HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

under the same principle with respect to its degradation. From the time ofAdrian till it was taken possession of by Alaric, in the disgraceful reign of thetimid Honorius, the same channel which, when in an improved state, had re-ceived the triumphant Duillius and the Scipios, had been, after the immensesums which had been most liberally expended on its improvement, applied to themore humble but more philanthropic purpose of affording shelter to the com-mercial vessels of Africa, which were accustomed to deposit there, as in a state,or public granary, the corn of Egvpt, and the adjacent continent, intended forthe use of Rome, who, though somewhat fallen in real power, still maintainedsufficient influence to render the labour of distant countries subservient to herown wants, and not unfrequently her own luxury.

About the year 413, Heraclianus, one of the consuls, having thrown off hisallegiance to the emperor Honorius, caused himself to be proclaimed emperorin Africa ; and from the account given of the armament equipped by him forthe purpose of defending his right to his newly assumed title, some opinionmay be formed, in addition to other proofs already adduced, of the natureand insignificance of the vessels which frequently composed the fleets, even ofthe most warlike nations, previous to what may be considered as the secondbirth or resuscitation of the art of navigation by the Venetians and Genoese.Cotemporary historians have represented the fleets of this <era as vying with, ifnot surpassing, the armaments of Darius and Xerxes, a manifest proof, fromthe very nature of their panegyric, that in their opinion, the art of ship-building,and every other science connected with it, had slept, or continued in a perfectstate of rest during the space of nearly nine centuries. They vary extremely,a circumstance bv no means singular or uncommon, in their account of itsnumbers. Marcellinus modestly stating it to have consisted of no more thanseven hundred ships: while Orosius, who composed his history only two yearsafter the expedition had taken place, augments it to the immense amount oftwo thousand two hundred vessels, which are still farther encreased by others tothree thousand, including those of all denominations and sizes, and comprizing,as has been judiciously remarked, the imperial galley, and the smallest boat.What must have been the extent and magnitude of the ports from whence sucha multitude could issue ? W hat must have been the number of persons occupiedin the equipment, the time required for that purpose, the quantity of marinersemployed in navigating them, or the harbour capable of containing them,supposing that by far tire greater part were not of those Very diminutive dimen-

sions,