Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/257

Rh whom shall I now go? What country shall I seek? Who will afford succour to an unknown and helpless stranger?" As he spoke this, he beheld a young man opposite, looking earnestly at him. He was a robust, hard-favoured fisherman, clad in a coarse frock. Apollonius, driven by his distresses, humbly besought this man's assistance, even with tears starting from his eyes. "Pity me," said he, "whomsoever thou art; pity a man stripped of all by shipwreck; one, to whom better days have been familiar, and who is descended from no ignoble family. But that you may know whom you succour, understand that I am a prince of Tyre, and that my name is Apollonius. Save, then, my life, I entreat you." The fisherman, compassionating his sufferings, brought him to his own roof, and placed such as he had before him. And that there might be no deficiency in the charitable part he was acting, he divided his cloak, and gave one half to the stranger; "Take," said the benevolent man, "take what I can give, and go into the city, there, perhaps, you will find one with more power to serve you than I