History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 1 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

Immense demand at Rome for the luxuries of the East, and the enormous prices paid for them.

The products of India were at no period sought after with greater avidity than when Rome became mistress of the world. Tyre, in the plenitude of her power, or Babylon in her greatest magnificence, were, compared with Rome, moderate in their expenditure upon luxuries. It was this extravagance which led Pliny to make the complaint to which we have just referred, of the drain of precious metals to the East; in itself just, because they were sent to purchase articles of luxury as expensive as they were superfluous, instead of necessaries and raw materials capable of conversion for the wants of the people, or of re-exportation to other countries. Enriched by the spoil and tribute of nearly every portion of the then known world, the inhabitants of Rome had acquired a taste for every kind of luxury, and had resolved to obtain it, regardless of the cost. Whatever was rare commanded fabulous prices. To supply their demands, new and extraordinary efforts became necessary to obtain from the East the articles they required. Silks, precious stones, and pearls, were eagerly sought after, but spices and aromatics were even greater objects of solicitude. Fortunes expended upon frankincense had, they thought, the combined effect of raising them in the estimation of their neighbours, and of securing the favour and friendship of the gods. The greatest extravagance was displayed on the funeral pile, which, as well as the body about to be consumed by the flames, was frequently covered with the most costly spices. Nero is reported to have burnt at the funeral of his wife Poppæa, a quantity of cinnamon and cassia greater than the countries from which it was imported were capable of producing in one year;[237] and two hundred and ten burdens of spices are said to have been strewed upon the pile which consumed to ashes the body of Sylla.

Among the precious jewels brought from the East, pearls were most in demand, and for the finest and rarest of these the most extraordinary prices were given. Julius Cæsar is said to have presented the mother of Brutus with one for which he had paid 48,457l.; and if we may credit the statement of Pliny, the famous pearl earrings of Cleopatra were valued at 161,458l. sterling.[238] That silk was an article greatly prized is not a matter for wonder, when we consider the variety of elegant fabrics into which it may be fashioned, and how much it must have added to the splendour of dress so eagerly sought after by the luxurious inhabitants of Rome. Its price was so exorbitant that women of eminent rank and opulence alone could afford to use it; but this did not render the demand for it less eager. Contrary to what usually happens in the ordinary operations of trade, an increased demand for it had not the effect of increasing the quantity imported to a sufficient extent to materially reduce the price, for in the reign of Aurelian, more than two hundred and fifty years from the time of its being first introduced into Rome, silk continued to be valued at its weight in gold. No doubt this arose in a great measure from the fact that the merchants of Alexandria, by whom the silk was imported, had no direct intercourse with China, the only country in which the silkworm was then reared, while the place of production was too remote, and the means of increasing the supply then too limited, to meet the greatly increasing demand.

Imports and exports to and from Pattala.

Arrian[239] has left the fullest information now obtainable with reference to the commodities in his time, which constituted the chief articles of commercial intercourse between Europe and India. Pattala, on the river Indus, was then the first mart for the vessels arriving from Egypt, and from Leuke Kome. He states that the outward cargoes consisted of woollen cloth of a light fabric, linen in chequer work, glass vessels, wine, and aromatics of a sort unknown in India, besides some precious stones, wrought silver, coral, borax, and specie. For these were received cotton cloths, silk thread, and silk stuffs of different sorts, black pepper, sapphires, and other gems, as well as various kinds of spices.

Barygaza or Baroach.

Musiris.

Barygaza, on the same coast, soon, however, became a more important mart than Pattala; and, by the minute description Arrian has given of its position, that port would seem to correspond with Baroach, on the great river Nerbudda, by means of which it had navigable communication for many hundred miles into the rich interior of India. The articles of import and export were much more various and abundant at Barygaza than at Pattala. Besides those already mentioned, Arrian enumerates among the former, Italian, Greek, and Arabian wines, brass, tin, lead, girdles or sashes of curious textures, white glass, red arsenic, black lead, and gold and silver coin. Among the exports were the onyx and other gems, ivory, myrrh, various fabrics of cotton, both plain and ornamented with flowers, and pepper. At Musiris, the port Hippalus reached when he first took advantage of the monsoons, the articles imported were much the same as at Barygaza; but, as it lay nearer to the eastern parts of India, the commodities exported from it were more numerous and more valuable. Pearls are specified as being there obtainable in great abundance and of extraordinary beauty, besides a variety of silk stuffs, rich perfumes, tortoise-shell, different kinds of transparent gems, especially diamonds, and pepper of the best quality.

Cape Comorin.

Ceylon.