Chap. 57.] THE IJrTJSNTOES OE TAEIOtTS THINttS. 23.1 



We are indebted to the Phoenicians for the first observa- 

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

 and the Platseans gave it its broad blade." Icarus was the 

 person wha invented sails, °* and Dsedalus 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. 

 PissBus, 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 first 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.™ 



bna " is mentioned by livj, B. xxiv. c. 40, as a vessel witli two benches 

 of oars, " biremis ;" and in B. xl. c. i, 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 supjioae, was named from "celer," being especially 

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

 its long narrow form, or from its haying 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, kutt)} and 

 TrXarij. — ii, 



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

 ^olus, who gave his name to the ^olian islands. — B: 



*' "Hippagus." — B. 



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

 fitted out long ships, of which eleven were " tectse." — B. 



^ Ships of war had their 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. 



58 The " harpago " and the " manus ferrea " are mentioned by Csesar, 

 Belt 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. 



*' Tiphjs was the pilot of the ve^^el of the Argonauts ; he died before 

 the emedition 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 bben employed for 

 sacrifice. — B. 



