Note 1 — Chapter XIV
Reading edition
The vessels in which they had hitherto transported their troops, were principally hired from their neighbours the Locrians, Tarentines, &c. It is certain that the Romans had ships of war before this period; but from the little attention they had hitherto paid to naval affairs, they were, probably, badly constructed and ill managed.
[2]
The Romans considering these two disasters as indications of the will of the gods that they should not contend by sea, made a decree that no more than fifty galleys should, for the future, be equipped. This decree, however, did not continue long in force,