CORVUS
CORVUS a sort of crane, used by C. Duilius. against the
Carthaginian fleet in the battle fought off Mylae, in Sicily (B.C. 260). The
Romans, we are told, being unused to the sea, saw that their only chance of
victory was by bringing a sea-fight to resemble one on land. For this
purpose they invented a machine, of which Polybius (
1.22) has left a minute, although not very perspicuous description.
In the fore part of the ship a round pole was fixed perpendicularly,
twenty-four feet in height and about nine inches in diameter; at the top of
this was a pivot, upon which a ladder was set, thirty-six feet in length and
four in breadth. The ladder was guarded by cross-beams, fastened to the
upright pole by a ring of wood, which turned with the pivot above. Along the
ladder a rope was passed, one end of which took hold of the
corvus by means of a ring. The
corvus itself was a strong piece of iron, with a spike at the
end, which was raised or lowered by drawing in or letting out the rope. When
an enemy's ship drew near, the machine was turned outwards, by means of the
pivot, in the direction of the assailant. Another part of the machine which
Polybius has not clearly described is a breastwork, let down (as it would
seem) from the ladder, and serving as a bridge, on which to board the
enemy's vessel. (Compare Curtius,
4.2,
4.) By means of these cranes the Carthaginian ships
were either broken or closely locked with the Roman, and Duilius gained a
complete victory.
[p. 1.553]
The word
corvus is also applied to various kinds
of grappling-hooks, such as the
corvus
demolitor, mentioned by Vitruvius (
10.19) for pulling down walls, or the terrible engine spoken of by
Tacitus (
Tac. Hist. 4.30), which being
fixed on the walls of a fortified place, and suddenly let down, carried off
one of the besieging party, and then by a turn of the machine put him down
within the walls. The word is used by Celsus (7.19) for a scalpel. It is
hardly necessary to remark that all these meanings have their origin in the
supposed resemblance of the various instruments to the beak of a raven.
[
B.J] [
J.H.F]
