The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce 
bottomed Yefiels maintained 1 at the publick Expence on all 
the great Rivers that palled through the Empire for the 
tranipoiting Troops, and other requifite Services, as oc- 
cafion required. 
Whoever confiders this Diftribution of things attentively, 
will eafily difeern that there never was a Government in the 
World, the Peace and Profperity of which depended more 
immediately on the right Management of Maritime Affairs, 
than that of this Empire. But as it was very extenfive, 
and as an equal Care was neceffary for the preferving Order 
in every Part. of it, we need not wonder, that in Procefs of 
Time many Errors crept in, and a Multitude of Laws were 
made neceffary for remedying the Inconveniences they pro- 
duced, till by degrees the new Regulations claffiing with 
the old ones, occasioned greater Mifchiefs than all the reft, 
and joined to a Depravity of Manners among their Governors *, 
and 'the Invafionf from barbarous Nations, to which they 
were continually expofed, brought on their Ruin of an 
Empire, which was grown too bulky to be well managed. 
4. It is very certain, and we fhall quickly have an Op- 
portunity of making it evident, that fo long as the Greek 
Empire was in a fafe and flouriftiing Condition, the Sub- 
jects thereof had a general Correfpondence in the Eaft, and 
carried on a confiderable Commerce to the Indies by different 
Canals, It would take up too much Room to ftate a Mul- 
titude of Has from the Byzantine Hiftorians, which might 
eftabiifh this Affertion ; but that we may not leave this 
Part of our Hiftory lefs perfed than the reft, it feems rea- 
fonable to report feme few Inftances which may anfwer this 
Purpofe, and that too in a narrow Compafs. The learned 
Hiftorian Procopius , who has preferved a Multitude of 
curious Railages in refpeft to the Reign of the Emperor 
J liftman, in which he fiourilhed, has among the reft two 
very fingular Fads that fall in exactly with our Defign. 
He tells us, that this Emperor, who began his Reign A.D. 
52 8, and who had found away to grant Monopolies of almoft 
every fort of Commodity, except Silks, took the following 
Method of getting that likewife into his Hands. It feems, 
this Manufacture was carried on no where but in the Cities 
of Berytus and Pyre in Phoenicia , and Silks were of a Hid- 
den grown to a moft extravagant Price, which was faid to 
arifelrom the Covetoufnefs of the Perfian Monarch, who 
had impofed a heavy Duty upon Silks, which the Roman 
Merchants were obliged to pay for all they purchafed in his 
Dominions *, the Emperor finding this confidered as a great 
Hard & ip, publiihed an Edid, by which he pretended to 
fettle the Price of Silk at eight Crowns of Gold for a Pound, 
and threatened with Confirmation of their Goods fuch as 
fhould prefume to fell it deareV. 
This ruined the Merchants who dealt in that Commo- 
dity, who found themfelves obliged by this Law to fell 
Silk for lefs than it coft them ; and therefore they quitted 
Trade, and difpofed privately of all the Silk they had to 
Perfons they could confide in. The Emprefs Theodora , 
Having Intelligence of this, caufed all their Goods to be 
confifcated, and impofed a large Fine on them befides. By 
this Contrivance all the Silk in the Empire fell into her 
Hands ; and by the Affiftance of one Peter Berfamez , who 
was her Inftrument, file fold it out publickly at the Rate 
of fix Crowns an Ounce for that of an ordinary Dye * and 
the fuperfine Colours were fold at different Rates up to 
twenty-four Crowns an Ounce, all the Manufacturers work- 
ing for them. By this iniquitous Pra&ice the Emperor and 
Emprefs got immenfe Wealth, and Berfamez their Agent 
much more ; but in the mean time the Merchants of Con- 
jlantinople were ruined and undone, the Manufacturers at 
Berytus and Tyre reduced to abfolute Beggary, and Num- 
bers of induftrious Perfons forced to leave their Wives and 
Families in order to feek Employment in Perfia. 
This is a very curious Paffage, inafmuch as it ftiews us 
the State of the Silk Trade at that Time, the Places in 
which Silk was wrought up, and the Yalue of that Com- 
modity. But the fecond Article we fhall borrow from that 
Hiftorian is ftill more curious, becaufe it fhews how the 
Price of Silk was reduced, not only throughout the Greek 
Empire, but throughout all Europe . Before we come to 
this, however, it is requifite to obferve, that even in the 
midft of this Extortion there had been a Time when Silk 
was much dearer. For under the Reign of the Emperor 
4 
Book I. 
