I cannot hope that, even when he dies,
I will be free from anguish. He will be
a curse on me when he has lost his life.
So good-bye, modesty. Good-bye, fair name.
Once I have saved him, let him go unharmed
wherever he desires while I, the day
that he completes the contest, leave this life
by dangling my body from a rafter
or taking drugs, the kind that kill the heart . . .
(Book 3, 1032–40)
Unlike Homer, Apollonius provides occasional comic relief, and sexual innuendo is not too lowbrow for his Muse. We are told that, when Medea’s handmaids teased the Argonauts over the paltry offerings they were giving the gods, “the men responded / with crude suggestions, and delightful insults / and sweet harassment sparkled back and forth / among them” (Book 4, 2227–30). It took perseverance to find a voice that could accommodate this range of modes, tones, and character voices, but I am confident the voice I found is Apollonius’ own.
For as long as I have known the ancient Greek language, I have been certain that Apollonius is a great poet and that Jason and the Argonauts is a great epic. My translation, a labor of love, is an attempt to convince Greekless readers that this is so. I hope that the poem becomes, like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, essential reading for a cultured individual. This project would have been much slower reaching completion without the financial support of the National Endowment for the Arts, to which I am very grateful.
AARON POOCHIGIAN
BOOK 1
Taking my lead from you, Phoebus Apollo,
I shall commemorate the deeds of men
born long ago. King Pelias insisted,
so they drove the tautly fitted Argo
5up through the narrows of the Pontic Sea
and past the Cobalt Clashing Rocks to win
the golden fleece.
Pelias had received
a prophecy: a miserable doom
awaited him, a murder brought about
10by someone he would see come from the country
wearing a single sandal. Soon thereafter
the prophecy came true: that winter Jason
was fording the Apidanus at flood time
and only saved one sandal from the mud—
15 (11)the river current snatched the other one.
He simply left it in the depths and strode on
straight to the court of Pelias to take
a portion of the feast the king was hosting
in honor of his father lord Poseidon
20and all the other sacred gods, excepting
Hera the goddess of Pelasgia,
to whom he paid no mind.
Soon as the king
saw Jason, he was sure he was the man
and right away contrived a labor for him,
25a cruel voyage, in the hope that he
would die at sea or fighting savages
and never make the journey home to Greece.
Past poets have already told in song
how Argus with Athena’s guidance built
30 (20)a ship, the Argo. I intend to tell you
the names and lineages of the heroes,
their travels on the wide-paved sea, and all
that they accomplished in their wanderings.
Come, Muses, be the surrogates of my song.
35Orpheus is the first we should remember.
They say it was Calliope that bore him
beneath the peak of Mount Pimpleia after
she coupled with Oeagrus king of Thrace.
The legends say their son could soften stubborn
40mountain boulders and reverse a river’s
current with the seduction of his songs.
The wild oaks his lyre charmed and marched
down out of Mount Pieria still today
are flourishing in dense, well-ordered ranks
45 (29)at Zona headland on the Thracian coast—
clear proof of what his music could accomplish.
Such, then, was Orpheus, the king of all
Bistonian Pieria, and Jason
invited him to join the expedition
50just as the Centaur Cheiron had advised.
Cometes’ son Asterion arrived
without delay. He hailed from Peiresiae
under Mount Phylleius on the banks
of the sublime but wild Apidanus
55right where it weds the noble Enipeus.
(Both rivers travel far to reach that union.)
Next Polyphemus, offspring of Eilatus,
forsook his native Larissa to join them.
Back in his adolescence he had fought
60 (41)beside the mighty Lapiths when they waged
war on the Centaurs. Though his limbs had since
grown burdensome, his heart remained as keen
for battle as it had been in his prime.
Since he was Jason’s uncle, Iphiclus
65did not remain at leisure in Phylaca.
Aeson, you see, was wedded to the sister
of Iphiclus (and daughter of Phylacus),
and ties of blood and marriage left no choice—
Iphiclus had to be included, too.
70Nor did Admetus, king of sheep-rich Pherae,
hang back beneath the peak of Chalcedon.
Echion and Erytus, both ingenious
at artifice, both sons of Hermes, rushed
to leave behind the wheat fields of Alopa.
75 (54)As they were setting out, Aethalides,
half brother to them on their father’s side,
ran out to catch their march and be the third
in their brigade. Phthian Eupolemeia,
Myrmidon’s daughter, bore him on the banks
80of the Amphryssus, and Menetes’ daughter
Antianeira bore the other two.
