DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0321
287
fidelity of those authors, the very existence of that age, and
of the nations that flourished in it, would be questionable.
Wrapt in the deep silence of extreme astonishment and
grief, Eupator listened attentively to my wondrous tale. At
last, as if summoning up his faculties from a temporary
trance, he interrupted me as follows:
Eup. Although, my friend, thy words seem to bear the
stamp and accent of truth, yet, such is my amazement at a
narrative which resembles the fabulous traditions of our early
history, and the genealogy of some of our divinities, that
thou wilt pardon a justifiable incredulity, if, previously to
my giving credit to thy assertions, I ask some proof of their
truth.
Self. Your request is reasonable, and can easily be
complied with: The dress, the manners, and the different
languages of myself and my companions here might alone
impress you with a suspicion, that we do not belong to the
generation of which you alone remain. But if those are in-
capable of shaking your doubts, follow me! and you shall
behold, not only the environs of your town in a dress in
which you will at once recognize the truth of the changes I
have related, but even the sea itself covered with vessels of
a construction unknown to you. Come along, and I will
shew you, riding at anchor in the bay, a British ship of war,
capable of stowing in her hold a whole fleet of your trireme
cockleshells.
Eupator actually rose from his seat, when Perninoff re-
presented, in the strongest manner, the impropriety of his
exposing himself to the action of a burning sun, after the
cool birth which he had enjoyed for 1,700 years in the ice-
cellar; an advice which the Roman received with thanks,
and
fidelity of those authors, the very existence of that age, and
of the nations that flourished in it, would be questionable.
Wrapt in the deep silence of extreme astonishment and
grief, Eupator listened attentively to my wondrous tale. At
last, as if summoning up his faculties from a temporary
trance, he interrupted me as follows:
Eup. Although, my friend, thy words seem to bear the
stamp and accent of truth, yet, such is my amazement at a
narrative which resembles the fabulous traditions of our early
history, and the genealogy of some of our divinities, that
thou wilt pardon a justifiable incredulity, if, previously to
my giving credit to thy assertions, I ask some proof of their
truth.
Self. Your request is reasonable, and can easily be
complied with: The dress, the manners, and the different
languages of myself and my companions here might alone
impress you with a suspicion, that we do not belong to the
generation of which you alone remain. But if those are in-
capable of shaking your doubts, follow me! and you shall
behold, not only the environs of your town in a dress in
which you will at once recognize the truth of the changes I
have related, but even the sea itself covered with vessels of
a construction unknown to you. Come along, and I will
shew you, riding at anchor in the bay, a British ship of war,
capable of stowing in her hold a whole fleet of your trireme
cockleshells.
Eupator actually rose from his seat, when Perninoff re-
presented, in the strongest manner, the impropriety of his
exposing himself to the action of a burning sun, after the
cool birth which he had enjoyed for 1,700 years in the ice-
cellar; an advice which the Roman received with thanks,
and