HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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<loms, or states, affords us the strongest example of the habitude or turn of mindwhich has, on every similar occasion, actuated the conduct of all nations, orcollected bodies of men, even from the earliest times. Ancus Martius, thefourth king of Rome, laid the first foundation of its naval power, and, accordingto Livy, set apart certain woods for the express purpose of shipbuilding, thoughit is very evideat that enterprising people did not acquire any celebrity till avery considerable time after his death. The sera of its commencement is fixed byhistorians and others in the first Carthaginian war, Duilius being commemoratedas the commander under whom they learnt to brave the perils of the sea, unitedwith the efforts of their enemies, and who, consequently, was the first naval warriorwho led them to renown and fame. The latter part of the story we readily give ourassent to, but cannot, for many reasons, as easily credit, that they emerged fromobscurity so suddenly, and blazed forth at once that sudden meteor of naval powerwhich they are said to have done. We have, indeed, the evidence of history itselfagainst the fact, for, in a treaty entered into with the Carthaginians, in the consu-late of Brutus, immediately after the expulsion of the Tarquins, it was stipulated,as one of the articles, that neither the Romans nor their allies should sail beyondthe Fair Promontory * : nor is this all, for, according to Polybius, the very

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* E9T« roir Se ^iXiav eivsci PuifjLaiots xxi rots Poytaiwv oviJ.fj.oi.yoi5, xxi Kapyroowfio xxi roic K.apyr,ooviani ovfj.-[j-xyots. Mn ttXeiv Pa/jaiovi firfle rous Paifjxiiov avfj.fj.ocyovs etexeiv* too xseXoo Axpwlnptou eav fj.rt vfloyjct-jjutivD: so vtH.ifuuv avayxaoQojsui. “ There-shall be (according to the modern term) a firm and lastingpeace between the Romans aad their allies, the Carthaginians and their allies, -on the following termsand conditions: 'l.’bat,neither the.Romans nor their.allies shall sail beyond the t Fair Promontory, unlessdriven by stress of weather or the pursuit of their enemies.” The treaty proceeds farther to stipulate,(hat if any vessel belonging to the Romans should be driven beyond those limits, it should not belawful for the crew to purchase, or take any commodities on board, except such articles as were neces-sary’to the refitment of the vessel, or making.sacrifices, and tliat they should depart within five days.This stipulation relates merely to the naves long a?, or .vessels.of war, for in regard to such as belongedto merchants they were allowed extraordinary privileges in all the Carthaginian ports; they were exemptfrom paying any duties, or expences, except the hire of the person who sold the commodities, and that ofthe clerk, or register. Tire public faith was pledged for the payment of all monies due to the vender onRoman .goods .sold in the Carthaginian dominions: the law was, moreover, declared to be equal and openwith respect to the Romans, and their own people. In one of die subsequent treaties it is agreed, that theRomans shall not capture the vessels of any country whatever, even belonging to those people withwhom they should chance to be at war, beyond the Fair Promontory, the Pillars of Hercules, or theport of Tarseius, not improbably Tarsus, on die river Cydnus, now called Tarassa: the same placemost persons imagine to have been die Tarshish of the Jews. Restrictive as this treaty was in somerespects, and necessary too, perhaps, considered in a political light, it certainly raises the consequence ofthe Roman naval power to a very great height, even when tiiat,-state was in its.infancy. The imtnuni-

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