APPENDIX. 
XXIX 
sail-yards, and thereby letting the sails fall down, disabled the light 
ships. Not unlike this, he adds, was another instrument, armed at 
the end with a broad iron head, edged on both sides, wherewith they 
cut the cords that made fast the rudder of the ship. 
There were also engines to cast stones into the enemy’s vessels ; 
and another engine is mentioned by Vegetius, which hung upon the 
mainmast, and resembled a battering ram ; it consisted of a long 
beam with a head of iron, and was pushed with great violence 
against the sides of adverse ships. Besides these, there were 
grappling irons, which were cast out of an engine into the vessels of 
the enemy ; these are said to have been first used in Greece by 
Pericles the Athenian, at Rome by Duilius ; hooks of iron were also 
used, which were hung on the top of a pole, and being secured with 
chains to the masts or some other lofty part, and cast with great 
force into the enemy’s ship, caught it up into the air*. 
The means used to defeat this extraordinary engine, were, (it is 
said) to cover the ships with hides, which cast off, or blunted the 
stroke of the iron. 
With regard to the naval officers employed by the ancients, we 
find that in all fleets there were two superior to the rest ; one took 
the command of the vessels and seamen, the other of the soldiers ; 
but this latter had also some power over the ship-masters (as Potter 
calls them) and their crews. 
The commission of admiral varied according to the exigency of 
times and circumstances, being sometimes held by one alone, some- 
times in conjunction with others; as happened to Alcibiades, Nicias, 
and Lamachus, who were sent with equal power to command the 
Athenian fleet in Sicily. The period of command was also limited 
by the people, and shortened or prolonged as they pleased. AVe 
* This engine appears to have been invented by Anacharsis the Scythian, and 
although one somewhat similar is said to have been employed by Archimedes against 
the enemy’s fleet at Syracuse, it is difficult to conceive how it could be used with 
advantage at sea; except, perhaps, by a vessel very considerably heavier than that 
against which it might be employed. 
Officers- 
