We Learn
From Demosthenes, That The Light Vessels Could Not Be Kept In Commission,
Even If The Utmost Attention Was Paid To Economy, And No Extraordinary
Damage Befel Them, For A Smaller Sum Than About 8000_L_.
Annually; of
course, such vessels as from their size, strength, and manning, were
capable of standing the brunt of an engagement, must have cost more than
double that sum.
In the time of Demosthenes, the trade of Athens seems to have been carried
on with considerable spirit and activity; the greater part of the money of
the Athenians having been employed in it. From one of his orations we
learn, that in the contract executed when money was lent for this purpose,
the period when the vessel was to sail, the nature and value of the goods
with which she was loaded, the port to which she was to carry them, the
manner in which they were to be sold there, and the goods with which she
was to return to Athens, were all specifically and formally noticed. In
other particulars the contracts varied: the money, lent was either not to
be repaid till the return of the vessel, or it was to be repaid as soon as
the outward goods were sold at the place to which she was bound, either to
the agent of the lender, or to himself, he going there for that express
purpose. The interest of money so lent varied: sometimes it rose as high as
30 per cent:
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