264 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



were slow to learn in those days, the Greeks had 

 gradually grown to emulate the Phoenician seamen in 

 the art of naval warfare, being indeed driven thereto 

 by the stern necessity of defending their very existence 

 against the menace of the Persians. And, although 

 they professed themselves entirely unacquainted with 

 the art of fighting at sea, we all know how splendidly 

 they acquitted themselves in their encounter with the 

 Persian braggart, whose fleet outnumbered theirs as 

 much as his enormous masses of men did the small, 

 compact army of the Greeks. The naval battle of 

 Salamis which was then fought was, although second 

 in point of time, first in importance in the history of 

 the ancient world, and established the Greeks as the 

 equals, if not the superiors, of the Carthaginians in 

 the new art of naval warfare. 



I have said that in those leisurely days men were 

 slow to learn, but of course there were notable excep- 

 tions, perhaps the chief of these being the manner in 

 which the Komans, finding that their only hope of suc- 

 cessfully coping with the Carthaginians was to fight 

 them at sea, determined to build a navy, and, with 

 that tremendous energy for the application of which 

 they were notable, actually built and equipped in two 

 months a fleet of one hundred and twenty galleys, 

 having also, in the mean time, taught themselves how 

 to handle them. And with this rapidly and rudely 

 constructed fleet they put to sea, met the Cartha- 

 ginians with a superior force, and utterly routed them. 



It is now necessary to pause for a while in order 

 to point out that these warships were all galleys, or 

 vessels propelled entirely by oars, and that seaman- 

 ship, as we understand it, had no part in their handling. 



