OF THE UNIVERSE. ROMAN EMPIRE. 185 



Senate. The Lagidse had previously given examples of a 

 similar kind. 



Whilst the Eoman empire extended westward to the ex- 

 tremity of the old Continent (at least on the northern side 

 of the Mediterranean), its eastern limit, under Trajan, who 

 navigated the Tigris, reached only to the meridian of the 

 Persian Gulf. It was in this direction that, at the 

 period we are describing, the greatest intercourse between 

 different nations took place in a shape very conducive to the 

 progress of geography, viz. that of commerce by land. 

 After the fall of the Greco-Bactrian empire, the rising and 

 flourishing power of the Arsacides favoured intercourse with 

 the Seres ; but to the Romans this communication was only 

 an indirect one, their immediate contact with the interior of 

 Asia being impeded by the active carrying trade of the Par- 

 thians. Movements which proceeded from the most distant 

 parts of China produced sudden and violent, though not per- 

 manent, changes in the political state of the vast range of 

 country, winch extends from the Thian-schan mountains to 

 the Kuen-lun, the chain of Northern Thibet. During the 

 reigns of the Eoman emperors Vespasian and Domitian, a 

 Chinese military expedition overran and oppressed the 

 Hiungnu country, rendered tributary the little kingdoms of 

 Khotan and Kashgar, and carried its victorious arms as far 

 as the eastern coast of the Caspian. This was ttie great 

 expedition led by the military commander Pantschab, under 

 the Emperor Mingti of the dynasty of the Han. Chinese 

 writers even ascribe to this adventurous and fortunate leader, 

 cotemporaneous with Vespasian and Domitian, a grander 

 plan ; they assert that he designed to attack the empire of the 

 Eomans (Tathsin) ; but that the advice of the Persians in- 

 duced him. to change his purpose ( 28G ) . Thus there arose con- 



