Passengers

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Passengers

The people arriving at and departing from Ostia and Portus will have been a mixed lot, like the passengers seen in the halls of Leonardo da Vinci airport. Emperors presumably used military ships. Flavius Josephus informs us that Vespasian went "on board a merchantship and sailed from Alexandria to Rhodes; whence he sailed away in ships with three rows of oars" (Bellum Iudaicum VII,2,1; translation W. Whiston). This use of a cargo ship must have been an exception to the rule; the journey was continued with military triremes. We may imagine that the wealthiest people could use private cabins or even an entire ship, but most people had to find a cargo ship, to travel on or below its deck. Around 340 AD Libanius wrote: "I was in the process of returning and, in Constantinople, was down at the Great Harbour going the rounds with inquiries about sailings to Athens" (Oration 1, 31; translation A.F. Norman). Passengers had to bring their own food on board, but water was provided by the ship's crew. The ships did not depart at fixed times, but only when the weather was acceptable. A herald could announce the departure. About the harbour of Puteoli we hear:

"Do you know of a ship that is starting for Sicily?" "I do," he replied, "for we are staying on the edge of the sea, and the crier is at our doors, and a ship is just being got ready to start, as I gather from the shouts of the crew, and from the exertions they are making over weighing the anchor."

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 8,14. Translation F.C. Conybeare.

Of course, as is so often the case, few numbers and no statistics are available. The number of passengers on a single ship could be quite large. The first stage of the famous voyage of Saint Paul to Rome took place on a ship from Alexandria transporting grain to Rome (the cargo was jettisoned). There were 276 people on board, crew and passengers (Acts of the Apostles, 27). The voyage took place around 60 AD, when Puteoli in the Bay of Naples was still the main harbour of Rome. That was the port of destination, and from there Paul travelled to Rome by road. Flavius Josephus, in about 64 AD, mentions an even larger number of passengers in his description of a voyage to Rome from the East:

Soon after I had completed my twenty-sixth year it fell to my lot to go up to Rome for the reason which I will proceed to relate. At the time when Felix was procurator of Judaea, certain priests of my acquaintance, very excellent men, were on a slight and trifling charge sent by him in bonds to Rome to render an account to Caesar. I was anxious to discover some means of delivering these men, more especially as I learnt that, even in affliction, they had not forgotten the pious practices of religion, and supported themselves on figs and nuts. I reached Rome after being in great jeopardy at sea. For our ship foundered in the midst of the sea of Adria, and our company of some six hundred souls had to swim all that night. About daybreak, through God's good providence, we sighted a ship of Cyrene [in Libya], and I and certain others, about eighty in all, outstripped the others and were taken on board. Landing safely at Dicaearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli, I formed a friendship with Aliturus, an actor who was a special favourite of Nero and of Jewish origin.

Flavius Josephus, Vita, 3. Translation Henry St. John Thackeray.

The use of cargo ships from Alexandria by travellers (this time going from Italy to the East) is also mentioned by Philo of Alexandria:

Caius Caesar gave Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the king, the third part of his paternal inheritance as a sovereignty, which Philip the tetrarch, who was his uncle on his father's side, had previously enjoyed. And when he was about to set out to take possession of his kingdom, Caius advised him to avoid the voyage from Brundusium to Syria, which was a long and troublesome one, and rather to take the shorter one by Alexandria, and to wait for the periodical winds; for he said that the merchant vessels which set forth from that harbour were fast sailers, and that the pilots were most experienced men, who guided their ships like skilful coachmen guide their horses, keeping them straight in the proper course. And he took his advice, looking upon him both as his master and also as a giver of good counsel. Accordingly, going down to Dicaearchia [Puteoli], and seeing some Alexandrian vessels in the harbour, looking all ready and fit to put to sea, he embarked with his followers, and had a fair voyage.

Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus, 5. Translation C.D. Yonge.

The harbour of Brindisi, with a Roman column. Photo: Wikimedia, Stefn79 ph.

