31. I was on a voyage from Alexandria to Greece
over the Parthenian Sea. The voyage was quite unseasonable,
undertaken in an Æginetan vessel, under the impulse of eager
desire; for what specially induced me was that I had fallen in with a
crew who were well known to me. After making some way on the
voyage, a terrible storm came upon us, and such an one as my shipmates
said they had but seldom seen before. While we were all in fear
of a common death, spiritual death was what I was most afraid of; for I
was in danger of departing in misery, being unbaptised, and I longed
for the spiritual water among the waters of death. On this
account I cried and begged and besought a slight respite. My
shipmates, even in their common danger, joined in my cries, as not even
my own relatives would have done, kindly souls as they were, having
learned sympathy from their dangers. In this my condition, my
parents felt for me, my danger having been communicated to them by a
nightly vision, and they aided me from the land, soothing the waves by
prayer, as I afterwards learned by calculating the time, after I had
landed. This was also shown me in a wholesome sleep, of which I
had experience during a slight lull of the tempest. I seemed to
be holding a Fury, of fearful aspect, boding danger; for the night
presented her clearly to my eyes. Another of my shipmates, a boy
most kindly disposed and dear to me, and exceedingly anxious on my
behalf, in my then present condition, thought he saw my mother walk
upon the sea, and seize and drag the ship to land with no great
exertion. We had confidence in the vision, for the sea began to
grow calm, and we soon reached Rhodes after the intervention of no
great discomfort. We ourselves became an offering in consequence
of that peril; for we promised ourselves if we were saved, to God, and,
when we had been saved, gave ourselves to Him.