The Argonautica
head and chest from his waist below, with sturdy hand he seized the
ship’s keel, and then cried to the eager crew:
“Why against the counsel of mighty Zeus do ye purpose to lead bold
Heracles to the city of Aeetes? At Argos it is his fate to labour for
insolent Eurystheus and to accomplish full twelve toils and dwell with
the immortals, if so be that he bring to fulfilment a few more yet;
wherefore let there be no vain regret for him. Likewise it is destined
for Polyphemus to found a glorious city at the mouth of Cius among the
Mysians and to fill up the measure of his fate in the vast land of the
Chalybes. But a goddess-nymph through love has made Hylas her husband,
on whose account those two wandered and were left behind.”
He spake, and with a plunge wrapped him about with the restless wave;
and round him the dark water foamed in seething eddies and dashed
against the hollow ship as it moved through the sea. And the heroes
rejoiced, and Telamon son of Aeacus came in haste to Jason, and
grasping his hand in his own embraced him with these words:
“Son of Aeson, be not wroth with me, if in my folly I have erred, for
grief wrought upon me to utter a word arrogant and intolerable. But let
me give my fault to the winds and let our hearts be joined as before.”
Him the son of Aeson with prudence addressed: “Good friend, assuredly
with an evil word didst thou revile me, saying before them all that I
was the wronger of a kindly man. But not for long will I nurse bitter
wrath, though indeed before I was grieved. For it was not for flocks of
sheep, no, nor for possessions that thou wast angered to fury, but for
a man, thy comrade. And I were fain thou wouldst even champion me
against another man if a like thing should ever befall me.”
He spake, and they sat down, united as of old. But of those two, by the
counsel of Zeus, one, Polyphemus son of Eilatus, was destined to found
and build a city among the Mysians bearing the river’s name, and the
other, Heracles, to return and toil at the labours of Eurystheus. And
he threatened to lay waste the Mysian land at once, should they not
discover for him the doom of Hylas, whether living or dead. And for him
they gave pledges choosing out the noblest sons of the people and took
an oath that they would never cease from their labour of search.
Therefore to this day the people of Cius enquire for Hylas the son of
Theiodamas, and take thought for the well-built Trachis. For there did
Heracles settle the youths whom they sent from Cius as pledges.
And all day long and all night the wind bore the ship on, blowing fresh
and strong; but when dawn rose there was not even a breath of air. And
they marked a beach jutting forth from a bend of the coast, very broad
to behold, and by dint of rowing came to land at sunrise.
BOOK II
Here were the oxstalls and farm of Amycus, the haughty king of the
Bebrycians, whom once a nymph, Bithynian Melie, united to Poseidon
Genethlius, bare the most arrogant of men; for even for strangers he
laid down an insulting ordinance, that none should depart till they had
made trial of him in boxing; and he had slain many of the neighbours.
And at that time too he went down to the ship and in his insolence
scorned to ask them the occasion of their voyage, and who they were,
but at once spake out among them all:
“Listen, ye wanderers by sea, to what it befits you to know. It is the
rule that no stranger who comes to the Bebrycians should depart till he
has raised his hands in battle against mine. Wherefore select your
bravest warrior from the host and set him here on the spot to contend
with me in boxing. But if ye pay no heed and trample my decrees under
foot, assuredly to your sorrow will stern necessity come upon you.”
Thus he spake in his pride, but fierce anger seized them when they
heard it, and the challenge smote Polydeuces most of all. And quickly
he stood forth his comrades’ champion, and cried:
“Hold now, and display not to us thy brutal violence, whoever thou art;
for we will obey thy rules, as thou sayest. Willingly now do I myself
undertake to meet thee.”
Thus he spake outright; but the other with rolling eyes glared on him,
like to a lion struck by a javelin when hunters in the mountains are
hemming him round, and, though pressed by the throng, he reeks no more
of them, but keeps his eyes fixed, singling out that man only who
struck him first and slew him not. Hereupon the son of Tyndareus laid
aside his mantle, closely-woven, delicately-wrought, which one of the
Lemnian maidens had given him as a pledge of hospitality; and the king
threw down his dark cloak of double fold with its clasps and the
knotted crook of mountain olive which he carried. Then straightway they
looked and chose close by a spot that pleased them and bade their
comrades sit upon the sand in two lines; nor were they alike to behold
in form or in stature. The one seemed to be a monstrous son of baleful
Typhoeus or of Earth herself, such as she brought forth aforetime, in
her wrath against Zeus; but the other, the son of Tyndareus, was like a
star of heaven, whose beams are fairest as it shines through the
nightly sky at eventide. Such was the son of Zeus, the bloom of the
first down still on his cheeks, still with the look of gladness in his
eyes. But his might and fury waxed like a wild beast’s; and he poised
his hands to see if they were pliant as before and were not altogether
numbed by toil and rowing. But Amycus on his side made no trial; but
standing apart in silence he kept his eyes upon his foe, and his spirit
surged within him all eager to dash the life-blood from his breast. And
between them Lyeoreus, the henchman of Amycus, placed at their feet on
each side two pairs of gauntlets made of raw hide, dry, exceeding
tough. And the king addressed the hero with arrogant words:
“Whichever of these thou wilt, without casting lots, I grant thee
freely, that thou mayst not blame me hereafter. Bind them about thy
hands; thou shalt learn and tell another how skilled I am to carve the
dry oxhides and to spatter men’s cheeks with blood.”
