Before Chrift 57- ^^$ 



aRiount of the plunder, fo honourably obtained, was near 7,000 talents, 

 -or £1 ,356,250 fterling *. _ 



The Veneti, faid by Strabo [L. iv, p. 297] to be a Belgic nation fet- 

 tled near the north-weft extremity of Gaul, were diftinguiflied by their 

 nautical fcience and experience. They had great numbers of vefTels, 

 and carried on a confiderable trade with Britain, though we are not in- 

 formed of any particulars of it, unlefs that brafs was then an article im- 

 ported into Britain. Their dominion extended over a confiderable part 

 of the coalT: ; and they even levied a cuflom, or tranfit duty, upon ftran- 

 gers ufmg their feas ; a circumftance which infers the poffcflion of a 

 warlike fleet. Their veilels were built entirely of oak, ftrongly bolted, 

 and their feams calked with fea-weed. They were fo fubftantially 

 built, that their fides were impenetrable by the roftra, or beaks, of the 

 Roman gallies. They were calculated to take the ground, were high 

 fore and aft, and were upon the whole excellent fea-boats. Their fails 

 were made of leather ; and, their fhore being very rocky, they ufed iron 

 chains inftead of cables f. With a fleet of about 220 of fuch veflels they 

 encountered the Roman fleet of twice or thrice that number ; and in the 

 engagement they had greatly the advantage of the Romans, by pouring 

 down upon them a fliower of miflile weapons from their lofty fl:ems, 

 which were higher than the towers raifed upon the decks of the Roman 

 gallies. But the Veneti, notwithftanding their acknowleged fuperiori- 

 ty, were defeated by a contrivance of the Romans, who obferving the 

 advantage they had over them in manoeuvring (as it is now called) with 

 their fails, fixed fcythes upon long poles, with which, attacking each fhip 

 \vith two or three of their own, they cut the haulyards of the Venetic 

 veffels, whereupon the fails came down upon the decks, and their fleet 

 was rendered unmanageable. The lofs of time occafioned by this dif- 

 afl:er was irretrievable, for, though they might have flung their yards a- 

 new, a dead calm, which enfued immediately after, threw the balance of 

 nautical adivity entirely into the hands of the Romans : for the Veneti 

 ieem to have defpifed the freih-water failors' expedient of oars ; and per- 



* Ammianus Marcellliius, who wrote above tinefs of their decks, which gave tliem fuch an ad- 

 four centuries after this time, acknowleges, that vantage over the low gallics of the Romans, af- 

 avarice prevailed ov€r juftice iu the feii^ure of Cyp- fords a clear proof, that the Mediterranean gallies 

 rus. of feveral rows of oars, were not, as moll people 



f I have been thus ample in defcribing the fliips have fuppofed, of fo many (lories or decks in 



of the Veneti, — ij becaufe they are the full vef- height. 



fcls, of which we have any knowlege, built and It is worthy of remark, that the defcription of 



navigated by the hardy fons of the North, who have thcfe antient Belgic fliips applies in fome rcfpeftn 



rn all ages been remarkable as intiepid and ikilful tolerably well to tliofe ot the modern Belgium, the 



feamen : — 2) becaufe, from the furprife of the Ro- natives of which are remarkable for their attach- 



mans at their roltra making no impreffion upon the ment to the manners and culloms of their anceilors. 



fides of their fhips, they appear to have been fu- Some account of the iTiipping and naval affaire 



perior in llrength to any velfcls ever encountered of the Roman empire will be found uadcr the year 



by them in the Mediterranean, even thofe of the 73 of the Ciiriflian xra. 

 Caithaginians net excepted;— 3) becaufe the lof- 



J P 2 



