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ARGONAUTICA BOOK 4 [206]

(4.206-211) Thus he spake, and donned his armour of war; and they cried aloud, wondrously eager. And he drew his sword from the sheath and cut the hawsers at the stern. And near the maiden he took his stand ready armed by the steersman Aneaeus, and with their rowing the ship sped on as they strained desperately to drive her clear of the river.

206     Ὧς φάτο, δῦνε δὲ τεύχε' ἀρήια: τοὶ δ' ἰάχησαν
207 θεσπέσιον μεμαῶτες. ὁ δὲ ξίφος ἐκ κολεοῖο
208 σπασσάμενος πρυμναῖα νεὼς ἀπὸ πείσματ' ἔκοψεν.
209 ἄγχι δὲ παρθενικῆς κεκορυθμένος ἰθυντῆρι
210  Ἀγκαίῳ παρέβασκεν: ἐπείγετο δ' εἰρεσίῃ νηῦς
211 σπερχομένων ἄμοτον ποταμοῦ ἄφαρ ἐκτὸς ἐλάσσαι.

(4.212-235) By this time Medea's love and deeds had become known to haughty Aeetes and to all the Colchians. And they thronged to the assembly in arms; and countless as the waves of the stormy sea when they rise crested by the wind, or as the leaves that fall to the ground from the wood with its myriad branches in the month when the leaves fall -- who could reckon their tale? -- so they in countless number poured along the banks of the river shouting in frenzy; and in his shapely chariot Aeetes shone forth above all with his steeds, the gift of Helios, swift as the blasts of the wind. In his left hand he raised his curved shield, and in his right a huge pine-torch, and near him in front stood up his mighty spear. And Apsyrtus held in his hands the reins of the steeds. But already the ship was cleaving the sea before her, urged on by stalwart oarsmen, and the stream of the mighty river rushing down. But the king in grievous anguish lifted his hands and called on Helios and Zeus to bear witness to their evil deeds; and terrible threats he uttered against all his people, that unless they should with their own hands seize the maiden, either on the land or still finding the ship on the swell of the open sea, and bring her back, that so he might satisfy his eager soul with vengeance for all those deeds, at the cost of their own lives they should learn and abide all his rage and revenge.

212     Ἤδη δ' Αἰήτῃ ὑπερήνορι πᾶσί τε Κόλχοις
213 Μηδείης περίπυστος ἔρως καὶ ἔργ' ἐτέτυκτο.
214 ἐς δ' ἀγορὴν ἀγέροντ' ἐνὶ τεύχεσιν: ὅσσα δέ πόντου
215  κύματα χειμερίοιο κορύσσεται ἐξ ἀνέμοιο,
216 ἢ ὅσα φύλλα χαμᾶζε περικλαδέος πέσεν ὕλης
217 φυλλοχόῳ ἐνὶ μηνί--τίς ἂν τάδε τεκμήραιτο;
218 ὧς οἱ ἀπειρέσιοι ποταμοῦ παρεμέτρεον ὄχθας,
219 κλαγγῇ μαιμώοντες: ὁ δ' εὐτύκτῳ ἐνὶ δίφρῳ
220  Αἰήτης ἵπποισι μετέπρεπεν, οὕς οἱ ὄπασσεν
221 Ἠέλιος πνοιῇσιν ἐειδομένους ἀνέμοιο,
222 σκαιῇ μέν ῥ̓ ἐνὶ χειρὶ σάκος δινωτὸν ἀείρων,
223 τῇ δ' ἑτέρῃ πεύκην περιμήκεα: πὰρ δέ οἱ ἔγχος
224 ἀντικρὺ τετάνυστο πελώριον. ἡνία δ' ἵππων
225  γέντο χεροῖν Ἄψυρτος. υπεκπρὸ δὲ πόντον ἔταμνεν
226 νηῦς ἤδη κρατεροῖσιν ἐπειγομένη ἐρέτῃσιν,
227 καὶ μεγάλου ποταμοῖο καταβλώσκοντι ῥεέθρῳ.
228 αὐτὰρ ἄναξ ἄτῃ πολυπήμονι χεῖρας ἀείρας
229 Ἠέλιον καὶ Ζῆνα κακῶν ἐπιμάρτυρας ἔργων
230  κέκλετο: δεινὰ δὲ παντὶ παρασχεδὸν ἤπυε λαῷ
231 εἰ μή οἱ κούρην αὐτάγρετον, ἢ ἀνὰ γαῖαν,
232 ἢ πλωτῆς εὑρόντες ἔτ' εἰν ἁλὸς οἴδματι νῆα,
233 ἄξουσιν, καὶ θυμὸν ἐνιπλήσει μενεαίνων
234 τίσασθαι τάδε πάντα, δαήσονται κεφαλῇσιν
235  πάντα χόλον καὶ πᾶσαν ἑὴν ὑποδέγμενοι ἄτην.

