He
Says, That Before The First Punic War The Romans Had No Thought Of The Sea;
That Sicily Was The
First country, out of Italy, in which they ever landed;
and that, when they went to that island to assist
The Mamertines, the
vessels which they employed in that expedition were hired, or borrowed from
the Tarentines, the Locrians, &c. He is correct in his statement that
Sicily was the first country in which the Romans had any footing; but that
he is inaccurate with respect to the period when the Romans first applied
themselves to maritime affairs, will appear from the following facts.
In the first place, the Romans (as we have already shown in our account of
the Carthaginian commerce,) had several treaties with the Carthaginians,
which may properly be called commercial treaties, before the first Punic
war. The earliest treaty, according to Polybius himself, was dated about
250 years before the war; and in this treaty the voyages undertaken by the
Romans on account of trade to Africa, Sardinia, and that part of Sicily at
that time possessed by the Carthaginians, are expressly mentioned and
regulated. The second treaty, about 100 years before the first Punic war,
is not so specific respecting commerce. The third treaty, occasioned by the
invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus, points out a decline in the naval power of
the Romans; for it stipulates, that the Carthaginians should furnish them
with ships, if required, either for trade or war. Secondly, seventy-four
years before the first Punic war, the Romans having subdued the Antiates,
and thus become masters of their fleet, among which were six armed with
beaks, the tribune was ornamented with these beaks, the ships to which they
belonged were burnt, and the others were brought to Rome and laid upon the
place allotted to the building and preservation of ships. Lastly, the
circumstances which gave rise to the war between the Romans and Tarentines,
to which we have already adverted, plainly prove that Polybius is wrong in
his assertion. Valerius, who commanded the Roman fleet, which was attacked
by the Tarentines, according to Livy, was one of the _duumviri navales_,
officers who had been already appointed nearly thirty years (that is,
nearly fifty years before the first Punic war), on the motion of Decius
Mus, expressly for the purpose of equipping, repairing, and maintaining the
fleets.
From these circumstances, it appears that the Romans possessed ships both
for war and commerce, previous to the commencement of their wars with the
Carthaginians, though it is extremely probable that their commerce was very
limited, and for the most part carried on in vessels belonging to the other
maritime nations of Italy, and that their ships of war were very small and
rude in their construction and equipment.
It is foreign to the object of this work to enter into a detail of the wars
between the Romans and the Carthaginians: but as the great efforts of the
Romans to become powerful at sea were made during these wars; as these
efforts, being successful, laid the foundation of the future commerce of
Rome; and as by the destruction of Carthage, in some measure caused by the
naval victories gained by the Romans, the most commercial nation of
antiquity was utterly ruined, and their commerce transferred to Rome, it
will be proper briefly to notice the naval contests between these rival
powers during the three wars in which they were engaged.
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