Strange synchronicities: I spent the day reading about Roman trade w India- which was far more substantial than its minimal trade with China along the Silk Road. The best evidence for this are the figures given by Pliny, whose villa was at Bellagio, right across the lake from me 
The demand for silk & spices by the Roman aristocracy moved Pliny to remark that “India is brought near by lust for gain.. India is the sink of the world’s precious metal.. There is no year in which does not drain our empire of at least fifty five million silver sesterces… "
"So manifold is the labour employed & so distant is the region is the region of the globe drawn upon," Pliny continued, "to enable the Roman matron to flaunt transparent raiment in public." During the 1stC CE, at least 120 Roman ships sailed every year from the Red Sea to India.
One documented consignment from Muziris (in Kerala) to Alexandria consisted of 1,700 pounds of nard (aromatic balsam), over 4,700 pounds of ivory & almost 790 pounds of textiles. This was worth around 131 talents, enough to purchase 2,400 acres of the best farmland in Egypt.
Tacitus was just as disapproving as Pliny: "The promiscuous dress of male and female- and especially female extravagance by which, for the sake of jewels, our wealth is transported to alien and hostile countries."
Meanwhile the Tamil Cilappatikaram talks of Yavana guards who defected into Indian service- perhaps some of the mercenary bowman who Roman captains brought along to protect their ships against raids from Indian pirates, especially along the Kerala coast around Muziris.
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