"Forth issuing thus, she gave him first to wield A weighty axe, with truest temper steeled, And double-edged; the handle smooth and plain, Wrought of the clouded olive's easy grain; And next, a wedge to drive with sweepy sway; Then to the neighbouring forest led the way. On the lone island's utmost verge there stood Of poplars, pines, and firs, a lofty wood, Whose leafless summits to the skies aspire, Scorched by the sun, or seared by heavenly fire (Already dried). These pointing out to view, The nymph just showed him, and with tears withdrew. "Now toils the hero; trees on trees o'erthrown Fall crackling round, and the forests groan; Sudden, full twenty on the plain are strewed, And lopped and lightened of their branchy load. At equal angles these disposed to join, He smoothed and squared them by the rule and line. (The wimbles for the work Calypso found), With those he pierced them and with clinchers bound. Long and capacious as a shipwright forms Some bark's broad bottom to outride the storms, So large he built the raft; then ribbed it strong From space to space, and nailed the planks along. These formed the sides; the deck he fashioned last; Then o'er the vessel raised the taper mast, With crossing sail-yards dancing in the wind: And to the helm the guiding rudder joined (With yielding osiers fenced to break the force Of surging waves, and steer the steady course). Thy loom, Calypso, for the future sails Supplied the cloth, capacious of the gales. With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, And, rolled on levers, launched her on the deep." The ships of the ancient Greeks and Romans were divided into various classes, according to the number of "ranks" or "banks," that is, _rows_, of oars. _Monoremes_ contained one bank of oars; _biremes_, two banks; _triremes_, three; _quadriremes_, four; _quinqueremes_, five; and so on. But the two latter were seldom used, being unwieldy, and the oars in the upper rank almost unmanageable from their great length and weight. Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt is said to have built a gigantic ship with no less than forty tiers of oars, one above the other! She was managed by 4000 men, besides whom there were 2850 combatants; she had four rudders and a double prow. Her stern was decorated with splendid paintings of ferocious and fantastic animals; her oars protruded through masses of foliage; and her hold was filled with grain! That this account is exaggerated and fanciful is abundantly evident; but it is highly probable that Ptolemy did construct one ship, if not more, of uncommon size.