According to Polybius, there took part in the battle of Ecnomus 680 quinqueremes and 290,000 men, i.e. crews 204,000 and troops 86,000; while in the next year, at the battle of the Hermaean promontory, 550 quinqueremes were engaged. The only figures comparable to these in Roman history, manifest absurdities apart, are those given by Appian for the battle of Naulochus, and perhaps those for Actium. At Naulochus 300 ships of all sizes are said to have been in action on either side, and no doubt Agrippa's fleet, at any rate, did amount to this large number; while at Actium Octavian may have had anything up to 400. But in Octavian's time the population of all Italy may have been 7 to 8 millions; the Mediterranean was almost a Roman lake, and its entire resources went to furnish the fleets for the civil wars.