"The problem, Conscript Fathers," lectured Gallus as Decius Gorgo wheeled a canvas-covered cart onto the floor of the Curia Hostilia, "is that we Romans have forgotten what brilliant naval engineers our great grandfathers were!"

By now, Gallus had the attention of everyone in the House. "The accounts from the East indicated that Brutus had a tough time defeating the pirates there. He was victorious, of course, but the casualty ratio was high. We Romans are complete masters of the land battle, but are somewhat less adept when fighting at sea. Our ancestors realized this during the First Punic War, and they came up with a brilliant solution. One which we, and indeed the whole world, has forgotten. The trick," he said, nodding for Gorgo to remove the tarp, "is to turn the sea battle...into a land battle!"

Now displayed before the Senate were the models of two ships. The one, obviously Roman by the insignia on the sail, had a strange looking device mounted near the bow. It consisted of a mast with a broad plank held in place vertically beside it. From the bottom of the plank protruded a long iron spike, looking somewhat akin to the beak of a crow. Next to this ship, was the model of a foreign-looking vessel. "Conscript Fathers, I give you the corvus!"

With that, Gorgo pulled a small lanyard and the plank with the iron spike pulled away from the top of the mast. It was hinged at the bottom of the mast, so that it swung down in an accellerating arc. The free end of the plank slammed agazinst the deck of the "enemy" ship, driving the iron "beak" deep into the model's deck planking, firmly affixing the victim to the Roman ship. The plank, now in the horizontal position, had become a boarding ramp. Gorgo placed some small lead figurines of Roman infantry men on the plank to depict the movement of troops from the friendly to enemy vessel.

"There! We have our land battle! The corvus allows us to, in effect, immobilize a target ship without rendering it unseaworthy by the act of ramming it, as must be done presently. Not only that, but more importantly, the corvus allows friendly naval infantry to rapidly overwhelm the defenses of the target vessel. No jumping from deck to deck or swinging across on ropes in a haphazard fashion! Now we can run across in battle formation, ready to begin fighting immediately, and allowing our forces to rapidly build up strength on the enemy's deck. This device revolutionized war at sea in the past; it can do so again today!"

Withdrawing a scroll from the sinus of his toga, Gallus presented it to the Curule Dias. "Conscript Fathers, to deal with the growing pirate threat which now plagues both sides of the Italian Peninsula, I wish to submit for your consideration, this Senatus Consultum Galla Navis Repleo..."

...to be continued...