But The King Of Abyssinia Declined The
Offer; As The Vicinity Of The Persians To The Indian Markets For Silk
Enabled Them To Purchase It At A Cheaper Rate Than The Abyssinians Could
Procure It.
The same obstacle prevented the Arabians from complying with
the request of Justinian.
The wealthy and luxurious Romans, therefore, must have been deprived of
this elegant material for their dresses, had not their wishes been
gratified by an unexpected event. Two Persian monks travelled to Serindi,
where they had lived long enough to become acquainted with the various
processes for spinning and manufacturing silk. When they returned, they
communicated their information to Justinian; and were induced, by his
promises, to undertake the transportation of the eggs of the silk-worm,
from China to Constantinople. Accordingly, they went back to Serindi, and
brought away a quantity of the eggs in a hollow cane, and conveyed them
safely to Constantinople. They superintended and directed the hatching of
the eggs, by the heat of a dunghill: the worms were fed on mulberry leaves:
a sufficient number of butterflies were saved to keep up the stock; and to
add to the benefits already conferred, the Persian monks taught the Romans
the whole of the manufacture. From Constantinople, the silk-worms were
conveyed to Greece, Sicily, and Italy. In the succeeding reign, the Romans
had improved so much in the management of the silk-worms, and in the
manufacture of silk, that the Serindi ambassadors, on their arrival in
Constantinople, acknowledged that the Romans were not inferior to the
natives of China, in either of these respects.
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