Book 1
Hellenistic Apollonius Rhodius Greek- Beginning from you, Phoebus, I will call to mind the famous deeds of men born long ago, who, at the bidding of King Pelias, drove the well-benched Argo down the mouth of the Pontus and between the Dark Rocks in quest of the golden fleece. For such was the oracle Pelias heard: that a hateful doom awaited him in time to come, to be brought low by the schemes of the man whom he should see come from among the people wearing a single sandal. And not long afterward, in keeping with your word, Jason, crossing the streams of the wintry Anaurus on foot, saved one sandal from the mud, but left the other behind below, caught fast there in the flood at the river's outpouring. He came straightway to Pelias to share in the feast that the king was holding for his father Poseidon and the other gods, though he gave no heed to Pelasgian Hera. At once, seeing him, Pelias took thought, and contrived for him the ordeal of a voyage full of cares, so that out on the sea, or among strangers, he might lose his homecoming. The ship, indeed, the bards of old have sung that Argus fashioned by the counsels of Athena. But now I would tell the lineage and the names of the heroes, and their paths over the long sea, and all they did in their wandering. May the Muses be the inspirers of my song. First, then, let us remember Orpheus, whom once Calliope herself, they say, bore beside the Pimpleian height, having lain with Thracian Oeagrus. Of him they tell that he charmed the stubborn rocks upon the mountains and the streams of rivers by the sound of his songs. And the wild oaks, still tokens of that singing, that flourish upon the Thracian shore at Zone, march in close ranks in order, the very ones that he, charming them with his lyre, led down from Pieria. Such was Orpheus, whom the son of Aeson, obeying the counsels of Chiron, welcomed as a helper in his labors, the lord who ruled over Bistonian Pieria. Asterion came straightway, whom Cometes begot upon the waters of eddying Apidanus, dwelling near Peiresiae by the Phyllean mountain, where great Apidanus and bright Enipeus, both, from afar, come together and flow into one. After them, leaving Larissa, came Polyphemus, son of Eilatus, who in former days among the strong Lapiths, when the Lapiths armed themselves against the Centaurs, fought as a young man; now his limbs were already heavy, yet his warlike spirit still remained, as before. Nor was Iphiclus left long behind in Phylace, the uncle of Aeson's son; for Aeson had married his sister, Alcimede of Phylace; and his kinship and bond by marriage prompted him to be numbered in the company. Nor did Admetus, lord of Pherae rich in sheep, stay behind beneath the peak of the Chalcodonian mountain. Nor did the sons of Hermes stay in Alope, men of many cornfields, well skilled in cunning, Erytus and Echion; and with them as they went a third kinsman came, Aethalides; him by the streams of Amphrysus Phthian Eupolemeia, daughter of Myrmidon, bore; but the other two were sprung from Antianeira, daughter of Menetes. From wealthy Gyrton came Coronus, son of Caeneus, brave indeed, yet not better than his father. For of Caeneus the bards still sing that, though alive, he perished at the Centaurs' hands, when alone, apart from the other chieftains, he drove them off; and they, rallying back upon him, could neither bend him backward nor lay him low, but unbroken and unbending he sank beneath the earth, beaten down by the crashing blows of mighty pines. Came too Mopsus of Titaresia, whom beyond all men the son of Leto taught the prophetic art of birds; and Eurydamas, son of Ctimenus; near the Xynian lake he dwelt in Dolopian Ctimene. And Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus, that he might go with the chieftains. Eurytion followed, and valiant Erybotes, the one son of Teleon, the other of Irus son of Actor; glorious Erybotes was the son of Teleon, and Eurytion of Irus. With them as a third was Oileus, matchless in courage, and well skilled to fall upon the foe from behind when they break their ranks. From Euboea came Canthus, eager for the venture, whom Canethus son of Abas sent; yet he was not destined to return again to Cerinthus. For it was fated that he and Mopsus too, skilled in divination, should wander to the ends of Libya and there be slain; so that men may learn there is no evil too remote to be encountered, seeing that even those two they buried in Libya, as far from the Colchians as one beholds, between the setting and the rising places of the sun. To him then Clytius and Iphitus mustered, wardens of Oechalia, sons of harsh Eurytus, Eurytus, to whom the Far-Shooter gave a bow; yet he had no joy of the gift, for of his own will he strove against the giver. After them came the sons of Aeacus, yet not the two together, nor from the same place; for they had settled apart, fleeing far from Aegina, when they had slain their brother Phocus in folly. Telamon dwelt in the Attic isle, but Peleus departed and made his home in Phthia. After them from the land of Cecrops came warlike Butes, son of good Teleon, and Phalerus of the strong ash spear. His father Alcon sent him forth; yet he had no other sons to tend his old age and his livelihood. But, dearly loved and only child though he was, he sent him, that he might shine among the bold heroes. But Theseus, who excelled all the sons of Erechtheus, an unseen bond held captive beneath the Taenarian earth, for he had followed Pirithous on that common road; truly the two would have made the accomplishment of the labor lighter for all. Tiphys son of Hagnias left the Siphaean folk of Thespiae, well skilled to foreknow the rising wave on the broad sea, well skilled to mark the gusts of the wind and to judge the voyage by sun and star. Tritonian Athena herself roused him to join the company of chieftains, and she came welcome to their longing. For she herself fashioned the swift ship; and with her Argus, son of Arestor, built it by her counsels. Therefore it became the most excellent of all ships, as many as have made trial of the sea under oars. After them Phlias came from Araethyrea, where he dwelt in wealth by the grace of Dionysus his father, making his home at the springs of Asopus. From Argos came Talaus and Areius, sons of Bias, and mighty Leodocus, whom Pero bore, daughter of Neleus; for her sake the Aeolid Melampus endured grievous suffering in the steadings of Iphiclus. Nor, indeed, do we learn that the might of strong-hearted Heracles made light of the longing of Aeson's son. But when he heard the report of the gathering heroes, having just then come from Arcadia to Lyrcean Argos, by the road on which he was carrying alive the boar that fed in the thickets of Lampeia, by the great Erymanthian marsh, he set it down, bound fast in chains, from his broad shoulders there in the foremost assembly of the Mycenaeans; and of his own will, against the purpose of Eurystheus, he set out; and with him went Hylas, a noble companion, in the flower of youth, the bearer of his arrows and keeper of his bow. After him came the offspring of divine Danaus, Nauplius. For he was the son of Clytoneus son of Naubolus; Naubolus was son of Lernus; and Lernus, we know, was the son of Proetus son of Nauplius; and once the maiden Amymone, daughter of Danaus, lying with Poseidon, bore Nauplius, who surpassed all men in seamanship. Idmon came last of all who dwelt in Argos, for, having learned his own fate from the birds, he went, lest the people should grudge him his fair renown. He was not in truth the son of Abas, but the son of Leto himself begot him to be numbered among the glorious Aeolids; and he himself taught him the prophetic art, to heed the birds and to read the signs in burnt offerings. Moreover Aetolian Leda sent strong Polydeuces and Castor, skilled with swift-footed horses, from Sparta; these in the halls of Tyndareus she bore, her darlings, at a single birth; nor did she refuse their going; for she purposed deeds worthy of Zeus's bed. The sons of Aphareus, Lynceus and overweening Idas, came from Arene, both exceedingly confident in their great strength; and Lynceus also excelled in keenness of sight, if that report be true, that the man could see easily even down beneath the earth. With them set out to journey Periclymenus son of Neleus, eldest of the sons that were born in Pylos to divine Neleus; and Poseidon had given him boundless strength, and granted that whatever he might pray for in battle should come to pass in the press of war. Amphidamas too and Cepheus came from Arcadia, who dwelt in Tegea and the allotment of Apheidas, two sons of Aleus; and a third went with them as they journeyed, Ancaeus, whom his father Lycurgus sent, the elder brother of the other two. But Lycurgus stayed behind in the city to tend Aleus, now growing old, and gave his son to go with his own brothers. He went clad in the skin of a Maenalian bear, and in his right hand he brandished a great two-edged axe. For his arms his grandfather Aleus had hidden in the depths of the granary, in hope that even so he might restrain his going. Augeias too set out, who was said to be the son of Helios; he was king over the men of Elis, glorying in