The Argonautica
all, and in your company, I bid Dascylus my son follow; and if he goes,
you will find all men friendly that ye meet on your way through the sea
even to the mouth of the river Thermodon. And besides that, to the sons
of Tyndareus will I raise a lofty temple on the Acherusian height,
which all sailors shall mark far across the sea and shall reverence;
and hereafter for them will I set apart outside the city, as for gods,
some fertile fields of the well-tilled plain.”
Thus all day long they revelled at the banquet. But at dawn they hied
down to the ship in haste; and with them went Lycus himself, when he
had given them countless gifts to bear away; and with them he sent
forth his son from his home.
And here his destined fate smote Idmon, son of Abas, skilled in
soothsaying; but not at all did his soothsaying save him, for necessity
drew him on to death. For in the mead of the reedy river there lay,
cooling his flanks and huge belly in the mud, a white-tusked boar, a
deadly monster, whom even the nymphs of the marsh dreaded, and no man
knew it; but all alone he was feeding in the wide fell. But the son of
Abas was passing along the raised banks of the muddy river, and the
boar from some unseen lair leapt out of the reed-bed, and charging
gashed his thigh and severed in twain the sinews and the bone. And with
a sharp cry the hero fell to the ground; and as he was struck his
comrades flocked together with answering cry. And quickly Peleus with
his hunting spear aimed at the murderous boar as he fled back into the
fen; and again he turned and charged; but Idas wounded him, and with a
roar he fell impaled upon the sharp spear. And the boar they left on
the ground just as he had fallen there; but Idmon, now at the last
gasp, his comrades bore to the ship in sorrow of heart, and he died in
his comrades’ arms.
And here they stayed from taking thought for their voyaging and abode
in grief for the burial of their dead friend. And for three whole days
they lamented; and on the next they buried him with full honours, and
the people and King Lycus himself took part in the funeral rites; and,
as is the due of the departed, they slaughtered countless sheep at his
tomb. And so a barrow to this hero was raised in that land, and there
stands a token for men of later days to see, the trunk of a wild olive
tree, such as ships are built of; and it flourishes with its green
leaves a little below the Acherusian headland. And if at the bidding of
the Muses I must tell this tale outright, Phoebus strictly commanded
the Boeotians and Nisaeans to worship him as guardian of their city,
and to build their city round the trunk of the ancient wild olive; but
they, instead of the god-fearing Aeolid Idmon, at this day honour
Agamestor.
Who was the next that died? For then a second time the heroes heaped up
a barrow for a comrade dead. For still are to be seen two monuments of
those heroes. The tale goes that Tiphys son of Hagnias died; nor was it
his destiny thereafter to sail any further. But him there on the spot a
short sickness laid to rest far from his native land, when the company
had paid due honours to the dead son of Abas. And at the cruel woe they
were seized with unbearable grief. For when with due honours they had
buried him also hard by the seer, they cast themselves down in
helplessness on the sea-shore silently, closely wrapped up, and took no
thought for meat or drink; and their spirit drooped in grief, for all
hope of return was gone. And in their sorrow they would have stayed
from going further had not Hera kindled exceeding courage in Ancaeus,
whom near the waters of Imbrasus Astypalaea bore to Poseidon; for
especially was he skilled in steering and eagerly did he address
Peleus:
“Son of Aeacus, is it well for us to give up our toils and linger on in
a strange land? Not so much for my prowess in war did Jason take me
with him in quest of the fleece, far from Parthenia, as for my
knowledge of ships. Wherefore, I pray, let there be no fear for the
ship. And so there are here other men of skill, of whom none will harm
our voyaging, whomsoever we set at the helm. But quickly tell forth all
this and boldly urge them to call to mind their task.”
Thus he spake; and Peleus’ soul was stirred with gladness, and
straightway he spake in the midst of all: “My friends, why do we thus
cherish a bootless grief like this? For those two have perished by the
fate they have met with; but among our host are steersmen yet, and many
a one. Wherefore let us not delay our attempt, but rouse yourselves to
the work and cast away your griefs.”
And him in reply Aeson’s son addressed with helpless words: “Son of
Aeacus, where are these steersmen of thine? For those whom we once
deemed to be men of skill, they even more than I are bowed with
vexation of heart. Wherefore I forebode an evil doom for us even as for
the dead, if it shall be our lot neither to reach the city of fell
Aeetes, nor ever again to pass beyond the rocks to the land of Hellas,
but a wretched fate will enshroud us here ingloriously till we grow old
for naught.”
Thus he spake, but Ancaeus quickly undertook to guide the swift ship;
for he was stirred by the impulse of the goddess. And after him Erginus
and Nauplius and Euphemus started up, eager to steer. But the others
held them back, and many of his comrades granted it to Ancaeus.
