Letter 51

To my Brother. Starting from Physcus [in Caria] at dawn, we reached the Gulf of Erythra late in the evening. We stopped only long enough to drink water and fill our supplies — springs of pure, sweet water gush right out of the shore. Our Carpathian sailors [from the island of Carpathos] were in a hurry, so we put back to sea at once. The passage across the Aegean was swift and smooth. I will spare you the details of every island we passed — just know that we are safe, and that the sea treated us far more kindly than the last time.

Letter 51: The Aegean Sea [1] To his Brother Starting from Physcus note [In Caria .] at early dawn, late in the evening we stood in the Gulf of Erythra. There we stopped only a sufficient time to drink water and to take in a supply. Springs of pure, sweet water gush forth upon the very shore. [2] As our Carpathians note [Inhabitants of the isle of Carpathos.] were in a hurry, we took to sea again. The wind was light, but it blew continually on our stern, so that where we expected to make nothing of a run each day, we made all we needed before we were aware of it. [3] On the fifth day we perceived the beacon fire lit upon a tower to warn ships running too close. We accordingly disembarked more quickly than it takes to relate, on the island of Paros, a poor island where there are neither trees nor fruit, but only salt marshes.