HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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author who endeavours to establish as a fact, that the fleet of Rome rose up atonce out of the sea like a volcano, two treaties nearly of the same tenor andeffect, were extant in his time, of both which he has given us transcripts.

There are besides these, many other collateral proofs of the mistake. In theconsulate of Maevius, about the year 280 from the building of the city, upwards oftwo hundred years prior to the victory of Duilius, the port of Antium was forced,and the fleet belonging to that people, which consisted of twenty gallies, or ves-sels of war, being carried into the Yyber, was moored in a quarter said to havebeen expressly set apart for the construction of shipping. In the year of Rome450, two new officers were created, at the instance of that great and reveredcharacter Decius Mus, then one of the tribunes of the people. To them allaffairs relative to the navy were given in charge, an appointment too ridiculousfor so wise a people to have made, had there been no navy for them to haveregulated the concerns of.

In the year 475 from the building of the city, it is peremptorily asserted, thatthe fleet of Rome, which by the bye was then not very formidable, for it consistedonly of ten galleys, appeared off the port of Tarentum under the command ofValerius, or, as others call him, Cornelius, one of the Duumviri, the first creationof which office we have just taken notice of. The Tarentines were at that timein secret league with the Samnites, and others, who were in actual open warwith the Romans : imagining their treachery was of course discovered, theyresolved to throw off the mask at once, hoping, that being superior in force, ifthey attacked, they ffiould make themselves masters of the Roman armament.They immediately put to sea with an enthusiasm bordering on fury, and assault-ing their intended enemies, sunk one of their vessels, took four, but were not ableto prevent the remaining five from making their escape.

From all these separate testimonies, and proofs, it seems very clearly estab-lished, that the Roman navy, far indeed from being formidable, was, neverthe-less, in existence long before the commencement of the first Punic war; though,owing to their wars and contests, previous to that time, being confined to their owncontinent, they had applied but little to the art of navigation. The conquest ofItaly, however, being completed, the designs, the ambition of the republic en-

ties and privileges granted to their merchants prove its respectability in one instance; and the clauses re-lative to their vessels of war argue, too forcibly for dispute or contradiction, diat their navy was even thenin a state of growing greatness, or no such restrictions need have been made. The first treaty was madein the time of Brutus and Valerius, the consuls immediately succeeding the expulsion of the Tarquins,the second in the consulate of Valerius Corvus, and Popilius, about the year of Rome 415

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