The slabs of marble were stacked in huge, sturdy heaps ex- tending over nearly the entire deck of the ship and mounting toward the stern. A number of very wide pieces formed rough bases for these heaps. Smaller chunks had been haphazardly added on top, so that their imperfect conjunctions often formed deep crevices and sudden gaps. At one point a small cavern formation had been created by the meeting of a tabular piece that declined at one end with a naturally tilting piece shoved across its downward slanting. From this rough marble cavity Praxiteles stood up and threw over his naked body the tunic that lay to one side. The Attic coast had just been sighted. He squinted toward the land and pushed himself up onto his toes. Then he sat back down for a moment on the mass of marble.

  Their port is not far from this blown stretch of beach where people are already beginning to congregate around the various platforms. Located, however, on one side of a jutting portion of the coast, the port cannot be seen from any consider- able distance down the beach along this peninsular curve. Praxiteles is climbing up various levels of the vast deposit of marble that covers three-quarters of the ship deck. Now and then he stops, stands up straight, and looks toward the land.