Lucian Juppiter Tragoedus 49

That is what goes on in your ship, Timocles, you greatest of sages, and that is why the disasters are countless. But if there were really a captain in command who saw and directed everything, first of all he would not have failed to know who were the good and who were the bad among the men aboard, and secondly he would have given each man his due according to his worth, giving to the better men the better quarters beside him on deck and to the worse the quarters in the hold; some of them he would have made his messmates and advisers, and as for the crew, a zealous man would have been assigned to command forward or in the waist, or at any rate somewhere or other over the heads of the rest, while a timorous, shiftless one would get clouted over the head half a dozen times a day with the rope’s end. Consequently, my interesting friend, your comparison of the ship would seem to have capsized for the want of a good captain.

That is how things go on board your ship, sir wiseacre; and who shall count the wrecks? If there had been a captain supervising and directing, in the first place he would have known the difference between good and bad passengers, and in the second he would have given them their deserts; the better would have had the better accommodation above by his side, and the worse gone below; with some of the better he would have shared his meals and his counsels. So too for the crew: the keen sailor would have been made look-out man or captain of the watch, or given some sort of precedence, and the lazy shirker have tasted the rope’s end half a dozen times a day. The metaphorical ship, your worship, ts likely to be capsized by its captain’s incompetence.

This is the sort of thing that goes on in your ship, sage Timokles, wherefore the shipwrecks are countless. But if any pilot stood at the helm, and kept a lookout and ordered everything, he would know in the first place who were good and who were worthless of the ship's company, and he would apportion to each what befitted his merits, giving the better quarters near himself on deck to the better men, and the lower parts to the worse, and he would cause some of the better sort to sit at table together and come to terms of confidence. Among the sailors a zealous man would be distinguished by being put on the lookout or made captain of a watch, or set over all the others. But a lazy shirk would get the rope's end about his head five times a day. So, my friend, your comparison seems to have capsized because it fell into the hands of a bad pilot.