-232 A. D. 527—5^5- 



merites in Arabia Felix, now under vaflalage to the fovereign of Axu- 

 ma *. Both kings promifed to comply with Juftinian's requeft ; but 

 neither of them was able to perform what he promifed. 



I have obferved, that about the commencement of the Chriflian aera, 

 if not earlier, the merchants of India had taken a {hare of the carrying 

 trade to the weftward into their own hands f ; and they appear to have 

 tjow made themfelves mafters of the greatefl part of it. In their out- 

 ward voyages they generally called in at the ports of Perfia for the 

 chance of a nearer market, and they fcarcely ever failed of having their 

 whole cargoes bought up by the Perfian merchants. By this pre- 

 emption, and by having the command of the land carriage from the 

 country of the Seres, which could not eafily be conduced by any other 

 route than through their territories, there was almoft a monopoly, with 

 refpecl to the weftern nations, of India commodities and manufadures, 

 but more efpecially of filk, thrown into the hands of the Perfian merch- 

 ants, who fupplied the remoter nations at their own prices. Such being 

 the flate of the trade, the Axumites, who found themfelves generally 

 difappointed in obtaining filks, foon defifted from a fruitlefs competi- 

 tion ; and the luxurious Romans of Conftantinople were obliged to live 

 without filk, or to comply with the exorbitant demands of their Perfian 

 enemies. 



From this difiirefs, which, though it would have provoked the laughter 

 and the contempt of their ancefiiors, was felt and lamented as a real mis- 

 fortune by the fenators of the Roman empire, they were relieved in a 

 very extraordinary and unexpeded manner. Two Perfian monks, in- 

 fpired by religious zeal or curiofity, had traveled to Serinda %, the 

 country of the Seres, and lived in it long enough to make themfelves 

 mafi;ers of the whole procefs of the filk manufadare. On their return 

 to the weftward, inflead of communicating the knowlege to their own 

 countrymen, they proceeded to Conftantinople, induced perhaps by the 

 famenefs of their religion, and imparted to the emperor the fecret, hi- 

 therto fo well preferved by the Seres, that Ji/l was produced by a [pedes 

 ofzvorms, the eggs of which miglit be traniported with fafety, and pro- 

 pagated in his dominions. By the promife of a great reward they were 

 engaged to return to Serinda, whence they adlually brought off a quan- 

 tity of the filk-worms' eggs concealed in a hollow cane, and conveyed 

 them fafely to Conftantinople (a^. 552). The pretiouseggs were hatched 

 in the proper feafon by the warmth of a dunghill, and the worms pro- 

 duced from them were fed with the leaves of the mulberry tree, fpun 



• Nonnofus was alfo f-nt on a Cmilar errand to f A name apparently compounded of Seres and 



the Axumites, Homeritis, and Saracens. His Indi, the later of vvhirli was !;ivcn by tht Greeks 



own accoui.t of liis embalTy is abridged by Plio- and Romans to remote nations vvitli as httle pre- 



tiiis in Ills Dlblioiljeci:, p. 6, cil. i6i2. clfiun as Indian is _;ivi."i by modern Europeans. 



f Sec above, p. 194. 3 



