friends in his ignorance, and hails us at once in words of
fellowship: ‘Come, my men, be quick. Why, what sloth 20
is keeping you so late? Pergamus is on fire, and the rest
of us are spoiling and sacking it, and here are you, but
just disembarked from your tall ships.’ He said, and instantly,
for no reply was forthcoming to reassure him, saw
that he had fallen into the thick of the enemy. Struck 25
with consternation, he drew back foot and tongue. Just
as a man who at unawares has trodden on a snake among
thorns and briers in his walk, and recoils at once in sudden