The Argonautica
men, possess a soil rugged and unyielding sons of toil, they busy
themselves with working iron. And near them dwell the Tibareni, rich in
sheep, beyond the Genetaean headland of Zeus, lord of hospitality. And
bordering on it the Mossynoeci next in order inhabit the well-wooded
mainland and the parts beneath the mountains, who have built in towers
made from trees their wooden homes and well-fitted chambers, which they
call Mossynes, and the people themselves take their name from them.
After passing them ye must beach your ship upon a smooth island, when
ye have driven away with all manner of skill the ravening birds, which
in countless numbers haunt the desert island. In it the Queens of the
Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a stone temple of Ares what time
they went forth to war. Now here an unspeakable help will come to you
from the bitter sea; wherefore with kindly intent I bid you stay. But
what need is there that I should sin yet again declaring everything to
the end by my prophetic art? And beyond the island and opposite
mainland dwell the Philyres: and above the Philyres are the Macrones,
and after them the vast tribes of the Becheiri. And next in order to
them dwell the Sapeires, and the Byzeres have the lands adjoining to
them, and beyond them at last live the warlike Colchians themselves.
But speed on in your ship, till ye touch the inmost bourne of the sea.
And here at the Cytaean mainland and from the Amarantine mountains far
away and the Circaean plain, eddying Phasis rolls his broad stream to
the sea. Guide your ship to the mouth of that river and ye shall behold
the towers of Cytaean Aeetes and the shady grove of Ares, where a
dragon, a monster terrible to behold, ever glares around, keeping watch
over the fleece that is spread upon the top of an oak; neither by day
nor by night does sweet sleep subdue his restless eyes.”
Thus he spake, and straightway fear seized them as they heard. And for
a long while they were struck with silence; till at last the hero, son
of Aeson, spake, sore dismayed at their evil plight:
“O aged sire, now hast thou come to the end of the toils of our
sea-journeying and hast told us the token, trusting to which we shall
make our way to Pontus through the hateful rocks; but whether, when we
have escaped them, we shall have a return back again to Hellas, this
too would we gladly learn from thee. What shall I do, how shall I go
over again such a long path through the sea, unskilled as I am, with
unskilled comrades? And Colchian Aea lies at the edge of Pontus and of
the world.”
Thus he spake, and him the aged sire addressed in reply: “O son, when
once thou hast escaped through the deadly rocks, fear not; for a deity
will be the guide from Aea by another track; and to Aea there will be
guides enough. But, my friends, take thought of the artful aid of the
Cyprian goddess. For on her depends the glorious issue of your venture.
And further than this ask me not.”
Thus spake Agenor’s son, and close at hand the twin sons of Thracian
Boreas came darting from the sky and set their swift feet upon the
threshold; and the heroes rose up from their seats when they saw them
present. And Zetes, still drawing hard breath after his toil, spake
among the eager listeners, telling them how far they had driven the
Harpies and how his prevented their slaying them, and how the goddess
of her grace gave them pledges, and how those others in fear plunged
into the vast cave of the Dictaean cliff. Then in the mansion all their
comrades were joyful at the tidings and so was Phineus himself. And
quickly Aeson’s son, with good will exceeding, addressed him:
“Assuredly there was then, Phineus, some god who cared for thy bitter
woe, and brought us hither from afar, that the sons of Boreas might aid
thee; and if too he should bring sight to thine eyes, verily I should
rejoice, methinks, as much as if I were on my homeward way.”
Thus he spake, but Phineus replied to him with downcast look: “Son of
Aeson, that is past recall, nor is there any remedy hereafter, for
blasted are my sightless eyes. But instead of that, may the god grant
me death at once, and after death I shall take my share in perfect
bliss.”
Then they two returned answering speech, each to other, and soon in the
midst of their converse early dawn appeared; and round Phineus were
gathered the neighbours who used to come thither aforetime day by day
and constantly bring a portion of their food. To all alike, however
poor he was that came, the aged man gave his oracles with good will,
and freed many from their woes by his prophetic art; wherefore they
visited and tended him. And with them came Paraebius, who was dearest
to him, and gladly did he perceive these strangers in the house. For
long ere now the seer himself had said that a band of chieftains,
faring from Hellas to the city of Aceres, would make fast their hawsers
to the Thynian land, and by Zeus’ will would check the approach of the
Harpies. The rest the old man pleased with words of wisdom and let them
go; Paraebius only he bade remain there with the chiefs; and
straightway he sent him and bade him bring back the choicest of his
sheep. And when he had left the hall Phineus spake gently amid the
throng of oarsmen:
“O my friends, not all men are arrogant, it seems, nor unmindful of
benefits. Even as this man, loyal as he is, came hither to learn his
fate. For when he laboured the most and toiled the most, then the needs
of life, ever growing more and more, would waste him, and day after day
ever dawned more wretched, nor was there any respite to his toil. But
he was paying the sad penalty of his father’s sin. For he when alone on
the mountains, felling trees, once slighted the prayers of a Hamadryad,
who wept and sought to soften him with plaintive words, not to cut down
the stump of an oak tree coeval with herself, wherein for a long time
she had lived continually; but he in the arrogance of youth recklessly
cut it down. So to him the nymph thereafter made her death a curse, to
him and to his children. I indeed knew of the sin when he came; and I
bid him build an altar to the Thynian nymph, and offer on it an atoning
sacrifice, with prayer to escape his father’s fate. Here, ever since he
escaped the god-sent doom, never has he forgotten or neglected me; but
sorely and against his will do I send him from my doors, so eager is he
to remain with me in my affliction.”
