BOOK III PART III
comparison will never have an equal efficacy,
as if I were really on the shore^26 , and saw a ship
at a distance tossed by a tempest, and in danger
every moment of perishing on a rock or sand-
bank. But suppose this idea to become still
more lively. Suppose the ship to be driven so
near me, that I can perceive distinctly the hor-
ror, painted on the countenance of the seamen
and passengers, hear their lamentable cries, see
the dearest friends give their last adieu, or em-
(^26) Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis E
terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; Non quia
vexari quenquam eat jucunda voluptas, Sed quibus ipse
malls caress qula cernere sauv’ est. –Lucret.
(There is something pleasant in watching, from dry
land, the great difficulties another man is undergoing
out on the high sea, with the winds lashing the waters.
This is not because one derives delight from any man’s
distress, but because it is pleasurable to perceive from
what troubles one is oneself free.)