(4.236-240) Thus spake Aeetes; and on that same day the Colchians launched their ships and cast the tackle on board, and on that same day sailed forth on the sea; thou wouldst not say so mighty a host was a fleet of ships, but that a countless flight of birds, swarm on swarm, was clamouring over the sea.

236     Ὧς ἔφατ' Αἰήτης: αὐτῷ δ' ἐνὶ ἤματι Κόλχοι
237 νῆάς τ' εἰρύσσαντο, καὶ ἄρμενα νηυσὶ βάλοντο,
238 αὐτῷ δ' ἤματι πόντον ἀνήιον: οὐδέ κε φαίης
239 τόσσον νηίτην στόλον ἔμμεναι, ἀλλ' οἰωνῶν
240  ἰλαδὸν ἄσπετον ἔθνος ἐπιβρομέειν πελάγεσσιν.

(4.241-252) Swiftly the wind blew, as the goddess Hera planned, so that most quickly Aeaean Medea might reach the Pelasgian land, a bane to the house of Pelias, and on the third morn they bound the ship's stern cables to the shores of the Paphlagonians, at the mouth of the river Halys. For Medea bade them land and propitiate Hecate with sacrifice. Now all that the maiden prepared for offering the sacrifice may no man know, and may my soul not urge me to sing thereof. Awe restrains my lips, yet from that time the altar which the heroes raised on the beach to the goddess remains till now, a sight to men of a later day.

241     Οἱ δ' ἀνέμου λαιψηρὰ θεᾶς βουλῇσιν ἀέντος
242 Ἥρης, ὄφρ' ὤκιστα κακὸν Πελίαο δόμοισιν
243 Αἰαίη Μήδεια Πελασγίδα γαῖαν ἵκηται,
244 ἠοῖ ἐνὶ τριτάτῃ πρυμνήσια νηὸς ἔδησαν
245  Παφλαγόνων ἀκτῇσι, πάροιθ' Ἅλυος ποταμοῖο.
246 ἡ γάρ σφ' ἐξαποβάντας ἀρέσσασθαι θυέεσσιν
247 ἠνώγει Ἑκάτην. καὶ δὴ τὰ μέν, ὅσσα θυηλὴν
248 κούρη πορσανέουσα τιτύσκετο, μήτε τις ἴστωρ
249 εἴη, μήτ' ἐμὲ θυμὸς ἐποτρύνειεν ἀείδειν.
250  ἅζομαι αὐδῆσαι: τό γε μὴν ἕδος ἐξέτι κείνου,
251 ὅ ῥα θεᾷ ἥρωες ἐπὶ ῥηγμῖσιν ἔδειμαν,
252 ἀνδράσιν ὀψιγόνοισι μένει καὶ τῆμος ἰδέσθαι.

