The Argonautica
among all his comrades and cried to them to bend to their oars with all
their might; and they with a shout smote the water. And as far as the
ship yielded to the rowers, twice as far did she leap back, and the
oar, were bent like curved bows as the heroes used their strength.
Then a vaulted billow rushed upon them, and the ship like a cylinder
ran on the furious wave plunging through the hollow sea. And the
eddying current held her between the clashing rocks; and on each side
they shook and thundered; and the ship’s timbers were held fast. Then
Athena with her left hand thrust back one mighty rock and with her
right pushed the ship through; and she, like a winged arrow, sped
through the air. Nevertheless the rocks, ceaselessly clashing, shore
off as she passed the extreme end of the stern-ornament. But Athena
soared up to Olympus, when they had escaped unscathed. And the rocks in
one spot at that moment were rooted fast for ever to each other, which
thing had been destined by the blessed gods, when a man in his ship
should have passed between them alive. And the heroes breathed again
after their chilling fear, beholding at the same time the sky and the
expanse of sea spreading far and wide. For they deemed that they were
saved from Hades; and Tiphys first of all began to speak:
“It is my hope that we have safely escaped this peril—we, and the ship;
and none other is the cause so much as Athena, who breathed into Argo
divine strength when Argus knitted her together with bolts; and she may
not be caught. Son of Aeson, no longer fear thou so much the hest of
thy king, since a god hath granted us escape between the rocks; for
Phineus, Agenor’s son, said that our toils hereafter would be lightly
accomplished.”
He spake, and at once he sped the ship onward through the midst of the
sea past the Bithynian coast. But Jason with gentle words addressed him
in reply: “Tiphys, why dost thou comfort thus my grieving heart? I have
erred and am distraught in wretched and helpless ruin. For I ought,
when Pelias gave the command, to have straightway refused this quest to
his face, yea, though I were doomed to die pitilessly, torn limb from
limb, but now I am wrapped in excessive fear and cares unbearable,
dreading to sail through the chilling paths of the sea, and dreading
when we shall set foot on the mainland. For on every side are unkindly
men. And ever when day is done I pass a night of groans from the time
when ye first gathered together for my sake, while I take thought for
all things; but thou talkest at thine ease, eating only for thine own
life; while for myself I am dismayed not a whit; but I fear for this
man and for that equally, and for thee, and for my other comrades, if I
shall not bring you back safe to the land of Hellas.”
Thus he spake, making trial of the chiefs; but they shouted loud with
cheerful words. And his heart was warmed within him at their cry and
again he spake outright among them:
“My friends, in your valour my courage is quickened. Wherefore now,
even though I should take my way through the gulfs of Hades, no more
shall I let fear seize upon me, since ye are steadfast amid cruel
terrors. But now that we have sailed out from the striking rocks, I
trow that never hereafter will there be another such fearful thing, if
indeed we go on our way following the counsel of Phineus.”
Thus he spake, and straightway they ceased from such words and gave
unwearying labour to the oar; and quickly they passed by the swiftly
flowing river Rhebas and the peak of Colone, and soon thereafter the
black headland, and near it the mouth of the river Phyllis, where
aforetime Dipsaeus received in his home the son of Athamas, when with
his ram he was flying from the city of Orchomenus; and Dipsacus was the
son of a meadow-nymph, nor was insolence his delight, but contented by
his father’s stream he dwelt with his mother, pasturing his flocks by
the shore. And quickly they sighted and sailed past his shrine and the
broad banks of the river and the plain, and deep-flowing Calpe, and all
the windless night and the day they bent to their tireless oars. And
even as ploughing oxen toil as they cleave the moist earth, and sweat
streams in abundance from flank and neck; and from beneath the yoke
their eyes roll askance, while the breath ever rushes from their mouths
in hot gasps; and all day long they toil, planting their hoofs deep in
the ground; like them the heroes kept dragging their oars through the
sea.
Now when divine light has not yet come nor is it utter darkness, but a
faint glimmer has spread over the night, the time when men wake and
call it twilight, at that hour they ran into the harbour of the desert
island Thynias and, spent by weary toil, mounted the shore. And to them
the son of Leto, as he passed from Lycia far away to the countless folk
of the Hyperboreans, appeared; and about his cheeks on both sides his
golden locks flowed in clusters as he moved; in his left hand he held a
silver bow, and on his back was slung a quiver hanging from his
shoulders; and beneath his feet all the island quaked, and the waves
surged high on the beach. Helpless amazement seized them as they
looked; and no one dared to gaze face to face into the fair eyes of the
god. And they stood with heads bowed to the ground; but he, far off,
passed on to the sea through the air; and at length Orpheus spake as
follows, addressing the chiefs:
“Come, let us call this island the sacred isle of Apollo of the Dawn
since he has appeared to all, passing by at dawn; and we will offer
such sacrifices as we can, building an altar on the shore; and if
hereafter he shall grant us a safe return to the Haemonian land, then
will we lay on his altar the thighs of horned goats. And now I bid you
propitiate him with the steam of sacrifice and libations. Be gracious,
O king, be gracious in thy appearing.”
