tur) composed of earth, wood, and hurdles, (CRATES), and stone, which was gradually advanced (promovebatur) towards the town, always increasing in height, till it equalled or overtopped the walls. The mount which Cæsar raised against Avaricum or Bourges, was 330 feet broad, and 80 feet high, Cas. B. G. vii. 23.

The Agger or mount was secured by towers consisting of different stories (turres contabulata), from which showers of darts and stones were discharged on the townsmen by means of engines, (tormenta), called CATAPULTE, BALISTE, and SCORPIONES, to defend the work and workmen, (opus et administros tutari), Sallust. Jug. 76. Of these towers Cæsar is supposed to have erected 1561 on his lines around Alesia, Cas. de bell. G. vii. 72. The labour and industry of the Roman troops were as remarkable as their courage.

There were also moveable towers, (TURRES MOBILES vel AMBULATORIE), which were pushed forward (admovebantur vel adigebantur) and brought back (reducebantur) on wheels, fixed below (rotis subjectis) on the inside of the planks, Cæs. B. G. ii. 31. v. 42. vii. 24. Hirt. de bell. Alex. 2. Liv. xxi. 11.

To prevent them from being set on fire by the enemy, they were covered with raw hides (coria) and pieces of coarse cloth and mattresses, (centones vel cilicia,) Cæs. de bell. Civ. ii. 10. They were of an immense bulk, sometimes thirty, forty, or fifty foot square, and higher than the walls, or even than the towers of the city. When they could be brought up to the walls, a place was seldom able to stand out long, Liv. xxi. 11. 14. xxxii. 17. xxxiii. 17.

But the most dreadful machine of all was the battering ram, (ARIES,) a long beam, like the mast of a ship, and armed at one end with iron in the form of a ram's head; whence it had its name. It was suspended by the middle with ropes or chains fastened to a beam, that lay across two posts, and hanging thus equally balanced, it was by a hundred men, more or less, (who were frequently changed), violently thrust forward, drawn back, again pushed forward, till by repeated strokes it had shaken and broken down the wall with its iron head, Veget. iv. 14. Liv. xxi. 12. xxx. 32. 46. xxxii. 23. xxxviii. 5. Joseph. de bell. Jud. iii. 9.

The ram was covered with sheds or mantlets, called VINEE, machines constructed of wood and hurdles, and covered with earth or raw hides, or any materials, which could not easily be set on fire. They were pushed forwards by wheels below, (rotis subjectis agebantur vel impellebantur), Sallust. Jug. 76. Under them, the besiegers either worked the ram, or tried to undermine the walls, Liv. ii. 17. v. 7. x. 34. xxi. 7. 61. xxiii. 18.

Similar to the Vinee in form and use were the TESTUDINES;

so called, because those under them were safe as a tortoise under its shell, Liv. v. 5. Cæs. B. G. v. 41. 50. de bell. Civ. ii. 2. 14.

Of the same kind were the PLUTEI, Liv. xxi. 61. xxxiv. 17. Cæs. passim. the MUSCULUS, ibid. &c.

These mantlets or sheds were used to cover the men in filling up the ditches, and for various other purposes, Cæs. B. G. vii. 58. When the nature of the ground would not permit these machines to be erected or brought forward to the walls, the besiegers sometimes drove a mine (CUNICULUM agebant) into the heart of the city, Liv. v. 19. 21. or in this manner intercepted the springs of water, Hirt. de Bell. Gell. viii. 41. 43.

When they only wished to sap the foundation of the walls, they supported the part to be thrown down with wooden props, which being consumed with fire, the wall fell to the ground.

In the mean time the besieged, to frustrate the attempts of the besiegers, met their mines* with countermines, (transversis cuniculis hostium cuniculos excipere), Liv. xxiii. 18. which sometimes occasioned dreadful conflicts below ground, xxxviii. 7. The great object was to prevent them from approaching the walls (apertos, sc. ab hostibus vel Romanis, cuniculos morabantur, manibusque appropinquare prohibebant), Cæs. B. G. vii. 22.

The besieged also, by means of mines, endeavoured to frustrate or overturn the works of the enemy, Cas. B. G. iii. 21. vii. 22. They withdrew the earth from the mount, (terram ad se introrsus subtrahebant), or destroyed the works by fires below, in the same manner as the besiegers overturned the walls, Cæs. ibid. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. iii. 12.