A short voyage, from Alexandria to Cyrene in modern Libya, is described in a letter by Synesius of Cyrene (c. 370 - c. 413 AD). He was a Neo-Platonic philosopher, who became bishop of Ptolemais in the Cyrenaica. The letter was addressed to his brother Eupoptius and written in 397 AD. The journey may have taken place in December 396 AD. Here is a selection from the text:

Although we started from Bendideum [near Alexandria] at early dawn, we had scarcely passed Pharius Myrmex by noonday, for our ship went aground two or three times in the bed of the harbor. This mishap at the very outset seemed a bad omen, and it might have been wiser to desert a vessel which had been unlucky from the very start. But we were ashamed to lay ourselves open to an imputation of cowardice from you, and accordingly "it was no longer granted us to tremble or to withdraw" [Homer, Iliad, 7.217]. So now, if misfortune awaits us, we shall perish through your fault. After all, was it so dreadful that you should be laughing and we out of danger? But of Epimetheus they aver that "his prudence was at fault, his repentance never," and that is precisely our own case, for we might easily have saved ourselves in the first instance; whereas now we are lamenting in concert on desert shores, gazing out towards Alexandria to our heart’s content, and towards our motherland Cyrene; one of these places we willfully deserted, while the other we are unable to reach - all the time having seen and suffered such things as we never thought to happen even in our dreams.

Hear my story then, that you may have no further leisure for your mocking wit, and I will tell you first of all how our crew was made up. Our skipper was fain of death owing to his bankrupt condition; then besides him we had twelve sailors, thirteen in all! More than half of them, including the skipper, were Jews - a graceless race and fully convinced of the piety of sending to Hades as many Greeks as possible. The remainder were a collection of peasants who even as late as last year had never gripped an oar. But the one batch and the other were alike in this, that every man of them had some personal defect. Accordingly, so long as we were in safety they passed their time in jesting one with another, accosting their comrades not by their real names, but by distinguishing marks of their misfortunes, as to call out the "Lame", the "Ruptured", the "Lefthanded", the "Goggle-eyed". Each one had his distinguishing mark, and to us this sort of thing was no small source of amusement. The moment we were in danger, however, it was no laughing matter, but rather did we bewail these very defects.

We had embarked to the number of more than fifty, about a third of us being women, most of them young and comely. Do not, however, be quick to envy us, for a screen separated us from them and a stout one at that, the suspended fragment of a recently torn sail, to virtuous men the very wall of Semiramis [according to Greek legend, Semiramis had been queen of Babylonia; the walls of Babylon were reckoned among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]. Nay, Priapus himself might well have been temperate had he taken passage with Amarantus, for there was never a moment when this fellow allowed us to be free from fear of he uttermost danger. As soon as he had doubled the temple of Poseidon, near you, he made straight for Taphosiris [the "tomb of Osiris", a sanctuary near Alexandria], with all sails spread, to all seeming bent upon confronting Scylla, over whom we were all wont to shudder in our boyhood when doing our school exercises. This manoeuver we detected only just as the vessel was nearing the reefs, and we all raised so mighty a cry that perforce he gave up his attempt to battle with the rocks. All at once he veered about as though some new idea had possessed him, and turned his vessel's head to the open, struggling as best he might against a contrary sea.

Presently, a fresh south wind springs up and carries us along, and soon we are out of sight of land and have come into the track of the double-sailed cargo vessels, whose business does not lie with our Libya; they are sailing quite another course. Again we make common cause of complaint, and our grievance now is that we have been forced away far from the shore. Then does this Titan of ours, Amarantus, fulminate, standing up on the stern and hurling awful imprecations upon us. "We shall obviously never be able to fly," he said, "How can I help people like you who distrust both the land and the sea?" "Nay," I said, "Not so, worthy Amarantus, in case anyone uses them rightly. For our own part we had no yearning for Taphosiris, for we wanted only to live. Moreover," I continued, "What do we want of the open sea? Let us rather make for the Pentapolis, hugging the shore; for then, if indeed we have to face one of those uncertainties which, as you admit, are unfortunately only too frequent on the deep, we shall at least be able to take refuge in some neighboring harbor." I did not succeed in persuading him with my talk, for to all of it the outcast only turned a deaf ear; and what is more, a gale commenced to blow from the north, and the violent wind soon raised seas mountains high. This gust falling suddenly on us, drove our sail back, and made it concave in place of its convex form, and the ship was all but capsized by the stern. With great difficulty, however, we headed her in. Then Amarantus thunders out, "See what it is to be master of the art of navigation. I had long foreseen this storm, and that is why I sought the open. I can tack in now, since our sea room allows us to add to the length of our tack. But such a course as the one I have taken would not have been possible had we hugged the shore, for in that case the ship would have dashed on the coast."