wealth; and greatly he longed to see the Colchian land and Aeetes himself, the ruler of the Colchians. And Asterius and Amphion, sons of Hyperasius, came from Achaean Pellene, which once Pelles, their grandfather, founded upon the brows of Aegialus. After them, leaving Taenarus, Euphemus came, whom, swiftest of all men, to Poseidon Europe, daughter of mighty Tityos, bore. That man could run even over the grey sea's swell, nor did he wet his swift feet, but only with the tips of his soles dipped he was borne along the watery path. And two other sons of Poseidon came: the one, Erginus, having left the citadel of glorious Miletus, and the other, overweening Ancaeus, the seat of Imbrasian Hera, in Parthenia; both of them boasted to be well skilled in seamanship and in war. After them, setting out from Calydon, came the son of Oeneus, valiant Meleager, and Laocoon, Laocoon, brother of Oeneus, though not by the same mother; a serving-woman bore him. Oeneus, now grown old, sent him to watch over his son. Thus still in his early youth Meleager joined the bold company of heroes. And no other, I think, was greater than he to come there, save Heracles, if he had stayed but one year longer in his homeland and grown to manhood among the Aetolians. And his uncle, well skilled to contend with the javelin and also at close quarters in the standing fight, Iphiclus son of Thestius, went with him as he journeyed. With them went Palaemonius, son of Lernus of Olenus, of Lernus by repute, but in lineage of Hephaestus; therefore he was lame of foot; yet no one would dare to slight his frame or his courage, wherefore he too was numbered among all the chieftains, adding to Jason's glory. From the Phocians came Iphitus, sprung from Naubolus son of Ornytus; he had been Jason's host before, when he went to Pytho to inquire of the oracle about the voyage; for there he welcomed him into his halls. Zetes too and Calais, sons of Boreas, came, whom once Oreithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, bore to Boreas at the edge of wintry Thrace; thither Thracian Boreas carried her off from the land of Cecrops as she was whirling in the dance before the stream of Ilissus. And bearing her far away, to where they call the Sarpedonian rock, beside the stream of the river Erginus, he overpowered her, wrapping her in dark clouds. The two of them, at the very tips of their feet on either side, shook as they rose dusky wings, a great marvel to behold, gleaming with golden scales; and over their backs, from the crown of the head and the neck, on this side and on that, dark locks were tossed by the breezes. Nor indeed did Acastus, son of mighty Pelias himself, have any wish to remain in the halls of his good father; nor did Argus, helper of the goddess Athena; but these two also were destined to be numbered in the company. So many were the comrades who gathered to Aeson's son. These chieftains the dwellers round about called Minyans, every one, since the most and the best of them boasted to be sprung from the blood of the daughters of Minyas; and so too Jason himself his mother bore, Alcimede, sprung from Clymene, daughter of Minyas. Now when all had been made ready by the servants, all that well-equipped ships hold within them, when need compels men to voyage over the sea, then they went to the ship through the city, where the shores are called Pagasae of Magnesia; and around them a throng of hurrying people ran all together; and they, like bright stars, shone among the clouds; and thus each man spoke as he watched them darting along with their armor: "Lord Zeus, what is the purpose of Pelias? Where does he cast so great a band of heroes out of all the Panachaean land? On the very day, they would lay waste with deadly fire the halls of Aeetes, should he not yield the fleece of his own will. But the road is not to be escaped, and the toil of the journey is hard." So they spoke here and there throughout the city; and the women lifted their hands again and again to the immortals into the sky, praying that they grant a glad fulfillment of the homecoming. And one to another lamented, shedding tears: "Wretched Alcimede, to you too at last has come, late though it be, an evil end, nor did you finish your life in splendor. And Aeson too, how greatly ill-fated! Truly it had been better for him, if before now, wrapped in his burial-shroud, he lay beneath the earth, still ignorant of these bitter trials. Would that the black wave had washed over Phrixus too with the ram, when the maiden Helle perished! But the cursed creature even sent forth a human voice, that it might bring to Alcimede afterward griefs and countless sorrows." So they spoke as the heroes went forth from the gates. By now many menservants and maidservants were gathered; and his mother flung herself upon him, smitten with grief; and a sharp anguish pierced each woman; and with them his father, beneath grievous old age, lay close-wrapped in his bed and wailed. But Jason then soothed their sorrows, speaking comfort, and he bade the servants take up his warlike arms; and they in silence, downcast, lifted them. And his mother, even as at the first she threw her arms about her child, so she clung weeping more bitterly, as a girl who all alone gladly falls upon the neck of her aged nurse and weeps, for she has no others now to care for her, but drags out a heavy life under a stepmother, who has but now harried her with many reproaches, and as she grieves her heart within is bound fast with woe, nor can she sob out all the lament that swells in her; so bitterly did Alcimede weep, holding her son in her arms, and spoke this word in her sorrow: "Would that on that day, when, wretched that I am, I heard the cruel command of King Pelias spoken, I had at once given up my life and forgotten my cares, so that you yourself, with your own dear hands, might have buried me, my child; for that was the one wish still left to me from you, since all else, your nurture, I have long since had its reward. But now I, once admired among the women of Achaea, shall be left like a slave in the empty halls, pining away in longing for you, ill-fated woman, you for whom of old I had much splendor and renown, you for whose sake alone I loosed my girdle at the first and at the last. For beyond measure the goddess Eileithyia grudged me a plenteous childbearing. Ah, my ruin! Never, not even in a dream, did I imagine that Phrixus' escape would be an evil to me." So she lamented, groaning; and the women, her handmaids, wailed about her; but he with gentle words spoke to console her: "Do not, mother, lay such grievous sorrows upon me too heavily; for you will not check misfortune with tears, but may yet add grief upon grief. For the gods deal out unseen sufferings to mortals; endure to bear your share of them, grieved though you are in your heart. Take courage in the covenant of Athena, and in the oracles, since Phoebus gave most favorable response, and thereafter in the help of the chieftains. But you now stay here at home, quiet among your handmaids, and be no bird of ill omen to the ship; my kinsmen and servants shall go with me there as I depart." He spoke, and rose to go forth from the house. And as Apollo goes from his fragrant temple through holy Delos, or Claros, or Pytho, or through wide Lycia, by the streams of Xanthus, so he went through the throng of the people; and a shout arose from them all together as they called. And there met him aged Iphias, priestess of Artemis guardian of the city, and she kissed his right hand, yet for all her longing she could say nothing, as the crowd pressed forward; but she was left there to one side, as the old are left by the young, and he moved far away and was gone. But when he had left behind the well-built streets of the city, he came to the Pagasaean shore, where his comrades welcomed him, waiting together by the ship Argo. He stood at the gateway; and they gathered facing him. And they marked Acastus and Argus coming together from the city; and they marveled to see them hastening in all haste against the purpose of Pelias. The one, Argus son of Arestor, had cast about his shoulders the hide of a bull reaching to his feet, black with shaggy hair; the other a fair double cloak, which his sister Pelopeia had given him. Yet Jason forbore to question them about each thing in detail, and bade them all sit down in council. There upon the furled sails and the mast laid down, they all seated themselves in order, one after another. And to them Aeson's son spoke with kindly purpose: "All the other gear that it is fitting to equip a ship with —for all is well in order—lies ready for our going. Therefore we shall not long delay our sailing on this account, when only the breezes blow. But, friends—for ours is the homeward voyage to Hellas in common, and ours in common the paths to the land of Aeetes— now therefore, without holding back, choose the best man as our leader, to whom each task shall be a care, to settle our quarrels and our covenants with strangers." So he spoke; and the young men looked toward bold Heracles sitting in their midst; and with one voice all called on him to take command; but he, from where he sat, stretched out his