Sacred Texts  Classics  Index  Previous  Next 
Buy this Book at Amazon.com

ARGONAUTICA BOOK 2 [145]

(2.145-153) "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."

145    "Φράζεσθ' ὅττι κεν ᾗσιν ἀναλκείῃσιν ἔρεξαν,
146 εἴ πως Ἡρακλῆα θεὸς καὶ δεῦρ' ἐκόμισσε̣̣.
147 ἤτοι μὲν γὰρ ἐγὼ κείνου παρεόντος ἔολπα
148 οὐδ' ἂν πυγμαχίῃ κρινθήμεναι: ἀλλ' ὅτε θεσμοὺς
149 ἤλυθεν ἐξερέων, αὐτοῖς ἄφαρ οἷς ἀγόρευεν
150 θεσμοῖσιν ῥοπάλῳ μιν ἀγηνορίης λελαθέσθαι.
151 ναὶ μὲν ἀκήδεστον γαίῃ ἔνι τόνγε λιπόντες
152 πόντον ἐπέπλωμεν: μάλα δ' ἡμέων αὐτὸς ἕκαστος
153 εἴσεται οὐλομένην ἄτην, ἀπάνευθεν ἐόντος."

(2.154-163) 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.

154     Ὧς ἄρ' ἔφη: τὰ δὲ πάντα Διὸς βουλῇς ἐτέτυκτο.
155 καὶ τότε μὲν μένον αὖθι διὰ κνέφας, ἕλκεά τ' ἀνδρῶν
156 οὐταμένων ἀκέοντο, καὶ ἀθανάτοισι θυηλὰς
157 ῥέξαντες μέγα δόρπον ἐφώπλισαν: οὐδέ τιν' ὕπνος
158 εἷλε παρὰ κρητῆρι καὶ αἰθομένοις ἱεροῖσιν.
159 ξανθὰ δ' ἐρεψάμενοι δάφνῃ καθύπερθε μέτωπα
160 ἀγχιάλῳ, τῇ, ἀκτῇ ἔπι, πρυμνήσι' ἀνῆπτο,
161 Ὀρφείῃ φόρμιγγι συνοίμιον ὕμνον ἄειδον
162 ἐμμελέως: περὶ δέ σφιν ἰαίνετο νήνεμος ἀκτὴ
163 μελπομένοις: κλεῖον δὲ Θεραπναῖον Διὸς υἷα.

(2.164-177) But when the sun rising from far lands lighted up the dewy hills and wakened the shepherds, then they loosed their hawsers from the stem of the baytree and put on board all the spoil they had need to take; and with a favouring wind they steered through the eddying Bosporus. Hereupon a wave like a steep mountain rose aloft in front as though rushing upon them, ever upheaved above the clouds; nor would you say that they could escape grim death, for in its fury it hangs over the middle of the ship, like a cloud, yet it sinks away into calm if it meets with a skilful helmsman. So they by the steering-craft of Tiphys escaped, unhurt but sore dismayed. And on the next day they fastened the hawsers to the coast opposite the Bithynian land.

164     ̂Ἠμος δ' ἠέλιος δροσερὰς ἐπέλαμψε κολώνας
165 ἐκ περάτων ἀνιών, ἤγειρε δὲ μηλοβοτῆρας,
166 δὴ τότε λυσάμενοι νεάτης ἐκ πείσματα δάφνης,
167 ληίδα τ' εἰσβήσαντες ὅσην χρεὼ ἦεν ἄγεσθαι,
168 πνοιῇ δινήεντ' ἀνὰ Βόσπορον ἰθύνοντο.
169 ἔνθα μὲν ἠλιβάτῳ ἐναλίγκιον οὔρεϊ κῦμα
170 ἀμφέρεται προπάροιθεν ἐπαΐσσοντι ἐοικός,
171 αἰὲν ὑπὲρ νεφέων ἠερμένον: οὐδέ κε φαίης
172 φεύξεσθαι κακὸν οἶτον, ἐπεὶ μάλα μεσσόθι νηὸς
173 λάβρον ἐπικρέμαται, καθάπερ νέφος. ἀλλὰ τόγ' ἔμπης
174 στόρνυται, εἴ κ' ἐσθλοῖο κυβερνητῆρος ἐπαύρῃ.
175 τῶ καὶ Τίφυος οἵδε δαημοσύνῃσι νέοντο,
176 ἀσκηθεῖς μέν, ἀτὰρ πεφοβημένοι. ἤματι δ' ἄλλῳ
177 ἀντιπέρην γαίῃ Βιθυνίδι πείσματ' ἀνῆψαν.

