Note 1123 — Chapter XLIII · “PLUS UN PAYS PRODUIT DES POISSONS, PLUS IL PRODUIT D’HOMMES”
Reading edition
In 325 b.c. Chinese silks were sold in Greek markets (Werner, op. cit., Table III.), while by the first century b.c. there was a brisk trade in them with Rome, through Parthia. Cf. Pliny, N. H., XXIV. 8, and XXXIV. 41; Virgil, Georg., II. 121; Horace, Epod., VIII. 15; Mela, III. 7 “ ... pretiosis vestibus in omnes terræ partes mittere solebant,” and Seneca’s protest Ep. 90, “posse nos vestitos esse sine commercio Serico.” Pliny, XII. 41, estimates that for luxuries from China, India, and Arabia, Rome was paying annually over 100,000,000 sesterces.