HINDU PERIOD
indulged." The trade with Rome was at a low ebb from the days of Caracalla, when Rome was a prey to confusion, both internal and external, and her inhabitants could hardly think of spending large sums of money on spices, perfumes, and ornaments. There have been accordingly but few finds of coins belonging to this period, while the discoveries in the north are larger than in Southern or Western India. The Occidental trade revived again, though slightly, under the Byzantine emperors. The localities of the coins discovered suggest the conclusion that precious stones, cottons, and muslins were not in much request in Rome, but that an export trade was brisk in pepper and spices shipped from the southern ports both on the east and west. And so the fact need not surprise us that when Alaric spared Rome in a.d. 408 he demanded and obtained as part of the ransom 3,000 pounds of pepper.[1] The most interesting discoveries of this period are the finds at Madura, comprising two classes of Roman coins, the copper issues of the regular Roman coinage, and small copper coins locally minted for daily use; and the suggestion has been made that Roman commercial agents took up their residence in some of the capitals and marts of South India for trade purposes at a time when the Roman Empire was being overrun by barbarians. Vincent Smith is
- ↑ Gibbon, ch. xxxi.
127
