. Rome : its rise and fall ; a text-book for high schools and colleges. towns which werealready in the hands of the Romans, but they even madedescents upon the shores of Italy, ravaged the fields andvillages, and sailed away with their booty before pursuitwas possible. To guard their shores and ward off theseattacks, the Romans had no war-ships. Their Greek andEtruscan allies were, indeed, maritime peoples, and pos-sessed considerable fleets, which were at the disposal ofthe Romans. But these vessels were merely triremes, thatis galleys with three banks of oars ; while the Carthaginianships we
. Rome : its rise and fall ; a text-book for high schools and colleges. towns which werealready in the hands of the Romans, but they even madedescents upon the shores of Italy, ravaged the fields andvillages, and sailed away with their booty before pursuitwas possible. To guard their shores and ward off theseattacks, the Romans had no war-ships. Their Greek andEtruscan allies were, indeed, maritime peoples, and pos-sessed considerable fleets, which were at the disposal ofthe Romans. But these vessels were merely triremes, thatis galleys with three banks of oars ; while the Carthaginianships were quinqueremes, or vessels with five rows of former were worthless to cope with the latter, suchan advantage did these have in their greater weight and THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. MS height. So the Romans resolved to build a fleet ofquinqueremes. Now it so happened that, a little while before this, aCarthaginian galley had been wrecked upon the shore ofSouthern Italy. This served as a pattern. It is said thatwithin the almost incredibly short space of sixty days a. The Prow of a Roman War-Ship. (From an ancient relief. The representation shows the arrangement of the tiersof oars in a two-banked ship. In just what way the lines of rowers in triremesand quinqueremes were arranged is unknown.) growing forest was converted into a fleet of one hundredand twenty war-galleys. While the ships were in processof building, the Roman soldiers were being trained in theduties of sailors by practice in rowing, while sitting inlines on tiers of benches built upon the land. With theshore ringing with the sounds of the hurried work uponthe galleys, and crowded with the groups of make- 146 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. believe rowers, the scene must have been a somewhatanimated as well as ludicrous one. Yet it all meant veryserious business. 90. The Romans gain their First Naval Victory (260 ).— The consul Gaius Duillius was intrusted with the com-mand of the fleet. He met the Carthaginian squadro
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