Thus he spake; but the other gave back no taunt in answer, but with a
light smile readily took up the gauntlets that lay at his feet; and to
him came Castor and mighty Talaus, son of Bias, and they quickly bound
the gauntlets about his hands, often bidding him be of good courage.
And to Amycus came Aretus and Ornytus, but little they knew, poor
fools, that they had bound them for the last time on their champion, a
victim of evil fate.
Now when they stood apart and were ready with their gauntlets,
straightway in front of their faces they raised their heavy hands and
matched their might in deadly strife. Hereupon the Bebrycian king even
as a fierce wave of the sea rises in a crest against a swift ship, but
she by the skill of the crafty pilot just escapes the shock when the
billow is eager to break over the bulwark—so he followed up the son of
Tyndareus, trying to daunt him, and gave him no respite. But the hero,
ever unwounded, by his skill baffled the rush of his foe, and he
quickly noted the brutal play of his fists to see where he was
invincible in strength, and where inferior, and stood unceasingly and
returned blow for blow. And as when shipwrights with their hammers
smite ships’ timbers to meet the sharp clamps, fixing layer upon layer;
and the blows resound one after another; so cheeks and jaws crashed on
both sides, and a huge clattering of teeth arose, nor did they cease
ever from striking their blows until laboured gasping overcame both.
And standing a little apart they wiped from their foreheads sweat in
abundance, wearily panting for breath. Then back they rushed together
again, as two bulls fight in furious rivalry for a grazing heifer. Next
Amycus rising on tiptoe, like one who slays an ox, sprung to his full
height and swung his heavy hand down upon his rival; but the hero
swerved aside from the rush, turning his head, and just received the
arm on his shoulder; and coming near and slipping his knee past the
king’s, with a rush he struck him above the ear, and broke the bones
inside, and the king in agony fell upon his knees; and the Minyan
heroes shouted for joy; and his life was poured forth all at once.
Nor were the Bebrycians reckless of their king; but all together took
up rough clubs and spears and rushed straight on Polydeuces. But in
front of him stood his comrades, their keen swords drawn from the
sheath. First Castor struck upon the head a man as he rushed at him:
and it was cleft in twain and fell on each side upon his shoulders. And
Polydeuces slew huge Itymoneus and Mimas. The one, with a sudden leap,
he smote beneath the breast with his swift foot and threw him in the
dust; and as the other drew near he struck him with his right hand
above the left eyebrow, and tore away his eyelid and the eyeball was
left bare. But Oreides, insolent henchman of Amycus, wounded Talaus son
of Bias in the side, but did not slay him, but only grazing the skin
the bronze sped under his belt and touched not the flesh. Likewise
Aretus with well-seasoned club smote Iphitus, the steadfast son of
Eurytus, not yet destined to an evil death; assuredly soon was he
himself to be slain by the sword of Clytius. Then Ancaeus, the
dauntless son of Lycurgus, quickly seized his huge axe, and in his left
hand holding a bear’s dark hide, plunged into the midst of the
Bebrycians with furious onset; and with him charged the sons of Aeacus,
and with them started warlike Jason. And as when amid the folds grey
wolves rush down on a winter’s day and scare countless sheep, unmarked
by the keen-scented dogs and the shepherds too, and they seek what
first to attack and carry off; often glaring around, but the sheep are
just huddled together and trample on one another; so the heroes
grievously scared the arrogant Bebrycians. And as shepherds or
beekeepers smoke out a huge swarm of bees in a rock, and they
meanwhile, pent up in their hive, murmur with droning hum, till,
stupefied by the murky smoke, they fly forth far from the rock; so they
stayed steadfast no longer, but scattered themselves inland through
Bebrycia, proclaiming the death of Amycus; fools, not to perceive that
another woe all unforeseen was hard upon them. For at that hour their
vineyards and villages were being ravaged by the hostile spear of Lycus
and the Mariandyni, now that their king was gone. For they were ever at
strife about the ironbearing land. And now the foe was destroying their
steadings and farms, and now the heroes from all sides were driving off
their countless sheep, and one spake among his fellows thus:
“Bethink ye what they would have done in their cowardice if haply some
god had brought Heracles hither. Assuredly, if he had been here, no
trial would there have been of fists, I ween, but when the king drew
near to proclaim his rules, the club would have made him forget his
pride and the rules to boot. Yea, we left him uncared for on the strand
and we sailed oversea; and full well each one of us shall know our
baneful folly, now that he is far away.”
Thus he spake, but all these things had been wrought by the counsels of
Zeus. Then they remained there through the night and tended the hurts
of the wounded men, and offered sacrifice to the immortals, and made
ready a mighty meal; and sleep fell upon no man beside the bowl and the
blazing sacrifice. They wreathed their fair brows with the bay that
grew by the shore, whereto their hawsers were bound, and chanted a song
to the lyre of Orpheus in sweet harmony; and the windless shore was
charmed by their song; and they celebrated the Therapnaean son of
Zeus.[14]
But when the sun rising from far lands lighted up the dewy hills and