The people of Taprobane
(Ceylon) - the Byzantines, and, on some occasions, the Romans also, employed
vessels, like those of the Sitones, which could be steered at both ends.
One of the most considerable revolutions in the maritime and commercial
affairs of Rome, was brought about by the battle of Actium. The fleet of
Anthony was composed chiefly of ships belonging to the Egyptians, Tyrians,
and other nations of the east, and amounted, according to some accounts, to
200 sail, whereas the fleet of Augustus consisted of 400 sail. Other
authors estimate them differently; but all agree that the ships of Anthony
were much larger, stronger, and loftier, than those of Caesar: they were
consequently more unwieldy. We have the express testimony of Plutarch, that
it was principally this victory which convinced Caesar of the advantages
and extraordinary use of the Liburnian ships; for though they had been
employed before this time in the Roman fleet, yet they had never been so
serviceable in any previous battle. Augustas, therefore, as well as most of
the succeeding emperors of Rome, scarcely built any other ships but those
according to the Liburnian model.
One of the first objects of Augustus, after he had obtained the empire, was
to secure the command of the sea: he made use of the ships which he had
captured from Anthony to keep the people of Gaul in subjection; and he
cleared the Mediterranean of the pirates which infested it and obstructed
commerce. He formed two fleets, one at Ravenna, and the other at Misenum;
the former to command the eastern, the latter the western division of the
Mediterranean: each of these had its own proper commanders, and to each was
attached a body of several thousand mariners. Ravenna, situated on the
Adriatic, about ten or twelve miles from the most southern of the seven
mouths of the Po, was not a place of much consequence till the age of
Augustus: that emperor, observing its advantages, formed at the distance of
about three miles from the old town and nearer the sea, a capacious
harbour, capable of containing 250 ships of war. The establishment was on a
large and complete scale, consisting of arsenals, magazines, barracks, and
houses for the ship-carpenters, &c.: the principal canal, which was also
formed by Augustus, and took its name from him, carried the waters of the
river through the middle of Ravenna to the entrance of the harbour. The
city was rendered still stronger by art than nature had formed it. As early
as the fifth or sixth centuries of the Christian era the port was
converted, by the retreat of the sea, into dry ground, and a grove of pines
grew where the Roman fleet had anchored.
Besides the principal ports of Ravenna and Misenum, Augustus stationed a
very considerable force at Frejus, on the coast of Provence, forty ships in
the Euxine, with 3000 soldiers; a fleet to preserve the communication
between Gaul and Britain, another near Alexandria, and a great number of
smaller vessels on the Rhine and the Danube.
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