Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 4 (1897).djvu/559

Rh embassies to China but the An-hsi [Parthians] wished to carry on trade with them in Chinese silks, and it is for this reason that they were cut off from communication" (Hou-han-shu).

This arrangement was changed after the Parthian war of Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 166, and we now have the satisfaction of meeting the name of a Roman Emperor, in a shape that can be easily recognized, in the Chinese Chronicles. We read in the same document this important historical notice (ib. p. 42):

"This [the indirect commerce] lasted till the ninth year of the Yen-hsi period during the Emperor Huan-ti's reign [i.e., A.D. 166], when the king of Ta-ts'in, An-tun, sent an embassy who, from the frontier of Jih-nan [Annam], offered ivory, rhinoceros horns, and tortoise shell. From that dates the [direct] intercourse with this country."

In view of the date, the most sceptical critic can hardly refuse to recognize in Antun the name of (Marcus) Antoninus. But it is not legitimate to infer that a formal embassy was sent by the Emperor. It is more probable (as Hirth points out) that merchants went on their own account and of course used the Emperor's name. When the new direct route was established, Taprobane or Ceylon was the entrepôt, where the Chinese and Roman vessels met and the goods were transshipped.

How far the overland routes were still used is not clear. It is supposed that the road from Seleucia to Antioch is described in the Hou-han-shu (p. 43), where mention is made of a flying-bridge which has been identified by Hirth with the Euphrates-bridge at Zeugma. The road is described as safe from robbers, but dangerous from fierce tigers and lions. Nevertheless there is a difficulty in the interpretation of some Chinese words, which makes the identification of this route uncertain. But in the statement that "every ten li [in this country] are marked by a t'ing, thirty li by a chih [resting-place]" we can recognize the thirty stadia, and the three Arabian miles, which were equivalent to a parasang (Hirth, p. 223).

The chief products which went to China from the Roman orient were: precious stones, glass, the textile fabrics of Syria, including silk rewoven and dyed, storax and other drugs. Syria was famous as a centre of traffic in precious stones. In the Hou-han-shu (p. 43) it is sceptically remarked: "the articles made of rare precious stones produced in this country are sham curiosities and mostly not genuine".

Antioch, the capital of Ta-ts'in, is described in several of these Chinese histories, and its name is given (in the Wei-shu, sixth century) as An-tu. We can recognize in this description (p. 49) the tetrapolis, or four cities, of Antioch, and Hirth has shown that the measurements given by the Chinese historians may not be far from the truth. The news of the conquest of Antioch and Syria by the Saracens reached China in A.D. 643 and is recorded in another history (tenth century; p. 55).

13. JUSTINIAN'S COINAGE — (P. 238-9)

"Anastasius introduced a new copper coinage in the year 498, in order to relieve the people from the inconvenience resulting from the great variety in the weight and value of the coins in circulation, many of which must have been much defaced by the tear and wear of time. The new coinage was composed of pieces with their value marked on the reverse by large numeral letters indicating the number of units they contained. The nummus, which was the smallest copper coin then in circulation, appears to have been taken as this unit, and its weight had already fallen to about 6 grains. The pieces in general circulation were those of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 40 nummi, marked A, E, I, K and M.

"Justin I. followed the type and standard of Anastasius, but the barbarous fabric of his coins, even when minted at Constantinople, is remarkable. The same system and the same barbarism appear in the copper money of Justinian I. until the twelfth year of his reign, A.D. 538. He then improved the fabric and