Thus was the Arabian expedition of Augustus conceived with the same views as those of Semiramis, Cyrus, and Cambyses, deservedly as unhappy in its issue as these first had been.
That the African trade, moreover, was lost, appears from Strabo *[1], and his reasoning upon the voyage of Eudoxus, which he treats as a fable. But his reasoning proves just the contrary, and this voyage was one foundation for opening this trade again, and making this coast more perfectly known. This likewise appears clear from Ptolemy †[2], who, speaking of a promontory or cape opposite to Madagascar, on the coast of Africa, says it was inhabited by anthropophagi, or man-eaters, and that all beyond 8° south was unknown, and that this cape extended to and joined the continent of India ‡[3].
- Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98. † Ptol. lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 115. ‡ Ptol. lib. vii. cap. 3.
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