Many Arabs of the cavalry were of our company. I noticed that all soldiers on board were standing with drawn swords. On inquiring the reason for this, I learned from them that they regarded it as more honorable to belch out their souls to the winds while still on the deck, than to gape them out to the waves. Now what made death gape at our feet was the fact that the ship was running with all sails spread, and that there was no means of taking them in, for as often as we attempted this we were thwarted by the ropes, which stuck in the pulleys; and again we had a secret fear lest in the night time, even if we lived out the sea, we should approach land in this sorry plight. But day broke before all this had time to occur, and never, I know, did we behold the sun with greater joy. The wind grew more moderate as the temperature became milder, and thus, as the moisture evaporated, we were able to work the rigging and handle the sails. We were unable, it is true, to replace our sail by a new one, for this was already in the hands of the pawnbroker, but we took it in like the swelling folds of a garment, and lo, in four hours' time we who had imagined ourselves already in the jaws of death, were disembarking in a remote desert place, possessing neither town nor farm near it, only an expanse of open country of one hundred and thirty stadia [22½ km.]. Our ship was riding in the open sea, for the spot was not a harbor, and it was riding on a single anchor. The second anchor had been sold. And a third Amarantus did not possess. When now we touched the dearly beloved land, we embraced the earth as a real living mother. We sent up hymns of gratitude to Providence, as is our custom, and to all this we added a mention of the present good fortune by which we had been saved contrary to all expectation.

Thus we waited two days until the sea should have abated its fury. When, however, we were unable to discover any way out by land, for we could find no one in the country, we decided to try our fortune again at sea. We straightway started at dawn with a wind which blew from the stern all that day and the following one, but towards the end of this second day the wind left us and we were in despair. However, only too soon should we be longing for a calm. It was the thirteenth day of the waning moon, and a great danger was now impending, I mean the conjunction of certain constellations and those well known chance events which no one, they say, ever confronted at sea with impunity. So at the very moment when we should have stayed in harbor, we so far forgot ourselves as to run out again to sea. The storm opened with north winds and with heavy rain during the moonless night, presently the winds raged without measure, and the sea became deeply churned up. As to ourselves, exactly what you might expect at such a crisis took place. I will not dilate a second on the identical sufferings, I will only say that the very magnitude of the storm was helpful. First the sailyard began to crack, and we thought of tightening up the vessel; then it broke in the middle and very nearly killed us all. It seems that this very accident, failing to destroy us, was the means of our salvation. We should never have been able to resist the force of the wind, for again the sail was intractable and defied all our efforts to take it in. Contrary to all prevision we had shaken off the rapacious violence of our enforced run, and we carried along during a day and a night, and at the second crowing of the cock, before we knew it, behold we were on a sharp reef which ran out from the land like a short peninsula.

Now when day appeared, a man in rustic garb signaled and pointed out which were the places of danger, and those that we might approach in safety. Finally, he came out to us in a boat with two oars, and this he made fast to our vessel. Then he took over the helm, and our Syrian [Ii.e., Amarantus] gladly relinquished to him the conduct of the ship. So after proceeding not more than fifty stadia, he brought her to anchor in a delightful little harbor, which I believe is called Azarium and there disembarked us on the beach. We acclaimed him as our savior and good angel.

Synesius of Cyrene, Letters, 4. Translation A. Fitzgerald. The full text is on livius.org.

Ruins of Apollonia, the harbour of Cyrene. Photo: Wikimedia, David Holt.

In the Corpus Iuris Civilis ("Body of Civil Law") passengers are mentioned quite a few times: the texts are found in the appendix below. Of course passage-money (the naulum) had to be paid. The Roman jurists even dealt with the question whether an extra fare was justified if a woman gave birth during a voyage (it was not). From the legal texts we learn that people who could not afford the fare could work for their passage as a crew member. One text mentions a ferry service across the Adriatic Sea: "I know that most shipowners give instructions to turn away passengers and to confine operations to a certain area or a particular stretch of sea. And those ships which ferry passengers to Brindisi from Cassiopa or Dyrrachium are quite unfitted for carrying cargo, just as other ships are suitable for river traffic, but not adequate for sea voyages". Dyrrachium is modern Durrës in Albania, Cassiopa is modern Kassiopi on Corfu, a bit to the south.

