DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0514
488
of the military affairs of greece.
CHAP. XIV.
of the invention, and different sorts of ships.-
Most of those useful arts, and admirable inventions, which are the very
support of mankind, and supply them w ith all the necessaries and conve-
niences of life, having at first been the productions of some lucky chance,
or from slight and contemptible beginnings, have been, by long expe-
rience, curious observations, and various improvements, matured, and
brought to perfection. Instances of this kind are every where frequent
and obvious, but none can be produced more remarknble than in the art
of navigation ; which, though now arrived to a pitch of perfection beyond
most other arts, by those successful additions it has received from almost
every age of the world, was in the beginning so mean and imperfect, that
the pleasure or advantage of those who first applied themselves to it,
was very small and inconsiderable.
Those who adventured to commit themselves to the liquid element,
made their first essays in shallow waters, and trusted not themselves at
any considerable distance from the shore : but being emboldened by fre-
quent trials, proceeded farther by degrees, till at length they took courage,
and launched forth into the main ocean.
To whotn the world is obliged for the invention of ships, is, like all
things of such antiquity, uncertain : there are divers persons who seem
to make equal pretensions to this honour ; such are Prometheus,
Neptune, Janus, Atlas, Hercules, Danaus, Erythraaus, &c. ; but by
common fame it is given to Minerva, the happy mother of all arts and
sciences. Some who, leaving these antiquated fables of the poets, pre-
tend to something more of certainty in what they deliver, ascribe it to the
inhabitants of some of those places that lie upon the sea coasts, and are by-
nature designed, as it were, for harbouring ships, such as the /Eginen-
sians, Phoenicians (1), &c. The reason of this disagreement seems to have
proceeded partly from the different places where navigation was first
practised, (for it was never peculiar to any one people, and from them
communicated to the rest of the world, but found in countries far distant
from one another), and in part from the various sorts of ships, some of
which being first built by the persons above mentioned, have entitled
them to the whole invention.
The first ships were built without art or contrivance, and had neither
strength nor durableness, beauty nor ornament ; but consisted only of
planks laid together, and just so compacted as to keep out the water (§).
In some places they were nothing e'se but hulks of trees made hollow,
which were called 3-\o7* fjwvoguXa, as consisting only of one piece of tim
ber ; of these we find mention in Virgil (3) :
Tunc alnos primumJluvii sensere cavaids :
.JVavita turn stellis ntimeros et nomina fecit.
The first on seas the hollow'd alder swam,
Then sailors quarter'd heaven, and found a name
For every fix'd, and every wandering star. iikyden
(t) Plinflib. v. cap. 12. Strabo, lib, xvi. Me- (2) Maximus Tyr. Dissert..40. Isidorus
la, lib. 1. cap. 12 (3) Georgic. lib. i. ver. 136.
of the military affairs of greece.
CHAP. XIV.
of the invention, and different sorts of ships.-
Most of those useful arts, and admirable inventions, which are the very
support of mankind, and supply them w ith all the necessaries and conve-
niences of life, having at first been the productions of some lucky chance,
or from slight and contemptible beginnings, have been, by long expe-
rience, curious observations, and various improvements, matured, and
brought to perfection. Instances of this kind are every where frequent
and obvious, but none can be produced more remarknble than in the art
of navigation ; which, though now arrived to a pitch of perfection beyond
most other arts, by those successful additions it has received from almost
every age of the world, was in the beginning so mean and imperfect, that
the pleasure or advantage of those who first applied themselves to it,
was very small and inconsiderable.
Those who adventured to commit themselves to the liquid element,
made their first essays in shallow waters, and trusted not themselves at
any considerable distance from the shore : but being emboldened by fre-
quent trials, proceeded farther by degrees, till at length they took courage,
and launched forth into the main ocean.
To whotn the world is obliged for the invention of ships, is, like all
things of such antiquity, uncertain : there are divers persons who seem
to make equal pretensions to this honour ; such are Prometheus,
Neptune, Janus, Atlas, Hercules, Danaus, Erythraaus, &c. ; but by
common fame it is given to Minerva, the happy mother of all arts and
sciences. Some who, leaving these antiquated fables of the poets, pre-
tend to something more of certainty in what they deliver, ascribe it to the
inhabitants of some of those places that lie upon the sea coasts, and are by-
nature designed, as it were, for harbouring ships, such as the /Eginen-
sians, Phoenicians (1), &c. The reason of this disagreement seems to have
proceeded partly from the different places where navigation was first
practised, (for it was never peculiar to any one people, and from them
communicated to the rest of the world, but found in countries far distant
from one another), and in part from the various sorts of ships, some of
which being first built by the persons above mentioned, have entitled
them to the whole invention.
The first ships were built without art or contrivance, and had neither
strength nor durableness, beauty nor ornament ; but consisted only of
planks laid together, and just so compacted as to keep out the water (§).
In some places they were nothing e'se but hulks of trees made hollow,
which were called 3-\o7* fjwvoguXa, as consisting only of one piece of tim
ber ; of these we find mention in Virgil (3) :
Tunc alnos primumJluvii sensere cavaids :
.JVavita turn stellis ntimeros et nomina fecit.
The first on seas the hollow'd alder swam,
Then sailors quarter'd heaven, and found a name
For every fix'd, and every wandering star. iikyden
(t) Plinflib. v. cap. 12. Strabo, lib, xvi. Me- (2) Maximus Tyr. Dissert..40. Isidorus
la, lib. 1. cap. 12 (3) Georgic. lib. i. ver. 136.