right hand and spoke: "Let no one offer me this honor. For I will not consent; and I will likewise hold back any other from rising. Let the man who gathered the host himself lead the company." So he spoke, high-minded; and they assented, as Heracles bade; and warlike Jason himself rose up rejoicing, and spoke thus to their eager hearts: "If indeed you entrust this honor to my charge, then let our going be no longer held back, as before. Now first let us appease Phoebus with sacrifice and at once make ready the feast. And while there come my servants, the keepers of my steadings, whose task it is to drive hither well-chosen oxen from the herd, meanwhile let us haul the ship down into the sea, and all the gear having stowed aboard, let us draw lots for the oars at the thole-pins. And meanwhile let us set up on the shore an altar of Apollo the Embarker, who by his oracle promised to point out and reveal to me the paths of the sea, if with sacrifices I begin my labors for the king." He spoke, and turned first to the work; and they rose up in obedience; and they heaped their garments, one upon another, on a smooth flat rock, which the sea did not strike with its waves, though the wintry brine had long ago washed it. And first of all, by the counsels of Argus, they girded the ship strongly with a well-twisted rope from within, stretching it taut on either side, that the planks might be well fitted with the bolts and might withstand the opposing force of the surge. And straightway they dug a trench as wide as the space the ship enclosed, and forward toward the prow, as far into the sea as she must run, drawn by their hands. And ever farther forward they hollowed it deeper than the keel, and along the slipway they laid down polished rollers; and they tilted the ship downward onto the foremost rollers, that, gliding, she might be borne over them. Then high on either side they reversed the oars and bound them about the thole-pins, projecting a cubit's length. And the men themselves stood in turn on both sides, and set to it their breasts and hands at once. And Tiphys stepped aboard, that he might urge the young men to haul at the right moment; and calling aloud he shouted very loud; and they at once, bearing down with all their strength, with a single heave thrust her from her place below, and strained with their feet, forcing her on; and the Pelian Argo followed swiftly; and they on either side shouted as they sped along. And beneath the sturdy keel the rollers groaned, chafed; and around them a dark smoke rose up from the weight, and she slid down into the sea; but they, holding her back with hawsers, checked her as she went forward. And about the thole-pins they fitted the oars; and aboard her the mast and the well-made sails and the provisions they cast. But when they had carefully attended to each thing, first they portioned out the benches by lot, two men being assigned to one; but the middle bench they chose for Heracles and, apart from the other heroes, for Ancaeus, who dwelt in the city of Tegea. To these two alone they left the middle bench, just so, not by lot; and with one consent they entrusted to Tiphys the steering of the helm of the well-built ship. Then, heaving up the shingle-stones near the sea, they piled there on the shore an altar to Apollo, surnamed of the Shore and the Embarker; and swiftly they spread above it logs of dry olive-wood. Meanwhile the herdsmen of Aeson's son drove forth and brought two oxen from the herd. These the younger of the comrades hauled near the altar. And the others then brought lustral water and the barley-meal. But Jason prayed, calling on Apollo, god of his fathers: "Hear me, lord, who dwell in Pagasae and the city of Aeson, called by my father's name, you who promised me, when I inquired at Pytho, to point out the accomplishment and the ends of my journey, for you yourself are the cause of these labors: do you now yourself guide the ship with my comrades safe there and back again to Hellas. And to you hereafter, for as many of us as return, we will lay upon your altar splendid offerings of bulls; and other gifts to Pytho, and others to Ortygia, boundless gifts will I bring. But now come, Far-Shooter, and receive from us this sacrifice, which we have set before you in thanks for our boarding of this ship, the very first. And may I, lord, under a fortunate fate, loose the hawsers by your counsel; and may a gentle breeze blow, on which we may journey over the sea in fair weather." He spoke, and with his prayer cast the barley-grains. And the two men girded themselves over the oxen, overweening Ancaeus and Heracles. The one with his club smote the one ox in the middle of the head, by the brow, and it fell on the spot in a heap and sank to the ground; and Ancaeus, striking the other across its broad neck with his axe of bronze, cut through the strong sinews; and it sank down, falling forward upon both its horns. And their comrades swiftly slaughtered them and flayed the hides, cut them up and carved the joints, and severed the sacred thigh-pieces, and covering them all together thickly with fat, they burned them on the cleft wood; and Aeson's son poured libations of unmixed wine, and Idmon rejoiced, gazing at the flame that blazed on every side from the offerings, and at the smoke that darted up auspiciously in purple wreaths; and at once he spoke out plainly the mind of Leto's son: "For you it is the destiny and ordinance of the gods to cross over hither bringing back the fleece; but countless labors lie between, both there and here, for you as you return. But for me it is fated to die by a hateful doom of fate somewhere far off on the Asian mainland. Thus, knowing my fate beforehand even now from evil birds, I left my native land to embark on the ship, that fair renown might be left in my house for my embarking." So he spoke; and the young men, hearing the oracle, rejoiced at their homecoming, but grief took them at Idmon's fate. Now when the sun passes by the steadfast midpoint of the day, and the fields are shadowed by the crags, as toward evening the sun sinks beneath the dusk, then all of them, having spread upon the sands a deep bed of leaves before the grey beach, lay down in a row; and beside them lay food in plenty, and sweet wine, which the cup-bearers drew off into pitchers; and afterward in turn one to another they told tales, such as young men often, over the feast and wine, delight to make merry with, when insolent excess is far away. But there Aeson's son, helpless within himself, pondered each thing, like one downcast. And Idas, perceiving him, rebuked him with loud voice: "Son of Aeson, what counsel is this you turn over in your mind? Speak out your thought in our midst. Or does fear creep upon you and master you, the fear that dismays cowardly men? Let my furious spear now be witness, by which beyond all others I win glory in battle—nor does Zeus aid me so much as my own spear—that no deadly harm shall befall, no labor go unaccomplished, while Idas follows, even should a god oppose. Such a helper do you bring from Arene." He spoke, and holding a brimming cup in both hands drank the sweet unmixed wine; and his lips were wet with wine, and his dark beard; and they all murmured together, and Idmon spoke out openly: "Rash man, you devise ruin even now for yourself. Or does the strong wine swell your bold heart in your breast to madness, and rouse you to slight the gods? There are other words of comfort, with which a man might hearten his comrade; but you have spoken utter recklessness. Such, the tale says, were the railings against the blessed gods of the sons of Aloeus of old, to whom you are in no way equal in valor; yet both were subdued by the swift arrows of Leto's son, mighty though they were." So he spoke; and Idas son of Aphareus laughed aloud at him and, mocking with sidelong glance, answered with taunts: "Come now, tell me this by your prophecies: whether the gods will fulfill for me too such a doom as your father granted to the sons of Aloeus. And consider how you may escape my hands unharmed, if you are caught prophesying things idle and vain." Thus he raged and reviled; and the quarrel would have gone further, had not their comrades and Aeson's son himself, shouting, restrained the contenders; and Orpheus too, lifting his lyre in his left hand, made trial of song. He sang how the earth and the sky and the sea, once joined together in a single form, were parted each from the other through deadly strife; and how the stars and the moon and the paths of the sun forever hold their fixed bourn in the heavens; and how the mountains rose, and how the sounding rivers with their nymphs and all creeping things came to be. He sang how first Ophion and Eurynome daughter of Ocean held sway over snowy Olympus; and how by force and strength the one yielded his honor to Cronus, and she to Rhea, and they fell into the waves of Ocean; and these meanwhile reigned over the blessed Titan gods, while Zeus, still a boy, still with childish thoughts, dwelt in the Dictaean cave; and the earthborn Cyclopes had not yet armed him with the thunderbolt, with thunder and lightning; for these give Zeus his glory. He spoke, and stayed