“If my principal were to send here a lot of eastern good (silks, shawls, rugs, jewels), what duties would he have to pay?”
The Roman took down from a shelf a framed schedule and read from it certain figures. He looked up. The Greek was making a memorandum.
When he had finished, Cimon asked, “Can these rates be relied on for some time to come?”
“Doubtless: they have not been changed since the times of the Ptolemies.”
Cimon made another entry on his tablets.
“Can you give me some idea what the course of trade has been in these eastern goods—what its annual amount, whether subject to fluctuations, whether on the whole increasing or decreasing?”
“I cannot,” said the official. “To do this would require much time and labor in examining the registers.”
“Then you register all lots of goods that come to you, and preserve the registers?”
“Certainly. We preserve them till they become too many for preservation.”