112 ORIGIN AND DECLINE OF THE 



knowledge by Jc2^6*, according to Claudian, who 

 wrote in the fifth century, and who says : 



-Jam frujiibus aptuni 



Mquor, et assuetnm sylvis delphina videbo : 

 Jam cochleis homines junctos, et quidquid inane 

 Nutrit JuDAlcis, quae pingitur India, velis. 



From this it appears, that in his time the Romans 

 adorned their houses with tapestries, worked by 

 Jezvs, and representing all the wild and monstrous 

 figures of Hindu mythology, such as men growing 

 out of shells. This is an obvious allusion to 'San- 

 c'ha'sura, and his tribe hving in shells, and peeping 

 out of them in Shane ha-dwtpa or Zangh-Bar. 



In the year 5W) a king of the Hemiarkes in At^a- 

 bia, called Al-Mondar, a general name for the kings 

 of that tribe, and generally residing at Hirah, invaded 

 Si/ria ; and the Roman exarchs, or Governors, were 

 obliged to fly to India for shelter, and certainly by 

 sea, as the Romans were at war with the Persians* 

 and probably they found no other means of escaping, 

 but by getting on board of some ship just going to 

 sail for India. 



There were at Rome augurs, and diviners from all 

 nations, but mostly from Chaldea. There were some 

 from Armenia, Egypt, and even a few Jews, and 

 particularly women from that nation. There were 

 also astrologers, says Juvenal,'!' from Phrygia 

 and India; and none but very rich people employed 

 these, and this was about the middle of the first 



Du Fresnoy Cbronolog. A. D. 52p. 

 Sat. vi. V. 584 and 549. 



