Frederick did not adopt the cylindrical ramrod till 1777, thirty-six years after the battle of Mollwitz. The advantage of the cylindrical ramrod consisted in this,--that the soldier in loading saved the time necessary to turn the ramrod; but obviously this small economy of time could never have enabled him to load three times while the enemy loaded once,--all other things being equal.--Translators.] [Footnote 56: Columns by battalions closed in mass seemed only to be intended to use in long columns on the march, to keep them closed, in order to facilitate their deployment.] [Footnote 57: We suppose each regiment to consist of two battalions: if there should be three in each regiment, the deep column would then consist of twelve lines of either twenty-four or thirty-six ranks, while in the next figure there would be twelve battalions on the line instead of eight, the depth not being increased.] SKETCH OF THE PRINCIPAL MARITIME EXPEDITIONS. I have thought it proper to give here an account of the principal maritime expeditions, to be taken in connection with maxims on descents. The naval forces of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Rhodes are the earliest mentioned in history, and of them the account is confused. The Persians conquered these nations, as well as Asia Minor, and became the most formidable power on both land and sea. About the same time the Carthaginians, who were masters of the coast of Mauritania, being invited by the inhabitants of Cadiz, passed the straits, colonized Boetica and took possession of the Balearic Isles and Sardinia, and finally made a descent on Sicily. The Greeks contended against the Persians with a success that could not have been expected,--although no country was ever more favorably situated for a naval power than Greece, with her fifty islands and her great extent of coast. The merchant marine of Athens produced her prosperity, and gave her the naval power to which Greece was indebted for her independence. Her fleets, united with those of the islands, were, under Themistocles, the terror of the Persians and the rulers of the East. They never made grand descents, because their land-forces were not in proportion to their naval strength. Had Greece been a united government instead of a confederation of republics, and had the navies of Athens, Syracuse, Corinth, and Sparta been combined instead of fighting among each other, it is probable that the Greeks would have conquered the world before the Romans.