MYTILUS. 297 



tentiou with harsh words. "We know not what an amount 

 of placid enjoyment might have been shared by each^ 

 nor yet how they looked on the rippling waters of the 

 calm blue sea^ slightly heaving and sparkling in the sun- 

 beams, and continually presenting them with plentiful sup- 

 plies of food. No need had they to lay in stores for a long 

 voyage, even if that voyage extended " from sultry Indus to 

 the pole/^ the winds and waters ministered to their neces- 

 sities, as also to those of the living vessel which thus care- 

 fully conveyed them. But, alas ! some merciless collector 

 saw the ship and freight making their way upon the deep, 

 and, no sooner seen than done, his hands, like those of 

 Scylla, were stretched forth to secure them as a lawful prize. 

 And thus, if not denied the gift of speech, might some hap- 

 less survivor speak concerning the insatiable avidity of his 

 unpitying grasp : — 



" He makes tlie huge leviathan his prey. 

 And all the monsters of the watery way ; 

 The swiftest shell-fish of the azure plain 

 Now fills her sails, and spreads her oars in vain. 

 Thus from some rock that overhangs the flood 

 The silent fisher casts the insidious food ; 

 With watchful care he waits the finny prize. 

 And sudden lifts it quivering to the skies." — Odyssey. 



