his preparation against Cæsar, saith Consilium Pompeii plane Themistocleum est; putat enim, qui mari potitur, eum rerum potiri.[1] And, without doubt, Pompey had tired out Cæsar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that way. We see the great effects of battles by sea. The battle of Actium[2] decided the empire of the world. The battle of Lepanto[3] arrested the greatness of the Turk. There may be examples where sea-fights have been final to the war; but this is when princes or states have set up their rest upon the battles. But thus much is certain, that he that commands the sea, is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will. Whereas those that be strongest by land are many times nevertheless in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage[4] of strength at sea (which is one of the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass; and because the wealth of both Indies seems in great part but an accessary to the command of the seas.
- ↑ Pompey's policy is plainly that of Themistocles; for he thinks that he who commands the sea, commands all. Bacon quotes Cicero freely as he was wont. Cicero wrote: "nisi forte, iis amissis, arma Pompeium abiecturum putas, cuius omne consilium Themistocleum est: existimat enim, qui mare teneat, eum necesse esse rerum potiri." M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolae ad Atticum Liber X. viii. 4.
- ↑ The battle of Actium was fought September 2, 31 B.C., off the promontory of Actium, Greece, between Octavius on the one side and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. Octavius won and Egypt became the first province of the Roman empire.
- ↑ The battle of Lepanto was a great naval victory, October 7, 1571, won by the Italian and Spanish fleets under Don John of Austria, over the Turks. It took place in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Lepanto, in Aetolia, Greece.
- ↑ Vantage. Advantage.
