PREHISTORIC NA.YAL ARCHITECTURE. 553 



III the middle of the fourth century they <ire said to Ix; <'oterniiii<>us with 

 the Saxons.' 



During- the reign of Emperor Probus, transported to the Pontus, they 

 seized the shii)s, and after many adventures returned to their nortliern 

 homes. ^ 



Xotliing- whatever is known of the cliaracter of tlie vessels employed 

 by the Franks, and after a short existence they again disappear as a 

 maritime power.^ 



THE SCANDINAVIANS. 



The first mention of tliis people of the north is made by Tacitus. In 

 describing the sliips of the Suiones, he says: " Suionettb cinifates ipsae in 

 oeeano praefer rlros anixuiKe classihus valent; for)ita navlum ef differt 

 quod utriuiiKjHC prorn, parafum semper <(ppi(lsui froitfein (u/if: nee reh's 

 ministrant, nee remos in ordinem laferihus adjiKjnnf : solution, in quihus- 

 dani Jiuminuni et mutabile, ut res poscit, hinc vel illine remigium.'^ 



In the absence of a specimen great difliculties i)resented themselves 

 to the translators of Tacitus^ in correctly interpreting the meaning to 

 be conveyed of the structure of ships that so much differed from the 

 Koman and other ships known as to require separate mention, although 

 they really offered considerable similarity to the ships of the Veneti. 

 Most translators therefore inform us that the equal prows were intended 

 to facilitate landing in either direction and to enable the ship to effect 

 an easy passage through shoals. With regard to the oars the general 

 imju'ession has been that they were not fixed to the sides of the ship 

 in a reg'ular manner (nee remos in ordinem lateribus adjuf/untj but that 

 they were loose fsolutum) and could be used alternately (mutahile) on 

 either side of the ship (hine vel illine J. 



Admiral JaF explains the mutahile as implying a method similar to 

 that employed by the Venetian gondoliers, who us(^ a peg" in the gun- 

 wale as i)oint of resistance, and on either side of which the oar could 

 be i>lied to i)roduce a forward or backward motion. This interpreta- 

 tion, although a very good one considering the absence of any ship, how- 

 ever, does not seem to me to represent what Tacitus meant to describe. 

 The uirinmque prora paratum semper appulsui frontem agit would seem 

 to imply a readiness to present in either i^row a front to the enemy, 

 either for agg'ressive or defensive purposes, and that this front could be 



' Anmiian. Marcell. rer. gestar. lib. xxvi, ^ 4; lib. xxvi, § 5. 



^Zo8inus I, c. 7; Vopiscus in Probo. iv, c. 18; Eumeniiis in Periegyr. Constant. C;ps., 

 xviii. 



■'•The authorities on the Franks are: Jacob Grimm: Gesehiclite cler Dentschen 

 Sprache, Leipzig, 1848; Waitz: Des alte Recht der Salischen Franken, Beilage zur 

 Dentschen Verfassnugsgesfhichte, Kiel, 184G; Bohm : Friiukisohe Reiohs-und 

 Gerichts Verfassniigsgeschichte, Weimar, 1871 ; Wdtterit-h : Die Gernianes <les 

 Rheines, Leipzig, 1872. 



* Tacitus: De Germanife c. xliv. 



^A. Jal : Arch^ologie Navale, 1810, 2(1 Memoir. 



