Catalogue Entry: OTHE00108
Dialogue III
[1] A Cretan Philosopher when he was a Boy, being sent by his Father into the Country to fetch a Sheep, he turned out of the Road at Noon and reposed himself in a Cave, where he slept 57 Years. After this Refreshment he awaked and looked about for the Sheep (imagining he had slept but a little while). Not finding it, he proceeded to his Father's Country Estate, where he saw every Thing altered and in Possession of another. He then returned to the City, and went to his Father's House, where his younger Brother now grown an old Man, at last knew him, and gave him an Account of all that had happened. He was held in great Veneration among the Greeks, who imagined him a peculiar Favourite of Heaven. He is said to have lived till 150 Years old, or, according to others, 297.
[2] Camoens, the famous Portuguese Poet in his Lusiada, the Subject of which is the Discovery of the East Indies by his Countrymen, conducts their Fleet round the Coast of Africa, and as it fails in sight of the Cape of Good Hope, he introduces a formidable Spectre walking in the Depth of the Sea, its Head reaching to the Clouds, its Arms extended over the Waves, and its whole Form surrounded with Clouds, Storms, Winds, Thunders, and Lightnings. This Spectre is the Guardian of that foreign Ocean which no Ship has ever passed through before, complains of his being obliged to submit to Fate, and the bold Undertaking of the Portuguese, and foretels them the Misfortunes they must undergo in the Indies.