Aurelian Silk had been fold for its Weight in Gold 1 that is 
to fay, a Pound of one was weighed againft a Pound of the 
other , but as thefe Gold Crowns, or Aurei, as they are 
called in old Hiftorians, were made by dividing a Pound 
of Gold into one hundred Parts, it is plain, that the Em- 
prefs’s Agent fold Silk of common Colours for feventy-two 
Aurei, and Silk undyed perhaps cheaper. We may con- 
ceive from hence the Hardfhips that the Merchants were 
laid under by their being obliged to fell it for twelve Aurei, 
which confidering that they imported it from Perfia , and 
the Perfians at that time probably from India, it muft have 
come to them at a much dearer Rate. 
5. This exceflive Price of Silk, whatever temporary 
Mifchiefs it might produce, had a very good Effedt in the 
main ; for the Emperor perceiving that his Subjects were 
chiefly tied to a continual Trade with Perfia , for the fake 
of this Commodity, difeovered a great Defire to fee them 
freed from this Inconvenience ; upon which two Indian 
Monks, or rather two Monks that had travelled to the 
Indies , went to the Emperor, and told him, that they 
could very eafily fettle that Manufacture amongft his Sub- 
jects, fo as that they might never be under the Neceftity of 
dealing with any Strangers, much lefs with the Perfians , 
for that Commodity. This Silk, faid they, which is fo 
precious here, is in Serinda , the moft populous and moft 
civilized Country in the Indies, where we have fpent many 
Years, fpun by certain little Worms, which Xnftindt they 
receive from Nature. As for thefe Worms, it is impof- 
fible to tranlport them ; but their Eggs may be brought 
from thence without any Difficulty, and hatched here by 
giving them a certain Degree of Heat. 
Such were the Propofals made by the Monks to Juftinian , 
who readily clofed with them, making them great Pro- 
mifes, in cafe they were able to bring this Matter to bear, 
which without much Difficulty they did ; for returning to 
the Indies , they brought from thence a confiderable Quan- 
tity of the Eggs, nourifhing the Worms when' they came 
out with the Leaves of Mulberries ; and thus, fays my 
Author Procopius , was the Art of making Silk introduced 
into the Greek Empire. 
This Tranfadlion fell out A . D. 550, but it was a long 
time before it Ipread itfelf much beyond the Bounds of the 
Greek Empire •, for we find, that. A. D. 1130, Roger King 
of Sicily, having conquered a Part of Greece, brought over 
into his own Country the Art of managing Silk- Worms, 
which was quickly transferred from thence to Calabria , and 
other Parts of Italy, where it fiourilhed for fome Ages, 
before it was transferred to the Southern Parts of France , 
which the great Hiftorian Mezeray tells us, happened under 
the Reign of Francis the Firft, in which, however, he is 
miftaken ; for Lewis XI. A.D. 1470, introduced it into 
his Dominions, and fent for Perfons fkilful in the Art of 
managing Silk, not only from Genoa , Venice , and Flo- 
rence, but alfo from Greece *, and by his Letters Patent, 
dated in the Year 1480, granted them great Privileges. 
But the Price of this Commodity was ftill kept up at a great 
Height. 
Our Kijpg Henry VIII. who was a very magnificent 
Prince, wore commonly Woollen Hofe, unlefs by Chance 
he had a Pair of Silk from Spain. His Son Edward VI. 
had a Pair of Silk Stockings prefented him by Sir Thomas 
Grefham , which Prefent of his was much taken Notice of. 
Queen Elizabeth, in the third Year of her Reign, had a 
Pair of black knit Silk Stockings given her by Mrs. Mon- 
tague, and ffie never wore Worfted afterwards. In the 
Year 1600, Mr. William Lee , a Native of Nottingham , 
and educated in St. John’s College at Cambridge , invented 
the Art of Frame-work Knitting, which has been fince 
much improved. Having thus traced the Silk Manufac- 
ture from the Indies hither, we will now return to the pro- 
per Subject of this Section, and endeavour to make good 
what we have before afferted, that the Indian Commerce 
did not fuffer by this Change of the Seat of Empire. 
6. It appears clearly from hence, that under the Greek 
Emperors, Voyages to the Indies. were become more com- 
mon than in former times ; but we could fcarce have believed 
that fo many different kinds of Indian Commodities, and 
almoft from every Part of India, were common at Conftanti- 
nople. , if it were not verified to us by the publick Laws of the 
Empire, 
