Chap, xi ] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 245 of Pliny, the use of pure or even of mixed silks was confined to the female sex, till the opulent citizens of Kome and the provinces were insensibly familiarized with the example of Elagabalus, the first who, by this effeminate habit, had sullied the dignity of an emperor and a man. Aurelian complained that a pound of silk was sold at Eome for twelve ounces of gold ; but the supply increased with the demand, and the price diminished with the supply. If accident or monopoly sometimes raised the value even above the standard of Aurelian, the manufacturers of Tyre and Berytus were sometimes compelled, by the operation of the same causes, to content themselves with a ninth part of that extravagant rate. 66 A law was thought necessary to discriminate the dress of comedians from that of senators ; and of the silk exported from its native country the far greater part was consumed by the subjects of Justinian. They were still more intimately acquainted with a shell-fish of the Mediterranean, surnamed the silk- worm of the sea ; the fine wool or hair by which the mother-of-pearl affixes itself to the rock is now manufactured for curiosity rather than use ; and a robe obtained from the same singular materials was the gift of the Roman emperor to the satraps of Armenia. 67 A valuable merchandize of small bulk is capable of defraying importa- the expense of land carriage ; and the caravans traversed the china by whole latitude of Asia in two hundred and forty -three days from sea the Chinese ocean to the sea-coast of Syria. Silk was imme- diately delivered to the Romans by the Persian merchants, 68 for the unravelling and reweaving in Syria of woven silks imported from China is Pliny (in the passages cited in the last note). The statement has been regarded by some as a figment, but F. Hirth (op. cit.) has shown that it is confirmed in a striking way by Chinese authorities : by the Wei-lio (compiled before a.d. 429) and in the Encyclopaedia of Ma Tuan-lin. The former says : " They [the inhabitants of the Roman Orient, especially Syria] were always anxious to get Chinese silk for severing it in order to make hu-ling [damask, gauze, Coan transparencies ?], for which reason they frequently trade by sea with the countries of An-hsi (Parthia) ". Hirth's trans- lation, p. 72. Cp. p. 257-8. Pardessus takes the same view of the passages in Pliny (op. cit. p. 14, 15).] 66 Flavius Vopiscus in Aurelian. c. 45, in Hist. August, p. 224. See Salmasius ad Hist. Aug. p. 392, and Plinian. Exercitat. in Solinum, p. 694, 695. The Anec- dotes of Procopius (c. 25) state a partial and imperfect rate of the price of silk in the time of Justinian. 67 Procopius de iEdif. 1. iii. c. 1. These pinnes de mer are found near Smyrna, Sicily, Corsica, and Minorca ; and a pair of gloves of their silk was presented to Pope Benedict XIV. [This cloth is the byssus woven from the threads of the pinna squamosa.} 68 Procopius, Persic. 1. i. c. 20 ; 1. ii. c. 25. Gothic. 1. iv. c. 17. Menander in Excerpt. Legat. p. 107 [fr. 18, F. H. G. iv. p. 225]. Of the Parthian or Persian