Thus spake Agenor’s son; and his friend straightway came near leading
two sheep from the flock. And up rose Jason and up rose the sons of
Boreas at the bidding of the aged sire. And quickly they called upon
Apollo, lord of prophecy, and offered sacrifice upon the health as the
day was just sinking. And the younger comrades made ready a feast to
their hearts’ desire. Thereupon having well feasted they turned
themselves to rest, some near the ship’s hawsers, others in groups
throughout the mansion. And at dawn the Etesian winds blew strongly,
which by the command of Zeus blow over every land equally.
Cyrene, the tale goes, once tended sheep along the marsh-meadow of
Peneus among men of old time; for dear to her were maidenhood and a
couch unstained. But, as she guarded her flock by the river, Apollo
carried her off far from Haemonia and placed her among the nymphs of
the land, who dwelt in Libya near the Myrtosian height. And here to
Phoebus she bore Aristaeus whom the Haemonians, rich in corn-land, call
“Hunter” and “Shepherd”. Her, of his love, the god made a nymph there,
of long life and a huntress, and his son he brought while still an
infant to be nurtured in the cave of Cheiron. And to him when he grew
to manhood the Muses gave a bride, and taught him the arts of healing
and of prophecy; and they made him the keeper of their sheep, of all
that grazed on the Athamantian plain of Phthia and round steep Othrys
and the sacred stream of the river Apidanus. But when from heaven
Sirius scorched the Minoan Isles, and for long there was no respite for
the inhabitants, then by the injunction of the Far-Darter they summoned
Aristaeus to ward off the pestilence. And by his father’s command he
left Phthia and made his home in Ceos, and gathered together the
Parrhasian people who are of the lineage of Lycaon, and he built a
great altar to Zeus Icmaeus, and duly offered sacrifices upon the
mountains to that star Sirius, and to Zeus son of Cronos himself. And
on this account it is that Etesian winds from Zeus cool the land for
forty days, and in Ceos even now the priests offer sacrifices before
the rising of the Dog-star.
So the tale is told, but the chieftains stayed there by constraint, and
every day the Thynians, doing pleasure to Phineus, sent them gifts
beyond measure. And afterwards they raised an altar to the blessed
twelve on the sea-beach opposite and laid offerings thereon and then
entered their swift ship to row, nor did they forget to bear with them
a trembling dove; but Euphemus seized her and brought her all quivering
with fear, and they loosed the twin hawsers from the land.
Nor did they start unmarked by Athena, but straightway swiftly she set
her feel on a light cloud, which would waft her on, mighty though she
was, and she swept on to the sea with friendly thoughts to the oarsmen.
And as when one roveth far from his native land, as we men often wander
with enduring heart, nor is any land too distant but all ways are clear
to his view, and he sees in mind his own home, and at once the way over
sea and land seems slain, and swiftly thinking, now this way, now that,
he strains with eager eyes; so swiftly the daughter of Zeus darted down
and set her foot on the cheerless shore of Thynia.
Now when they reached the narrow strait of the winding passage, hemmed
in on both sides by rugged cliffs, while an eddying current from below
was washing against the ship as she moved on, they went forward sorely
in dread; and now the thud of the crashing rocks ceaselessly struck
their ears, and the sea-washed shores resounded, and then Euphemus
grasped the dove in his hand and started to mount the prow; and they,
at the bidding of Tiphys, son of Hagnias, rowed with good will to drive
Argo between the rocks, trusting to their strength. And as they rounded
a bend they saw the rocks opening for the last time of all. Their
spirit melted within them; and Euphemus sent forth the dove to dart
forward in flight; and they all together raised their heads to look;
but she flew between them, and the rocks again rushed together and
crashed as they met face to face. And the foam leapt up in a mass like
a cloud; awful was the thunder of the sea; and all round them the
mighty welkin roared.
The hollow caves beneath the rugged cliffs rumbled as the sea came
surging in; and the white foam of the dashing wave spurted high above
the cliff. Next the current whirled the ship round. And the rocks shore
away the end of the dove’s tail-feathers; but away she flew unscathed.
And the rowers gave a loud cry; and Tiphys himself called to them to
row with might and main. For the rocks were again parting asunder. But
as they rowed they trembled, until the tide returning drove them back
within the rocks. Then most awful fear seized upon all; for over their
head was destruction without escape. And now to right and left broad
Pontus was seen, when suddenly a huge wave rose up before them, arched,
like a steep rock; and at the sight they bowed with bended heads. For
it seemed about to leap down upon the ship’s whole length and to
overwhelm them. But Tiphys was quick to ease the ship as she laboured
with the oars; and in all its mass the wave rolled away beneath the
keel, and at the stern it raised Argo herself and drew her far away
from the rocks; and high in air was she borne. But Euphemus strode