chief means of transportation for the peoples of antiquity, and especially for the Greeks, it is self-evident that ship-building was carried on from the earliest times in all maritime towns, and indeed almost always to a degree which corresponded tolerably exactly to the extension of sea-commerce which the individual towns had. For it can in nowise be proved with any degree of probability that they would have had ships built at foreign dock-yards in greater number than at their own, or even at all customarily, as they even preferred to transport the raw material, which they did not have at home, from a distance-even timber, the long transportation of which was not without difficulty -rather than to purchase ships of foreign builders, or have them make them. In Italy from ancient times only the Tuscans and those Greeks who had settled in South Italy and Sicily carried on a brisk navigation. The inhabitants of Latium only lately reached the point where they could traverse the sea without assistance. The port of Ostia is said to have been established already by Ancus Marcius, and served also for the navy up to the time of Augustus. Later Claudius established here a great port, and attempted at the same time to further ship-building by the offer of rewards. Here arose, moreover, a corporation of ship-builders, as is handed down to us by inscriptions. By Augustus, Misenum and Ravenna were named as chief stations of the navy, and remained so until the latest times of the Roman Empire. Of Ravenna, too, a guild of ship-builders (fabri navales) is known; the same from Pisaurum. Of Massilia, Strabo notes the great extent of this, craft, which also follows from the widely extended commerce which this city carried on from gray antiquity. But in general the extension which ship-building reached in the larger ports must have been very considerable; for, since the wholesale business among the Romans for the greatest part-among the Greeks almost entirely-found its streets upon the sea, and in many Roman provinces on the rivers, therefore the need of merchant-ships and ships of war was very great. To this is added also the fact that the ships in general could not long remain seaworthy, as they for the most part employed fir-wood and pine for building, so that the needful repairs and new building of ships necessarily increased the briskness of ship-building. The ship-yards, of which there were at Rome at a comparatively early date two (vetera and nova), were called Navalia (Castra). They must, at any rate, have served frequently for repairing. Iter est longum per praecepta, breve et efficax per EXEyfla.-Seneca. NOVI EBORACI. LATINE. MENSE NOV. MDCCCLXXXIII. "Multa Roga: Retine Docta: Retenta Doce."- COMENIUS. Lector: Quid tibi vis, O ephemeris parvula? Latine: Rationem linguae meae docendae fovere meliorem, discipulos stimulare quaestionibus, adjuvare exemplis annotationibusque, literarum latinarum amicos contra hostes conjungere. Ut Terenti verba flectam: Latini nihil a me alienum puto." "Non enim tam praeclarum est scire LATINE quam turpe nescire."-CIC. BRUT. CXL. CUPIDO ET PSYCHE. [Alia pars.] Ipsae aquae vocales defendebant. Nam clamant: "Quid agis?" "Cave!" "Fuge!" "Peribis." Misera Psyche oppressa magnitudine periculi jam destituta erat ultima consolatione lacrymarum. At ejus aerumna non fugit oculos Providentiae bonae. Aquila enim, illa avis regia Jovis, excelsum coelum deserit et sic fatur: "Da mihi istud vasculum"; et statim captum implevit. Psyche gaudens accepit vasculum plenum et reportavit ad Venerem festinans. Nec tamen potuit etiam tunc placare saevae deae. Nam Venus dixit: “Cape hanc pyxidem, i ad Inferos et conferens pyxidem Proserpinae dic: 'Petit de te Venus modicum de tua mittas ei formositate, nam quod habuit, dum filium curat aegrotum, consumsit.' Verum ne redeas tardius." Tunc Psyche maxime sensit ultimas fortunas suas et ad exitium sese compelli manifeste comperit. Nec cunctata diutius petit quandam turrim altissimam praecipitura se ex ipsa. Putabat enim se hac ratione posse facillime et pulcherrime