Once I had an opportunity of looking over the great Phoenician merchantman . . . and I thought I had never seen tackle so excellently and accurately arranged. For I never saw so many bits of stuff packed away separately in so small a receptacle. As you know, a ship needs a great quantity of wooden and corded implements when she comes into port or puts to sea, much rigging, as it is called, when she sails, many contrivances to protect her against enemy vessels; she carries a large supply of arms for the men, and contains a set of household utensils for each mess. In addition to all this, she is laden with cargo which the skipper carries for profit. And all the things I mention were contained in a chamber of little more than a hundred square cubits [The word is literally “having space for ten couches.”] and I notice that each kind of thing was so neatly stowed away that there was no confusion, no work for a searcher, nothing out of place, no troublesome untying to cause delay when anything was wanted for immediate use. I found that the steersman’s servant, who is called the mate, knows each particular section so exactly, that he can tell even when away where everything is kept and how much there is of it, just as well as a man who knows how to spell can tell how many letters there are in Socrates and in what order they come. Now I saw this man in his spare time inspecting all the stores that are wanted, as a matter of course, in the ship (“during the voyage”). I was surprised to see him looking over them, and asked what he was doing. “Sir,” he answered, “I am looking to see how the ship’s tackle is stored, in case of accident, or whether anything is missing or mixed up with other stuff. For when God sends a storm at sea, there’s no time to search about for what you want or to serve it out if it’s in a muddle. For God threatens and punishes careless fellows, and you’re lucky if he merely refrains from destroying the innocent; and if he saves you when you do your work well, you have much cause to thank heaven.”