(4.253-256) And straightway Aeson's son and the rest of the heroes bethought them of Phineus, how that he had said that their course from Aea should be different, but to all alike his meaning was dim. Then Argus spake, and they eagerly hearkened:

253     Αὐτίκα δ' Αἰσονίδης ἐμνήσατο, σὺν δὲ καὶ ὧλλοι
254 ἥρωες, Φινῆος, ὃ δὴ πλόον ἄλλον ἔειπεν
255  ἐξ Αἴης ἔσσεσθαι: ἀνώιστος δ' ἐτέτυκτο
256 πᾶσιν ὁμῶς. Ἄργος δὲ λιλαιομένοις ἀγόρευσεν:

(4.257-293) "We go to Orchomenus, whither that unerring seer, whom ye met aforetime, foretold your voyage. For there is another course, signified by those priests of the immortal gods, who have sprung from Tritonian Thebes. As yet all the stars that wheel in the heaven were not, nor yet, though one should inquire, could aught be heard of the sacred race of the Danai. Apidanean Arcadians alone existed, Arcadians who lived even before the moon, it is said, eating acorns on the hills; nor at that time was the Pelasgian land ruled by the glorious sons of Deucalion, in the days when Egypt, mother of men of an older time, was called the fertile Morning-land, and the river fair-flowing Triton, by which all the Morning-land is watered; and never does the rain from Zeus moisten the earth; but from the flooding of the river abundant crops spring up. From this land, it is said, a king made his way all round through the whole of Europe and Asia, trusting in the might and strength and courage of his people; and countless cities did he found wherever he came, whereof some are still inhabited and some not; many an age hath passed since then. But Aea abides unshaken even now and the sons of those men whom that king settled to dwell in Aea. They preserve the writings of their fathers, graven on pillars, whereon are marked all the ways and the limits of sea and land as ye journey on all sides round. There is a river, the uttermost horn of Ocean, broad and exceeding deep, that a merchant ship may traverse; they call it Ister and have marked it far off; and for a while it cleaves the boundless tilth alone in one stream; for beyond the blasts of the north wind, far off in the Rhipaean mountains, its springs burst forth with a roar. But when it enters the boundaries of the Thracians and Scythians, here, dividing its stream into two, it sends its waters partly into the Ionian sea, and partly to the south into a deep gulf that bends upwards from the Trinaerian sea, that sea which lies along your land, if indeed Achelous flows forth from your land."

