The Argonautica | Page 5

and gives many examples of
isolated uses, but his choice of words is by no means limited to Homer.
He freely avails himself of Alexandrian words and late uses of Homeric
words. Among his contemporaries Apollonius suffers from a
comparison with Theocritus, who was a little his senior, but he was
much admired by Roman writers who derived inspiration from the
great classical writers of Greece by way of Alexandria. In fact
Alexandria was a useful bridge between Athens and Rome. The
"Argonautica" was translated by Varro Atacinus, copied by Ovid and
Virgil, and minutely studied by Valerius Flaccus in his poem of the
same name. Some of his finest passages have been appropriated and
improved upon by Virgil by the divine right of superior genius. (4) The
subject of love had been treated in the romantic spirit before the time of
Apollonius in writings that have perished, for instance, in those of
Antimachus of Colophon, but the "Argonautica" is perhaps the first
poem still extant in which the expression of this spirit is developed with
elaboration. The Medea of Apollonius is the direct precursor of the

Dido of Virgil, and it is the pathos and passion of the fourth book of the
"Aeneid" that keep alive many a passage of Apollonius.
ENDNOTES: (1) "Or of Naucratis", according to Aelian and
Athenaeus. (2) Anth. Pal. xl. 275. (3) iii. 117-124. (4) e.g. compare
"Aen." iv. 305 foll. with Ap. Rh. iv. 355 foll.; "Aen." iv. 327-330 with
Ap. Rh. I. 897, 898; "Aen." iv. 522 foll., with Ap. Rh. iii. 744 foll.

THE ARGONAUTICA
BOOK I
(ll. 1-4) Beginning with thee, O Phoebus, I will recount the famous
deeds of men of old, who, at the behest of King Pelias, down through
the mouth of Pontus and between the Cyanean rocks, sped
well-benched Argo in quest of the golden fleece.
(ll. 5-17) Such was the oracle that Pelias heard, that a hateful doom
awaited him to be slain at the prompting of the man whom he should
see coming forth from the people with but one sandal. And no long
time after, in accordance with that true report, Jason crossed the stream
of wintry Anaurus on foot, and saved one sandal from the mire, but the
other he left in the depths held back by the flood. And straightway he
came to Pelias to share the banquet which the king was offering to his
father Poseidon and the rest of the gods, though he paid no honour to
Pelasgian Hera. Quickly the king saw him and pondered, and devised
for him the toil of a troublous voyage, in order that on the sea or among
strangers he might lose his home-return.
(ll. 18-22) The ship, as former bards relate, Argus wrought by the
guidance of Athena. But now I will tell the lineage and the names of
the heroes, and of the long sea-paths and the deeds they wrought in
their wanderings; may the Muses be the inspirers of my song!
(ll. 23-34) First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it
is said, wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height. Men
say that he by the music of his songs charmed the stubborn rocks upon

the mountains and the course of rivers. And the wild oak-trees to this
day, tokens of that magic strain, that grow at Zone on the Thracian
shore, stand in ordered ranks close together, the same which under the
charm of his lyre he led down from Pieria. Such then was Orpheus
whom Aeson's son welcomed to share his toils, in obedience to the
behest of Cheiron, Orpheus ruler of Bistonian Pieria.
(ll. 35-39) Straightway came Asterion, whom Cometes begat by the
waters of eddying Apidanus; he dwelt at Peiresiae near the Phylleian
mount, where mighty Apidanus and bright Enipeus join their streams,
coming together from afar.
(ll. 40-44) Next to them from Larisa came Polyphemus, son of Eilatus,
who aforetime among the mighty Lapithae, when they were arming
themselves against the Centaurs, fought in his younger days; now his
limbs were grown heavy with age, but his martial spirit still remained,
even as of old.
(ll. 45-48) Nor was Iphiclus long left behind in Phylace, the uncle of
Aeson's son; for Aeson had wedded his sister Alcimede, daughter of
Phylacus: his kinship with her bade him be numbered in the host.
(ll. 49-50) Nor did Admetus, the lord of Pherae rich in sheep, stay
behind beneath the peak of the Chalcodonian mount.
(ll. 51-56) Nor at Alope stayed the sons of Hermes, rich in corn-land,
well skilled in craftiness, Erytus and Echion, and with them on their
departure their kinsman Aethalides went as the third; him near the
streams of Amphrysus Eupolemeia bare, the daughter of Myrmidon,
from Phthia; the two others