his lyre with its divine voice. But they, though he ceased, still held their heads forward, all of them, with ears intent, in stillness, under the spell; such enchantment of song he left among them. And not long after, mixing libations to Zeus, as is the rite, they stood and poured them over the blazing tongues of fire, and turned their thoughts to sleep through the dark. But when gleaming Dawn with shining eyes looked upon the steep heights of Pelion, and out of the wind the calm headlands were washed by the tossing sea, then Tiphys awoke; and straightway he roused his comrades to go aboard the ship and to make ready the oars. And terribly the harbor of Pagasae and the very Pelian Argo cried out, urging them to sail. For in her was set a divine beam, which Athena had fitted along the middle of the keel from a Dodonian oak. And they went up upon the benches one after another in order, as they had assigned beforehand each his place to row, and seated themselves decently by their gear. In the middle sat Ancaeus and the great strength of Heracles; and near him he laid his club, and beneath his feet the keel of the ship sank low. And now the hawsers were drawn in, and they poured wine over the sea. But Jason with tears turned his eyes from his native land. And they, as youths set up a dance to Phoebus, in Pytho or somewhere in Ortygia, or by the waters of Ismenus, and together about the altar, to the sound of the lyre, beat the ground in measure with their swift feet, so they, to the lyre of Orpheus, struck with their oars the rushing water of the sea, and the surge broke about them; and on this side and on that the dark brine seethed with foam, roaring terribly beneath the strength of the mighty men. And their armor flashed in the sun like flame as the ship went on; and the long wakes ever whitened behind, like a path seen across a green plain. On that day all the gods looked down from heaven upon the ship and the might of the demigod men, who then, the best of all, sailed over the sea; and upon the topmost peaks the nymphs of Pelion marveled, gazing on the work of Itonian Athena, and on the heroes themselves plying the oars with their hands. And down from the highest mountain near the sea came Chiron, son of Philyra, and on the grey breaking of the wave he wet his feet, and waving often with his heavy hand, he called out blessings of an untroubled homecoming for them as they went. And with him his wife, carrying on her arm Achilles son of Peleus, showed the child to his dear father. But when they had left the curving shore of the harbor by the wisdom and counsel of skillful Tiphys, son of Hagnias, who in his hands cunningly tended the well-polished helm, that he might steer a steady course, then they set up the great mast in its socket, and made it fast with forestays, stretched on either side, and let down the sail from it, drawing it up to the yard. And a shrill breeze fell upon it; and on the deck the ropes they bound separately about the polished pins, and sailed at ease past the long Tisaean headland. And for them, playing his lyre, the son of Oeagrus sang in well-ordered song of Artemis, the noble daughter, savior of ships, who watched over those headlands of the sea, guarding also the land of Iolcus; and the fish of the deep, darting up over the sea, mingled great and small, followed, gamboling along the watery paths. And as when, in the tracks of a country shepherd, countless sheep follow, well filled with grass, to the fold, and he goes before, playing on his shrill pipe a fair pastoral tune, so these followed; and ever a steady breeze bore the ship along. And straightway the misty, cornland-rich country of the Pelasgians sank from view, and they passed the cliffs of Pelion, ever speeding on; and the Sepian headland sank, and sea-girt Sciathos came in sight, and far off appeared Peiresiae and the calm shore of the Magnesian mainland and the tomb of Dolops; there indeed at evening, the wind blowing against them, they put in, and honoring him at nightfall they burned sheep as offerings, while the sea was stirred to swelling; and for two days they lingered on the shore; but on the third they sent the ship forth, spreading aloft the broad sail. And that beach men still call the Setting-Forth of Argo. Thence sailing onward they ran past Meliboea, and at dawn, gazing close upon Homole leaning over the sea, they coasted along; nor for long were they to leave behind the streams of the river Amyrus. Thence they looked upon Eurymenae and the wave-beaten gorges of Ossa and Olympus; and afterward the slopes of Pallene, beyond the Canastraean headland, they finished by night, running before the breath of the wind. And at dawn, as they journeyed, the Thracian peak of Athos rose before them, which, though Lemnos lies as far off as a well-built merchant ship would sail in a half-day's space, casts its shadow with its topmost summit even as far as Myrine. For them all that day, and through the dusk, the breeze blew very strong, and the sails of the ship were stretched. But when, with the sun's rays, the wind failed, they came by rowing to rugged Lemnos, the Sintian isle. There all the people, by the lawless deeds of the women, had been pitilessly slain in the year now past. For the men had spurned their lawful wives, hating them, and conceived a fierce passion for captive girls whom they themselves brought back from the mainland opposite, ravaging Thrace; for the dread wrath of Cypris pursued them, because for long they had withheld from her her honors. O wretched women, insatiable in their jealousy to their own grievous cost! Not their husbands alone did they slay along with the captives in the marriage-bed, but all the male sex together, so that hereafter they might pay no penalty for the cruel murder. And alone of all, Hypsipyle spared her aged father, Thoas, who indeed was king over the people; and she set him in a hollow chest to be borne over the sea, in hope he might escape. And men drew him to Oenoe earlier—but the island was afterward called Sicinus, after Sicinus, whom to Thoas the water-nymph Oenoe bore, having lain with him. And for these women the herding of cattle and the donning of bronze armor, and the cleaving of the wheat-bearing fields, was easier than all the works of Athena, with which they had ever before been busied. Yet for all that often indeed they would gaze upon the broad sea in grievous fear, whenever the Thracians might come. So when they saw the Argo rowed near the island, at once in all haste outside the gates of Myrine they poured down to the shore, having put on their war-gear, like flesh-eating Thyiads; for they thought, surely, the Thracians were upon them; and with them Thoas' daughter Hypsipyle put on her father's armor. In helplessness they streamed forth, speechless; such fear hung over them. Meanwhile from the ship the chieftains sent forth Aethalides the swift herald, to whose charge they entrusted their messages and the staff of Hermes, his father, who had given him unfailing memory of all things; nor even now, gone to the unspeakable eddies of Acheron, has forgetfulness flowed over his soul; but it is doomed to abide forever, ever changing, now numbered among those below the earth, now in the light of the sun among living men. But why need I tell at length the tales of Aethalides? He then prevailed upon Hypsipyle to receive them as they came, as the day was waning, through the dusk; nor at dawn did they loose the ship's hawsers for the breath of the north wind. And the Lemnian women came into the city and sat down in the assembly; for Hypsipyle herself had so commanded. And when they were all gathered together in a throng, at once she spoke among them, urging them on: "Friends, come, let us give pleasing gifts to the men, such as it is fitting they should carry on their ship, food and sweet wine, that they may remain steadfastly outside our walls, and not, coming among us in their need, learn the truth, and an evil report spread far abroad; for we have done a great deed, nor would it be at all pleasing to them either, should they come to know it. Such, then, is the counsel I have set before you; but if any of you can devise a better word, let her stand up; for it was for this that I summoned you here." So she spoke, and sat down on the stone seat of her father; but then her dear nurse Polyxo rose up, limping with age on her shriveled feet, leaning on a staff, and eager she was to speak. Beside her four maidens sat near, unwed, their white hair just sprouting. She stood in the midst of the assembly, and lifted her neck feebly, with difficulty, from her bent back, and spoke thus: "Gifts, as it pleases Hypsipyle herself, let us send to the strangers, since it is even better to give. But what device have you for sustaining your life, if a Thracian host should fall upon you, or some other of enemies, such as often befall mankind? As even now this company has come unlooked-for. And though one of the blessed gods should turn this aside, still other countless woes worse than war await you hereafter, when the older women die away, and you younger ones, childless, come to hateful old age. How then will you live, wretched ones? Will the oxen