154 THE EARLY HISTORY OF SILK. 



of Persia. In the furtherance of these views, an 

 alliance was entered into between the Persians and 

 Chinese, to the exclusion of the Turks, who, in their 

 turn, sought the aid of the Romans. They again 

 appointed Maniak as envoy to Persia, but that prince 

 had the mortification to find, at Constantinople, not 

 only the Silk Worm feeding in healthful vigour, but 

 also extensive manufactories established for weaving 

 different fabrics. He, however, had the address to 

 conceal the chagrin he must have experienced, and, 

 even with a degree of flattery, corresponding to that 

 of a more civilized prince in modern times, com- 

 plimented the Romans on the progress they had made, 

 and assured them their manufactures were equal in 

 quality to those of China, and their management and 

 culture of the worms were not less successful.* 



Although the culture of these insects turned out 

 as successful as possible, still a considerable number 

 of years elapsed before silk became a cheap article. 

 As a proof of this, we find that, in the year 790, the 

 Emperor Charlemagne considered silk as a gift 

 -worthy of royalty, for he presented Offa, King of 

 Mercia, with two vests made of that substance. 



About this time the Venetians opened a commer- 

 cial treaty with the Greeks, for the purpose of sup- 

 plying the west of Europe with silks, the manufacture 

 of that nation. 



It was well for Europe that the Silk Worm had 



See GIBBON'S Decline and Fall of the Roman Empin, 

 chap. xiii. 



