The Argonautica
the immortals it was than he that gave thee this when he met thee.”
Thus he spake; and Euphemus made not vain the answer of Aeson’s son;
but, cheered by the prophecy, he cast the clod into the depths.
Therefrom rose up an island, Calliste, sacred nurse of the sons of
Euphemus, who in former days dwelt in Sintian Lemnos, and from Lemnos
were driven forth by Tyrrhenians and came to Sparta as suppliants; and
when they left Sparta, Theras, the goodly son of Autesion, brought them
to the island Calliste, and from himself he gave it the name of Thera.
But this befell after the days of Euphemus.
And thence they steadily left behind long leagues of sea and stayed on
the beach of Aegina; and at once they contended in innocent strife
about the fetching of water, who first should draw it and reach the
ship. For both their need and the ceaseless breeze urged them on. There
even to this day do the youths of the Myrmidons take up on their
shoulders full-brimming jars, and with swift feet strive for victory in
the race.
Be gracious, race of blessed chieftains! And may these songs year after
year be sweeter to sing among men. For now have I come to the glorious
end of your toils; for no adventure befell you as ye came home from
Aegina, and no tempest of winds opposed you; but quietly did ye skirt
the Cecropian land and Aulis inside of Euboea and the Opuntian cities
of the Locrians, and gladly did ye step forth upon the beach of
Pagasae.
ENDNOTES:
1 “Or of Naucratis”, according to Aelian and Athenaeus.
2 Anth. Pal. xl. 275.
3 iii. 117-124.
4 _e.g._ compare _Aen._ iv. 305 foll. with Ap. Rh. iv. 355 foll.;
_Aen._ iv. 327-330 with Ap. Rh. I. 897, 898; _Aen._ iv. 522 foll., with
Ap. Rh. iii. 744 foll.
5 _i.e._ God of embarcation.
6 Or, reading ἔκτοθεν, “they strongly girded the ship outside with a
well-twisted rope.” In either case there is probably no allusion to
ὐποζώματα (ropes for undergirding) which were carried loose and only
used in stormy weather.
7 _i.e._ God of the shore.
8 _i.e._ The Starting.
9 Samothrace.
10 _i.e._ god of disembarcation.
11 Cleite means illustrious.
12 _i.e._ to avoid grinding it at home.
13 Rhea.
14 _i.e._ Polydeuces.
15 _i.e._ Saviour of Sailors.
16 _i.e._ through the ravine that divides the headland.
17 _i.e._ river of fair dances.
18 _i.e._ the bedchamber.
19 The north-west wind.
20 Called “Mossynes”.
21 _i.e._ without exacting gifts from the bridegroom. So in the “Iliad”
ix. 146: Agamemnon offers Achilles any of his three daughters ἀνάεδνος.
22 _i.e._ the fight between the gods and the giants.
23 _i.e._ the Shining One.
24 A name of Ares.
25 _i.e._ the liquid that flows in the veins of gods.
26 Or, reading μήνιμ’, “took no heed of the cause of wrath with the
stranger-folk.”
27 The allusion is to Sesotris. See Herodotus ii. 102 foll.
28 Or, reading ἠμετέρην, “into our sea”. The Euxine is meant in any
case and the word Ionian is therefore wrong.
29 Apollonius seems to have thought that the Po, the Rhone, and the
Rhine are all connected together.
30 _i.e._ like the scrapings from skin, ἀποστλεγγίσματα; see Strabo p.
224 for this adventure.
31 The _Symplegades_ are referred to, where help was given by Athena,
not by Hera. It is strange that no mention is made of the _Planctae_,
properly so called, past which they are soon to be helped. Perhaps some
lines have fallen out.
32 _i.e._ the Mighty One.
33 _i.e._ the Wanderers.
34 A fabulous metal, resembling gold in appearance.
35 _i.e._ the Sickle-island.
36 The old name of Corinth.
37 This seems to be the only possible translation, but the optative is
quite anomalous. We should expect ἐκόμιζες.
38 An old name of the Peloponnesus.
39 _i.e._ the isle of Revealing.