of their own accord yoke themselves for you in the deep fields and draw the soil-cleaving plow through the fallow, and reap the harvest at once when the year comes round? As for me, even though till now the death-spirits still shrink from me, I think that within the coming year I shall already be clothed in earth, having received my due share of burial-rites just as is right, before that evil draws near. But the younger ones I bid altogether to consider this: for now an opportunity of refuge stands ready at your feet, if you will entrust your homes and all your wealth and your splendid city to the strangers' keeping." So she spoke; and the assembly was filled with clamor. For the saying pleased them. But after her at once again rose up Hypsipyle, and spoke this word in answer: "If this purpose pleases you all, then I will even now send a messenger to the ship." She spoke, and addressed Iphinoe, who stood near: "Up, Iphinoe, go and meet this man, whoever leads the company, to come to our house, that I may speak to him some word of the people pleasing to his heart; and bid the men themselves, if they wish, to come boldly and set foot in our land and city, well-disposed." She spoke, and dissolved the assembly, and then rose to go home. And so Iphinoe came to the Minyans; and they asked her on what errand she came among them. And quickly to them she spoke with these words, as they questioned eagerly: "The maiden Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas, sent me hither to call the leader of your ship, whoever he is, that she may speak to him some word of the people pleasing to his heart; and she bids you yourselves, if you wish, to set foot at once now in our land and city, well-disposed." So she spoke; and to all the seasonable word was pleasing. They supposed that Hypsipyle, daughter of dead Thoas, reigned there as his dear child; and quickly they sent Jason to go, and they themselves made ready to follow. And he about his shoulders fastened with a brooch the work of the Tritonian goddess, a double cloak of purple, which Pallas had given him when first she laid the keel-props of the ship Argo, and taught him to measure the cross-beams with the rule. More easily would you cast your eyes upon the rising sun than gaze upon that bright redness. For indeed in the middle it was made red, but at the edges it was purple all about; and on each border many cunning designs were skillfully wrought. On it were the Cyclopes seated at their imperishable work, forging a thunderbolt for Zeus the lord; which now was wrought all-gleaming, and lacked but one ray more, which they were beating out with iron hammers, breathing forth the blast of ravenous fire. On it were the two sons of Antiope, daughter of Asopus, Amphion and Zethus; and Thebes, still without towers, lay near, of which they were just then raising the foundations eagerly. Zethus on his shoulders was lifting the peak of a steep mountain, like one who toils; but Amphion after him, playing on his golden lyre, went, and a rock twice as large followed in his footsteps. Next was wrought Cytherea of the deep tresses, holding the swift shield of Ares; and from her shoulder down over her left arm the fastening of her tunic was loosened below her breast; and opposite, exactly so, her image appeared to be seen in the bronze shield. On it too was a shaggy pasture-land of oxen; and about the cattle the Teleboans and the sons of Electryon fought; the one side defending, but the others eager to seize them, Taphian raiders; and with their blood the dewy meadow was wet, and many were overpowering the few herdsmen. On it too two chariots were wrought, contending in the race. And the one in front Pelops drove, shaking the reins, and with him as fellow-rider was Hippodameia; and after him in pursuit Myrtilus drove his horses, and with him Oenomaus, gripping his leveled spear, was falling sidelong as the axle broke in the nave of the wheel, rushing on to strike Pelops in the back. On it too was wrought Phoebus Apollo, shooting his bow, a boy not yet full-grown, against great Tityos, who was dragging his mother by her veil; Tityos whom bright Elara bore, but Earth nursed and brought again to birth. On it too was Phrixus the Minyan, as if in very truth listening to the ram, and the ram seemed to be speaking. Gazing on these you would fall silent and deceive your heart, hoping to hear some wise utterance from them, and with that hope you would long gaze upon them. Such were the gifts of the Tritonian goddess Athena. And in his right hand he took a far-darting spear, which Atalanta once gave him as a guest-gift in Maenalus, meeting him kindly; for greatly she longed to follow that journey; but he himself willingly held the maiden back, for he feared bitter strife on account of love. And he went toward the city, like a bright star which maidens, shut up within their new-built chambers, gaze upon as it rises above their houses, and through the dark air it charms their eyes, glowing red and fair, and the maiden rejoices, longing for the youth who is among strangers, the man for whom her parents keep her as a bride; like that star the hero went along the path before the city. And when they had passed within the gates and the city, the women of the people thronged behind him, rejoicing in the stranger; but he, fixing his eyes on the ground, went straight on, until he reached the splendid halls of Hypsipyle; and the handmaids, when he appeared, opened the folding doors, fitted with well-made panels. There Iphinoe led him swiftly through a fair portico and seated him on a shining couch facing her mistress; but she cast her eyes aside and her maiden cheeks blushed red; yet even so, for all her modesty, she addressed him with winning words: "Stranger, why do you sit thus idle outside the walls for so long? For the city is not inhabited by men, but they dwell as settlers on the Thracian mainland, plowing the wheat-bearing fields. But all our trouble I will tell you truly, that you yourselves may know it well. When Thoas my father was king over the citizens, then our people, setting out from the city, used to ravage the dwellings of the Thracians who dwell opposite from their ships, and brought back here boundless plunder and captive girls; but the device of the deadly goddess Cypris was at work, who cast upon the men a soul-destroying madness. For they came to loathe their lawful wives, and from their homes, yielding to their folly, they drove out their wives; and lay with the spear-won captives instead, the wretches. Long indeed we endured, in hope that someday at last they might change their minds; but ever the double evil grew worse. And our true-born children were dishonored in the halls, and a bastard brood sprang up. Just so the unwed girls and the widowed mothers besides wandered uncared-for through the city. Nor did a father give the least heed to his own daughter, even if he saw her cut down before his eyes by the hands of a cruel stepmother; nor from their mothers did sons ward off shameful outrage, as before; nor was a sister dear to the heart of her brothers. But only the captive girls were the care, both in the houses and in the dances and assembly and feasts; until at last some god put overweening boldness in us, no more to receive the men within our towers as they returned from Thrace, that they might either think as is right, or else depart elsewhere, they and the captive women with them. And they, demanding all the male children that were left in the city, went back, where even now they dwell on the snowy plowlands of Thrace. So you stay here among us as guests; and if you wish to dwell here, and it please you, then surely you shall hold the privilege of my father Thoas; nor do I think you will find fault with the land; for it is rich in cornland beyond all other islands that lie in the Aegean sea. But come now, go to your ship and tell your comrades my words, and do not stay outside the city." So she spoke, glossing over the murder, what manner of deed had been done to the men; and he in turn answered her: "Hypsipyle, very gladly would we accept the help you offer us in our need. I will go back again to the city, when I have told everything in order. But the kingship and the island shall be your own care; for I, not in scorn, draw back, but bitter labors press hard upon me." He spoke, and touched her right hand; and quickly back he went his way; and about him on every side maidens in countless numbers thronged rejoicing, until he passed out of the gates. And afterward on smooth-running wagons they came down to the shore, bringing many guest-gifts, when he had now told the whole tale in order, which Hypsipyle had summoned him to declare; and the women led the men to be entertained in their own homes easily. For Cypris had roused in them a sweet desire, for the sake of skillful Hephaestus, that thereafter Lemnos might once more be peopled by men, untouched by ruin. There the son of Aeson went off to the royal house of Hypsipyle; and the others, each where chance led him, save Heracles; for he was left behind by the ship of his own will, and a few comrades chosen apart with him. And at once the city rejoiced in dances and feasts, filled