The harbour of Kassiopi on Corfu. Photo: Wikimedia, Z thomas.

Several references to passengers in Ostia and Portus can be found in the collection of ancient texts on this website. The impact of these people on the cities will have varied. Their arrival and departure will often have gone unnoticed by the inhabitants. Lucius, the main character in Apuleius' novel Metamorphoses, says: "Safely driven by favouring winds, I arrived very quickly at the Port of Augustus, and hurried on from there by carriage". On the other hand, from inscriptions and mosaics we know that famous athletes, actors and mimes came to Ostia to perform in the theatre and Imperial baths. Many artists and merchants will immediately have travelled on to their clients in Rome, perhaps after a single night in a hotel. However, some representatives of merchants must have remained in the ports, for all kinds of practical arrangements. A papyrus documents the arrival in Ostia of Alexandrian envoys, wishing to discuss a legal matter with the Emperor Tiberius. Such envoys had no reason to stay in the ports, unless they wanted to meet compatriots from the world of commerce. People related to the Alexandrian grain fleet were involved with a temple of Serapis in Portus. Several of their dedications, in Greek, have been preserved, as was another Greek dedication by a representative of the city of Gaza to Marnas, the main protective deity of that city.

The arrival and departure of an Emperor or a member of his family would of course attract a lot of attention. In 2 AD the body of Lucius Caesar, grandson of Augustus, was brought to Rome from Massilia (Marseille, France), via Ostia. His body was carried through Ostia by magistrates clothed in black, followed by a crowd carrying burning tallow-candles, while the buildings were decorated fittingly. In 43 AD Claudius left for Britain from Ostia. We know that there was an Imperial palace in Ostia, documented in an inscription from the late second century, found near Tor Boacciana (in the same area, which has only been searched superficially around 1800, many exquisite sculptures were found). Here members of the Imperial family could wait for the appropriate weather. Waiting for favourable winds was probably the excuse used by a legate on his way to a province, but lingering in Ostia. There, in the words of Juvenalis, he could be found "in the big pub, lying with some hit man, in company with sailors, thieves, and runaway slaves, among hangmen, coffin-makers and the idle tambourines of a gallus, prostrate from drunkenness".

In late antiquity some of the Christian pilgrims going to Rome may have stayed a while in the ports, to visit the tombs of some of the many martyrs that had died there. In 387 AD the church father Augustinus and his mother Monica waited in Ostia for a ship to take them to North Africa. Their stay is famous because of their "vision at Ostia", a mystical religious experience.

Appendix - Legal texts mentioning passengers on ships

4.9.7.pr. Debet exercitor omnium nautarum suorum, sive liberi sint sive servi, factum praestare: nec immerito factum eorum praestat, cum ipse eos suo periculo adhibuerit. Sed non alias praestat, quam si in ipsa nave damnum datum sit: ceterum si extra navem licet a nautis, non praestabit. Item si praedixerit, ut unusquisque vectorum res suas servet neque damnum se praestaturum, et consenserint vectores praedictioni, non convenitur. The person in charge of the ship ought to be liable for the acts of all his sailors, whether they are free men or slaves; nor undeservedly is he liable for their acts since he himself has made use of their services at his own risk. But he is liable only if the loss has occurred on the ship itself; if out of the ship, although by sailors, he will not be liable. Likewise, if he declared that each passenger should look after his own property and that he would not be liable for loss, and the passengers have agreed to this declaration, he is not sued.

4.9.7.2 Sed si quid nautae inter se damni dederint. Hoc ad exercitorem non pertinet. Sed si quis sit nauta et mercator, debiti illi dari: quod si quis quos volgo nautepibatas dicunt, et huic tenebitur, sed huius factum praestat, cum sit et nauta. But if the crew have caused any damage among themselves, this will not affect the person in charge of the ship. But if a person is both sailor and merchant, the action ought to be given to him. But if any of those popularly called "persons working their passage" suffers loss, the person in charge is also liable to him; but in addition he is liable for his acts, since he is a sailor as well.

