[ALFENUS UARUS libro septimo digestorum. ] §39.4.15.prCaesar cum insulae Cretae cotorias locaret, legem ita dixerat: 'ne quis praeter redemptorem post idus Martias cotem ex insula Creta 'fodito neue eximito neue auellito', cuiusdam nauis onusta cotibus ante idus Martias ex portu Cretae profecta uento relata in portum erat, deinde iterum post idus Martias profecta erat.
[ALFENUS VARUS, Digests, Book VII] When Caesar leased the whetstone quarries of the island of Crete, he had laid down the following law: 'No one except the contractor, after the Ides of March, shall dig, remove, or carry away whetstone from the island of Crete.' A certain ship laden with whetstones had set out from a port of Crete before the Ides of March, but was driven back into the port by the wind, and then had set out again after the Ides of March.
consulebatur, num contra legem post idus Martias ex insula Creta cotes exisse uiderentur.
The question was asked whether the whetstones seemed to have left the island of Crete after the Ides of March contrary to the law.
respondit, tametsi portus quoque, qui insulae essent, omnes eius insulae esse uiderentur, tamen eum, qui ante idus Martias profectus ex portu esset et relatus tempestate in insulam deductus esset, si inde exisset non uideri contra legem fecisse, praeterea quod iam initio euectae cotes uiderentur, cum et ex portu nauis profecta esset.
He replied that, although all the harbors which belong to the island are also considered to be part of that island, nevertheless, a person who had set out from the port before the Ides of March and had been driven back and brought back to the island by a storm, does not seem to have acted contrary to the law if he departed from there, especially because the whetstones already seemed to have been exported at the very beginning, since the ship had also set out from the port.