When they apprehended a breach would be made, they reared new walls behind, with a deep ditch before them. They employed various methods to weaken or elude the force of the ram, and to defend themselves against the engines and darts of the besiegers, Liv. xlii. 63. But these, and every thing else belonging to this subject, will be best understood by reading the accounts preserved to us of ancient sieges, particularly of Syracuse by Marcellus, Liv. xxiv. 33. of Ambracia by Fulvius, Id. xxxviii. 4. of Alesia by Julius Cæsar, de Bell. Gall. vii. of Marseilles by his lieutenants, Cæs. B. Civ. ii. and of Jerusalem, by Titus Vespasian, Joseph. de Bell. Jud.

When the Romans besieged a town, and thought themselves sure of taking it, they used solemnly (certo carmine) to call out of it (EVOCARE) the gods, under whose protection the place was sup

* Mining and countermining have been often used in modern times, especially in Flanders, and the Low Countries.

posed to be, Liv. v. 21. Hence when Troy was taken, the gods are said to have left their shrines, Virg. Æn. ii. 351. For this reason, the Romans are said to have kept secret their tutelary god, and the Latin name of the city, Plin. iii. 5. s. 9. xxviii. 2. s. 4. Macrob. iii. 9.

The form of a surrender we have, Liv. i. 38. Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 71. & 102. and the usual manner of plundering a city when taken, Polyb. x. 16.

NAV

NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THE ROMANS.

[AVIGATION* at first was very rude, and the construction of vessels extremely simple. The most ancient nations used boats made of trunks of trees hollowed (ex singulis arboribus cavalis), Virg. G. 126. 262. Plin. xvi. 41. Liv. xxvi. 26. called ALVEI, LINTRES, SCAPHE vel MONOXYLA, Paterc. ii. 107. Ovid. Fast. ii. 407. Liv. i. 4. xxv. 3. Plin. vi. 23. Strab. iii. 155. or composed of beams and planks fastened together with cords or wooden pins, called RATES, Festus ; or of reeds, called CANNE, Juvenal. v. 89. or partly of slender planks (carinæ ac statumina, the keel and ribs, ex levi materia), and partly of wicker hurdles or basket-work, (reliquum corpus navium viminibus contextum), and covered with hides, as those of the ancient Britons, Cas. B. G. i. 54. Lucan. iv. 131. and other nations, Herodot. i. 194. Dio. xlviii. 18. hence called NAVIGIA VITILIA corto circumsuta, Plin. iv. 16. vii. 56. and naves sutiles, xxiv. 9. s. 40. in allusion to which, Virgil calls the boats of Charon Cymba sutilis, En. vi. 414. somewhat similar to the Indian canoes, which are made of the bark of trees; or to the boats of the Icelanders and Esquimaux Indians, which are made of long poles placed crosswise, tied together with whale sinews, and covered with the skins of sea dogs, sewed with sinews instead of thread.

In nothing perhaps has improvement been more conspicuous, than in building, equipping, working and conducting ships. In the gloom of ignorance and barbarism Naval Architecture was very rude and uncouth; but discoveries on this subject were so acceptable to mankind, that inventions, tending to improve the arts of Navigation and Naval Architecture, were deemed worthy of the greatest honours, and often elevated the inventors to the rank of deities Hence Argo and others, which were new ships of a better construction than those which had preceded them, obtained a place among the stars. Among the ancient Egyptians, and Sicilians, very large ships were built, and among the former some of a very great size were employed in commerce; but they were unwieldy, and difficult to be managed. The progress of commerce, and the discovery of the compass and of gunpowder, have stimulated the minds of men to exertions in the improvement of naval architecture, for the amelioration of private fortune, and for the attainment of warlike glory.

It is impossible, perhaps, yet to ascertain the many advantages that may accrue from the late discovery of a method for propelling vessels by steam, against wind and tide. We can only say, it forms a new era in the art of navigation; but all its effects cannot be foreseen, though very extraordinary results may be expected. E.

The Phoenicians, or the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, are said to have been the first inventors of the art of sailing, as of letters and astronomy, Plin. v. 12. For Jason, to whom the poets ascribe it, Ovid. Met. vi. vers. ult. et Amor. ii. 11. 1. Lucan. iii. 194. and the Argonauts, who first sailed under Jason from Greece to Colchi in the ship Argo, in quest of the golden fleece, that is, of commerce, flourished long after the Phoenicians were a powerful nation. But whatever be in this, navigation certainly received from them its chief improvements.

The invention of sails is by some ascribed to Eolus, the god of the winds, Diodor. v. 7. and by others to Dæ lalus; whence he is said to have flown like a bird through the air, Virg. Æn. vi. 15.They seem to have been first made of skins, which the Veněti, the people of Vienne in Gaul, used even in the time of Cæsar, B. G. iii. 13. afterwards of flax or hemp; whence lintea and carbasa, (sing -us), are put for vela, sails. Sometimes cloths spread out were used for sails, Tacit. Annal. ii. 24. Hist. v. 23. Juvenal. xii. 66.

