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"I won't give you a literal translation of fourth-century Latin Too stiff and forlish vernacular The first entry is under the Julian calendar date of April

, AD 391 The report begins:

"I, Cuccius Rufinus, captain of the Serapes, in the e reed to transport a cargo for Junius Venator of Alexandria The voyage is said to be long and arduous, and Venator will not disclose our destination

My daughter, Hypatia, sailed with thy separation

But Venator is paying twenty tireatly benefit Nicias as well as myself and the crew

"The cargo was put on board at night under heavy guard, and quite mysteriously, as I was ordered to re Four sol diers under the command of the centurion Dominus Se verus have been commanded to stay on the ship and sail with us

"I do not like the look of it, but Venator has paid o back on my con tract

"An honest man," said Pitt "Hard to believe he didn't discover the nature of his cargo"

"He coe He also makes mention of his ship's namesake I'll skip to where they make their first port

our god Serapes for providing us with a so Nova where we rested for five days and took on four times our normal supply of provisions Here we joined Junius Venator's other ships Most are over two hundred tons burden, some close to three hundred We total sixteen with Vena tor's flagship Our sturdy Serapes is the smallest vessel in the fleet"

"A fleet!" Lily cried Her eyes gleamed, her whole body taut "They did save the collection"

Redfeood chunk of it anyway

Two-to-three-hundred-ton-ships were representative of largefor two ships to carry e of two hundred for the other fourteen ships, you have a gross tonnage for the fleet of 2,800 tons Enough to transport a third of the Library's books and a fair share of the museum's art treasures"

Pitt called for a break He went to the galley counter and brought back two cups of coffee He set one in front of Lily and returned for a plate of doughnuts He reht and concentrated better on his feet

"So far the great Library snatch is theory," he said "I've heard nothing that proves the goods were actually spirited away"