257     "Νισσόμεθ' Ὀρχομενὸν τὴν ἔχραεν ὔμμι περῆσαι
258 νημερτὴς ὅδε μάντις, ὅτῳ ξυνέβητε πάροιθεν.
259 ἔστιν γὰρ πλόος ἄλλος, ὃν ἀθανάτων ἱερῆες
260  πέφραδον, οἳ Θήβης Τριτωνίδος ἐκγεγάασιν.
261 οὔπω τείρεα πάντα, τά τ' οὐρανῷ εἱλίσσονται,
262 οὐδέ τί πω Δαναῶν ἱερὸν γένος ἦεν ἀκοῦσαι
263 πευθομένοις: οἶοι δ' ἔσαν Ἀρκάδες Ἀπιδανῆες,
264 Ἀρκάδες, οἳ καὶ πρόσθε σεληναίης ὑδέονται
265  ζώειν, φηγὸν ἔδοντες ἐν οὔρεσιν. οὐδὲ Πελασγὶς
266 χθὼν τότε κυδαλίμοισιν ἀνάσσετο Δευκαλίδῃσιν,
267 ἦμος ὅτ' Ἠερίη πολυλήιος ἐκλήιστο,
268 μήτηρ Αἴγυπτος προτερηγενέων αἰζηῶν,
269 καὶ ποταμὸς Τρίτων ἠύρροος, ᾧ ὕπο πᾶσα
270  ἄρδεται Ἠερίη: Διόθεν δέ μιν οὔποτε δεύει
271 ὄμβρος: ἅλις προχοῇσι δ' ἀνασταχύουσιν ἄρουραι.
272 ἔνθεν δή τινά φασι πέριξ διὰ πᾶσαν ὁδεῦσαι
273 Εὐρώπην Ἀσίην τε βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ λαῶν
274 σφωιτέρων θάρσει τε πεποιθότα: μυρία δ' ἄστη
275  νάσσατ' ἐποιχόμενος, τὰ μὲν ἤ ποθι ναιετάουσιν,
276 ἠὲ καὶ οὔ: πουλὺς γὰρ ἄδην ἐπενήνοθεν αἰών.
277 Αἶά γε μὴν ἔτι νῦν μένει ἔμπεδον υἱωνοί τε
278 τῶνδ' ἀνδρῶν, οὓς ὅσγε καθίσσατο ναιέμεν Αἶαν,
279 οἳ δή τοι γραπτῦς πατέρων ἕθεν εἰρύονται,
280  κύρβιας, οἷς ἔνι πᾶσαι ὁδοὶ καὶ πείρατ' ἔασιν
281 ὑγρῆς τε τραφερῆς τε πέριξ ἐπινισσομένοισιν.
282 ἔστι δέ τις ποταμός, ὕπατον κέρας Ὠκεανοῖο,
283 εὐρύς τε προβαθής τε καὶ ὁλκάδι νηὶ περῆσαι:
284 Ἴστρον μιν καλέοντες ἑκὰς διετεκμήραντο:
285  ὅς δή τοι τείως μὲν ἀπείρονα τέμνετ' ἄρουραν
286 εἷς οἶος: πηγαὶ γὰρ ὑπὲρ πνοιῆς βορέαο
287 Ῥιπαίοις ἐν ὄρεσσιν ἀπόπροθι μορμύρουσιν.
288 ἀλλ' ὁπόταν Θρῃκῶν Σκυθέων τ' ἐπιβήσεται οὔρους,
289 ἔνθα διχῆ τὸ μὲν ἔνθα μετ' ἠῴην ἅλα βάλλει
290  τῇδ' ὕδωρ, τὸ δ' ὄπισθε βαθὺν διὰ κόλπον ἵησιν
291 σχιζόμενος πόντου Τρινακρίου εἰσανέχοντα,
292 γαίῃ ὃς ὑμετέρῃ παρακέκλιται, εἰ ἐτεὸν δὴ
293 ὑμετέρης γαίης Ἀχελώιος ἐξανίησιν."

(4.204-302) Thus he spake, and to them the goddess granted a happy portent, and all at the sight shouted approval, that this was their appointed path. For before them appeared a trail of heavenly light, a sign where they might pass. And gladly they left behind there the son of Lyeus and with canvas outspread sailed over the sea, with their eyes on the Paphlagonian mountains. But they did not round Carambis, for the winds and the gleam of the heavenly fire stayed with them till they reached Ister's mighty stream.

294      Ὧς ἄρ' ἔφη: τοῖσιν δὲ θεὰ τέρας ἐγγυάλιξεν
295  αἴσιον, ᾧ καὶ πάντες ἐπευφήμησαν ἰδόντες
296 στέλλεσθαι τήνδ' οἶμον. ἐπιπρὸ γὰρ ὁλκὸς ἐτύχθη
297 οὐρανίης ἀκτῖνος, ὅπῃ καὶ ἀμεύσιμον ἦεν.
298 γηθόσυνοι δὲ Λύκοιο κατ' αὐτόθι παῖδα λιπόντες
299 λαίφεσι πεπταμένοισιν ὑπεὶρ ἅλα ναυτίλλοντο,
300  οὔρεα Παφλαγόνων θηεύμενοι. οὐδὲ Κάραμβιν
301 γνάμψαν, ἐπεὶ πνοιαί τε καὶ οὐρανίου πυρὸς αἴγλη
302 μεῖνεν, ἕως Ἴστροιο μέγαν ῥόον εἰσαφίκοντο.


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