Roman quinqueremes with spar torpedoes

What if Roman quinqueremes invented the spar torpedo?

It suits an existing willingness to ram, but developing a safe charge, spar length, and detonator would be extremely dangerous.

The counterfactual starts with Roman crews already willing to ram and risk their own vessel in close combat. A spar torpedo could increase the damage delivered before the hulls collide and might therefore appear tactically attractive. Its adoption would still demand dangerous experimentation to determine charge size, spar length, and a reliable contact mechanism. The speakers' humour underscores a serious point: early explosive weapons often transferred technical uncertainty directly onto the crews testing them.