14.1.1.3 Magistri autem imponuntur locandis navibus vel ad merces vel vectoribus conducendis armamentisve emendis: sed etiamsi mercibus emendis vel vendendis fuerit praepositus, etiam hoc nomine obligat exercitorem. The captain is appointed to hire out the ship for the carriage of cargo, to take on passengers, or to purchase provisions or equipment; but even if he buys and sells cargoes, this will bind the shipowner if the captain was appointed for that purpose.

14.1.1.12 Igitur praepositio certam legem dat contrahentibus. Quare si eum praeposuit navi ad hoc solum, ut vecturas exigat, non ut locet (quod forte ipse locaverat), non tenebitur exercitor, si magister locaverit: vel si ad locandum tantum, non ad exigendum, idem erit dicendum: aut si ad hoc, ut vectoribus locet, non ut mercibus navem praestet, vel contra, modum egressus non obligabit exercitorem: sed et si ut certis mercibus eam locet, praepositus est, puta legumini, cannabae, ille marmoribus vel alia materia locavit, dicendum erit non teneri. Quaedam enim naves onerariae, quaedam (ut ipsi dicunt) epibatygoi sunt: et plerosque mandare scio, ne vectores recipiant, et sic, ut certa regione et certo mari negotietur, ut ecce sunt naves, quae Brundisium a Cassiopa vel a Dyrrachio vectores traiciunt ad onera inhabiles, item quaedam fluvii capaces ad mare non sufficientes. So the terms of the appointment let contractors know where they stand. If the captain takes on cargo when he was appointed solely to collect freight and not to take on cargo (for the shipowner himself might have done this already), the shipowner is not liable. The same applies if the captain is appointed solely to take on cargo and not to collect freight. The shipowner will not be bound if the captain exceeds the limits of his appointment when he was appointed to board passengers but not load cargo, or vice versa. Nor is the shipowner liable if the captain is appointed to take on cargo of a certain type, such as vegetables or hemp, and he loads marble or other materials. For some ships are freighters or "coasters," as they call them, and I know that most shipowners give instructions to turn away passengers and to confine operations to a certain area or a particular stretch of sea. And those ships which ferry passengers to Brindisi from Cassiopa or Dyrrachium are quite unfitted for carrying cargo, just as other ships are suitable for river traffic, but not adequate for sea voyages.

14.2.2.pr. Si laborante nave iactus factus est, amissarum mercium domini, si merces vehendas locaverant, ex locato cum magistro navis agere debent: is deinde cum reliquis, quorum merces salvae sunt, ex conducto, ut detrimentum pro portione communicetur, agere potest. Servius quidem respondit ex locato agere cum magistro navis debere, ut ceterorum vectorum merces retineat, donec portionem damni praestent. Immo etsi "non" retineat merces magister, ultro ex locato habiturus est actionem cum vectoribus: quid enim si vectores sint, qui nullas sarcinas habeant? Plane commodius est, si sint, retinere eas. At si non totam navem conduxerit, ex conducto aget, sicut vectores, qui loca in navem conduxerunt: aequissimum enim est commune detrimentum fieri eorum, qui propter amissas res aliorum consecuti sunt, ut merces suas salvas haberent. If goods have been jettisoned because the ship was in difficulty, the owners who have lost the cargo for whose carriage they contracted may sue the captain on their contracts. Then, the captain may bring an action on his contracts of carriage against the others whose goods have been saved, so as to distribute the loss proportionally. Servius once advised that the suit on the contract of carriage against the captain is to make him hold onto the cargo of the other shippers until they pay their part of the loss. But even if the captain does not retain their goods, he will still have an action against the shippers; for there might be people who have no baggage. But certainly, it is more convenient to detain any baggage they have. If he has hired the whole ship, he may bring an action on that charter just as passengers would who had chartered space on the ship; for it is only fair that the loss should be shared by all those whose property has been saved by means of the sacrifice of the property of others.