It was long before the Romans paid any attention to naval affairs. They at first had nothing but boats made of thick planks, (ex tabulis crassioribus, Festus), such as they used on the Tiber, called NAVES CAUDICARIE; whence Appius Claudius, who first persuaded them to fit out a fleet, A. U. 489. got the surname of CAUDEX, Senec. de brev. vitæ, 13. Varr. de Vit. Rom. 11. They are said to have taken the model of their first ship of war from a vessel of the Carthaginians, which happened to be stranded on their coasts, and to have exercised their men on land to the management of ships, Polyb. i. 20. & 21. But this can hardly be reconciled with what Polybius says in other places, nor with what we find in Livy about the equipment and operations of a Roman fleet, Liv. ix. 30. 38. Their first ships of war were probably built from the model of those of Antium, which, after the reduction of that city, were brought to Rome, A. U. 417. Liv. viii. 14. It was not, however, till the first Punic war that they made any figure by

sea.

Ships of war were called NAVES LONG Æ, because they were of a longer shape than ships of burden, (naves ONERARIÆ, óλxades, whence hulks; or barca, barks, Isidor. xix. 1.), which were more round and deep, Cas. B. G. iv. 20. v. 7. The ships of war were moved chiefly by oars, the ships of burden by sails, Cæs. B. G. iv. 25. Cic. Fam. xii. 15. and as they were more heavy (graviores), and sailed more slowly, they were sometimes towed (remulco tracta) after the war ships, Liv. xxxii. 16.

Their ships of war were variously ranks of oars (ab ordinibus remorum).

named from their rows or Those which had two rows

or tiers were called Biremes, (Dicrota, Cic. Att. v. 11. xvi. 4. vel Dicrota, Hirt. B. Alex. 47.) three, triremes; four, quadriremes; five, quinqueremes vel penteres.

The Romans scarcely had any ships of more than five banks of oars; and therefore those of six or seven banks are called by a Greek name, Hexères, Hepleres, Liv. xxxvii. 23. and above that by a circumlocution, naves, octo, novem, decem ordinum, vel versuum, Flor. iv. 11. Thus Livy calls a ship of sixteen rows, (ixxaidexnons, Polyb.) navis ingentis magnitudinis, quam sexdecim versus remorum agebant, Liv. xlv. 34. This enormous ship, however, sailed up the Tiber to Rome, Ibid.The ships of Antony, (which Florus says resembled floating castles and towns, iv. 11. 4. Virgil, floating islands or mountains, E. viii. 691. So Dio. 1. 33), had only from six to nine banks of oars, Flor. iv. 4. Dio says from four to ten rows, l. 23.

There are various opinions about the manner in which the rowers sat. That most generally received is, that they were placed above one another in different stages or benches (in transtris vel jugis) on one side of the ship, not in a perpendicular line, but in the form of a quincunx. The oars of the lowest bench were short, and those of the other benches increased in length, in proportion to their height above the water. This opinion is confirmed by several passages in the classics, Virg. Æn. v. 119. Lucan. iii. 536. Sil. Italic. xiv. 424. and by the representations which remain of ancient galleys, particularly that on Trajan's pillar at Rome. It is, however, attended with difficulties not easily reconciled.*

There were three different classes of rowers, whom the Greeks called Thranita, Zeugita, or Zeugioi, and Thalamite, or, -ioi, from the different parts of the ship in which they were placed. The first sat in the highest part of the ship, next the stern; the second, in the middle; and the last in the lowest part, next the prow.Some think that there were as many oars belonging to each of these classes of rowers, as the ship was said to have ranks or banks of oars: Others, that there were as many rowers to each oar, as the ship is said to have banks; and some reckon the number of banks, by that of oars on each side. In this manner they remove the difficulty of supposing eight or ten banks of oars above one another, and even forty; for a ship is said by Plutarch and Athenæus, to have been built by Ptolemy Philopator which had that number: So Plin. vii. 56. But these opinions are involved in still more inextricable difficulties.

The late British Gen. Stewart, in a publication on this subject, has endeavoured to show the form and management of the Roman ships; and by comparing the representation on Trajan's pillar with the descriptions to be found in the classics, has cleared up many of these difficulties According to him, the sides of their vessels formed an angle of 45 degrees with the surface of the water. Zeugitæ.