Procopius states that Justinian sent and embassy to Axum, and requested the Ethiopians "that they should buy silk from the Indians, and sell it to the Romans. thus they would make a lot of money, while they would only be bringing this gain to the Romans, that they [the Romans] would no longer be forced to send their own money to their enemies [the Persians.]" However, the plan didn't succeed, "for it was impossible for the Ethiopians to buy silk from the Indians, because the Persian merchants present at the very ports [of Ceylon in Sri Lanka] where the first ships of the Indians put in, since they inhabit a neighboring country, were always accustomed to buy the entire cargoes." However, it is not believed that being neighbors was the reason behind cooperation of Iranian and Sinhalese merchants, and the better reason would be that the Iranians were long-established customers and they didn't want to offend the Sasanians by doing business with the rivals of the Persian Empire.[5] However, silk problem of the Romans was solved by the introduction of silkworms to the Roman Empire.