14.2.2.2 Cum in eadem nave varia mercium genera complures mercatores coegissent praetereaque multi vectores servi liberique in ea navigarent, tempestate gravi orta necessario iactura facta erat: quaesita deinde sunt haec: an omnes iacturam praestare oporteat et si qui tales merces imposuissent, quibus navis non oneraretur, velut gemmas margaritas? Et quae portio praestanda est? Et an etiam pro liberis capitibus dari oporteat? Et qua actione ea res expediri possit? Placuit omnes, quorum interfuisset iacturam fieri, conferre oportere, quia id tributum observatae res deberent: itaque dominum etiam navis pro portione obligatum esse. Iacturae summam pro rerum pretio distribui oportet. Corporum liberorum aestimationem nullam fieri posse. Ex conducto dominos rerum amissarum cum nauta, id est cum magistro acturos. Itidem agitatum est, an etiam vestimentorum cuiusque et anulorum aestimationem fieri oporteat: et omnium visum est, nisi si qua consumendi causa imposita forent, quo in numero essent cibaria: eo magis quod, si quando ea defecerint in navigationem, quod quisque haberet in commune conferret. A vessel carrying diverse cargoes shipped by many merchants in addition to many passengers, both slave and free, was overtaken by a serious storm and had to be lightened. The questions put were whether the people whose goods, such as jewels and pearls, added no weight to the ship had to contribute like everyone else, in what proportion the loss should be split, whether anything was due in respect of the free passengers, and by what action the matter should be proceeded with. It was agreed that all those who had benefited by the jettison must make their contribution, including the owner of the ship for his part, because the contribution is levied on property preserved. The total amount of the loss should be apportioned in relation to the market value of the property, freemen not being valued. The owners of the property sacrificed should sue the mariner, that is, the captain, on the contract of carriage. When it was asked whether the value of everyone's clothes and jewelry should be taken into account, it was agreed that one should take account of the value of all property except what was put on the ship for purposes of consumption, such as foodstuffs, the reason for the exception being that if victuals ran short during the voyage, everyone would make common cause with what he had.

14.2.2.6 Si quis ex vectoribus solvendo non sit, hoc detrimentum magistri navis non erit: nec enim fortunas cuiusque nauta excutere debet. It is not for the captain to bear any loss due to the insolvency of a passenger; for it is not a mariner's responsibility to check everyone's financial standing.

19.2.13.2 Si magister navis sine gubernatore in flumen navem immiserit et tempestate orta temperare non potuerit et navem perdiderit, vectores habebunt adversus eum ex locato actionem. If a ship's captain sent his ship into a river without a pilot, and when a storm arose he could not steer the ship and so lost it, the passengers will have an action on lease [of a job] against him.

19.2.19.7 Si quis mulierem vehendam navi conduxisset, deinde in nave infans natus fuisset, probandum est pro infante nihil deberi, cum neque vectura eius magna sit neque his omnibus utatur, quae ad navigantium usum parantur. If a man undertook the conveyance of a woman by ship and a child was then born on board, the preferable view is that nothing is owed for the child, whose passage money is not large and who does not use all the things prepared for the use of passengers.

39.4.11.2 Dominus navis si illicite aliquid in nave vel ipse vel vectores imposuerint, navis quoque fisco vindicatur: quod si absente domino id a magistro vel gubernatore aut proreta nautave aliquo id factum sit, ipsi quidem capite puniuntur commissis mercibus, navis autem domino restituitur. If either the owner of a ship or passengers on it bring anything on board illegally, the ship is forfeit to the imperial treasury as well. But if something of the sort is done, in the absence of the owner, by the master or steersman or the pilot or any of the sailors, the latter are liable to capital punishment, and the goods are confiscated, but the ship is returned to its owner.

Texts from the Digesta. Translation Alan Watson.

