> Erik Moeller wrote:
> > A correction:
> > >The big Roman harbours had restrictions that disallowed the entry of ships
> > >under a tonnage of 150 tons. That means that the largest MA ship wasn't even
> > >big enough to dock at a major Roman harbour. Actually, you managed to build
> > >in more than one mistake into each sentence. Great effort!
> >
> > Abrams and Wrigley: Towns in Societies (1978), page 41 by Keith
> > Hopkins: "The minimum tonnage which would give a shipowner tax
> > immunity for bringing wheat to the city of Rome was 325 tonnes
> > burden, but that could be split among several ships, provided
> > none was less then 65 tonnes burden (Digest. 50, 5, 3)"
> > [burden = cargo, Seems ships of less than 65 to were unwanted
> > because they consumed too much manpower and caused too much traffic.]
>
> The rule as cited says nothing about the size of individual ships; it's
> just a tax break for big business.
" provided none was less then 65 tonnes burden"
Which bit of this don't you understand?
Dwayne
--return...to...the...source ddraig@pobox.com http://pobox.com/~ddraig