Pliny the Elder complained about the drain of specie (coin money) to India:   I recently read "The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean" by Raoul McLaughlin and was impressed by the extensive interactions between Romans and the residents of the Indian region. The book mentions that Roman merchant ships traveled into the Bay of Bengal and along trade routes leading to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and even the Han Empire of ancient China. According to the Greek geographer Strabo (6