Jason and Hercules would have been stupefied with wonder, and Tiphys, seated at the helm, would have been ashamed of the nothing which won him so much fame.

If you had seen it, you would have said it was no ship but a mountain, swimming upon the sea, although under the weight of its immense wings a great part of it was hidden in the waves.

The end of the voyage was to be the Don, beyond which nothing can navigate from our seas; but many of those who were on board, when they had reached that point, meant to prosecute their journey, never pausing till they had reached the Ganges or the Caucasus, India and the Eastern Ocean.

So far does love of gain stimulate the human mind.'-- Quoted from Petrarch's _Lettere Senili_ in Oliphant, _Makers of Venice_ (1905), p.

349; the whole of this charming chapter, 'The Guest of Venice', should be read.