with the savor of fragrant smoke; and above all the other immortals they propitiated with songs and sacrifices the glorious son of Hera and Cypris herself. And the sailing was put off ever from day to day; and long they would have lingered there, delaying, had not Heracles, gathering his comrades apart from the women, thus rebuked them and spoken: "Wretched men, does the spilling of kindred blood keep us from our homeland? Or did we come here from there in want of marriages, scorning our own countrywomen? Has it pleased us to dwell here and reap the rich plowland of Lemnos? Surely we shall win no glory, penned up so long with foreign women; nor will some god, when we pray, grant us the fleece of his own accord by our taking. Let us go back, each to his own task; and leave that man in Hypsipyle's bed the whole day long, until he has repeopled Lemnos with sons, and great renown comes to him." So he reproached the company; and no one dared to lift his eyes against him, nor to answer a word; but just as they were, from the assembly they made ready to depart in haste. And the women ran to them, when they learned of it. And as when bees hum around fair lilies pouring forth from their rocky hive, and around them the dewy meadow rejoices, and they gather now this and now that sweet fruit, flitting about; so the women, clinging close, poured wailing about the men, and with hands and words greeted each one, praying the blessed gods to grant a homecoming free from harm. And so too Hypsipyle prayed, taking the hands of Aeson's son, and her tears flowed for his going in her loss: "Go, and may the gods bring you back again with comrades unharmed, bearing to the king the golden fleece, even as you wish and as is dear to you. And this island and my father's scepter shall be ready for you, if later, after returning home, you should wish to come back here again. Easily would you gather a boundless host of your own from other cities; but you will not have this desire; nor do I myself foresee that it will so come to pass. Yet remember Hypsipyle, both when far away and when already come home. And leave me a word, which I would gladly fulfill, if perchance the gods grant that I bear a child." And Aeson's son in turn answered her in admiration: "Hypsipyle, so may all these things prove favorable from the blessed gods; but do you hold a fairer thought concerning me, since for me it is enough, by Pelias's will, to dwell in my homeland; may the gods only loose me from my labors. But if it is not fated for me to come to the land of Hellas, sailing far away, and you bear a male child, send him, when grown, to Pelasgian Iolcus, to my father and mother, a remedy for their grief, if indeed he find them still living, that, apart from the king, they may be cared for as masters of their own household in their halls." He spoke, and went aboard the ship first of all; and so too the other chieftains went aboard; and they took the oars in their hands, sitting in order; and Argus loosed for them the stern-cables from the sea-washed rock. And there they smote the water mightily with their long oars. And at evening, by the counsels of Orpheus, they put in at the island of Electra, daughter of Atlas, that, having learned its secret rites through gentle initiations, they might sail more safely over the chill sea. Of these I will say no more; but may the island itself likewise rejoice, and the divine dwellers there who hold those mysteries, which it is not lawful for me to sing. Thence by rowing through the depths of the dark sea they pressed on, having on the one hand the land of the Thracians, and on the other Imbros opposite above them; and just as the sun was setting they came to the jutting Chersonese. There a swift south wind blew for them, and setting their sails to the breeze, they entered the deep stream of the maiden daughter of Athamas; and the open sea was left behind above at dawn, and by night within the Rhoetean shore they measured their course, keeping the land of Ida on their right. And leaving Dardania they came to Abydos, and after it past Percote and the sandy shore of Abarnis and holy Pityeia they passed. And so, the ship going onward by night, parting the waves, they passed through the Hellespont, dark with eddies. There is a steep island within the Propontis, a little way from the cornland-rich Phrygian mainland, sloping to the sea, just so far as an isthmus, sloping forward, joins it to the land; and on it are double shores, and they lie above the water of Aesepus. The dwellers round about call it the Mountain of Bears; and on it dwell insolent and savage Earthborn men, a great marvel to the neighbors to behold. For six overweening hands sprout from each of them, two from the sturdy shoulders, and four below, fitted to their most fearful sides. And the isthmus and the plain the Doliones inhabited, men; and over them the hero, son of Aeneus, reigned, Cyzicus, whom the daughter of divine Eusorus bore, Aenete. And these, terrible though they were, the Earthborn never harmed, by the aid of Poseidon; for from him the Doliones were sprung in the beginning. There the Argo pressed in, driven on by the Thracian winds, and the Fair Harbor received her as she sped. There they cast off the small anchor-stone by the counsels of Tiphys and left it under a spring, under the spring Artacia; and took another that suited, a heavy one; but that first stone, by the oracles of the Far-Shooter, the Ionian sons of Neleus afterward set up as a holy object, as was right, in the temple of Jasonian Athena. And the Doliones together in friendship, and Cyzicus himself, came to meet them, and when they heard of the company and the lineage, who they were, they received them with kindly welcome, and prevailed on them, rowing onward, to fasten the ship's stern-cables in the harbor of their city, where they set up an altar to Apollo of the Landing, founding it by the shore, and busied themselves with sacrifice. And the king himself gave them sweet wine in their need, and sheep withal; for he had an oracle, that whenever there came a divine company of heroic men, at once he should meet it gently, and have no thought of war. On him too, as on Jason, the down was just then spreading, nor yet was it his lot to rejoice in children; but still in his halls his wife was untouched by the pangs of childbirth, the daughter of Merops of Percote, fair-tressed Cleite, whom but lately from her father with wondrous gifts he had brought home from the mainland opposite. Yet even so, leaving his chamber and the bride's bed, he busied himself with the feast among them, and cast fear from his heart. And they questioned one another in turn; he asked of them the accomplishment of their voyage and the commands of Pelias; and they inquired of the cities of the dwellers round about and all the gulf of the wide Propontis; but he could not tell them further what they longed to learn. At dawn they climbed great Dindymum, that they themselves might behold the channels of that sea; and they drove the ship from her former mooring in the harbor of Chytus; and this is the path they took, which is called Jason's road. But the Earthborn, rushing down on the other side from the mountain, blocked with rocks below the mouth of the boundless harbor of Chytus, seaward, as men ambushing a wild beast that is within. But there was left behind, with the younger men, Heracles, who, swiftly stringing his back-bent bow against them, brought one after another down to the ground; and they too in turn lifted jagged rocks and hurled them. For surely those dread monsters too the goddess Hera reared, the wife of Zeus, as a trial for Heracles. And with him the other heroes also, returning back to meet them before they had climbed the watch-height, fell to the slaughter of the Earthborn, the warlike heroes, receiving them both with arrows and with spears, until they had cut down all who came on against them, raging in headlong charge. And as when woodcutters cast in rows upon the shore long beams newly hewn with axes, that, soaked with water, they may hold the strong bolts; so these lay stretched in the narrow mouth of the grey harbor, in rows, some plunging their heads and breasts into the salt water, while their limbs were stretched above on the dry land; and others, on the contrary, on the beach resting their heads on the sand and their feet in the deep, both alike to become a prey to birds and fishes. But the heroes, when the contest was won without fear, then loosed the ship's hawsers to the breath of the wind and pressed onward through the swell of the sea. And she ran under sail all day long; but as the night came on, the rush of wind no longer held steady, but contrary squalls seized them and bore them snatching backward, until they drew near again to the kindly Doliones; and there they went ashore that same night; and that rock is still called holy, about which in their haste they cast the ship's cables. Nor did anyone mark with discernment that it was the same island; nor in the night did the Doliones truly recognize the heroes returning; but they thought, perhaps, that a Pelasgian war-host of the Macrians had landed. Therefore, donning their armor, they