CHAPTER VII

INDIA AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE (CONTINUED)

Trade between India and Rome continued
to thrive steadily during the second and third
centuries a.d. There was a temporary lull in
the demand for luxuries after the extraordinary
outburst of extravagance which culminated in
the reign of Nero, but this did not have a very
serious effect upon commerce. Roman Emperors
took an increasing interest in Eastern questions,
and, as we may see from the writers of the time,
the bounds of geographical knowledge were slowly
but surely extended. Trajan^ during his Parthian
expedition, travelled to the mouth of the Euphrates
and watched the ships spreading their sails for
India. He is said to have dreamed of making
an expedition to the country himself. He pushed
the Roman frontier to within six hundred miles
of Indian territory. He entertained an Indian
embassy regally, giving its members senators'
seats at the theatre^.    In the reign of Marcus

^ Dion Cassius, lxvii. 28.
2 Ibid. IX. 58.