Lucian Juppiter Tragoedus 47

Why, Timocles, you superlative admirer of the gods, in the one case you would have seen the captain always planning what had better be done and making ready beforehand and giving orders to the crew, and the ship would contain nothing at all that was profitless and senseless, that was not wholly useful and necessary to them for their voyage. But in the other case your captain, the one who, you say, is in command of this great ship, manages nothing in a sensible or fitting way, and neither do the members of his crew; the forestay is carried aft, maybe, and both the sheets forward, the anchors are sometimes ‘of gold while the figurehead is of lead, and all the ship’s underbody is painted while her upper works are unsightly.

But, you pattern of piety, the earthly navigator makes bis plans, takes his measures, gives his orders, with a single eye to efficiency; there is nothing useless or purposeless on board 3 everything is to make navigation easy or possible; but as for the navigator for whom you claim the management of this vast ship, he and bis crew show no reason or appropriateness in any of their arrangements; the forestays, as likely as not, are made fast to the stern, and both sheets to the bows; the anchor will be gold, the beak lead, decoration below the water-line, and unsightliness above.

But, Timokles, darling of the gods, you would have seen that our pilot was always devising something to our advantage and making his arrangements at the proper time, and giving his commands to the sailors in good season, and that there was nothing useless or foolish about the ship. On the contrary, everything was altogether useful and necessary to their management of her. But this pilot of yours, whom you suppose to stand at the helm of this great ship, and his crew, do not order a single thing sensibly or as it ought to be. The forestay is hauled aft if it so happens, and the sheets forward. Sometimes the anchors are of gold, while the stern is ornamented with lead. Under water the ship's lines are good, but above the water-line she is shapeless.