60 ALAIN BRESSON (TRANSLATED By EDwARD M. HARRIS)
its import was banned. Thasos, a city producing wine, prohibited the import
of foreign wine into its territory by Thasian ships (the law is unfortunately
mutilated, and some of its provisions are lost).^77 F. Salviat rightly compares a
law in effect at Marseille from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century that
prohibited the import of wine to the town because this production provided
an essential source of revenue for the inhabitants.^78 To prohibit purely and
simply the import of a foreign product (for political or economic reasons) was
naturally a much more effective solution than to resort to fiscal measures, even
though such fiscal measures are contemplated (it makes no difference that it is
meant as a joke) to encourage the export of Lesbian wine to Athens.^79
As for the regulation of exports, this is widely attested and once again if
exportation or (re-exportation) appeared harmful, it was prohibited purely and
simply. This is well attested at Athens and in a series of other cities so there is
no point in prolonging our discussion.^80
One can now better understand the meaning of the final clause in the
passage from the Laws quoted earlier in the chapter. We would translate it
thus: ‘As for weapons and all instruments of war, if there is need to import
for this purpose a skill, a plant, a metal, a rope, or an animal, let the hipparchs
and the generals decide about importing and exporting (εἰσαγωγῆς τε καὶ
ἐξαγωγῆς), let the city grant or receive these rights (διδούσης τε ἅμα καὶ
δεχομένης τῆς πόλεως), and let the nomophylakes introduce laws that are suit-
able and appropriate for this purpose.’^81 Here again we find the four aspects
that we have previously discussed:- A right or privilege granted by the city.
- The right to import: this is the authorization granted for merchants to
import a product. There may be a complete prohibition (as in the case of
the law of Thasos about wine) or an incentive to import (a proposal, found
at least on the stage, to establish favourable fiscal treatment for the import of
wine from Lesbos). - The right to export: authorization granted (compare Macedonia for wood,
the Bosporus for grain) or denied to export a particular product (prohibitions
affecting the export of grain).
- The right to import: this is the authorization granted for merchants to
- A right or privilege received by the city.
- The right to export: the authorization obtained from a foreign state, with
a possible preferential treatment, to import goods from this country (for
instance, the Athenians receiving the authorization to import wood from
Macedonia or grain from the Bosporus). - The right to import: authorization obtained from a foreign state, with a
possible preferential treatment, to import to its territory products produced
by the city (for instance, cities of the Aegean making a request to have
access to the Athenian market in the fifth century BCE; or the Milesians
- The right to export: the authorization obtained from a foreign state, with