IIIERO'S GREAT SHIP. 



261 



composed of a single tree, was procured after much trouble from distant inland mountains. 

 Hiero finding that he had no hai'bours in Sicily capable of containing her, and learning 

 that there was famine in Egypt, sent her loaded with corn to Alexandria. She bore an 

 inscription of which the following is part : <f Hiero, the son of Hierocles, the Dorian, 

 who wields the sceptre of Sicily, sends this vessel bearing in her the fruits of the earth. 

 Do thou, Neptune, preserve in safety this ship over the blue waves." 



FLEET OF ROMAX GALLEYS. 



Among the Grecian states Corinth stood high in naval matters. Her people were 

 expert ship-builders, and claimed the invention of the trireme, or galley with three tiers 

 of oars. Athens, with its three ports, also carried on for a long period a large trade 

 with Egypt, Palestine, and the countries bordering the Black Sea. The Eomans had 

 little inclination at first for seamanship, but were forced into it by their rivals of 

 Carthage. It was as late as B.C. 261 before they determined to build a war-fleet, and 

 bad not a Carthaginian galley, grounded on the coast of Italy, been seized by them, they 

 would not have understood the proper construction of one. Previously they had nothing 

 much above large boats rudely built of planks. The noble Romans affected to despise 

 commerce at this period, and trusted to the Greek and other traders to supply their wants. 

 Quintus Claudius introduced a law, which passed, that no senator or father of one should 



