<P> By the time of Augustus up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India . So much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the Kushan Empire (Kushans) for their own coinage, that Pliny the Elder (NH VI. 101) complained about the drain of specie to India: </P> <P> India, China and the Arabian peninsula take one hundred million sesterces from our empire per annum at a conservative estimate: that is what our luxuries and women cost us . For what fraction of these imports is intended for sacrifices to the gods or the spirits of the dead? </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> Gold coin of Claudius (50--51 CE) excavated in South India . </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Gold coin of Justinian I (527--565 CE) excavated in India probably in the south . </P> </Li> </Ul> <Li> <P> Gold coin of Claudius (50--51 CE) excavated in South India . </P> </Li>

Why did the romans stop their trade with the gupta