at Ephesus on his return journey [Correspondence of M. T. Cicero, ed. R. Y. Tyrrell and L. C. Purser, 7 vols., Dublin, 1879-1901, vol. iii. p. xxxvi). If he had not been so anxious for a triumj)!! he could doubtless have entered Rome and cashed a cheque there. As it was, Pompey annexed Cicero's savings for the civil war. It is highly probable, also, that the great collections of the Pauline churches in the four provinces (Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, Ac 20, etc.) for tlie poor Christians at Jerusalem were conveyed there, not in coin, but in the form of bank drafts on Jerusalem. The risk of conveying large sums by land and sea was considerable.
7. Profits. — With regard to the profits made by Roman traders not much can be said. Friedliinder (Roman Life and Manners iinder the Early Empire, i. 305) estimates that modern proHts of European trade range between 10 per cent in Europe and 66 per cent in Japan, and is of opinion that Roman profits must have been still greater. The state of universal peace and the security of travel in the 1st cent, must certainly have con- duced to the quicker circulation of money and the expansion of trade.
8. Travel. — In modern times correspondence and advertisement play a much larger part than they did in ancient times. If even we, however, have been unable to dispense with the personal inter- view (and indeed German foreign trade has been built up mainly by the persuasiveness and resource of German commercial travellers), in the 1st cent, it played an important part. The merchant prince himself made long journeys by sea and land from end to end of the Empire to sell his wares. Horace makes several allusions to the hardship of constant travel undergone by them in the pursuit of wealth (Carm. I. i. 15-16, xxxi. 10-11, III. xxiv. 39-40, Serm. I. i. 4-6, 16-17, Ep. I. i. 45, xvi. 71, Ars Poet. 117). The mercator seems to have impressed him as one of the greatest of fools. Other authorities are in accord with him as to the daring and tireless activity of the class.
One or two specimen voyages may be referred to in illustration. The best known case is that of a merchant Flavins Zeuxis of Hierapolis in Phrygia, an inland city, be it observed, who voyaged from Asia to Rome seventy-two times (CIG, 3920), taking the dangerous route by the south of the Peloponnese on each occasion, instead of the easier method of trans-shipment over the Isthmus of Corinth. A certain Gains Octavius Agathopus at Puteoli mentions that place as his final home after many wearisome journeys East and West (CIL x. 2792). The Black Sea ports, Britain, and Ireland were known to such traders. The love of Christ led St. Paul to take the same risks as the merchants took for less worthy motives. Besides the classic account of the gieat voyage in Ac 27, we learn from 2 Co ll'^"-^ which of course ante- dates, and does not post-date, as Pelagius imagined, the narrative in Acts, that St. Paul had suflered shipwreck three times, and had spent a night and a day in the deep, also that he had been in perils in (on) the sea.
9. Merchant ships. — There were, of course, various kinds of merchant vessels. There were the heavy merchantmen, or onerariee naves, the ponto and the corbita, of which the first appears to have been Gallic in origin (cf. Cses. de Bell. Ciu. III. xxix. 3, xl. 5). A mosaic found in the province of Africa shows us a ponto with a mainmast and a square sail, and with a foremast which appears to be dipped ; it is also provided with long planks (wales) outside the bulwarks on either side, to protect the steering paddles. The stern is sharply pointed. The corbitn, or basket-shaped vessel (from corbis, ' basket '), was, as its name indicates.
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a iiivich ilumpier structure and a verj- heavy craft. These two kinds of vessel woulci of course be more useful for river tratlic. Lijjliter craft, more s\iit- ahle for the open sea, were llie actuann (from tiqo) and mijopuro. They are represented in the mosaic referred to as having' a sinj;le mast and oars in addition to sail. Tliey were designed for rapid rowinj;, and had a bank of oars, numberinj; from ten to thirty. Their character made them useful as dispatch-boats, and we hear of them as also used by pirates. They, however, used i\\emyop(n-o (,ut'07rdpatv, from ^Os, ' rowing-boat,' and Trapwf, 'lightship') more frequently. Other craft which may be mentioned are the lishing-boat, very much like our own .salmon-coble, called horein, horicula, and carrying nets ; the stlntta, greater in breadth tlian in length, used for river traffic ; and ihecelox, a light rowing-boat.