As Pliny wrote in the first century: “Not a year passed in which India did not take 50 million sesterces away from Rome.”&nbsp; That trade imbalance implied a continuous drain on gold and silver coin, causing shortages of these metals in Rome.
在古代，印度对罗马帝国存在巨额贸易盈余。蒲林尼在1世纪时写道：“印度每年从罗马拿走5000万塞斯特斯，没有哪一年不是这样。”印度-罗马的贸易失衡让罗马的金币和银币持续流失，造成了金银的短缺。用现在的话讲，罗马面临着货币压缩。