raw out
the bilge-plug so that the rain of heaven may not rot it. Put away
all the tackle and fittings in your house, and stow the wings of the
sea-going ship neatly, and hang up the well-shaped rudder over the
smoke. You yourself wait until the season for sailing is come, and then
haul your swift ship down to the sea and stow a convenient cargo in it,
so that you may bring home profit, even as your father and mine,
foolish Perses, used to sail on shipboard because he lacked sufficient
livelihood. And one day he came to this very place crossing over a
great stretch of sea; he left Aeolian Cyme and fled, not from riches and
substance, but from wretched poverty which Zeus lays upon men, and
he settled near Helicon in a miserable hamlet, Ascra, which is bad in
winter, sultry in summer, and good at no time.

(ll. 641-645) But you, Perses, remember all works in their season but
sailing especially. Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large
one; for the greater the lading, the greater will be your piled gain, if
only the winds will keep back their harmful gales.

(ll. 646-662) If ever you turn your misguided heart to trading and with
to escape from debt and joyless hunger, I will show you the measures of
the loud-roaring sea, though I have no skill in sea-faring nor in ships;
for never yet have I sailed by ship over the wide sea, but only to
Euboea from Aulis where the Achaeans once stayed through much storm when
they had gathered a great host from divine Hellas for Troy, the land
of fair women. Then I crossed over to Chalcis, to the games of wise
Amphidamas where the sons of the great-hearted hero proclaimed and
appointed prizes. And there I boast that I gained the victory with a
song and carried off an handled tripod which I dedicated to the Muses of
Helicon, in the place where they first set me in the way of clear song.
Such is all my experience of many-pegged ships; nevertheless I will tell
you the will of Zeus who holds the aegis; for the Muses have taught me
to sing in marvellous song.

(ll. 663-677) Fifty days after the solstice [1334], when the season
of wearisome heat is come to an end, is the right time for me to go
sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea destroy the
sailors, unless Poseidon the Earth-Shaker be set upon it, or Zeus, the
king of the deathless gods, wish to slay them; for the issues of good
and evil alike are with them. At that time the winds are steady, and
the sea i