Next Caeneus’ son Coronus left
Gyrton, a wealthy town, to make the journey.
Yes, he was brave, but not his father’s equal.
85Poets recount how Caeneus went down,
while still alive, beneath the Centaurs’ clubs.
All alone, separated from his comrades,
he still routed the Centaurs from the field.
When they stampeded back, they failed to break
90 (63)or slay him, so he sank into the earth,
invincible, triumphant, hammered down
by a relentless rain of pine-wood clubs.
Mopsus the Titaresian also joined them.
Leto’s son had taught him how to read
95the sacred signs exhibited by birds
better than any other man alive.
Eurydamas the son of Ctimenos
came, too. He left a home in Dolopian
Ctimena beside lake Xynias.
100Actor allowed his son Menoetius
to leave their home in Opus, so that he
could see the world with distinguished men.
Eurytion and valiant Eurybotes
were also quick to join. One was the son
105 (72)of Iros son of Actor; one the son
of Teleon. (In all truth Teleon
had sired world-famous Eurybotes,
and Iros had begot Eurytion.)
Oileus joined them as a third, a man
110of giant strength and matchless at harassing
foes from behind once he had turned the lines.
Euboean Canthus joined them next. His father
Cerinthus son of Abas gave him leave
since he insisted on the quest. But no
115homec
oming had been fated for him, no
return to fair Cerinthus. Fate had ruled
that he and the distinguished seer Mopsus
would wander to the farthest ends of Libya
and perish there. Wherever people travel,
120 (82)catastrophe is waiting—so those two
were laid to rest in Libya, a land
as far from Colchis as the space between
the rising and the setting of the sun.
Next came those wardens of Oechalia,
125Clytius, Iphitus, sons of cruel Eurytus,
to whom Far-Shooting Phoebus gave his bow.
Eurytus, though, did not enjoy it long
because he dared defy the god who gave it.
Aeacus’ two sons arrived at different
130times and from distant points of origin.
You see, they accidentally had murdered
their brother Phocus and had fled at once
to separate exiles outside Aegina:
while Telamon had claimed the Attic Island,
135 (94)Peleus had erected walls in Phthia.
Next, from the land of Cecrops came the soldier
Boutes, the son of noble Teleon,
and with him came the staunch spearman Phalerus.
His father Alcon let him go. Although
140there were no other sons to tend his age
and mind the homestead, Alcon all the same
sent him—his only heir, his best beloved—
to win renown among courageous heroes.
(Though Theseus was mightier than all
145the other offspring of Erechtheus,
he never came. Invisible restraints
detained him in the earth beneath Taenarus
where he had traveled with Peirithoös—
a wasted trip. They would have made this quest
150 (104)much easier for everyone who sailed.)
Tiphys the son of Hagnias forsook
Siphae, a Thespian harbor town, to join
the heroes’ party. When it came to knowing
when breakers would disturb the sea’s expanse,
155anticipating stormy gales and plotting
course headings by the sun and stars, he was
a mastermind. Tritonian Athena
had packed him off to join the expedition,
and his arrival cheered a crew in need
160of naval knowledge. After she designed
the speedy ship, Argus, Arestor’s son,
had worked with her and built it to her order,
and that is why, of all the watercraft
that ever challenged ocean with their oars,
165 (114)the Argo was the most remarkable.
Pleias, the next to join them, had forsaken
Araethyraea where he had been living
in luxury because he was the son
of Dionysos. The estate he left there
170was very near the source of the Asopus.
Talaus and Areios, sons of Bias,
marched out of Argos, and beside them marched
courageous Leodocus. Pero, daughter
of Neleus, had borne all three of them—
175this was the Pero for whose sake Melampus,
Aeolid Melampus, had endured
hard sorrow in the stalls of Iphicles.
No story claims strong-willed, invulnerable
Heracles failed to answer Jason’s summons.
180 (124)When he got word the heroes were assembling,
he was just crossing from Arcadia
into Lyrceian Argos, on his shoulder
a big live boar that had of late been grazing
the meadows of Lampeia all along
185the Erymanthian swamp. He slid it down,
netted and muzzled, from his massive back
there in the Mycenaeans’ meeting place
and freely hastened off to join the quest
against the orders of Eurystheus.
190With him went Hylas in the prime of youth,
a noble squire, to bear his bow and arrows.
