Between Piraeus and Naples
The steamship was called the Rio Grande and its name suited it because it truly was a very large ship, the largest belonging to the company. It had arrived in Piraeus behind schedule, and the sun had risen long before the passengers from Greece went on board, while, according to its time-table, it ought to have left port two hours after midnight.
Belonging to those who are never on good terms with the sea, when I set foot on the deck of that colossus, I felt a kind of fearlessness towards the watery element, very similar to the impertinence of that mythological goat, to whose mockery, as it is known, the wolf answered: “It is not you who mocks me but the place.”
The sea, more dignified than the wolf took no notice of my arrogance. However I did not attribute i
