Chap. 57.] THE INVENTOES OY VARIOUS TRTNGS. 235 



We are indebted to the Phoenicians for the first observa- 

 tion of the stars in navigation ; the Copae invented the oar, 

 and the Plataeans gave it its broad blade.^^ Icarus was the 

 person who invented sails," and Daedalus the mast and yards ; 

 the Samians, or else Pericles, the Athenian, transports for 

 horses,^^ and the Thracians, long covered vessels,^' — before 

 which time they used to fight only from the prow or the stern. 

 Pisaeus, the Tyrrhenian, added the beak to ships ;^* Eupala- 

 mus, the anchor ; Anacharsis, that with two flukes ; Pericles, 

 the Athenian, grappling-irons, and hooks like hands ;^ and 

 Tiphys,^^ the helm and rudder. Minos was the fijst who 

 waged war by means of ships ; Hyperbius, the son of Mars, 

 the first who killed an animal ; and Prometheus, the first who 

 slew the ox.^ 



bus " is mentioned by Livy, B. xxiv. c. 40, as a yessel witli two benches 

 of oars, "biremis;" and in B. si. c. 4, he describes it as a small vessel 

 used for towing large ships. The "cymba" has been supposed to have 

 been a still smaller vessel, answering to our idea of a common boat ; the 

 •' celes," we may suppose, was named from "celer," being especially 

 adapted for quick motion, and the "cercurus" from KipKog, "a tail," from 

 its long narrow form, or from its having a tail-like appendage attached 

 to it.— B. 



°^ Hardouin conjectures, that the cities of Copse and Platese derived their 

 names, respectively, from the inventions here ascribed to them, Kioirrj and 

 TrXarr). — B. 



" Pausanias ascribes this invention to Dsedalus ; Diodorus, B. v. c. 1, to 

 -3Eolus, who gave his name to the ^olian islands. — B. 



^^ "Hippagus." — B. 



^ "Tecta longa;" Caesar, Bell. Civ. B. i. c. 56, says that the Massdians 

 fitted out long ships, of which eleven were *'tectae." — B. 



55 Ships of war had tlieir prows armed with brazen beaks, to which 

 sharp spears were attached ; these were used in their naval engagements 

 as instruments of attack, and, when the vessels were captured, were con- 

 sidered the trophies of victory. The tribunal, in the Roman Forum, from 

 which the orators harangued the people, obtained its name of '' Eostra," 

 from its being ornamented with the beaks of captured ships. — B. 



5^ The "harpago" and the " raanus ferrea" are mentioned by Caesar, 

 Bell. Civ. B. i. c. 57, and by Livy, B. xxx. c. 10 ; Quintus Curtius also 

 speaks of them, but considers them as only different names for the same 

 instrument, B. iv. c. 2, 12. — B. 



5' Tiphys was the pilot of the vessel of the Argonauts ; he died before 

 the expedition reached Colchis. — B. 



*8 Hardouin remarks upon this passage, that Pliny probably means to 

 speak of the persons who first killed oxen or other animals for what may 

 be styled profane purposes ; as they had long before this been employed for 

 sacrifice. — B. 



