l60 THE EARLY HISTORY OF SILK. 



fabrics. Silks of the imperial manufacture sold pro- 

 digiously high, and far exceeded even the exorbitant 

 prices foimerly fixed by the Emperor on foreign 

 commodities ; so that the price of silk per pound was 

 now six pieces of gold, being eight times more costly 

 than before the introduction of the insect into Rome. 

 This was the value of common colours, for the impe- 

 rial purple was quadruple that price ; so that the 

 propagating of the animal, which, in other circum- 

 stances, and under a patriotic sovereign, might have 

 been a boon to the empire, proved, under the sordid 

 Justinian, rather a curse. 



Things, however, could not long remain in this 

 state, for ways and means were found to convey the 

 Silkworm Moth to Greece and the Peloponnesus, 

 in whose genial climates they quickly increased; and 

 the sovereigns of these states, actuated by more 

 generous views, multiplied the growth of mulberry- 

 trees, extended the manufacture of silk, and soon 

 rendered their empire independent of those supplies 

 which they obtained through their mercantile inter- 

 course vi'ith Persia. 



In the middle of the sixth century the Turks 

 established themselves in Asia, and their fi-equent 

 subsequent wars had tended greatly to impede the 

 traffic carried on betwixt China and Persia, through 

 the caravans, consequently, silk in Persia had as- 

 sumed a high value from its scarcity. 



After the establishment of the peace, Maniak, a 



