DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0630
ISLAND OF SALAMIS. 575
ceased, our sailors were obliged to row, and began their shrill yell,
which considerably alleviates the labour of the oar, however much
it may annoy the ears of the stranger !
" Mens intenta suis ne foret usque malis.
Hoc est cur cantet vinctus quoque compede fossor
Indocili numero cum grave mollit opus :
Quique refert pariter lentos ad pectora remos,
In numerum pulsa brachia versat aqua."1
The sea became a perfect calm, and the shades of night enveloped
us in the middle of the gulph. The mild serenity of the weather
invited us to contemplate the surrounding objects. The lights of
Megara were distinguishable. We admired the phosporic sparkling
of the sea, and contemplated the bright lustre of the stars, as Aulus
Gellius2 had done on a similar occasion, and in the very same situa-
tion, near seventeen centuries before!—
" Ab iEgina in Piraeum.......in navi transmittebamus.
Nox fuit, et clemens mare, et anni sestas, ccelumque liquide sere-
num. Sedebamus ergo in puppi simul universi, et lucentia sidera
cpnsiderabamus."
In six hours we reached a small deserted port at the southern ex-
tremity of Salamis, and passed the night in a cave near the sea.
The next morning, on examining our situation, we found this part
of the island uncultivated, but diversified with round rocky hills,
covered with small firs, cypresses, wild olives, and the terebinthus,
caroba, myrtle, and lentiscus, besides other smaller shrubs, and
aromatic plants.
1 Ovid. Trist. b. 4. Eleg. 1. v. 4. &c.
2 Noct. Att. b. 2. c. 21. " We passed over from iEgina to Piraeus in the same vessel. It
was night, the sea was tranquil, the time summer, and the sky clear and serene. We therefore
sat upon the prow, and contemplated the shining stars."
ceased, our sailors were obliged to row, and began their shrill yell,
which considerably alleviates the labour of the oar, however much
it may annoy the ears of the stranger !
" Mens intenta suis ne foret usque malis.
Hoc est cur cantet vinctus quoque compede fossor
Indocili numero cum grave mollit opus :
Quique refert pariter lentos ad pectora remos,
In numerum pulsa brachia versat aqua."1
The sea became a perfect calm, and the shades of night enveloped
us in the middle of the gulph. The mild serenity of the weather
invited us to contemplate the surrounding objects. The lights of
Megara were distinguishable. We admired the phosporic sparkling
of the sea, and contemplated the bright lustre of the stars, as Aulus
Gellius2 had done on a similar occasion, and in the very same situa-
tion, near seventeen centuries before!—
" Ab iEgina in Piraeum.......in navi transmittebamus.
Nox fuit, et clemens mare, et anni sestas, ccelumque liquide sere-
num. Sedebamus ergo in puppi simul universi, et lucentia sidera
cpnsiderabamus."
In six hours we reached a small deserted port at the southern ex-
tremity of Salamis, and passed the night in a cave near the sea.
The next morning, on examining our situation, we found this part
of the island uncultivated, but diversified with round rocky hills,
covered with small firs, cypresses, wild olives, and the terebinthus,
caroba, myrtle, and lentiscus, besides other smaller shrubs, and
aromatic plants.
1 Ovid. Trist. b. 4. Eleg. 1. v. 4. &c.
2 Noct. Att. b. 2. c. 21. " We passed over from iEgina to Piraeus in the same vessel. It
was night, the sea was tranquil, the time summer, and the sky clear and serene. We therefore
sat upon the prow, and contemplated the shining stars."