<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:py="http://codespeak.net/lxml/objectify/pytype" py:pytype="TREE"><text><body><div type="translation" n="urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001.perseus-eng2" xml:lang="eng"><div type="textpart" subtype="book" xml:base="urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001.perseus-eng2" n="2"><div type="textpart" subtype="chapter" xml:base="urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001.perseus-eng2:2" n="5"><p>Timæus of Tauromenium relates that there was a certain house at Agrigentum called
                  the Trireme, on this account:— Some young men got drunk in it, and got so mad when
                  excited by the wine, as to think that they were sailing in a trireme, and that
                  they were being tossed about on the sea m a violent storm; and so completely did
                  they lose their senses, that they threw all the furniture, and all the sofas and
                  chairs and beds, out of window, as if they were throwing them into the sea,
                  fancying that the captain had ordered them to lighten the ship because of the
                  storm. And though a crowd collected round the house and began to plunder what was
                  thrown out, even that did not cure the young men of their frenzy. And the next
                  day, when the prætors came to the house, there were the young men still lying,
                  sea-sick as they said; and, when the magistrates questioned them, they replied
                  that they had been in great danger from a storm, and had consequently been
                  compelled to lighten the ship by throwing all their superfluous cargo into the
                  sea. Arid while the magistrates marvelled at the bewilderment of the men, one of
                  them, who seemed to be older than the rest, said, <quote>I, O Tritons, was so
                     frightened that I threw myself down under the benches, and lay there as low
                     down and as much out of sight as I could.</quote> And the magistrates forgave
                  their folly, and dismissed them with a reproof, and a warning not to indulge in
                  too much wine in future. And they, professing to be much obliged to them, said,
                     <quote>If we arrive in port after having escaped this terrible storm, we will
                     erect in our own country statues of you as our saviours in a conspicuous place,
                     along with those of the other gods of the sea, as having appeared to us at a
                     seasonable time.</quote> And from this circumstance that house was called the
                  Trireme.</p></div></div></div></body></text></TEI>