4.9.7.pr.	Debet exercitor omnium nautarum suorum, sive liberi sint sive servi, factum praestare: nec immerito factum eorum praestat, cum ipse eos suo periculo adhibuerit. Sed non alias praestat, quam si in ipsa nave damnum datum sit: ceterum si extra navem licet a nautis, non praestabit. Item si praedixerit, ut unusquisque vectorum res suas servet neque damnum se praestaturum, et consenserint vectores praedictioni, non convenitur.	The person in charge of the ship ought to be liable for the acts of all his sailors, whether they are free men or slaves; nor undeservedly is he liable for their acts since he himself has made use of their services at his own risk. But he is liable only if the loss has occurred on the ship itself; if out of the ship, although by sailors, he will not be liable. Likewise, if he declared that each passenger should look after his own property and that he would not be liable for loss, and the passengers have agreed to this declaration, he is not sued.
4.9.7.2	Sed si quid nautae inter se damni dederint. Hoc ad exercitorem non pertinet. Sed si quis sit nauta et mercator, debiti illi dari: quod si quis quos volgo nautepibatas dicunt, et huic tenebitur, sed huius factum praestat, cum sit et nauta.	But if the crew have caused any damage among themselves, this will not affect the person in charge of the ship. But if a person is both sailor and merchant, the action ought to be given to him. But if any of those popularly called "persons working their passage" suffers loss, the person in charge is also liable to him; but in addition he is liable for his acts, since he is a sailor as well.
14.1.1.3	Magistri autem imponuntur locandis navibus vel ad merces vel vectoribus conducendis armamentisve emendis: sed etiamsi mercibus emendis vel vendendis fuerit praepositus, etiam hoc nomine obligat exercitorem.	The captain is appointed to hire out the ship for the carriage of cargo, to take on passengers, or to purchase provisions or equipment; but even if he buys and sells cargoes, this will bind the shipowner if the captain was appointed for that purpose.
14.1.1.12	Igitur praepositio certam legem dat contrahentibus. Quare si eum praeposuit navi ad hoc solum, ut vecturas exigat, non ut locet (quod forte ipse locaverat), non tenebitur exercitor, si magister locaverit: vel si ad locandum tantum, non ad exigendum, idem erit dicendum: aut si ad hoc, ut vectoribus locet, non ut mercibus navem praestet, vel contra, modum egressus non obligabit exercitorem: sed et si ut certis mercibus eam locet, praepositus est, puta legumini, cannabae, ille marmoribus vel alia materia locavit, dicendum erit non teneri. Quaedam enim naves onerariae, quaedam (ut ipsi dicunt) epibatygoi sunt: et plerosque mandare scio, ne vectores recipiant, et sic, ut certa regione et certo mari negotietur, ut ecce sunt naves, quae Brundisium a Cassiopa vel a Dyrrachio vectores traiciunt ad onera inhabiles, item quaedam fluvii capaces ad mare non sufficientes.	So the terms of the appointment let contractors know where they stand. If the captain takes on cargo when he was appointed solely to collect freight and not to take on cargo (for the shipowner himself might have done this already), the shipowner is not liable. The same applies if the captain is appointed solely to take on cargo and not to collect freight. The shipowner will not be bound if the captain exceeds the limits of his appointment when he was appointed to board passengers but not load cargo, or vice versa. Nor is the shipowner liable if the captain is appointed to take on cargo of a certain type, such as vegetables or hemp, and he loads marble or other materials. For some ships are freighters or "coasters," as they call them, and I know that most shipowners give instructions to turn away passengers and to confine operations to a certain area or a particular stretch of sea. And those ships which ferry passengers to Brindisi from Cassiopa or Dyrrachium are quite unfitted for carrying cargo, just as other ships are suitable for river traffic, but not adequate for sea voyages.
14.2.2.pr.	Si laborante nave iactus factus est, amissarum mercium domini, si merces vehendas locaverant, ex locato cum magistro navis agere debent: is deinde cum reliquis, quorum merces salvae sunt, ex conducto, ut detrimentum pro portione communicetur, agere potest. Servius quidem respondit ex locato agere cum magistro navis debere, ut ceterorum vectorum merces retineat, donec portionem damni praestent. Immo etsi "non" retineat merces magister, ultro ex locato habiturus est actionem cum vectoribus: quid enim si vectores sint, qui nullas sarcinas habeant? Plane commodius est, si sint, retinere eas. At si non totam navem conduxerit, ex conducto aget, sicut vectores, qui loca in navem conduxerunt: aequissimum enim est commune detrimentum fieri eorum, qui propter amissas res aliorum consecuti sunt, ut merces suas salvas haberent.	