The Last Triumph of Theodosius – Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 27 Part 6
Andrew Marr pointed out recently, that in the fourth century the Roman and Chinese empires were very similar. They had roughly the same level of technology, had much the same form of government and were about the same size. They were vaguely aware of each other, and traded through third parties. They also had exactly the same enemies on the steppes of Russia. If they could have communicated with each other and co-ordinated their tactics, maybe they could have had more success in resisting them. But I digress.