Thus he spake, and they straightway built up an altar with shingle; and
over the island they wandered, seeking if haply they could get a
glimpse of a fawn or a wild goat, that often seek their pasture in the
deep wood. And for them Leto’s son provided a quarry; and with pious
rites they wrapped in fat the thigh bones of them all and burnt them on
the sacred altar, celebrating Apollo, Lord of Dawn. And round the
burning sacrifice they set up a broad dancing-ring, singing, “All hail
fair god of healing, Phoebus, all hail,” and with them Oeagrus’ goodly
son began a clear lay on his Bistonian lyre; how once beneath the rocky
ridge of Parnassus he slew with his bow the monster Delphyne, he, still
young and beardless, still rejoicing in his long tresses. Mayst thou be
gracious! Ever, O king, be thy locks unshorn, ever unravaged; for so is
it right. And none but Leto, daughter of Coeus, strokes them with her
dear hands. And often the Corycian nymphs, daughters of Pleistus, took
up the cheering strain crying “Healer”; hence arose this lovely refrain
of the hymn to Phoebus.
Now when they had celebrated him with dance and song they took an oath
with holy libations, that they would ever help each other with concord
of heart, touching the sacrifice as they swore; and even now there
stands there a temple to gracious Concord, which the heroes themselves
reared, paying honour at that time to the glorious goddess.
Now when the third morning came, with a fresh west wind they left the
lofty island. Next, on the opposite side they saw and passed the mouth
of the river Sangarius and the fertile land of the Mariandyni, and the
stream of Lycus and the Anthemoeisian lake; and beneath the breeze the
ropes and all the tackling quivered as they sped onward. During the
night the wind ceased and at dawn they gladly reached the haven of the
Acherusian headland. It rises aloft with steep cliffs, looking towards
the Bithynian sea; and beneath it smooth rocks, ever washed by the sea,
stand rooted firm; and round them the wave rolls and thunders loud, but
above, wide-spreading plane trees grow on the topmost point. And from
it towards the land a hollow glen slopes gradually away, where there is
a cave of Hades overarched by wood and rocks. From here an icy breath,
unceasingly issuing from the chill recess, ever forms a glistening rime
which melts again beneath the midday sun. And never does silence hold
that grim headland, but there is a continual murmur from the sounding
sea and the leaves that quiver in the winds from the cave. And here is
the outfall of the river Acheron which bursts its way through the
headland and falls into the Eastern sea, and a hollow ravine brings it
down from above. In after times the Nisaean Megarians named it
Soonautes[15] when they were about to settle in the land of the
Mariandyni. For indeed the river saved them with their ships when they
were caught in a violent tempest. By this way the heroes took the ship
through[16] the Acherusian headland and came to land over against it as
the wind had just ceased.
Not long had they come unmarked by Lycus, the lord of that land, and
the Mariandyni—they, the slayers of Amycus, according to the report
which the people heard before; but for that very deed they even made a
league with the heroes. And Polydeuces himself they welcomed as a god,
flocking from every side, since for a long time had they been warring
against the arrogant Bebrycians. And so they went up all together into
the city, and all that day with friendly feelings made ready a feast
within the palace of Lycus and gladdened their souls with converse.
Aeson’s son told him the lineage and name of each of his comrades and
the behests of Pelias, and how they were welcomed by the Lemnian women,
and all that they did at Dolionian Cyzieus; and how they reached the
Mysian land and Cius, where, sore against their will, they left behind
the hero Heracles, and he told the saying of Glaucus, and how they slew
the Bebrycians and Amycus, and he told of the prophecies and affliction
of Phineus, and how they escaped the Cyanean rocks, and how they met
with Leto’s son at the island. And as he told all, Lycus was charmed in
soul with listening; and he grieved for Heracles left behind, and spake
as follows among them all:
“O friends, what a man he was from whose help ye have fallen away, as
ye cleave your long path to Aeetes; for well do I know that I saw him
here in the halls of Dascylus my father, when he came hither on foot
through the land of Asia bringing the girdle of warlike Hippolyte; and
me he found with the down just growing on my cheeks. And here, when my
brother Priolas was slain by the Mysians—my brother, whom ever since
the people lament with most piteous dirges—he entered the lists with
Titias in boxing and slew him, mighty Titias, who surpassed all the
youths in beauty and strength; and he dashed his teeth to the ground.
Together with the Mysians he subdued beneath my father’s sway the
Phrygians also, who inhabit the lands next to us, and he made his own
the tribes of the Bithynians and their land, as far as the mouth of
Rhebas and the peak of Colone; and besides them the Paphlagonians of
Pelops yielded just as they were, even all those round whom the dark
water of Billaeus breaks. But now the Bebrycians and the insolence of
Amycus have robbed me, since Heracles dwells far away, for they have
long been cutting off huge pieces of my land until they have set their
bounds at the meadows of deep-flowing Hypius. Nevertheless, by your
hands have they paid the penalty; and it was not without the will of
heaven, I trow, that he brought war on the Bebrycians this day—he, the
son of Tyndareus, when he slew that champion. Wherefore whatever
requital I am now able to pay, gladly will I pay it, for that is the
rule for weaker men when the stronger begin to help them. So with you