(2.178-208) There Phineus, son of Agenor, had his home by the sea, Phineus who above all men endured most bitter woes because of the gift of prophecy which Leto's son had granted him aforetime. And he reverenced not a whit even Zeus himself, for he foretold unerringly to men his sacred will. Wherefore Zeus sent upon him a lingering old age, and took from his eyes the pleasant light, and suffered him not to have joy of the dainties untold that the dwellers around ever brought to his house, when they came to enquire the will of heaven. But on a sudden, swooping through the clouds, the Harpies with their crooked beaks incessantly snatched the food away from his mouth and hands. And at times not a morsel of food was left, at others but a little, in order that he might live and be tormented. And they poured forth over all a loathsome stench; and no one dared not merely to carry food to his mouth but even to stand at a distance; so foully reeked the remnants of the meal. But straightway when he heard the voice and the tramp of the band he knew that they were the men passing by, at whose coming Zeus' oracle had declared to him that he should have joy of his food. And he rose from his couch, like a lifeless dream, bowed over his staff, and crept to the door on his withered feet, feeling the walls; and as he moved, his limbs trembled for weakness and age; and his parched skin was caked with dirt, and naught but the skill held his bones together. And he came forth from the hall with wearied knees and sat on the threshold of the courtyard; and a dark stupor covered him, and it seemed that the earth reeled round beneath his feet, and he lay in a strengthless trance, speechless. But when they saw him they gathered round and marvelled. And he at last drew laboured breath from the depths of his chest and spoke among them with prophetic utterance:

178     Ἔνθα δ' ἐπάκτιον οἶκον Ἀγηνορίδης ἔχε Φινεύς,
179 ὃς περὶ δὴ πάντων ὀλοώτατα πήματ' ἀνέτλη
180 εἵνεκα μαντοσύνης, τήν οἱ πάρος ἐγγυάλιξεν
181 Λητοΐδης: οὐδ' ὅσσον ὀπίζετο καὶ Διὸς αὐτοῦ
182 χρείων ἀτρεκέως ἱερὸν νόον ἀνθρώποισιν.
183 τῶ καί οἱ γῆρας μὲν ἐπὶ δηναιὸν ἴαλλεν,
184 ἐκ δ' ἕλετ' ὀφθαλμῶν γλυκερὸν φάος: οὐδὲ γάνυσθαι
185 εἴα ἀπειρεσίοισιν ὀνείασιν, ὅσσα οἱ αἰεὶ
186 θέσφατα πευθόμενοι περιναιέται οἴκαδ' ἄγειρον.
187 ἀλλὰ διὰ νεφέων ἄφνω πέλας ἀίσσουσαι
188 Ἅρπυιαι στόματος χειρῶν τ' ἀπὸ γαμφηλῇσιν
189 συνεχέως ἥρπαζον. ἐλείπετο δ' ἄλλοτε φορβῆς
190 οὐδ' ὅσον, ἄλλοτε τυτθόν, ἵνα ζώων ἀκάχοιτο.
191 καὶ δ' ἐπὶ μυδαλέην ὀδμὴν χέον: οὐδέ τις ἔτλη
192 μὴ καὶ λευκανίηνδε φορεύμενος, ἀλλ' ἀποτηλοῦ
193 ἑστηώς: τοῖόν οἱ ἀπέπνεε λείψανα δαιτός.
194 αὐτίκα δ' εἰσαΐων ἐνοπὴν καὶ δοῦπον ὁμίλου
195 τούσδ' αὐτοὺς παριόντας ἐπήισεν, ὧν οἱ ἰόντων
196 θέσφατον ἐκ Διὸς ἦεν ἑῆς ἀπόνασθαι ἐδωδῆς.
197 ὀρθωθεὶς δ' εὐνῆθεν, ἀκήριον ἠύτ' ὄνειρον,
198 βάκτρῳ σκηπτόμενος ῥικνοῖς ποσὶν ᾖε θύραζε,
199 τοίχους ἀμφαφόων: τρέμε δ' ἅψεα νισσομένοιο
200 ἀδρανίῃ γήραι τε: πίνῳ δέ οἱ αὐσταλέος χρὼς
201 ἐσκλήκει, ῥινοὶ δὲ σὺν ὀστέα μοῦνον ἔεργον.
202 ἐκ δ' ἐλθὼν μεγάροιο καθέζετο γοῦνα βαρυνθεὶς
203 οὐδοῦ ἐπ' αὐλείοιο: κάρος δέ μιν ἀμφεκάλυψεν
204 πορφύρεος, γαῖαν δὲ πέριξ ἐδόκησε φέρεσθαι
205 νειόθεν, ἀβληχρῷ δ' ἐπὶ κώματι κέκλιτ' ἄναυδος.
206 οἱ δέ μιν ὡς εἴδοντο, περισταδὸν ἠγερέθοντο
207 καὶ τάφον. αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσι μάλα μόλις ἐξ ὑπάτοιο
208 στήθεος ἀμπνεύσας μετεφώνεε μαντοσύνῃσιν:


Next: line 209