The Roman Empire to the Triumph of Christianity 295 population supported by the State with means for which the struggling agriculturist was taxed. Meantime the great city was rife with increasing luxury and incoming display. The discovery of the seasonal winds in the Indian luxuries Ocean resulted in great commerce, through the Red Sea with India, such as the world had never known before. At the same Fig. 127. A Street of Tombs outside Rome, ox the Appian Way These tombs lined both sides of the Appian Way (p. 256) for some dis- tance from Rome. They illustrate the more showy and sumptous archi- tecture of the Romans as contrasted with the simpler style of the Greeks (compare the Athenian street of tombs, Fig. 97) time there was overland connection further north with China. All the luxuries of the East began to flow into the Mediterra- nean — many of them luxuries which the Romans never had seen before. Roman ladies were decked with diamonds, pearls, and rubies from India, and they robed themselves in shining silks from China. The tables of the rich were bright with peaches and apricots, now appearing for the first time in the Roman world. Roman cooks learned to prepare rice, formerly
