The products of India were at no period sought after with greater avidity than when Rome became mistress of the world. Tyre, in the plenitude of her power, or Babylon in her greatest magnificence, were, compared with Rome, moderate in their expenditure upon luxuries. It was this extravagance which led Pliny to make the complaint to which we have just referred, of the drain of precious metals to the East; in itself just, because they were sent to purchase articles of luxury as expensive as they were superfluous, instead of necessaries and raw materials capable of conversion for the wants of the people, or of re-exportation to other countries. Enriched by the spoil and tribute of nearly every portion of the then known world, the inhabitants of Rome had acquired a taste for every kind of luxury, and had resolved to obtain it, regardless of the cost. Whatever was rare commanded fabulous prices. To supply their demands, new and extraordinary efforts became necessary to obtain from the East the articles they required. Silks, precious stones, and pearls, were eagerly sought after, but spices and aromatics were even greater objects of solicitude. Fortunes expended upon frankincense had, they thought, the combined effect of raising them in the estimation of their neighbours, and of securing the favour and friendship of the gods. The greatest extravagance was displayed on the funeral pile, which, as well as the body about to be consumed by the flames, was frequently covered with the most costly spices. Nero is reported to have burnt at the funeral of his wife Poppæa, a quantity of cinnamon and cassia greater than the countries from which it was imported were capable of producing in one year;[237] and two hundred and ten burdens of spices are said to have been strewed upon the pile which consumed to ashes the body of Sylla.