Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter III.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter III.
“Three years ago,
Sulpitius, at which time, leaving this neighborhood, I bade thee
farewell, after setting sail from Narbonne, on the fifth day we entered
a port of Africa: so prosperous, by the will of God, had been the
voyage. I had in my mind a great desire to go to Carthage, to visit
those localities connected with the saints, and, above all, to worship
at the tomb84
| 84 “Ad sepulchrum
Cypriani martyris adorare.” | of the martyr
Cyprian. On the fifth day we returned to the harbor, and launched forth
into the deep. Our destination was Alexandria; but as the south wind
was against us, we were almost driven upon the Syrtis;85
| 85 This was probably the
Syrtis Minor, a dangerous sandbank in the sea on the northern coast of
Africa; it is now known as the Gulf of Cabes. The Syrtis Major lay
farther to the east, and now bears the name of the Gulf of Sidra. | the cautious sailors, however, guarding
against this, stopped the ship by casting anchor. The continent of
Africa then lay before our eyes; and, landing on it in boats, when we
perceived that the whole country round was destitute of human
cultivation, I penetrated farther inland, for the purpose of more
carefully exploring the locality. About three miles from the sea-coast,
I beheld a small hut in the midst of the sand, the roof of which, to
use the expression86
| 86 “Ædificia
Numidarum agrestium, quæ mapalia illi vocant, oblonga, incurvis
lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinæ
sunt.”—Sall. Jug. XVIII. 8. | of Sallust, was
like the keel of a ship. It was close to87
| 87 The hut was perhaps
built on piles rising slightly above the ground. | the
earth, and was floored with good strong boards, not because any very
heavy rains are there feared (for, in fact, such a thing as rain has
there never even been heard of), but because, such is the strength of
the winds in that district, that, if at any time only a little breath
of air begins there to be felt, even when the weather is pretty mild, a
greater wreckage takes place in those lands than on any sea. No plants
are there, and no seeds ever spring up, since, in such shifting soil,
the dry sand is swept along with every motion of the winds. But where
some promontories, back from the sea, act as a check to the winds, the
soil, being somewhat more firm, produces here and there some prickly
grass, and that furnishes fair pasturage for sheep. The inhabitants
live on milk, while those of them that are more skillful, or, so to
speak, more wealthy, make use of barley bread. That is the only kind of
grain which flourishes there, for barley, by the quickness of its
growth in that sort of soil, generally escapes the destruction caused
by the fierce winds. So rapid is its growth that we are told it is ripe
on the thirtieth day after the sowing of the seed. But there is no
reason why men should settle there, except that all are free from the
payment of taxes. The sea-coast of the Cyrenians is indeed the most
remote, bordering upon that desert which lies between Egypt and
Africa,88
| 88 The term Africa here
used in its more restricted sense to denote the territory of
Carthage. | and through which Cato formerly, when
fleeing from Cæsar, led an army.89
| 89 This took place
in the spring of the year b.c. 47. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
