The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• The Works of Edward Gibbon
• Introduction 1
• Preface of the Author
• Advertisement to the Notes 1
• Advertisement to the First Octavo Edition
• Preface to the Fourth Volume of the Quarto Edition
• Introduction
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Chapter I
• Chapter Ii
• Chapter Iii
• Chapter Iv
• Chapter V
• Chapter Vi
• Chapter Vii
• Chapter Viii
• Chapter Ix
• Appendix Additional Notes By the Editor
• 1.: Authorities
• 2.: Conquest of Britain — ( P. 4 and P. 45 )
• 3.: The Conquests of Trajan, and Policy of Hadrian — ( P. 7 )
• 4.: The Roman Army — ( P. 15 )
• 5.: The Roman Navy — ( P. 23 )
• 6.: The Provinces of the Roman Empire In 180 — ( P. 24 )
• 7.: Changes In South-eastern Europe Since Gibbon Wrote — ( Pp. 28 , 29 )
• 8.: Colonies and Municipia, Ius Latinum — ( P. 46 )
• 9.: The Mine of Soumelpour — ( P. 69 )
• 10.: The Constitution of the Roman Empire — ( Chapter Iii .)
• 11.: The Constitutional Significance of the Principate of Septimius Severus — ( Pp. 154-161 )
• 12.: Chronology of 238 — ( P. 229 )
• 13.: Authorities For Oriental Affairs — ( Chapter Viii .)
• 14.: The Zend Avesta — ( P. 253 Sqq. )

5.

THE ROMAN NAVY — (P. 23)

The fleets of Ravenna and Misenum were called the classes praetoriae, a fitting name, as they were the naval guards of the Emperor as long as he resided at Old Rome.

The fleet at (1) Forum Julium was discontinued soon after the time of Augustus. The other lesser naval stations under the Empire were (2) Seleucia, for the classis Syriaca; (3) Alexandria, for the classis Augusta Alexandreas; (4) the Island of Carpathos; (5) at the beginning of the fifth century, Aquileia, for the classis Venetum. Besides these there were (6) the classis Pontica, stationed in the Euxine or in the Propontis, and (7) the classis Britannica, both mentioned in the author’s text. There were also fleets on the three great rivers of the Empire; (8) the classis Germanica on the Rhine; (9) the classis Pannonica and Moesica on the Danube; and (10) a fleet on the Euphrates (mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 3, 9).