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- 01Chinese law made exporting silkworm eggs or mulberry seedlings punishable by death for approximately 3,000 years.
- 02Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that silk was combed from the leaves of a forest tree — he had no idea about worms.
- 03Silk's price in Rome reached its weight in gold; the empire hemorrhaged so much bullion eastward that senators passed sumptuary laws against it.