Corvus
(
κόραξ). A sort of crane, used by Duilius (q. v.) 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
seafight to resemble one on land. For this purpose they invented a machine, of which Polybius
(i. 22) has left a minute 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 crossbeams, 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
outward, 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. By means
of these cranes, the Carthaginian ships were either broken or closely locked with the Roman,
and Duilius gained a complete victory. See Polyb. i. 22.
The word
corvus is also applied to various kinds of grappling-hooks,
such as the
corvus demolitor, mentioned by Vitruvius for pulling down
walls, or the terrible engine spoken of by Tacitus, 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 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.