Had ever ventured before.
One of the results of this success was a maritime survey, or rather two
partial surveys of the north part of Britain, from which the geography of
that part of the island was compiled by Ptolemy.
The maritime laws of the Rhodians, or those which passed under their name,
seem to have been the basis and authority of the Roman maritime laws at
this period; for we are told, that when a merchant complained to the
emperor that he had been plundered by the imperial officers at the
Cyclades, where he had been shipwrecked, the latter replied, that he indeed
was lord of the earth, but that the sea was governed by the Rhodian laws,
and that from them he would obtain redress. This part of the Rhodian law,
however, had been but lately adopted by the Romans; for Antoninus is
expressly mentioned as having enacted, among other laws, that shipwrecked
merchandize should be the entire property of the lawful owners, without any
interference or participation of the officers of the exchequer, and that
those who were guilty of plundering wrecks should be severely punished.
One of the most important and complete surveys of the Roman empire (the
idea of which, as has been already stated, was first formed by Julius
Caesar) was begun and finished in the reign of Antoninus, and is well known
under the appellation of his Itinerary.
