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A Greek Merchantman
PHILOCROTES, the Athenian merchant, gazed at the busy scene about him. Timon, the Corinthian ship master, stood beside him, his keen eyes taking in the smallest detail of the work going on under his command. A vessel hauled out for repairs was about to be set again into the water for a trading voyage to the Cyclades. "O, my son," said the merchant, "have the specifications reported to me by the shipwrights been faithfully performed?" "Yes, master," replied Timon, "but the report of the foreman carpenter seemed to me faulty in that he would replace the broken planking with plain deals instead of cedar wood. I therefore compelled him to substitute the latter. This he did grudgingly, saying that thereby he would lose all his profit." "Therein thou hast done well, my son, and to my interest. And hast thou seen that such of the bronze plates below the oar holes as were broken have been renewed? That the new cotton cloth for the sail is of full weight and free from flaws? And that the arsenic and sulphur have been well mixed with the Chian oil thou broughtest back on thy last voyage and the mixture evenly applied to the vessel's sides that she may speed through the blue waters freely and without impediment?" To all these rapid questions the young man nodded his assent.
His employer continued, "And hast thou seen to it also that the careless wielders of the brush have not damaged the beautiful ship's eyes that I had placed upon her forward sides by Andimion, the skilful Persian slave of my friend Araxes?" "Verily, master, thou shouldst know that I would permit naught to harm them, otherwise how would my darling see the rocks and shoals and know how to avoid them on the dark nights when Notos blows and we have naught else to guide us but the light of the stars? "And another thing have I done. Recallest thou the bundle of staves I brought back from Tyre? I had them from a Phoenician trader who told me they had been brought from the very far-off west. Thou saidst then, a little peevishly, that I did thereby waste thy money, but soon forgot thy irritation. I have had them fashioned into oars, and never were there lighter or stronger ones. Try, master, if thou canst, by bending all thy weight on it, break one." The older man examined the oar carefully and nodded approval. "In this also hast thou done excellently well, my son. Ever thou doest as well for my interest as I would for myself. May the Gods preserve and bless thee. Look to it also, for my and thy sake, that all the cords be the strong and the wattles along the topsides well plaited and tough, for there will be perishable goods aboard, that must be kept from the waves and spray." "And now come with me, O Timon, to the pleasant shade of Eubotes' wine shop that we may drain together a cup of his best Lesbian and decide upon that which we shall lade thy bark." (See Note 2, Appendix.)
