[3] See a paper by G. C. (the Engineer Giovanni Casoni) in _Teatro Emeronitio Almanacco per l’Anno 1835_. [4] This Cross is engraved by Mr. Ruskin in vol. ii. of the _Stones of Venice_: see p. 139, and Pl. xi. Fig. 4. [5] Casoni’s only doubt was whether the _Corte del Millioni_ was what is now the Sabbionera, or the interior area of the theatre. The latter seems most probable. One Illustration of this volume, p. 1, shows the archway in the Corte Sabbionera, and also the decorations of the soffit. [6] See _Ruskin_, iii. 320. [7] Comm. Barozzi writes: “Among us, contracts between husband and wife are and were very common, and recognized by law. The wife sells to the husband property not included in dowry, or that she may have inherited, just as any third person might.” [8] See Appendix C, No. 16. V. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE WAR-GALLEYS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN STATES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. [Sidenote: Arrangement of the Rowers in Mediæval Galleys: a separate oar to every man.] 25. And before entering on this new phase of the Traveller’s biography it may not be without interest that we say something regarding the equipment of those galleys which are so prominent in the mediæval history of the Mediterranean.[1] Eschewing that “Serbonian Bog, where armies whole have sunk” of Books and Commentators, the theory of the classification of the Biremes and Triremes of the Ancients, we can at least assert on secure grounds that in _mediæval_ armament, up to the middle of the 16th century or thereabouts, the characteristic distinction of galleys of different calibres, so far as such differences existed, was based _on the number of rowers that sat on one bench pulling each his separate oar, but through one_ portella _or rowlock-port_.[2] And to the classes of galleys so distinguished the Italians, of the later Middle Age at least, did certainly apply, rightly or wrongly, the classical terms of _Bireme_, _Trireme_, and _Quinquereme_, in the sense of galleys having two men and two oars to a bench, three men and three oars to a bench, and five men and five oars to a bench.[3] That this was the mediæval arrangement is very certain from the details afforded by Marino Sanudo the Elder, confirmed by later writers and by works of art. Previous to 1290, Sanudo tells us, almost all the galleys that went to the Levant had but two oars and men to a bench; but as it had been found that three oars and men to a bench could be employed with great advantage, after that date nearly all galleys adopted this arrangement, which was called _ai Terzaruoli_.[4]