THE KING'S MIRROR 157 



autumn; but you did not indicate the earliest time in / 

 the spring when you think one may risk a journey over- y 

 seas to other countries, nor how late you consider it / 

 safe to sail the seas in autumnjYou told how the ocean / 

 manages to quiet its storms, but you did not show un- 

 der what circumstances it begins to grow restless. There- 

 fore I would fain ask you again to answer this question, - 

 even if it does annoy you, for I think that a time may 

 come when it will seem both needful to know this and 

 instructive to understand it. 



Father. The matters to which you are now referring 

 can scarcely be grouped under one head; for the seas 

 are not all alike, nor are they all of equal extent. Small 

 seas have no great perils, and one may risk crossing 

 them at almost any time; for one has to make sure of 

 fair winds to last a day or two only, which is not diffi- 

 cult for men who understand the weather. And there 

 are many lands where harbors are plentiful as soon as 

 the shore is reached. If the circumstances are such that 

 a man can wait for winds in a good haven or may confi- 

 dently expect to find good harbors as soon as he has 

 crossed, or if the sea is so narrow that he needs to pro- 

 vide for a journey of only a day or two, then he may ven- 

 ture to sail over such waters almost whenever he wishes. 

 But where travel is beset with greater perils, whether 

 because the sea is wide and full of dangerous currents, 

 or because the prow points toward shores where the 

 harbors are rendered insecure by rocks, breakers, shal- 

 lows, or sand bars, wherever the situation is such, 

 one needs to use great caution; and no one should ven- 

 ture to travel over such waters when the season is late. 



