Ex lege Rhodia liber
Dig. 14,2,9Volusius Maecianus ex lege Rhodia. Ἀξίωσις Εὐδαίμονος Νικομηδέως πρὸς Ἀντωνῖνον βασιλέα· Κύριε βασιλεῦ Ἀντωνῖνε, ναυφράγιον ποιήσαντες ἐν τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ διηρπάγημεν ὑπὸ τῶν δημοσίων τῶν τὰς Κυκλάδας νήσους οἰκούντων. Ἀντωνῖνος εἶπεν Εὐδαίμονι· ἐγὼ μὲν τοῦ κόσμου κύριος, ὁ δὲ νόμος τῆς θαλάσσης. τῷ νόμῳ τῶν Ῥοδίων κρινέσθω τῷ ναυτικῷ, ἐν οἷς μήτις τῶν ἡμετέρων αὐτῷ νόμος ἐναντιοῦται. τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ὁ θειότατος Αὔγουστος ἔκρινεν.
Volusius Marcianus, On the Rhodian Law. A petition of Eudaimon of Nicomedia to the Emperor Antoninus; “Lord Emperor Antoninus, having been shipwrecked in Icaria we have been robbed by farmers of the revenue inhabiting the Cyclades Islands.” Antoninus answered Eudaimon as follows: “I am, indeed, the Lord of the World, but the Law is the Lord of the sea; and this affair must be decided by the Rhodian law adopted with reference to maritime questions, provided no enactment of ours is opposed to it.” The Divine Augustus established the same rule.