Well, for a day and
a night we sailed before the wind without making
very much offing, as land was still dimly in sight; but
at sunrise on the second day the wind freshened, the -



 

sea rose, darkness came on, and before we knew it we
could no longer even get our canvas in. Committing
ourselves to the gale and giving up, we drove for
seventy-nine days. On the eightieth day, however,
the sun came out suddenly and at no great distance
we saw a high, wooded island ringed about with
sounding surf, which, however, was not rough, as
already the worst of the storm was abating.
 This paragraph is based on Iambulus (Diod. 2. 55). Putting in and going ashore, we lay on the ground
for some time in consequence of our long misery, but
finally we arose and told off thirty of our number to
stay and guard the ship and twenty to go inland with
me and look over the island.

 

When we had gone
forward through the wood about three furlongs from
the sea, we saw a slab of bronze, inscribed with
Greek letters, faint and obliterated, which said: “To
this point came Hercules and Dionysus.” There
were also two footprints in the rock close by, one of
which was a hundred feet long, the other less—to
my thinking, the smaller one was left by Dionysus,
the other by Hercules.
 Cf. Herod. 4, 82; a footprint of Hercules, two cubits
long. We did obeisance and
went on, but had not gone far when we came upon a
river of wine, just as like as could be to Chian.
 Cf. Ctesias (Phot. cod. 72, 46 a). 

The
stream was large and full, so that in places it was
actually navigable. Thus we could not help having
much greater faith in.the inscription on the slab,
seeing the evidence of Dionysus’ visit. I resolved




 

to find out where the river took its rise, and
went up along the stream. What I found was
not a source, but a number of large grapevines,
full of clusters; beside the root of each flowed a
spring of clear wine, and the springs gave rise to the
river. There were many fish to be seen in it, very
similar to wine in colour and in taste. In fact, on
catching and eating some of them, we became drunk,
and when we cut into them we found them full
of lees, of course. Later on, we bethought ourselves
to mix with them the other kind of fish, those from
the water, and so temper the strength of our edible
wine.

 

Next, after crossing the river at a place where
it was fordable, we found something wonderful in
grapevines. The part which came out of the ground,
the trunk itself, was stout and well-grown, but the
upper part was in each case a woman, entirely perfect from the waist up. They were like our pictures
of Daphne turning into a tree when Apollo is just
catching her. Out of their finger-tips grew the
branches, and they were full of grapes. Actually,
the hair of their heads was tendrils and leaves and
clusters! When we came up, they welcomed and
greeted us, some of them speaking Lydian, some
Indian, but the most part Greek. They even kissed
us on the lips, and everyone that was kissed at once
became reeling drunk. They did not suffer us, however, to gather any of the fruit, but cried out in pain
when it was plucked. Some of them actually wanted
us to embrace them, and two of my comrades complied, but could not get away again. They were
‘held fast by the part which had touched them, for it


 

had grown in and struck root. Already branches
had grown from their fingers, tendrils entwined
them, and they were on the point of bearing fruit
like the others any minute.
 

Leaving them in the
lurch, we made off to the boat, and on getting there,
told the men we had left behind about everything,
including the affair of our comrades with the vines.
Then, taking jars, we furnished ourselves not only
with water but with wine from. the river, encamped
for the night on the beach close by, and at daybreak
put to sea with a moderate breeze. 
About noon, when the island was no longer in
sight, a whirlwind suddenly arose, spun the boat
about, raised her into the air about three hundred
furlongs and did not let her down into the sea again;
but while she was hung up aloft a wind struck her
sails and drove her ahead with bellying canvas.

 

For
seven days and seven nights we sailed the air, and on
the eighth day we saw a great country in it, resembling an island, bright and round and shining with
a great light. Running in there and anchoring, we
went ashore, and on investigating found that the land
was inhabited and cultivated. By day nothing was
in sight from the place, but as night came on we
began to see many other islands hard by, some
larger, some smaller, and they were like fire in
colour. We also saw another country below, with
cities in it and rivers and seas and forests and
mountains, This we inferred to be our own world.