The Classical Accounts of India c15.s3.2

c15.s3.2

So much we have learned from the old writers It has been our lot, however, to obtain a more accurate knowledge of the island, for in the reign of the Emperor Claudius ambassadors came to his court therefrom, and under the following circumstances. A freedman of Annius Plocamus, who had farmed from the treasury the Red Sea revenues, while sailing around Arabia was carried away by gales of wind from the north beyond Carmania. In the course of fifteen days he had been wafted to Hippuri, a port of Taprobane, where he was humanely received and hospitably entertained by the king; and having in six months' time learned the language, he was able to answer the questions he was asked. The king particularly admired the Romans and their emperor as men possessed of an unheard-of love of justice, when he found that among the money taken from the captive the denarii were all of equal weight, although the different images stamped on them showed that they had been coined in the reigns of several emperors. This influenced him most of all to seek an alliance with the Romans, and he accordingly despatched to Rome four ambassadors, of whom the chief was Rachia (i.e Rajah).