Free The Silk Tree by Julian Stockwin

who had lost his life on the seashore of Pompeii as the volcano rained destruction.
    Several volumes of the work arrived. Sections on geography, nature, more.
    In a dissertation about silk at origin, Pliny’s view was that it was nothing more than an insect’s lidle weaving of a cocoon. A commentary below by another declared that it was in fact the hair of the sea-sheep.
    Nicander asked for a further volume. It got worse: this one mentioned that in far Sinae gigantic spiders were held prisoner in cages and spun silk while being fed on condemned criminals. Yet another reference stated that silk was scraped from the underside of the common mulberry.
    It was deeply unsettling. How could the ancient scholars disagree so?
    He found his eyes focusing on the literary steward. Taking his courage in hand, he threaded his way between the rows of desks.
    ‘Learned gentleman, I have a question.’
    The august figure frowned.
    ‘Sir, I’m engaged in the writing of a paean to beauty, in particular to that of man-wrought silk, and I rather thought it would lend a pleasing turn to the conceit if I were to make reference to its origin.’
    The man’s face cleared, apparently satisfied that he was to be troubled for no less a reason than the sublimity of a poem’s creation. ‘Why, surely you’re aware it grows upon the silk tree?’ he replied in ponderous tones. ‘The authorities are clear on this.’
    ‘As I thought, sir. But Pliny and some others would have it otherwise.’
    ‘Your minor scribblers are never reliable. As to the good Pliny, there havebeen instances where regrettably he has been found to be in error and his observations in this case are not to be relied upon. The more substantive of the classical authors are the authorities you will wish to consult. The Virgil
Georgics
spring to mind – as does the
Phaedra
of Seneca the Younger.’
    In a wash of relief Nicander found among the heavy-going homilies of Virgil that silk did indeed originate from trees, and in fact there was a mention of a fine-tooth comb of special design used by the Seres to harvest the precious substance from the leaves.
    He then turned to the
Phaedra
, a gruesome play of taboo love, suicide and a cruel man’s relentless will, persevering until he came across a reference to silken garments won from the silk tree in far away Serica.
    He could now move on to the next objective: where was Sinae and how to get there.
    Accounts by travellers would no doubt reveal what he needed and he busied himself at the index. The first he decided to consult were the reports of the envoys of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to the mysterious Seres. They would be a logical beginning to his reading, even though they had been written a good three centuries earlier, in the period before the Roman Emperor Valens had been slain by the Persians and their entire access to the East cut off.
    The assistant steward brought the work. While filled with exotic details of impossible beasts it was written neither by merchants with an eye to the practicalities nor a geographer, or even a military man concerned with where they were. And it was plain that this was not an official mission, only a half-hearted attempt to open communications, which was admitted to have failed.
    Nicander pored over more accounts. The revered historian Ammianus Marcellinus was the most detailed. He had compiled a picture of Scythia – and Serica beyond – but it was a wild tale of Syziges and Chardes, Alitrophages and Annibes, in wearisome succession, together with dogmatic assertions on climate and terrain that made no sense. But Marcellinus did confirm the production of silk originated from a soft fine down spun into thread,gathered from the trees while the leaves were continuously moistened.
    The rest just spoke of dragons and gryphons. Nothing on the location of the land of Serica.
    Once again Nicander made his way up to the pulpit. This time he was awarded a look of benevolent indulgence.
    ‘Sir, you were