DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0533
Of THE MILITARY AS PAIRS OF GREECE.
A spear, with nails compacted and made strong', .
That was full two-and-tweuty cubits iong,
He brandish'd.—————
Apsrfavw (1), called by Appian oof-uo^sVavov, by Diodorus (2) fysxravriyip^
xspaia, was an engine of iron, crooked like a sickle (3). and fixed to the
top of a long pole, wherewith they cut in sunder the cords of the sail-
yards, and thereby letting the sails fall down, disabled the light ships.
Not unlike this was another instrument, armed at the end with a broad
iron head, edged on both sides, wherewith they used to cut the cords
that tied the rudder to the ship
KspaTai (4) were engines to cast stones into the enemy's ships.
We find another engine mentioned by Vegetius, which hung upon the
main mast, and resembled a battering-ram : for it consisted of a long beam
and a head of iron, and was with great violence pushed against the sides
of adverse ships,
Xsig <fi8r\f>x, in Latin, manus ferrea, was a grappling iron, which they
cast out of an engine into the enemy's ship : it is said to have been first
used in Greece by Pericles the Athenian (5), at Rome by Duilius (6).
Different from these were the agtctyeg, harpagines, said to be inventedby
Anacharsis (7) the Scythian philosopher ; which, as Scheffer collects out
of Athenaeus, were hooks of iron hanging on the top of a pole, which
being secured with chains to the mast, or some other lofly part of the ship,
and then cast with great force into the enemy's vessel, caught it up into
the air. The means used to defeat these engines, was to cover their
ships with hides, which cast off, or blunted, the stroke of the iron (3).
The dominion of the seas was not confined to any one of the Grecian
states; they were continually contendingfor empire, and, by various turns of
fortune, sometimes possessed, and again, in a few months or years, were
dispossessed of it: the persons that enjoyed it longest, and maintained it
with the greatest fleet after Greece had arrived to the height of its glory,
were the Athenians, who first began seriously to apply themselves to na-
val affairs abouj the time of Xerxes's invasion : the first that engaged
them in this enterprise was Themi3tocles, who, considering their inabili-
ty to oppose the Persians by land, and the commodiousness of their si-
tuation for naval affairs, interpreted the oracle that advised to defend
themselves within walls of wood to this purpose, and prevailed upon
them to convert their whole time and treasure to the building and fitting
out a fleet. The money employed on this design, was a revenue of the
silver mines at Laureotis, which had formerly been distributed among
the people, who, by Themistocles's persuasion, were induced to part
with their income, that provision might be made for the public security.
With this an hundred triremes were rigged out against Xerxes's nume-
rous fleet, over which, by the assistance of their allies, they obtained an
entire victory. Afterwards the number of their ships was increased, by
the management of Lycurcus. the orator, to tour hundred (9) ; and we
are told by Isocrates (10), that the Athenian navy consisted of twice as
many ships as all the rest of the Grecians were masters of: it was made
(1) Pollux. (2) Lib. xxii.
(3) Vegetius, lib. iv. cap. ult.
(4) Diodorus Sicul. lib. xii. Athen^us,
(5) Plin, lib. vii, cap. 9t.
(6) Julius Frontinus, lib. ii. cap. 3.
(7) Plin. lib. vii. cap. 56.
(8) Thucydides, lib. viii. Pollux.
(9j Plutarchus, (10) Panegyrica
64
A spear, with nails compacted and made strong', .
That was full two-and-tweuty cubits iong,
He brandish'd.—————
Apsrfavw (1), called by Appian oof-uo^sVavov, by Diodorus (2) fysxravriyip^
xspaia, was an engine of iron, crooked like a sickle (3). and fixed to the
top of a long pole, wherewith they cut in sunder the cords of the sail-
yards, and thereby letting the sails fall down, disabled the light ships.
Not unlike this was another instrument, armed at the end with a broad
iron head, edged on both sides, wherewith they used to cut the cords
that tied the rudder to the ship
KspaTai (4) were engines to cast stones into the enemy's ships.
We find another engine mentioned by Vegetius, which hung upon the
main mast, and resembled a battering-ram : for it consisted of a long beam
and a head of iron, and was with great violence pushed against the sides
of adverse ships,
Xsig <fi8r\f>x, in Latin, manus ferrea, was a grappling iron, which they
cast out of an engine into the enemy's ship : it is said to have been first
used in Greece by Pericles the Athenian (5), at Rome by Duilius (6).
Different from these were the agtctyeg, harpagines, said to be inventedby
Anacharsis (7) the Scythian philosopher ; which, as Scheffer collects out
of Athenaeus, were hooks of iron hanging on the top of a pole, which
being secured with chains to the mast, or some other lofly part of the ship,
and then cast with great force into the enemy's vessel, caught it up into
the air. The means used to defeat these engines, was to cover their
ships with hides, which cast off, or blunted, the stroke of the iron (3).
The dominion of the seas was not confined to any one of the Grecian
states; they were continually contendingfor empire, and, by various turns of
fortune, sometimes possessed, and again, in a few months or years, were
dispossessed of it: the persons that enjoyed it longest, and maintained it
with the greatest fleet after Greece had arrived to the height of its glory,
were the Athenians, who first began seriously to apply themselves to na-
val affairs abouj the time of Xerxes's invasion : the first that engaged
them in this enterprise was Themi3tocles, who, considering their inabili-
ty to oppose the Persians by land, and the commodiousness of their si-
tuation for naval affairs, interpreted the oracle that advised to defend
themselves within walls of wood to this purpose, and prevailed upon
them to convert their whole time and treasure to the building and fitting
out a fleet. The money employed on this design, was a revenue of the
silver mines at Laureotis, which had formerly been distributed among
the people, who, by Themistocles's persuasion, were induced to part
with their income, that provision might be made for the public security.
With this an hundred triremes were rigged out against Xerxes's nume-
rous fleet, over which, by the assistance of their allies, they obtained an
entire victory. Afterwards the number of their ships was increased, by
the management of Lycurcus. the orator, to tour hundred (9) ; and we
are told by Isocrates (10), that the Athenian navy consisted of twice as
many ships as all the rest of the Grecians were masters of: it was made
(1) Pollux. (2) Lib. xxii.
(3) Vegetius, lib. iv. cap. ult.
(4) Diodorus Sicul. lib. xii. Athen^us,
(5) Plin, lib. vii, cap. 9t.
(6) Julius Frontinus, lib. ii. cap. 3.
(7) Plin. lib. vii. cap. 56.
(8) Thucydides, lib. viii. Pollux.
(9j Plutarchus, (10) Panegyrica
64