Certainly later, the Romans had a thriving trade in spices, including pepper. It has been mentioned that, when Rome was attacked in 410 AD, the Romans paid "three thousand pounds of pepper" to relieve the siege of the Visogoths and prevent the city from being plundered, in addition to gold, silver, silk, and skin. With the fall of the Roman Empire, various groups began to take over the spice trade. Under the uniting effect of Islam, Arabs organized themselves into a powerful force in the pepper trade.