HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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conducive to perfection. The most certain authority on which moderns have torelv is, that of the model of a Roman vessel presented by the late lord Anson tothe Royal Hospital at Greenwich; the original, which is of marble, was foundin the Villa Matthei in the sixteenth century, and now stands before the churchof Santa Maria in Rome, which is from that circumstance called Santa MariaNavicella. This curious, and, indeed, from the reasons just given, highlyvaluable remnant of antiquity, has been hitherto very generally, though impro-perly, called the model of a Roman war galley. That is by no means the case,^alleys of that description, called by the ancients, from their form, NavesLongue, were, as already stated, in length by the keel, generally speaking, equalto eigrht, and never less than six times their breadth: but the model alluded towill be found not far exceeding four times its breadth ; it is evident therefore,that the original was intended for the transportation of warlike stores, provisions,and troops, or, which demands the same requisites, and one built for the pur-poses of commerce.

However these might differ, more-especially in those particulars just pointedout, from the gallies intended solely for the purposes of war, there is no reasonto doubt but that in most other respects, such as in the shape or form of thebottom, no inconsiderable degree of similitude was preserved between them.On this ground, therefore, without presuming too much on authorities, it maybe boldly asserted, that on examining the horizontal and perpendicular sections,as well as the side elevation, better known by the technical term of the sheerdraught, it will be found that the ancients entertained an opinion little differ-ing, in many points, from that of the moderns, as to those principles and esta-blished points of perfection in Naval Architecture, which ought to be held fixed,invariable, and never to be departed from.

That particular class of vessels called the Liburni far exceeded in swiftness,as it has been already stated in a preceding chapter, those gallies which werefurnished with more than one tier of oars. The celebrated victory obtained byAugustus Caesar over his rival Anthony, at Actium, is imputed merely to theuse of these particular vessels. Aristides states, that no Trireme could makemore way than two hundred stadia, or furlongs, in the space of twenty-fourhours. Artemidorus enlarges the distance to nine hundred, and is supposed torefer to the Liburni when he makes that observation. The modern gallies, how-ever, employed in the Mediterranean, considerably surpass even the latter extent;it being by no means an uncommon thing, according to Yossius and others,

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