Commanding and consuming the world: Empire, tribute, and trade in Roman and Chinese history

Abstract

This chapter is about tribute and trade, empire, and markets. This is a set of issues that Roman and Chinese history not only have in common but also present as one of the great challenges to economic history. The core of the matter is contained in the excerpt above from a speech by the Greco-Roman orator, Die Chrysostom us. There is nothing original or exceptional in his way of reasoning. The contents reflect stock themes of ancient moral and political philosophy. This is precisely why it lays bare what I shall refer to as the “paradox of agrarian empire” with such particular clarity. In the quotation we encounter Dio Chrysostomus thundering against the corrupting influences of foreign trade on the character of the Roman conquerors. Imports of foreign rarities and luxuries are described as undermining the moral strength of the imperial people. They place Rome in a position of servile dependence on her inferiors that amounts to a voluntary submission to the payment of a degrading tribute to barbarian peoples.