ade and navigation fell into the hands of the
Emperor Augustus, in whose time Alexandria was little inferior to
Rome; and the magazines of the capital of the world were supplied with
merchandise from the capital of Egypt. Alexandria, however, at last
underwent the fate of Tyre and Carthage, being surprised by the
Saracens, who overran the northern parts of Africa; and though it
continued, for a while, to enjoy a considerable portion of the
commerce of the Christian merchants, it afterwards remained in a
languishing condition: but still, even at this day, it is a place of
considerable trade.

Who were the Saracens?

A Mahommedan nation, occupying a portion of what is now called Arabia.
They extended their conquests over a large portion of Asia, northern
Africa, and Spain. Their name is derived from the word _Sara_, a
desert.

What effect had the Fall of the Roman Empire on Navigation?

The fall of the Roman empire not only drew along with it its learning
and the polite arts, but also the art of navigation; the Barbarians,
into whose hands the empire fell, contenting themselves with enjoying
the spoils of those whom they had conquered, without seeking to follow
their example in the cultivation of those arts and that learning which
had rendered Rome and its empire so famous.

What other people, about this period, distinguished themselves in the
art of Navigation?

The Saracens or Arabians, whose fleets now rode triumphant in the
Mediterranean; they had taken possession of Cyprus, Rhodes, and many
of the Grecian islands, and extended their commerce and their
discoveries in the East, far beyond the utmost knowledge of their
ancestors.

What other circumstance also prevented commercial intercourse from
ceasing altogether?

Constantinople, though often threatened by the fierce invaders, who
spread desolation over Europe, was so fortunate as to escape their
destructive rage. In this city, the knowledge of ancient arts and
discoveries was preserved; and commerce continued to flourish there,
when it was almost extinct in every other part of Europe.

_Desolation_, destruction, ruin.

Did the citizens of Constantinople confine their trade to the Islands
of the Archipelago, and the adjacent coast of Asia?

No, they took a wider range; and, following the course which the
ancients had marked out, imported the productions of the East Indies
from Alexandria. When Egypt was torn from the Roman Empire by the