lifted their hands against them. And they drove ash-spears and shields together one against another, like the sharp rush of fire that falls among dry thickets and rears up its crest; and a tumult terrible and furious fell upon the Dolionian people. Nor was Cyzicus, beyond the doom of battle, ever to come home again to his bridal chamber and his bed. But the son of Aeson, as he turned to face him, smote him, leaping upon him, full in the breast, and around the spear his bone was shattered; and he, rolling in the sand, fulfilled his fate. For that no mortal may ever escape, but on every side a great fence is spread about us. So him, who thought, perhaps, that he was beyond cruel ruin at the chieftains' hands, on that very night fate bound, fighting against them; and many other defenders besides were slain. Heracles killed Telecles and Megabrontes; and Acastus slew Sphodris; and Peleus took Zelys and war-swift Gephyrus; and Telamon of the strong ash spear slew Basileus. Idas in turn slew Promeus, and Clytius killed Hyacinthus, and the two sons of Tyndareus slew Megalossaces and Phlogius. After them the son of Oeneus took bold Itymoneus and Artaceus too, a leader of men; whom all the dwellers there still honor with heroic rites. But the rest gave way and fled, even as doves flee in a flock from swift-flying hawks. And they fell in a throng with a din at the gates; and at once the city was filled with cries at the grievous turn of war. At dawn both sides perceived their ruinous and irreparable error; and bitter grief took the Minyan heroes when they saw before them the son of Aeneus, Cyzicus, fallen in the dust and blood. For three whole days they mourned and tore their hair, they themselves and the Dolionian people alike. And then thrice circling the tomb in their armor of bronze, they paid him funeral honors, and held games, as is right, on the meadow-plain, where even now this mound is heaped up, to be seen even by men of later days. Nor indeed was Cleite, his wife, left behind her husband when he had perished; but to one evil she added another worse, fastening a noose about her neck. Her death the very nymphs of the grove bewailed; and all the tears that they shed from their eyes to the ground, all these the goddesses made a spring, which they call Cleite, the renowned name of the unhappy nymph. That was the most grievous day that came from Zeus upon the Dolionian women and men; for not one of them had the heart to taste of food, nor for long in their grief did they bethink them of the work of the grinding-mill; but just so they lived on, eating their food uncooked. There even now, whenever the Ionians who dwell in Cyzicus pour their yearly libations, ever steadfastly they grind the sacrificial meal at the common mill. And thereafter rough storms arose for twelve days and nights together, and kept them there from sailing. But in the night that followed, the other chieftains, overcome before by sleep, slept their last watch; but Acastus and Mopsus son of Ampycus kept guard over their deep slumber. And above the golden head of Aeson's son there hovered a halcyon, prophesying with shrill voice the ceasing of the stormy winds; and Mopsus understood, hearing the auspicious cry of the shore-bird. And a god turned it aside, and it darted up to settle on the ship's stern-ornament, high in the air. And Mopsus, where Jason lay reclined on soft sheepskins, stirring him, woke him straightway, and spoke thus: "Son of Aeson, you must go up to this holy shrine of rugged Dindymum and propitiate the fair-throned mother of all the blessed gods; and the raging winds will cease; for such a voice I have just now heard from the sea-halcyon, which, hovering above you as you slept, declared all these things. For from her the winds and the sea and the earth below, all is governed, and the snowy seat of Olympus; and to her, when from the mountains she ascends the great sky, Zeus himself, son of Cronus, gives way. And so too the other immortal blessed ones revere the dread goddess." So he spoke; and welcome was the word to him as he heard it. He rose from his bed rejoicing; and he roused his comrades, all of them, urging them on, and to them, as they awoke, he told the prophecies of Mopsus, son of Ampycus. And swiftly the younger men, driving from the steadings, led the oxen up from there to the steep mountain peak. And the others, loosing the cables from the Holy Rock, rowed to the Thracian harbor; and they themselves too went up, leaving but a few of their comrades in the ship. And to them the Macrian heights and all the opposite coast of Thrace appeared close at hand to behold; and there appeared the misty mouth of the Bosporus and the hills of Mysia; and on the other side the stream of the river Aesepus and the city and Nepeian plain of Adresteia. There was a sturdy stump of vine grown in the wood, a tree exceeding old; this they cut down, that it might be a sacred image of the mountain goddess; and Argus shaped it skillfully, and on the rugged hill they set it up, sheltered beneath the highest oaks, which of all are rooted the loftiest. And they heaped an altar of stones; and crowning themselves about with oak leaves, they busied themselves with sacrifice, calling on the Dindymene mother, lady of many names, dweller in Phrygia, and Titias and Cyllenus with her, who alone of many are called dispensers of fate and assessors of the Idaean mother, of all the Idaean Dactyls of Crete, whom once the nymph Anchiale, in the Dictaean cave, with both her hands grasping the Oeaxian earth, brought forth. And earnestly with prayers the son of Aeson besought her to turn aside the storm-blasts, pouring libations on the burning offerings; and at the same time, by the command of Orpheus, the young men, leaping, danced an armed war-dance, and clashed their swords upon their shields, that the ill-omened cry might be lost in the air, the wailing which still the people raised in mourning for their king. Hence ever after with rhombus and drum the Phrygians propitiate Rhea. And the goddess, surely, gave heed to their pure offerings with favoring mind; and fitting signs appeared. The trees poured forth fruit past telling, and about their feet of its own accord the earth put forth flowers of the soft grass. And the wild beasts, leaving their lairs and thickets, came fawning with their tails. And she wrought yet another marvel; for never before had Dindymum flowed with water, but then for them there gushed unceasing from its thirsty summit a stream; and the dwellers round about thereafter called that water Jason's spring. And then they set a feast in honor of the goddess on the mountains of the Bears, singing of Rhea, lady of many names; but at dawn, the winds having ceased, they left the island with their oars. Then rivalry roused each man of the chieftains, to see who should leave off rowing last. For all around the calm air smoothed the eddies and lulled the sea to rest. And they, trusting in the calm, drove forward the ship by force; nor would even the storm-footed horses of Poseidon have overtaken her as she darted through the sea. Yet when the swell rose with the fierce gusts that just at evening rise up from the rivers, they grew weary and at last slackened; but he, drawing them all with the strength of his hands as they labored, Heracles, made the well-fitted timbers of the ship shake. But when, longing for the Mysian mainland, they passed and gazed upon the mouths of the Rhyndacus and the great barrow of Aegaeon, a little way beyond Phrygia, then, heaving up the furrows of the troubled swell, Heracles broke his oar in the middle. And one fragment he himself, holding both pieces, fell sideways; and the other the sea washed away, carrying it off in the backwash. And he sat up in silence, glaring about; for his hands were unused to rest. And as at the hour when a delver of vines or some plowman comes gladly from the field to his hut, longing for his supper, and there at the threshold bends his worn-out knees, begrimed with dust, and gazing at his calloused hands calls down many curses on his belly; at that hour they came to the dwellings of the Cianian land, about the Arganthonian mountain and the mouths of the Cius. And the Mysians, dwellers in that land, received them with kindly welcome as they came, and provisions for them, sheep and boundless wine, they gave in their need. And there then some brought dry wood, and others in abundance gathered and brought the soft litter of leaves from the meadows, for bedding; and others were whirling the fire-sticks; and others mixed wine in the bowls and made ready the feast, having sacrificed at nightfall to Apollo of the Landing. But he, having well charged his comrades to feast, went off into the wood, the son of Zeus, that he might first fashion for himself an oar fitted to his hand. Then, wandering, he found a fir, neither burdened with many branches, nor greatly flourishing, but like the shoot of a tall poplar; such it was alike in length and in girth to behold. Quickly he laid his arrow-holding quiver upon the ground, together with his bow, and stripped off the lion's skin. And the tree, having loosened it from the ground with his bronze-heavy club, he gripped