recruit, but a thorough veteran in the service of the Queen of Love, so minute are you in all your detail. Now hear what I have to say in favour of male beauty. With women their words and postures, everything, in short, is studied and artificial: and their beauty, if they possess any, is the laborious work of cosmetic appliances, of perfumes and of dyes;* divest them of these meretricious attractions, and they will appear like the daw stripped of its feathers, which we read. of in the fable. The beauty of youths, on the other hand, requires no unguents or artificial essences to recommend it; nature has made it complete and sufficient in itself."+ BOOK III. On the third day of our voyage a sudden change took place in the weather; the sky, which had been clear, grew so black as quite to obscure the light of day, and a violent gale ploughing up the sea blew directly in our teeth. Upon this, the master ordered the yard to be brought round;‡ "Sed quæ mutatis inducitur, atque fovetur Tot medicaminibus, coctæque siliginis offas, Accipit et madidæ, facies dicetur, an ulcus."-Juv. vi. 471. +"Omnibus autem mulierum omnium ungentis è puerorum sudoribus afflatus odor antecellet. Jam vero etiam ante venereos congressus palæstrâ cum iis decertare, palamque, ac sine rubore amplecti licet; neque ulla est carnis teneritas quæ complexuum tactioni cedat: sed corpora sibi mutuo resistunt ac voluptate contendunt. Basia quoque muliebrem illam diligentiam minime sapiunt, nec stulto errore labris illito decipiunt. Puer quemadmodum quidem novit, suavia dat, non ab arte aliquâ, sed à natura ipsâ proficiscentia; saneque basii puerilis imago ejusmodi est, ut si quis concretum, atque in labrà commutatum nectar oscularetur. Ex quo fieri ullo modo nequit, ut aliqua basiandi tibi satietas oriatur; quinimmo quo plus haurias, hoc vehementiore siti labores, neque os indè abstrahere possis, donec præ voluptate basia ipso refugias." † περιάγειν τὴν κεραίαν. Two ropes hung from the horns of the antenna or yard, the use of which was to turn it round as the wind veered, so as to keep the sail opposite the wind. See a cut at p. 52 of the Greek and Rom. Antiq. the sailors speedily obeyed, furling one-half of the sail by dint of great exertions, but were compelled by the violence of the wind to leave the other unfurled. In consequence of this manœuvre one side of the vessel began to heel, while the contrary side became proportionally elevated, so that we every moment expected to be capsized, as the gale continued to blow with undiminished fury. To prevent this, and to restore, if possible, the vessel's equilibrium, we all scrambled to the side highest out of water, but it was of no avail. We ourselves, indeed, were raised, but the position of the ship was in no way altered; after long and vain endeavours to right her, the wind suddenly shifted, almost submerging the side which had been elevated, and raising high out of the water that previously depressed. An universal shriek arose from those on board, and nothing remained but to hurry back to our former station. We repeated this several times, our movements keeping pace with the shifting of the vessel; indeed, we had scarcely succeeded in hurrying to one side, before we were obliged to hurry back in the contrary direction. Like those who run backwards and forwards in the course, we continued these alternate movements during a great part of the day, momentarily expecting death, who, as it seemed, was not far off; for about noon the sun entirely disappeared, and we saw each other as if by moonlight; lightnings flashed from the clouds, the thunder rolled, filling the sky with its echoes, which were repeated from below by the strife of waters, while in the intermediate space was heard the shouts of the discordant winds, so that the air seemed one mighty trumpet; the ropes breaking loose rattled against the sail and against each other till "Cornua velatarum obvertimus antennarum."-En, iii. 549. "At sunset they began to take in sail, For the sky showed it would come on to blow, And carry away, perhaps, a mast or so."-Byron. * In the original the movements of the passengers are described by the words δίαυλος and δρόμος δολιχός, expressions referring to the stadium, where the runners turned round the goal and came back to the starting-place. +"The high wind made the treble, and as bass The hoarse harsh waves kept time."-Byron. at last they were rent in pieces. We now began to be in no small fear that the vessel, from the shattered condition of her sides, would open and go to pieces; the bulwarks* too were flooded, being continually washed over by the waves. We however crawled under them for protection, and abandoning all hope resigned ourselves to Fortune. Tremendous billows following in quick succession tumbled one over the other, some in front, some at the sides of the ship, which as they approached was lifted high up as if upon a mountain, and when they retired was plunged down as into an abyss.+ The most formidable were those which broke against the sides and made their way over the bulwarks, flooding all the vessel; even while approaching from a distance these were formidable enough, almost touching, as they did, the clouds; but when they neared and broke, you would have supposed that the ship must inevitably be swallowed up. We could scarcely keep our feet, so violent was the rolling of the vessel, and a confused din of sounds was heard ;—the sea roared, the wind blustered, the women shrieked, the men shouted, the sailors called to one another: all was wailing and lamentation.