27 



when Neoptolemus saw he commanded the master to bear down upon 

 him with all imaginable force ; but Demagoras, fearing the beak and 

 massive stem of the admiral's Galley, refused to meet him ahead ; where- 

 fore, tacking about, he received him astern, in which part, though in- 

 deed the shock was very great, he suffered no damage. 



Now, this plainly shows that the curvature of the stern must have 

 been at a considerable angle to the water, and that the stem or beak ran 

 as if it were in and under the counter of the Galley. This hollow in 

 the stern was left, no doubt, for the action of the rudder. 



The ancients seem to have had no limit to the size of these Galleys. 

 The largest we read of was that of Ptolemy Philopator. This enormous 

 vessel was merely, it has been conjectured, built for show : she had 40 

 banks of oars ; she was 280 cubits in length, about 420 feet, — the length 

 of the iron-plated frigates, Minotaur and Achilles. 



The subject of frequent dispute is, how these Galleys have been 

 rowed or put in motion. M. Le Roy, in his " Sur la Marine des An- 

 ciens" (Academie des Inscriptions), M. Jal, in his " Archeologie Navale," 

 and others of a later period, have made investigations into this subject. 



One of the chief obstacles to the settlement of this question is the 

 want of any accurate drawing or bronze existing by which the interior 

 of the hull could be seen, with the arrangement of the seats. Pew 

 models, indeed, exist. There is one in the Museum of Trinity College, 

 which I consider a most important model. It is a monocrota, or uni- 

 reme ; the boar's head, the distinguishing feature of the Roman trieremes, 

 points to its Roman origin. Its length is 9 feet 7 inches ; breadth, 3 feet 

 4 inches; and depth, 1 foot 5 inches — of which the underneath is a repre- 

 sentation : — 



How it came into the possession of Trinity College is a mystery. Neither 

 in Dr. Stokes' nor in Dr. Ball's time (both Curators of the Museum), did 

 any circumstance arise to throw light on this most interesting model's 

 origin. 



There is another in the Campaggio at Rome, and some marbles at 

 Naples, in the Museo Borbonico, while a few solitary frescoes have been 

 discovered at Pompeii, in an injured state. — See Zahn and Ternite. 



Before I proceed to state the various theories connected with the 

 rowing, I must acknowledge the great kindness of M. Auguste Jal, the 

 eminent historiographer of the French navy, who addressed the follow- 

 ing letter to me, through the Consul-General of Prance for Ireland, 

 Mons. George Livio. It is concerning the Galley lately constructed at 



