Two monks of the order of St. Basil, in their ardour for the propagation of the faith, had pushed forwards into China. There they had been initiated into the operations which furnished the fabric so highly prized. On their return to Constantinople, and hearing of the project that Justinian entertained of depriving the Persians of the monopoly in silk, the two monks proposed to the Emperor to enrich his state by introducing the art of fabricating this material. The proposition was greedily accepted, and the two monks returned again to China, with the object of procuring the eggs of the insect. Having arrived at the end of their journey, they succeeded in getting possession of a quantity of silkworms' eggs. They hid them between the knots of their sticks, and started back to their native country, without being once interfered with. Two years afterwards they re-entered Constantinople with their precious booty.[56] The larva were fed on mulberry leaves. Immediately afterwards began the rearing of the worms and the preparation of the silk, according to the instructions given by these courageous travellers. The first broods succeeded perfectly, and so plantations of mulberry trees were seen to multiply and spread through the whole extent of the Eastern Empire. It was, above all, in Southern Greece that this branch of industry assumed an immense importance. It was then the Peloponnesus lost its old name, and was called the Morea, from the Latin name for "mulberry," _morus_.[57] [56] According to M. de Gasparin, author of an excellent "Essai sur l'Histoire de l'Introduction des Vers à Soie en Europe" (Paris, in 8vo, 1841), it was not into China, but only into Tartary, to Serinda, that the two monks went in search of the silkworms' eggs (pp. 37-39). It must be supposed that the eggs did not hatch for two years, being in such interesting company. [57] Others derive the name from _more_, the Slavonic word for the sea. See "On the Study of Words," by Abp. Trench.--ED. Constantinople and Greece, during centuries, furnished the whole of Europe with silkworms. This diffusion, however, was effected very slowly. The Greeks attached great importance to retaining the monopoly, and the emperor Justinian had caused to be established at Constantinople itself silk manufactories, where the most skilful artificers of Asia, who were forbidden to reveal the various processes to strangers, worked.