376 Remarks on some lately -discovered Roman Gold Coins. [No. 5. 



tion, that not long afterwards a fleet of one hundred and twenty sail 

 was annually wafted by the assistance of the Monsoon from the Red 

 sea to the coast of Malabar, from which time a regular trade was esta- 

 blished between the ports of Egypt and the Red sea, and those of the 

 Western coast of India. 



From the death of Augustus to the elevation of Trajan to the Impe- 

 rial throne no important additions had been made to the limits of the 

 empire, with the exception of Britain. Trajan soon began to entertain 

 the idea of carrying the Roman arms to the East, and circumnavigating 

 the coast of Arabia, vainly hoped at length to reach the shores of 

 India : but the expedition was so far unsuccessful, and the death of 

 that Emperor soon after taking place, the project was entirely aban- 

 doned by his successor Hadrian. 



The attempt of Trajan, who died U7> A. D., was never repeated by 

 his successors, nor does there appear to have been any fresh acquisition 

 made to the knowledge hitherto obtained of the western part of India 

 until the reign of Justinian, when owing to the increase of the silk 

 trade, the rival power of the Persians sprang up ; the empire was even 

 then in its decline, and the traffic and consequently the dominion over 

 these seas being successfully disputed by a maritime people, the 

 Romans were soon compelled to share and finally to abandon the pro- 

 fits of their commercial dealings with India, which had hitherto been 

 crowned with such advantage and success. 



Even the information which the most celebrated writers of the first 

 and second centuries had obtained of India was most inaccurate and 

 imperfect, and Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny and others equally acknowledge 

 and regret the scanty materials which they possessed regarding the 

 true position and places of the Indian continent. Yet Cape Comorin 

 was even then celebrated for its pearl fisheries, and Ceylon, discovered 

 under the reign of the Emperor Claudius, had already sent an embassy 

 to Rome.* Indeed Arrian himself, who flourished in the second cen- 

 tury after Christ, and who might have been expected to have thrown 

 more light upon this subject than either his predecessors or contempo- 

 raries appears to dismiss the subject in a hasty and summary manner, 



* Pliny gives us the name of the Ambassador (Rachias) who was sent on this 

 occasion. Previous accounts of Ceylon, as found in the ancient writers, were entirely 

 fabulous and devoid of any correct information whatever. 