‡ At length the master ordered the cargo to be thrown overboard; no distinction was made between gold and silver, and the commonest articles,—all were pitched over the sides; many of the merchants with their own hands tumbling into the sea the goods on which all their hopes were centred. By these means the ship was lightened, but the storm did not in any degree abate. At length the master, wearied out and in despair, let go the tiller, abandoned the ship to the waves, and standing at the gangway ordered the boats to be * γέρρα ; these appear to mean the παραῤῥύματα, made of skins and wicker-work, raised above the edge of the vessel, and intended as a protection against high waves, &c.-See Dict. Grk. and Rom. Antiq. +"Tollimur in cœlum curvato gurgite; et iidem "Strange sounds of wailing, blasphemy, devotion, got ready and the sailors to embark. Upon this a fearful scene of strife arose; the sailors in the boat were beginning to cut the rope which attached it to the ship. Seeing this, the passengers endeavoured to leap in, which the crew would not allow, threatening with their swords and axes any who should venture on the attempt. The others upon this arming themselves as best they could with shattered oars and broken benches, showed a determination to retaliate, for in a storm might, not right, must settle matters. A novel kind of sea-fight now commenced; they in the boat, fearful of being swamped by the numbers who were descending from the vessel, laid about them in good earnest with their swords and axes; which the passengers as they leaped in were not backward in returning with their poles and oars, and some scarcely touched the boat before they fell into the water; others, who had succeeded in getting in, were struggling with the sailors to maintain their ground. The laws of friendship or neighbourly regard were no longer heeded; each looked to his own preservation, careless of the safety of any other; for the effect of pressing danger is, that it dissolves even the tenderest ties. One of the passengers, a robust young fellow, succeeded at last in getting hold of the rope and dragging the boat towards the vessel; every one on board holding himself ready to leap in. A few succeeded in the endeavour, though not without receiving injuries; many in their attempt were plunged into the sea. The crew without further delay, cutting the rope with their axes, put off, and committed themselves to the mercy of the winds; those on board in the meantime having used every exertion to sink the boat. The vessel, after continuing for some time to pitch and roll upon the waves, was carried upon a sunken rock, when she struck and soon went to pieces, the mast falling over on one side and hastening her destruction. They who were at once swallowed up in the briny waves experienced a happier lot than their companions, in not having to remain with death before their eyes; for at sea the anticipation of drowning kills even before death actually arrives; the eye, bewildered by the expanse of waters, can set no limits to its fears: this it is which gives death so much more bitterness, and makes it re garded with dread proportioned to the vasty nature of the sea itself.* Upon the present occasion some were dashed against rocks and perished, others were pierced by pieces of broken spars, and some were seen swimming in a half-exhausted state. When the vessel was wrecked, some good genius preserved a portion of the prow, upon which I and Leucippe being seated, were carried along by the current; Menelaus, Satyrus, and some other passengers, had thrown themselves across the mast; Clinias at no great distance was swimming supported by the yard, and we could hear him calling out, "Hold on, Clitopho!" In a moment a wave washed over him; at which sad spectacle we shrieked aloud. Rolling onward in our direction, it happily passed us, and we again caught sight of the yard, and Clinias riding upon its crest. "O, mighty Neptune," exclaimed I, with a deep groan, "take pity on us, and spare the remnants of this shipwreck; our terror has caused us already to die many deaths; if it be thy will to destroy us, do not divide us in our deaths; let one wave overwhelm us; or if we are fated to become food for the monsters of the deep let one devour us ;—let us have one common death, one common tomb." I had not long uttered this prayer before the violence of the wind abated and the roughness of the waves subsided, and the surface of the sea was seen covered with floating bodies. Menelaus and his companions were thrown by the waves upon a part of the coast of Egypt which was at that time the general haunt of buccaneers. Late in the evening, Leucippe and I contrived to reach Pelusium, and upon getting to land thanked the gods for our escape; nor did we omit bewailing Clinias and Satyrus, believing them to have been drowned. "O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown! often did I strive To yield the ghost, but still the envious flood Shaksp. Richard III. |