Domus Augusta, Rome, May 177
It had been a week since the last meeting of the Senate. A week during which many intense discussions had taken place on the topic of the serican expedition and its results.
No decision had been taken by the Senate other than congratulate the members of the expedition, grant a number of promotions and gifts on the sailors and soldiers who had taken part, and give thanks to the Emperor for having let this expedition take place.
In the background however many felt this information would lead to great changes. But in what ways ? This was the main topic on the order of the day for the concilium principes, the closest councilors to the emperor, that met in a secluded room in the imperial palace on the Palatine hill.
Marcus Aurelius was first to speak, which was not usual, but he felt he needed to give a direction to the debate : now was no longer the time of shock and discovery but of action : “We have all heard the report, read its longer version, discussed it with our friends, our associates and our allies, it is now time to turn this talk into acts. We can no longer escape the fact that our world has been drastically enlarged. Places no myths had ever mentioned have been discovered, places not even wandering Hercules had seen, places not even the bacchanalian cortege had walked through, places not even Odysseus had sailed past.
The thoughts of the Alexandrian philosophers seem to indicate that a lot of the world remains unexplored, seas that have never seen the sail of a roman ship. Here today is the prefect of the Misenian fleet, whom I’ve asked to come to lend his nautical experience to our discussions and whom I thank for his promptitude. You also see around the table faces you know well even if they are not used to appear in concilium, and by that I mean the five representants of the largest trade and banking conglomerates of this city, speaking from the point of view of the equestrian order.
From where I stand I see dangers and I see opportunities. I see affairs at sea and on land. I see work for our legions but also for our traders and our sailors. What I don’t know, and expect you will tell me if not today at least in the near future, is how much it may cost, and how much it may bring the empire.
I will start with the world we know. The secret of silk has been discovered, showing that Pliny himself had it somewhat wrong, and that it can be replicated if the worms can be brought here. We’d need to learn the best lands for growing them, and I doubt the Sericans would allow us to learn, but that is something we can try to find out. Other secrets such as the forges of the big island south of India, whose name escapes me right now, can also be researched and found : I do not doubt that now that they know of it our engineers in the Academia will be able to reproduce and improve them.
What concerns me more is the tribes of the sea of grass. We have been lucky none have been as hostile to us as those met by the Sericans, but it does not mean it could not happen. Both us and the Bosphorean kingdom are vulnerable to such threats. I hear that our ally has built a wall, modelled on the divine Hadrian’s one, to seal itself off and thus make sure the heart of its power is protected, although its easternmost part is not and can’t really be protected.
Our own border on the Tisia is safe, but as the Rhenus and Danuvius show no river is wide enough that it may not be crossed even by barbarians. Eight years ago we crushed the Marcomanni, and moved our borders. Roads have been laid, towns founded, and peace maintained, but we must probably make sure our border is better protected, shorter, and more importantly we must learn more about what happens in the East and on the sea of grass, so that we may act before a threat comes on our borders. We must also make sure our army knows how to fight in such a region. So I want exploratores and traders to go in those areas, to discover who lives there, what the lay of the land might be, whether a better frontier might be had.
Second is the question of the sea and of the rest of the world. We have discovered much, and we have also learned that we know nothing. The Alexandrian scholars and Livy tell us of Carthaginian expeditions to the west of Africa, further than our own shores, and of peoples met there, savage but with some of whom trade could be had. Also looking at the maps show that if Earth is indeed a sphere as we hear then either Africa is much larger than we think and goes all the way from our shore to the bottom of the sphere and back up on its other side to connect with hyperborea, or it must be possible to sail around it. Likewise either the great western ocean is empty and allows for direct travel to Serica, which the size of the world given by the Alexandrian scholars makes unlikely because otherwise there would be a rupture of equilibre in the world which would seem strange, or there are unknown lands of unknown riches but maybe too far for us to reach.
The question is whether the state must do anything about it or let those private people who want to take the risk go explore those unknown lands ? This, gentlemen, is what I expect you to discuss now.”
. But yeah, I'm actually surprised silk is still so expensive given it doesn't seem overly expensive to produce. I also hear they're a delicacy in South Korea, what were the Roman's view on eating bugs?