If goods have been jettisoned because the ship was in difficulty, the owners who have lost the cargo for whose carriage they contracted may sue the captain on their contracts. Then, the captain may bring an action on his contracts of carriage against the others whose goods have been saved, so as to distribute the loss proportionally. Servius once advised that the suit on the contract of carriage against the captain is to make him hold onto the cargo of the other shippers until they pay their part of the loss. But even if the captain does not retain their goods, he will still have an action against the shippers; for there might be people who have no baggage. But certainly, it is more convenient to detain any baggage they have. If he has hired the whole ship, he may bring an action on that charter just as passengers would who had chartered space on the ship; for it is only fair that the loss should be shared by all those whose property has been saved by means of the sacrifice of the property of others.
14.2.2.2	Cum in eadem nave varia mercium genera complures mercatores coegissent praetereaque multi vectores servi liberique in ea navigarent, tempestate gravi orta necessario iactura facta erat: quaesita deinde sunt haec: an omnes iacturam praestare oporteat et si qui tales merces imposuissent, quibus navis non oneraretur, velut gemmas margaritas? Et quae portio praestanda est? Et an etiam pro liberis capitibus dari oporteat? Et qua actione ea res expediri possit? Placuit omnes, quorum interfuisset iacturam fieri, conferre oportere, quia id tributum observatae res deberent: itaque dominum etiam navis pro portione obligatum esse. Iacturae summam pro rerum pretio distribui oportet. Corporum liberorum aestimationem nullam fieri posse. Ex conducto dominos rerum amissarum cum nauta, id est cum magistro acturos. Itidem agitatum est, an etiam vestimentorum cuiusque et anulorum aestimationem fieri oporteat: et omnium visum est, nisi si qua consumendi causa imposita forent, quo in numero essent cibaria: eo magis quod, si quando ea defecerint in navigationem, quod quisque haberet in commune conferret.	A vessel carrying diverse cargoes shipped by many merchants in addition to many passengers, both slave and free, was overtaken by a serious storm and had to be lightened. The questions put were whether the people whose goods, such as jewels and pearls, added no weight to the ship had to contribute like everyone else, in what proportion the loss should be split, whether anything was due in respect of the free passengers, and by what action the matter should be proceeded with. It was agreed that all those who had benefited by the jettison must make their contribution, including the owner of the ship for his part, because the contribution is levied on property preserved. The total amount of the loss should be apportioned in relation to the market value of the property, freemen not being valued. The owners of the property sacrificed should sue the mariner, that is, the captain, on the contract of carriage. When it was asked whether the value of everyone's clothes and jewelry should be taken into account, it was agreed that one should take account of the value of all property except what was put on the ship for purposes of consumption, such as foodstuffs, the reason for the exception being that if victuals ran short during the voyage, everyone would make common cause with what he had.
14.2.2.6	Si quis ex vectoribus solvendo non sit, hoc detrimentum magistri navis non erit: nec enim fortunas cuiusque nauta excutere debet.	It is not for the captain to bear any loss due to the insolvency of a passenger; for it is not a mariner's responsibility to check everyone's financial standing.
19.2.13.2	Si magister navis sine gubernatore in flumen navem immiserit et tempestate orta temperare non potuerit et navem perdiderit, vectores habebunt adversus eum ex locato actionem.	If a ship's captain sent his ship into a river without a pilot, and when a storm arose he could not steer the ship and so lost it, the passengers will have an action on lease [of a job] against him.
19.2.19.7	Si quis mulierem vehendam navi conduxisset, deinde in nave infans natus fuisset, probandum est pro infante nihil deberi, cum neque vectura eius magna sit neque his omnibus utatur, quae ad navigantium usum parantur.	If a man undertook the conveyance of a woman by ship and a child was then born on board, the preferable view is that nothing is owed for the child, whose passage money is not large and who does not use all the things prepared for the use of passengers.
39.4.11.2	Dominus navis si illicite aliquid in nave vel ipse vel vectores imposuerint, navis quoque fisco vindicatur: quod si absente domino id a magistro vel gubernatore aut proreta nautave aliquo id factum sit, ipsi quidem capite puniuntur commissis mercibus, navis autem domino restituitur.	If either the owner of a ship or passengers on it bring anything on board illegally, the ship is forfeit to the imperial treasury as well. But if something of the sort is done, in the absence of the owner, by the master or steersman or the pilot or any of the sailors, the latter are liable to capital punishment, and the goods are confiscated, but the ship is returned to its owner.
Texts from the Digesta. Translation Alan Watson.