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.

ΛΑʹ. Πλέοντί μοι τὸ Παρθενικὸν πέλαγος ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων, ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα: ἔπλεον δὲ παντελῶς ἔξω τῆς ὥρας, οὕτω τοῦ πόθου πείθοντος, ἐπὶ νηὸς Αἰγιναίας: τοῦτο γάρ με καὶ μάλιστα προὔτρεψεν ὡς οἰκείοις προσδραμόντα τοῖς ἄξουσι: πλέοντι δ' οὖν, ὡς ὀλίγον ἀνήχθημεν, δεινὸς συμπίπτει χειμὼν, καὶ οἷον μὴ πολλῶν πρότερον μνημονεύειν εἶχον, ὡς ἔφασκον, οἱ συμπλέοντες. Πάντων δὲ τὸν κοινὸν θάνατον δεδοικότων, ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς ἦν ἐμοὶ φοβερώτερος. Ἐκινδύνευον γὰρ ἄθλιος ἀπελθεῖν καὶ ἀτέλεστος, ποθῶν τὸ πνευματικὸν ὕδωρ ἐν τοῖς φονικοῖς ὕδασι. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐβόων, ἱκέτευον, ἐπόθουν μικρὰν προθεσμίαν: καὶ συνεβόων οἱ συμπλέοντες, καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς κινδύνοις, ὡς οὐδὲ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων τινὲς, ξένοι φιλάνθρωποι, τὸ συναλγεῖν μαθόντες ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων. Τοῦτο ἔπασχον μὲν ἐγὼ, συνέπασχον δὲ οἱ γεννήτορες, διὰ νυκτερινῆς φαντασίας τοῦ κινδύνου μετέχοντες, καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς ἐβοήθουν, τῶν κυμάτων δι' εὐχῆς κατεπᾴδοντες, ὡς ὕστερον συμβαλόντες ἔγνωμεν τὸν καιρὸν, ἡνίκα ἐπανήλθομεν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμῖν ἐδήλωσεν ὕπνος σωτήριος, ἐπειδή ποτε τοῦτον ἔγνωμεν, μικρὸν ὑπανέντος τοῦ κλύδωνος. Ἐριννύος ἐκράτουν ἐγὼ, φοβερὸν βλεπούσης, καὶ ἀπειλούσης τὸν κίνδυνον: ταύτην γὰρ ἡμῖν σαφῶς ἡ νὺξ ὑπέγραψεν. Ἄλλος ἐδόκει τῶν ἐμπλεόντων (ἦν δὲ παῖς τῶν εὐνουστάτων ἐμοὶ καὶ φιλτάτων, καὶ ὑπεραγωνιώντων, οὕτως ἔχοντος), τὴν μητέρα τὴν ἐμὴν ἐπιβᾶσαν τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ τῆς νηὸς λαβομένην ἐξέλκειν ταύτην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, οὐ σὺν πολλῷ τῷ πόνῳ. Καὶ ἡ ὄψις ἐπιστεύετο: ἡμεροῦτο γὰρ ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ Ῥόδος εἶχεν ἡμᾶς αὐτίκα οὐ πολὺ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ κακοπαθήσαντας. Ἐκείνου τοῦ κινδύνου καὶ ἡμεῖς δῶρον γεγόναμεν: καθυποσχόμενοι, εἰ σωθείημεν, ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ δεδωκότες ὡς ἀπεσώθημεν.