So on the twelfth day they went aboard at dawn, for a strong breeze of
westerly wind was blowing. And quickly with the oars they passed out
through the river Acheron and, trusting to the wind, shook out their
sails, and with canvas spread far and wide they were cleaving their
passage through the waves in fair weather. And soon they passed the
outfall of the river Callichorus, where, as the tale goes, the Nysean
son of Zeus, when he had left the tribes of the Indians and came to
dwell at Thebes, held revels and arrayed dances in front of a cave,
wherein he passed unsmiling sacred nights, from which time the
neighbours call the river by the name of Callichorus[17] and the cave
Aulion.[18]
Next they beheld the barrow of Sthenelus, Actor’s son, who on his way
back from the valorous war against the Amazons—for he had been the
comrade of Heracles—was struck by an arrow and died there upon the
sea-beach. And for a time they went no further, for Persephone herself
sent forth the spirit of Actor’s son which craved with many tears to
behold men like himself, even for a moment. And mounting on the edge of
the barrow he gazed upon the ship, such as he was when he went to war;
and round his head a fair helm with four peaks gleamed with its
blood-red crest. And again he entered the vast gloom; and they looked
and marvelled; and Mopsus, son of Ampycus, with word of prophecy urged
them to land and propitiate him with libations. Quickly they drew in
sail and threw out hawsers, and on the strand paid honour to the tomb
of Sthenelus, and poured out drink offerings to him and sacrificed
sheep as victims. And besides the drink offerings they built an altar
to Apollo, saviour of ships, and burnt thigh bones; and Orpheus
dedicated his lyre; whence the place has the name of Lyra.
And straightway they went aboard as the wind blew strong; and they drew
the sail down, and made it taut to both sheets; then Argo was borne
over the sea swiftly, even as a hawk soaring high through the air
commits to the breeze its outspread wings and is borne on swiftly, nor
swerves in its flight, poising in the clear sky with quiet pinions. And
lo, they passed by the stream of Parthenius as it flows into the sea, a
most gentle river, where the maid, daughter of Leto, when she mounts to
heaven after the chase, cools her limbs in its much-desired waters.
Then they sped onward in the night without ceasing, and passed Sesamus
and lofty Erythini, Crobialus, Cromna and woody Cytorus. Next they
swept round Carambis at the rising of the sun, and plied the oars past
long Aegialus, all day and on through the night.
And straightway they landed on the Assyrian shore where Zeus himself
gave a home to Sinope, daughter of Asopus, and granted her virginity,
beguiled by his own promises. For he longed for her love, and he
promised to grant her whatever her hearts desire might be. And she in
her craftiness asked of him virginity. And in like manner she deceived
Apollo too who longed to wed her, and besides them the river Halys, and
no man ever subdued her in love’s embrace. And there the sons of noble
Deimachus of Tricca were still dwelling, Deileon, Autolycus and
Phlogius, since the day when they wandered far away from Heracles; and
they, when they marked the array of chieftains, went to meet them and
declared in truth who they were; and they wished to remain there no
longer, but as soon as Argestes[19] blew went on ship-board. And so
with them, borne along by the swift breeze, the heroes left behind the
river Halys, and left behind his that flows hard by, and the delta-land
of Assyria; and on the same day they rounded the distant headland of
the Amazons that guards their harbour.
Here once when Melanippe, daughter of Ares, had, gone forth, the hero
Heracles caught her by ambuscade and Hippolyte gave him her glistening
girdle as her sister’s ransom, and he sent away his captive unharmed.
In the bay of this headland, at the outfall of Thermodon, they ran
ashore, for the sea was rough for their voyage. No river is like this,
and none sends forth from itself such mighty streams over the land. If
a man should count every one he would lack but four of a hundred, but
the real spring is only one. This flows down to the plain from lofty
mountains, which, men say, are called the Amazonian mountains. Thence
it spreads inland over a hilly country straight forward; wherefrom its
streams go winding on, and they roll on, this way and that ever more,
wherever best they can reach the lower ground, one at a distance and
another near at hand; and many streams are swallowed up in the sand and
are without a name; but, mingled with a few, the main stream openly
bursts with its arching crest of foam into the inhospitable Pontus. And
they would have tarried there and have closed in battle with the
Amazons, and would have fought not without bloodshed for the Amazons
were not gentle foes and regarded not justice, those dwellers on the
Doeantian plain; but grievous insolence and the works of Ares were all
their care; for by race they were the daughters of Ares and the nymph
Harmonia, who bare to Ares war-loving maids, wedded to him in the glens
of the Acmonian wood had not the breezes of Argestes come again from
Zeus; and with the wind they left the rounded beach, where the
Themiscyreian Amazons were arming for war. For they dwelt not gathered
together in one city, but scattered over the land, parted into three
tribes. In one part dwelt the Themiscyreians, over whom at that time
Hippolyte reigned, in another the Lycastians, and in another the
dart-throwing Chadesians. And the next day they sped on and at
nightfall they reached the land of the Chalybes.
That folk have no care for ploughing with oxen or for any planting of
honey-sweet fruit; nor yet do they pasture flocks in the dewy meadow.
But they cleave the hard iron-bearing land and exchange their wages for
daily sustenance; never does the morn rise for them without toil, but
amid bleak sooty flames and smoke they endure heavy labour.
And straightway thereafter they rounded the headland of Genetaean Zeus
and sped safely past the land of the Tibareni. Here when wives bring
forth children to their husbands, the men lie in bed and groan with
their heads close bound; but the women tend them with food, and prepare
child-birth baths for them.
Next they reached the sacred mount and the land where the Mossynoeci