Next came divine Danaus’ descendant
Nauplius. As the son of Clytonaeus,
he was, of course, grandson to Naubolus.
195 (135)Naubolus had been sired by Lernus, Lernus
by Proteus, and Proteus in turn
by Nauplius the Elder. Long ago
Amymona the daughter of Danaus
had lain in love beneath the god Poseidon
200and borne this Nauplius, and Nauplius
had bested all men in the art of sailing.
Of all the heroes reared in Argos, Idmon
came latest. Though he had foreseen his death
in bird signs, he enlisted all the same
205so that his town would not deny him glory.
Idmon was not, in fact, the son of Abas—
Apollo had begotten him on one
of far-famed Aeolus’ many daughters.
Phoebus himself had taught him to divine
210 (145)future events by closely studying
bird omens and the flames of sacrifice.
Leda of Aetolia dispatched
thick-sinewed Polydeuces and his brother
Castor, master of swift-hoofed steeds, from Sparta.
215She bore her much-beloved sons together
as twins in King Tyndareus’ palace
and, when they begged to go, she gave them leave
to prove Zeus was their sire by worthy deeds.
Two sons of Aphareus, Lynceus
220and firebrand Idas, marched out of Arena,
both of them glorying in boundless courage.
Lynceus also was endowed with vision
keener than that of any man alive.
They say that he could easily project
225 (155)his eye beams even underneath the earth.
Periclymenus, Neleus’ son,
joined up as well. He was the eldest born
of all the offspring Neleus had fathered
at Pylos, and Poseidon had bestowed
230infinite strength upon him and the power
to change into whatever shape he wished
so that he could survive the shock of battle.
Next, Cepheus and Amphidamus left
Arcadia and came. Sons of Aleus,
235they marched out of a home in Tegea,
Apheidas’ estate. Their elder brother
Lycurgus had released his son Ancaeus
to be the third man in their company.
Yes, though Lycurgus stayed behind at home
240 (166)to tend Aleus who was weak with age,
he couldn’t keep his son from setting out.
The boy wore only a Maenalian bearskin,
lugged only a gigantic ax. You see,
his grandfather had hidden all the other
245arms and armor in the granary,
hoping to keep the lad from going, too.
Augeas also joined the voyage. Fame
pronounces him the son of Helius.
King over Elis, he enjoyed his wealth
250but greatly wished to see the Colchian land
and King Aeëtes of the Colchians.
Next came Asterius and Amphion,
both sons of Hyperasius. They forsook
Pellena in Achaea to enlist—
255 (178)the same Pellena that their grandsire Pellen
had founded on the brow of Aegialus.
Euphemus, next, came to them from Taenarus.
He was the fleetest-footed man alive.
Europa, l
ordly Tityus’ daughter,
260had borne him to Poseidon. He could dash
across the whitecaps of the dull gray sea
without submersing his precipitate feet.
Only his toes would touch the liquid path.
Two other of Poseidon’s sons arrived—
265Erginus who had left the citadel
of glorious Miletus, and superb
Ancaeus who forsook Parthenia,
cult center of Imbrasian Hera. Both
exulted in their sea- and battlecraft.
270 (190)From Calydon came Oeneus’ son,
strong Meleager, with Laocoön
Oeneus’ half brother. (Yes, the men
had different mothers, since Laocoön
had been begotten on a serving maid.)
275Oeneus sent him forth, old as he was,
to chaperone his son. Thus Meleager,
young as he was, made one among the heroes.
I suspect that, barring Heracles,
none of the men who went would have surpassed him
280if only he had stayed another year
back in Aetolia and reached his prime.
His mother’s brother came along as well—
Iphiclus son of Thestius, a man
skilled equally in close- and long-range combat.
285 (202)Palaemonius was next to come
and join the expedition. Though reputed
the son of Lernus of Olenia,
he was in fact the offspring of Hephaestus.
His feet, therefore, were hobbled like his father’s,
290but no one ever dared to slight his brawn
and battle skills, and so he made the roster
and added more renown to Aeson’s son.
Next came Phocaean Iphitus, the son
of Naubolus and grandson of Ornytus.
295This Iphitus, you see, had played the host
when Jason went to Delphi to consult
the Pythian oracle about the voyage—
yes, it was there at Delphi he received
the hero at his palace as a guest.
300 (211)Zetes and Calaïs were next to join.
Orithyia had borne them to the Northwind
on the frontier of blizzard-haunted Thrace.
You see, while she was whirling in a dance