Note k — Chapter IX · [a] (continued 2)
Reading edition
The Amalfitans are thus described by William of Apulia, apud Muratori, Dissert. 30.
Urbs hæc dives opum, populoque referta videtur, Nulla magis locuples argento, vestibus, auro. Partibus innumeris ac plurimus urbe moratur Nauta, maris cœlique vias aperire peritus. Huc et Alexandri diversa feruntur ab urbe, Regis et Antiochi. Hæc [etiam?] freta plurima transit. Hic Arabes, Indi, Siculi noscuntur, et Afri. Hæc gens est totum prope nobilitata per orbem, Et mercanda ferens et amans mercata referre.
[There must be, I suspect, some exaggeration about the commerce and opulence of Amalfi, in the only age when she possessed any at all. The city could never have been considerable, as we may judge from its position immediately under a steep mountain; and what is still more material, has a very small port. According to our notions of trade, she could never have enjoyed much; the lines quoted from William of Apulia are to be taken as a poet's panegyric. It is of course a question of degree; Amalfi was no doubt a commercial republic to the extent of her capacity; but those who have ever been on the coast must be aware how limited that was. At present she has, I believe, no foreign trade at all. 1848.]