The Harpagones Were
Undoubtedly Grappling Irons, But Of Such Light Construction That They Could
Be Thrown By Manual Force; But They Were Of No Other Service; Whereas The
Corvi Were Worked By Machinery, And Served, As We Have Shown, Not Only To
Grapple, But To Assist And Protect The Boarders.
We have been thus
particular in our account of the corvus, because it may fairly be regarded
as having essentially contributed to the establishment of the Roman naval
power over that of the Carthaginians.
After Duilius had made a trial of the efficacy of this machine, he sailed
in quest of the enemy. The Carthaginians, despising the Romans as totally
inexperienced in naval affairs, did not even take the trouble or precaution
to draw up their ships in line of battle, but trusting entirely to their
own superior skill, and to the greater lightness of their ships, they bore
down on the Romans in disorder. They, however, were induced, for a short
time, to slacken their advance at the sight of the corvi; but not giving
the Romans credit for any invention which could counterbalance their want
of skill, experience, and self-confidence, they again pushed forward and
attacked the Romans. They soon suffered, however, the consequences of their
rashness: the Romans, by means of their corvi, grappled their ships so
closely and steadily, that the fight resembled much more a land than a sea
battle; and thus feeling themselves, as it were, on their own element,
while their enemies seemed to themselves no longer to be fighting in ships,
the confidence of the former rose, while that of the latter fell, from the
same cause, and nearly in the same proportion.
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