These mantlets or sheds were used to cover the men in filling up the ditches, and for various other purposes, Cas. 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 (apertas, sc. ab hostibus vel Romanis, cuniculos morebantur, 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, Cas. ibid. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. iii. 12.

Where 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, Cas. 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 supposed to be, Liv. v. 21. Hence when Troy was taken,

the

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.

NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THE ROMANS.

N ȚAVIGATION at first was very rude, and the construction of vessels extreinely simple. The most ancient nations used boats made of trunks of trees hollowed, (ex singulis arboribus cavatis), Virg. G. 126. 262. Plin, xvi. 41. Liv. xxvi. 26. called ALVEI, LINTRES, SCAPHÆ, 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 CANNA, 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. C. i. 54. Lucan. iv. 131. and other nations, Herodot. i. 194. Dio, xlviii. 18. hence called NAVIGIA VITILIA corio circumsuta, Plin. iv. 16. vii. 56. and naves sutiles, xxiv. gr s. 40. in allusion to which, Virgil calls the boat of Charon Cymba sutilis, n. 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 cross wise, tied together with whale sinews, and covered with the skins of sea dogs, sewed with sinews instead of thread.

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 Colchis in the ship Argo, in quest of the

golden

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 Dædălus; whence he is said to have flown like a bird through the air. Virg. En. vi. 15. They seem to have been first made of skins, which the Veneti, a people of 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 cloaths 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 Clau dius, 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 hap pened 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 how ever, till the first Punic war that they made any figure by sea.

Ships of war were called NAVES LONGE, because they were of a longer shape than ships of burden, (naves ONERA RIÆ, onades, 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 driven 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 named from their rows or ranks of oars (ab ordinibus remorum). Those which had two rows or tiers were called Birēmes, (Dicrota, Cic. Att. v. 11. xvi. 4. vel. Dicrota, Hirt. B. Alex. 47.) three, triremes; four, quadriremes; five, quinqueremes vel penteres.

The

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, Hepteres, Liv. xxxvii. 23. and above that by a circumlocution, naves, octo, novem, decem ordinum, vel versuum, Flor, iv. 11. This Livy calls a ship of sixteen rows, (innaudexnens, 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, En. viii. 691. So Dio, I. 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 gallies, 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, Zuegita or Zeugioi, and Thalamita, 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.

Ships contrived for lightness and expedition (naves ACTU. ARIÆ) had but one rank of oars on each side, (simplice ordi

ne

ne agebantur, pounpeis, Tacit. Hist, v. 23,) or at most two, Cas. B. G. v. 1. Lucan. iii. 534. They were of different kinds, and called by various names; as, Celoces, i. e. naves celeres vel cursoriæ, Lembi, Phaseli, Myoparones, &c. Cic. et Liv. But the most remarkable of these were the naves LIBURNÆ, Horat. epod. i. 1. a kind of light gallies used by the Liburni, a people of Dalmatia addicted to piracy. To ships of this kind Augustus was in a great measure indebted for his victory over Antony at Actium, Dio, 1. 29. 32. Hence after that time the name of naves LIBURNE was given to all light quick-sailing vessels, and few ships were built but of that construction, Veget. iv.

33.

Ships were also denominated from the country to which they belonged, Cas. B. C. iii. 5. Cic. Verr. v. 33. and the various uses to which they were applied; as NAVES MERCATOKIE, frumentaria, vinariæ, oleariæ; PISCATORIÆ, Liv. xxiii. 1. vel lenunculi, fishing-boats, Cas. B. C. ii. 39. SPECULATORIÆ et exploratoria, spie-boats, Liv. xxx. 10. xxxvi. 42. PIRATICE vel predatoria, Id. xxxiv. 32. 36. HYPPAGOGA, vel Hyppagines, for carrying horses and their riders, Liv. xliv. 28. Gell. x. 25. Festus. TABELLARIA, message-boats, Senec. Epist. 77. Plaut. Mil. Glor. iv. 1. 39. VECTORIÆ GRAVESQUE, transports and ships of burden; Annotina privataque, built that or the former year for private use; Some read annonaria, i. e. for carrying provisions, Cas. B. G. v. 7. Each ship had its long-boat joined to it, (cymbulæ onerariis adhærescebant), Plin. Ep. 8.20.

A large Asiatic ship among the Greeks was called CERCURUS, Plaut. Merc. i. 1. 86. Stich. ii. 2. 84. iii. 1. 12. it is supposed from the island Corcyra; but Pliny ascribes the invention of it to the Cyprians, vii. 56.

Gallies kept by princes and great men for amusement, were called by various names; Triremes ceratæ vel æratæ, lusoriæ et cubiculata vel thalamegi, pleasure-boats or barges, Senec. de ben. vii. 20. Suet. Cæs. 52. privæ, i. e. propria et non meritoria, one's own, not hired, Horat. Ep. i. 1. 92. sometimes of immense size, Deceres vel decemremes, Suet. Cal. 37.

Each ship had a name pecul ar to itself inscribed or painted on its prow; thus, PRISTIS, SCYLLA, CENTAURUS, &c. Virg. En. v. 116. &c. called PARASEMON, its sign, Herodot. viii. 89. Liv. xxxvii. 29. or INSIGNE, Tacit. Ann. vi. 34. as its tutelary god (tutela vel tutelare numen) was on its stern, Ovid. Trist. i. el. 3. v. 110. et el. g. v. 1.Herod. xvi. 112. Pers. vi. ვი. Sil. Ital. xiv. 411. 439. whence that part of the ship was called TUTELA or Cautela, and held sacred by the marr

D D

ners,