about the trunk below with both his hands, trusting in his strength; and he set his broad shoulder against it, firmly planting his feet; and deep-rooted though it was, clinging close, he heaved it up from the earth, roots and all, soil and all. And as when, unforeseen, the mast of a ship—just when most the wintry setting of deadly Orion comes— a swift gust of wind, striking from above, tears out, wedges and all, from the forestays; so he heaved it up. And taking up at once his bow and arrows and his lion-skin and his club, he set out to return back. Meanwhile Hylas with a bronze pitcher, apart from the company, sought the sacred stream of a spring, that he might draw water for the supper before his lord, and make ready all other things in due order against his coming. For in such ways Heracles himself had reared him, having taken him as a little child from the house of his father, divine Theiodamas, whom among the Dryopians he had slain pitilessly, in a quarrel over a plowing ox. Theiodamas was cleaving the furrows of the fallow with his plow, smitten with distress; and Heracles bade him give up the plowing ox against his will. For he wished to cast a grievous pretext for war against the Dryopians, since they dwelt without regard for justice. But these matters would lead me far astray from my song. Quickly Hylas came to the spring which the dwellers round about and the neighbors call the Springs. And there even then the dances of the nymphs were just forming; for it was the care of all of them, all the nymphs who haunted that lovely height, ever to honor Artemis with nightly songs. And all who had their places on the mountain-peaks or the glens, these wood-nymphs, were ranged in order far off, but one was just rising from the fair-flowing spring, a water-nymph; and she marked him close at hand, glowing with beauty and sweet graces. For the full moon from the sky, shining upon him, cast its beam. And Cypris fluttered her heart, and in her helplessness she could scarcely gather her spirit. But he, as soon as he dipped his pitcher into the stream, leaning sideways, and the water gushed loud in abundance as it poured into the ringing bronze, straightway she laid her left arm above upon his neck, eager to kiss his tender mouth; and with her right hand she drew down his elbow, and plunged him into the midst of the eddy. And of the heroes, his cry was heard by one alone, Polyphemus son of Eilatus, as he went forward on the path, for he was waiting for mighty Heracles, against his return. And he set off in pursuit near the Springs, like some wild beast, which the bleating of sheep has reached from afar, and burning with hunger he goes after it, but does not light upon the flocks; for the shepherds in their steadings have already penned them; and he groans and roars without ceasing, until he is spent; so then the son of Eilatus groaned loudly, and about the place he ranged crying out; and his voice was vain. Then quickly, drawing his great sword, he set out to give chase, lest the boy be a prey to wild beasts, or men had lain in ambush for him alone, and were leading him off as ready plunder. There, as he brandished his bare sword in his hand, he met Heracles himself upon the path; and well he knew him hastening toward the ship through the dark. And at once the grievous calamity he told, his heart heavy with panting: "Poor friend, I shall be the first to tell you a hateful grief. For Hylas, going to the spring, has not come back safe again. But robbers have set upon him and are leading him off, or wild beasts are mangling him; I heard his cry." So he spoke; and as he heard it, sweat poured in plenty down his temples, and the dark blood seethed beneath his vitals. In wrath he hurled the fir to the ground, and along the path by which his feet bore him he ran, rushing on. And as when a bull, stung by the gadfly, darts away, leaving the meadows and the marshlands, and heeds neither herdsmen nor herd, but presses on his way, now ceaseless, now standing still, and lifting his broad neck lets forth a bellow, smitten by the cruel sting; so he, raging, now plied his swift knees without ceasing, and now, pausing in his toil, shouted afar with a great cry that pierced the distance. But straightway over the topmost heights rose the morning star; and the breezes came down; and quickly Tiphys urged them to embark and take advantage of the wind. And they embarked at once, eager; and high on the ship they hauled up the anchors and drew in the cables. And the sails bellied with the wind in the middle, and far from the shore they were borne rejoicing past the Posideian headland. But at the hour when from heaven the bright dawn shines forth, rising out of the edge of the world, and the paths grow clear, and the dewy plains gleam with bright radiance, then they perceived that in their ignorance they had left those men behind. And a fierce quarrel fell among them, and a clamor past telling, whether they had departed leaving behind the best of their comrades. And he, distraught in his helplessness, could speak no word of any kind, neither such nor such, the son of Aeson; but he sat, weighed down with heavy ruin, eating out his heart; and wrath seized Telamon, and thus he spoke: "Sit there at your ease, since it was fitting for you to leave Heracles behind; from you the scheme sprang, that his glory throughout Hellas might not eclipse you, if the gods grant us a homeward return. But what is the pleasure of words? For even apart from your comrades I will go, those who contrived this trick with you." He spoke, and sprang upon Tiphys son of Hagnias; and his eyes flashed like sparks of ravenous fire. And now they would have come back again to the land of the Mysians, forcing their way through the deep and the unceasing roar of the wind, had not the two sons of Thracian Boreas restrained the son of Aeacus with harsh words, the wretches; truly a hateful vengeance came upon them afterward at the hands of Heracles, because they kept him from the search. For as they returned from the funeral games of Pelias he slew them in sea-girt Tenos, and heaped earth about them, and set two pillars over them; of which one, a great marvel for men to behold, moves at the breath of the sounding north wind. And these things were thus to be accomplished in after-time. And to them Glaucus appeared out of the roaring sea, the wise interpreter of divine Nereus; and lifting up high his shaggy head and breast from below the flanks, he reached out with his sturdy hand and seized the keel of the ship, and cried to them in their haste: "Why, against the counsel of great Zeus, do you long to bring bold Heracles to the city of Aeetes? In Argos it is his fate, laboring for reckless Eurystheus, to accomplish all the twelve labors, and to dwell at the hearth of the immortals, if he bring but a few more to fulfillment; therefore let there be no longing for him. And in like manner it is fated for Polyphemus, at the mouths of the Cius, to found a famous city among the Mysians and to fulfill his fate in the boundless land of the Chalybes. But Hylas a goddess-nymph made her husband in love, for whose sake those two wandered off and were left behind." He spoke, and plunging down sat upon the restless wave; and around him the dark water foamed, swirling in eddies, and washed against the hollow ship through the sea. And the heroes rejoiced; and in haste came Telamon son of Aeacus to Jason, and clasping his hand in his own embraced him, and spoke: "Son of Aeson, be not angry with me at all, if in my folly I have erred; for grief overcame me to utter a word overweening and past bearing. But to the winds let us give my fault, as before being kindly disposed." And to him in turn the son of Aeson answered with discernment: "My friend, truly you reviled me grievously with your word, saying before all these men that I had wronged a kindly man. Yet I will not nurse bitter anger against you, though grieved before; since not over flocks of sheep, nor over possessions did you rage in your wrath, but for a fellow man. And I hope that you would even contend with another on my behalf, should ever the like befall." He spoke, and, reconciled as before, they sat down. But of those two, by the counsels of Zeus, the one was destined among the Mysians to found a city named after the river and settle there, Polyphemus son of Eilatus; and the other to go back and toil at the labors of Eurystheus. And he threatened the land of Mysia he would lay waste forthwith, unless for him they should find the fate of Hylas, whether living or dead. And as a pledge for him they gave, choosing the noblest sons from the people, and they swore oaths, never to cease from the toil of seeking him. Therefore even to this day the men of Cius ask after Hylas, son of Theiodamas, and concern themselves with well-built Trachis. For there indeed he settled the youths whom they sent thither from the land as pledges to be led away. And the ship all day long and all night long the wind bore on, blowing fierce; but not even a little did it blow as dawn came on, and they, marking a headland that jutted from the land, out of a broad bay clear to behold, with their oars at sunrise ran the ship ashore.