While writing springs from a natural feeling of the human mind and must have originated at a very remote

period, and while letters must be almost as old as travelling, the proper development of epistolary

correspondence depends on improvement in the method and the certainty of transmission. The desire to

write a letter grows weaker, when it is uncertain whether the letter will reach its destination and whether

others may open and read it. In the first century this condition was fulfilled better than ever before. It was

then easier and safer to send letters than it had been in earlier time. The civilised world, i.e. the Roman world,

was traversed constantly by messengers of government or by the letter-carriers of the great financial and

trading companies. Commercial undertakings on such a vast scale as the Roman needed frequent and

regular communication between the central offices in Rome and the agents in the various provinces. There

was no general postal service; but each trading company had its own staff of letter-carriers. Private persons

who had not letter-carriers of their own were often able to send letters along with those business

In the early Roman Empire travelling, though not rapid, was performed with an ease and certainty which

were quite remarkable. The provision for travelling by sea and by land was made on a great scale. Travellers

were going about in great numbers, chiefly during the summer months, occasionally even during the winter

season. Their purposes were varied, not merely commerce or government business, but also education,

curiosity, search for employment in many departments of life. It is true that to judge from some expressions

used in Roman literature by men of letters and moralists, travelling might seem not to have been popular.

Those writers occasionally speak as if travelling, especially by sea, were confined to traders who risked their

life to make money, and as if the dangers were so great that none but the reckless and greedy would incur

them; and the opinion is often expressed, especially by poets, that to adventure oneself on the sea is an

impious and unnatural act. The well-known words of Horace's third Ode are typical:--

Oak and brass of triple fold Encompassed sure that heart, which first made bold To the raging sea to trust A

fragile bark, nor feared the Afric gust;

Heaven's high providence in vain Has severed countries with the estranging main, If our vessels

ne'ertheless With reckless plunge that sacred bar transgress

But that point of view was traditional among the poets; it had been handed down from the time when

travelling was much more dangerous and difficult, when ships were small in size and fewer in numbers, when

seamanship and method were inferior, when few roads had been built, and travel even by land was

uncertain. Moreover, seafaring and land t ravel were hostile to the contentment, discipline, and quiet orderly

spirit which Greek poetry and philosophy, as a rule, loved to dwell on and to recommend: they tended to

encourage the spirit of self-confidence, self-assertiveness, daring and rebellion against authority, which was

called by Euripides "the sailors' lawlessness" (Hecuba, 602). In Roman literature the Greek models and the

Greek sentiments were looked up to as sacred and final; and those words of the Roman writers were a proof

of their bondage to their Greek masters in thought.

When we look deeper, we find that very different views were expressed by the writers who came more in

contact with the real facts of the Imperial world. They are full of admiration of the Imperial peace and its

fruits: the sea was covered with ships interchanging the products of different regions of the earth, wealth

was vastly increased, comfort and well-being improved, hill and valley covered with the dwellings of a

growing population: wars and pirates and robbers had been put an end to, travel was free and safe, all men

could journey where they wished, the most remote and lonely countries were opened up by roads and

bridges. It is the simple truth that travelling, whether for business or for pleasure, was contemplated and

performed under the Empire with an indifference, confidence, and, above all, certainty, which were unknown