234 
pliny's i?^atueal history. 
[Book VII. 
Paralus, Ctesias/^ Semiramis/^ and Archemaclius, ^gseon. 
According to Damastes/^ the Erythreei*^ were the first to 
construct vessels with two banks of oars ; according to Thu- 
cydides/"^ Aminocles, the Corinthian, first constructed them 
with three banks of oars ; according to Aristotle, the Car- 
thaginians, those with four banks ; according to Mnesigiton, 
the people of Salamis, those with five banks and, according to 
Xenagoras, the Syracusans, those with six ; those above six, as 
far as ten, Mnesigi ton says were first constructed by Alexander 
the Great. From Philostephanus, we learn that Ptolemy Soter 
made them as high as twelve banks ; Demetrius, the son of 
Antigonus, with fifteen ; Ptolemy Philadelphus, with thirty ; 
and Ptolemy Philopater, who was surnamed Tryphon, with 
forty. Hippus, the Tyrian, was the first who invented 
merchant- ships ; the Cyrenians, the pinnace ; the Phoenicians, 
the passage-boat ; the Ehodians, the skiff ; and the Cyprians, 
the cutter.^^ 
contradistinction to the small skiffs which were moved along, either by a 
sail or a single pair of oars, and were more of a rounded form. — B. 
^•^ Ctesias has already been referred to, in c. 2 of the present Book. — B. 
One of her most remarkable exploits was her expedition against India, 
of which we have an account in Diodorus Siculus, B. ii. ; he says that 
she fitted out a fleet of between 2000 and 3000 vessels. — B. 
From the account of Damastes, given by Hardouin, he was a native of 
Sigseum, whose works appear to have been held in considerable estimation 
by the ancients. — B. 
^6 There were at least three ancient cities of the name Erythrje, but the 
one most noted was situate on the coast of the JEgean Sea, opposite to the 
Isle of Chios. — B. 
The passage in Thucydides here referred to, is in B. i. c. 13. — B. 
*® There appears to be much uncertainty respecting the statements made 
in the concluding part of this paragraph, in consequence of the variation 
of the MSS.— B. 
^9 The position of the rowers, in the vessels of the ancients, and, more 
especially, the mode in which the ranks, or " ordines," were disposed 
with respect to each other, has been a subject of much discussion. From 
the incidental remarks in the classical writers, and from the representations 
which still remain, particularly those on Trajan's Column, and on certain 
coins, it would appear that they were disposed in stages, one above the 
other, and provided with oars of different lengths, in proportion to their 
distance from the water. But, although we may conceive that this was 
the case with two or three rows, it is impossible that a greater number 
could have been disposed in this manner. — B. 
50 It is not easy to determine what was the construction and form of the 
four kinds of vessels here mentioned, which he designates respectively by 
the terms "lembus," *'cymba," "celes," and '^cercurus." The "lem- 
