This agrees with what is laid down in the Rhodian maritime laws, as they
appear in the eleventh book of the Digests, according to which unmixed silk
goods paid a salvage, if they were saved without being damaged by the sea
water, of ten per cent., as being equal in value to gold.
In about 100 years after the reign of Aurelian, however, the importation of
silk into Rome must have increased very greatly; for Ammianus Marcellinus,
who flourished A.D. 380, expressly states that silk, which had formerly
been confined to the great and rich, was, in his time, within the purchase
of the common people. Constantinople was founded about forty years before
he wrote; and it naturally found its way there in greater abundance than it
had done, when Rome was the capital of the empire.
From this time, till the middle of the sixth century, we have no particular
information respecting the silk trade of the Roman empire. At this period,
during the reign of Justinian, silk had become an article of very general
and indispensible use: but the Persians had occupied by land and sea the
monopoly of this article, so that the inhabitants of Tyre and Berytus, who
had all along manufactured it for the Roman market, were no longer able to
procure a sufficient supply, even at an extravagant price. Besides, when
the manufactured goods were brought within the Roman territories, they were
subject to a duty of ten per cent.
Pages:
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379