TIMOLAUS
This is what the captain said they found when it was still night and pitch dark. But the gods were moved by their lamentations, and showed fire from Lycia, so that they knew the place. One of the Dioscuri
1
put a bright star
2
on the masthead, and guided the ship in a turn to port into the open sea, just as it was driving on to the cliff. Then, having now lost their course, they sailed across the Aegean beating up with the trade winds against them, and yesterday, seventy days after leaving Egypt, they anchored in Piraeus, after being driven so far downwind. They should have kept Crete to starboard, and sailed beyond Malea so as to be in Italy by now.
This is what the captain said they found when it was still night and pitch dark. But the gods were moved by their lamentations, and showed fire from Lycia, so that they knew the place. One of the Dioscuri
1
put a bright star
2
on the masthead, and guided the ship in a turn to port into the open sea, just as it was driving on to the cliff. Then, having now lost their course, they sailed across the Aegean beating up with the trade winds against them, and yesterday, seventy days after leaving Egypt, they anchored in Piraeus, after being driven so far downwind. They should have kept Crete to starboard, and sailed beyond Malea so as to be in Italy by now.
LYCINUS
Upon my word, that’s an amazing pilot you speak of, this Heron, as old as Nereus,
3
who went so far astray.
Upon my word, that’s an amazing pilot you speak of, this Heron, as old as Nereus,
3
who went so far astray.
Navigium. Lucian of Samosata. Kenneth Kilburn (Translator). Medford, MA. Perseus 5.0.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.