[15]
The man that would not haste to die, nor force the
Fates to snap the tender threads with impetuous hand, should know only this much of
the sea's anger. Lo! where the tide flows back, and the wave bathes his feet without
peril! Lo! where the mussel is thrown up among the green sea-weed, and the hoarse
whorl of the slippery shell is rolled along! Lo! where the wave turns the sands to
rush back in the eddy, there pebbles of many a hue appear on the wave-worn floor.
Let the man who may have these things under his feet, play safely on the shore, and
count this alone to be the sea.
[p. 353]
Petronius Arbiter. Petronius. Michael Heseltine. London. William Heinemann. 1913.
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