ad inferos descendere. Sed turris repente prorupit in vocem et, "Quid te," inquit "praecipitis misella, quaeris extinguere? Audi me. "Sparta, inclyta urbs, non longe abest. Quaere Taenarum huic urbi vicinam. "Ibi monstratur via per portas hiantes, cujus limite transmeato, recta via jam tendes ad palatium Plutonis. "Sed tu cum silentio, in itinere toto nullo verbo dicto, sine mora, perge. "Sed inter omnia hoc observandum praecipue tibi censeo, ne velis aperire vel inspicere illam, quam feres, pyxidem divinae pulchritudinis plenam." LUCRETIUS I, 84-100. [Colloquium.] [Persona: Magister et Discipulus.] "Aulide quo pacto Triviai virginis aram D.-Gratias ago tibi, qui mihi hunc locum praeclarum monstrasti. Dic, quaeso, quam ob rem poeta fabulam Iphigeniae narret ? M.-Bene dixisti, "hunc locum praeclarum." Nescio an viginti versus continuos usquam invenire possis, qui hosce superent. Lucretius scribit, ut bene scis, de rerum natura. Primum Epicurum laudat, superstitiones populi falsas impugnare ausum, veritus deinde, ne impie dixisse videatur, declarat impia saepe et scelerosa ipsius religionis nomine facta. Ad hanc sententiam confirmandam Iphigeniae fabulam introducit. Hoc modo, ait, principes Graecorum aram Dianae sanguine Iphigeniae maculaverunt. D.-Legimusne apud Homerum, Graecos Aulide filiam Agamemnonis ad aram occidisse ? M.-Minime vero: in nono libro Iliados Agamemnon ipse cum Nestore sermonem confert: mihi sunt, ait, tres filiae meae domi in aula ornata, Chrysothemis et Laodice et Iphianassa. Tragici vero fabulam narrant, alius autem alio modo. D.-Nonne poeta dicit Graecos aram Triviae sanguine virginis foede turpavisse ? M.-Bene: fortasse in animo verba Ennii habuit: "Vidi Priamo vi vitam evitari, Jovis aram sanguine turpari." Vergilius dicit Priamum per aras sanguine ignes foedavisse: noster poeta fortius: "foede turparunt." et iterum (III, 49) verbis utitur: "foedati criminis turpi." D.-Nonne ductores Danaum "prima virorum" bene appellantur? M.-Ita est: Horatius dicit fortes ante Agamemnona multos vixisse sed omnes illacrimabiles ignotosque longa nocté urgeri. Sed quanquam ductores delecti, nobiles illustrissimique, adducti falsa religione, hoc facinus patraverunt. Animadvertisne autem artem poetae in verbis eligendis? ut, "ductores Danaum delecti," "circumdata comptus," "parte profusast," "muta metu," "casta inceste," "mactatu maesta," "felix faustusque.". Priamus. D.-Immo vero: sed magis artem miror, qua nobis virginem quasi ante oculos ponit. M.-Habes quod mireris. Virgo pulchra, comas niveae lanae infula vincta, coram principibus stat. Si Euripidi credendum, mori aequo animo parata est; ultima autem hora tremor ei artus occupat; patrem mutum maestumque videt, quem ministri ensem, quo peritura sit, celant; et cives, qui aspectu regis lacrimas tenere nequeunt; terram genibus petit, non ut deam precibus invocet, sed omnium desperatione rerum victa. Timanthes, ut traditur, patrem Iphigeniae vultum velatum pinxit. D.-Nonne Iphigenia maxima natu e liberis Agamemnonis erat? M.-Lucretius dicit illam principem regem nomine patrio donavisse. Etiam apud Euripidem legimus: Ego illa, quae prima te patrem appellavi, quam tu primam natam. D.-Estne deducta in tempore nubendi ipso ad aras? M.—Ita traditur. Pater eam Aulidem vocavisse dicitur, simulans se eam in matrimonium Achilli daturum. D.-Quid dicere poeta vult, ubi verbis "claro Hymenaeo utitur ? M.-Carmen nuptiale, quod, solemni more sacrorum perfecto, pueri virginesque cantare solebant. Catulli carmen intelligis: "Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee!" D.-Nonne Artemis virginem raptam ad suum templum transportavisse fertur ? M.-Ita tragici narrant, Nimirum nodus talis tali vindice dignus erat. Et facta sunt haec omnia-hoc scelus infandum, hic dolus, haec immanitas, ut-exitus classi felix faustusque daretur! E. H. R. TANTUM RELIGIO POTUIT SUADERE MALORUM. [Tennyson, "Iphigenia."] Tristis ad haec odiis vultuque aversa superbo Illa refert: Nostram abrupit scelerata juventam Nitor ut expediam: sed creber anhelitus illos R. C. J. |