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ARGONAUTICA BOOK 4 [1318]

(4.1318-1329) "Ill-starred one, why art thou so smitten with despair? We know how ye went in quest of the golden fleece; we know each toil of yours, all the mighty deeds ye wrought in your wanderings over land and sea. We are the solitary ones, goddesses of the land, speaking with human voice, the heroines, Libya's warders and daughters. Up then; be not thus afflicted in thy misery, and rouse thy comrades. And when Amphitrite has straightway loosed Poseidon's swift-wheeled car, then do ye pay to your mother a recompense for all her travail when she bare you so long in her womb; and so ye may return to the divine land of Achaea."

1318      "Κάμμορε, τίπτ' ἐπὶ τόσσον ἀμηχανίῃ βεβόλησαι;
1319 ἴδμεν ἐποιχομένους χρύσεον δέρος: ἴδμεν ἕκαστα
1320  ὑμετέρων καμάτων, ὅσ' ἐπὶ χθονός, ὅσσα τ' ἐφ' ὑγρὴν
1321 πλαζόμενοι κατὰ πόντον ὑπέρβια ἔργ' ἐκάμεσθε.
1322 οἰοπόλοι δ' εἰμὲν χθόνιαι θεαὶ αὐδήεσσαι,
1323 ἡρῷσσαι, Λιβύης τιμήοροι ἠδὲ θύγατρες.
1324 ἀλλ' ἄνα: μηδ' ἔτι τοῖον ὀιζύων ἀκάχησο:
1325  ἄνστησον δ' ἑτάρους. εὖτ' ἂν δέ τοι Ἀμφιτρίτη
1326 ἅρμα Ποσειδάωνος ἐύτροχον αὐτίκα λύσῃ,
1327 δή ῥα τότε σφετέρῃ ἀπὸ μητέρι τίνετ' ἀμοιβὴν
1328 ὧν ἔκαμεν δηρὸν κατὰ νηδύος ὔμμε φέρουσα:
1329 καί κεν ἔτ' ἠγαθέην ἐς Ἀχαιίδα νοστήσαιτε."

(4.1330-1332) Thus they spake, and with the voice vanished at once, where they stood. But Jason sat upon the earth as he gazed around, and thus cried:

1330     Ὧς ἄρ' ἔφαν, καὶ ἄφαντοι ἵν' ἔσταθεν, ἔνθ' ἄρα ταίγε
1331  φθογγῇ ὁμοῦ ἐγένοντο παρασχεδόν. αὐτὰρ Ἰήσων
1332 παπτήνας ἀν' ἄρ' ἕζετ' ἐπὶ χθονός, ὧδέ τ' ἔειπεν:

(4.1333-1336) "Be gracious, noble goddesses of the desert, yet the saying about our return I understand not clearly. Surely I will gather together my comrades and tell them, if haply we can find some token of our escape, for the counsel of many is better."

1333     "Ἵλατ' ἐρημονόμοι κυδραὶ θεαί: ἀμφὶ δὲ νόστῳ
1334 οὔτι μαλ' ἀντικρὺ νοέω φάτιν. ἦ μὲν ἑταίρους
1335  εἰς ἓν ἀγειράμενος μυθήσομαι, εἴ νύ τι τέκμωρ
1336 δήωμεν κομιδῆς: πολέων δέ τε μῆτις ἀρείων."

(4.1337-1346) He spake, and leapt to his feet, and shouted afar to his comrades, all squalid with dust, like a lion when he roars through the woodland seeking his mate; and far off in the mountains the glens tremble at the thunder of his voice; and the oxen of the field and the herdsmen shudder with fear; yet to them Jason's voice was no whit terrible the voice of a comrade calling to his friends. And with looks downcast they gathered near, and hard by where the ship lay he made them sit down in their grief and the women with them, and addressed them and told them everything:

1337     ̂Ἠ, καὶ ἀναΐξας ἑτάρους ἐπὶ μακρὸν ἀύτει,
1338 αὐσταλέος κονίῃσι, λέων ὥς, ὅς ῥά τ' ἀν' ὕλην
1339 σύννομον ἣν μεθέπων ὠρύεται: αἱ δὲ βαρείῃ
1340  φθογγῇ ὑποτρομέουσιν ἀν' οὔρεα τηλόθι βῆσσαι:
1341 δείματι δ' ἄγραυλοί τε βόες μέγα πεφρίκασιν
1342 βουπελάται τε βοῶν: τοῖς δ' οὔ νύ τι γῆρυς ἐτύχθη
1343 ῥιγεδανὴ ἑτάροιο φίλους ἐπικεκλομένοιο.
1344 ἀγχοῦ δ' ἠγερέθοντο κατηφέες: αὐτὰρ ὁ τούσγε
1345  ἀχνυμένους ὅρμοιο πέλας μίγα θηλυτέρῃσιν
1346 ἱδρύσας, μυθεῖτο πιφαυσκόμενος τὰ ἕκαστα:

(4.1347-1362) "Listen, friends; as I lay in my grief, three goddesses girded with goat-skins from the neck downwards round the back and waist, like maidens, stood over my head nigh at hand; and they uncovered me, drawing my cloak away with light hand, and they bade me rise up myself and go and rouse you, and pay to our mother a bounteous recompense for all her travail when she bare us so long in her womb, when Amphitrite shall have loosed Poseidon's swift-wheeled car. But I cannot fully understand concerning this divine message. They said indeed that they were heroines, Libya's warders and daughters; and all the toils that we endured aforetime by land and sea, all these they declared that they knew full well. Then I saw them no more in their place, but a mist or cloud came between and hid them from my sight."

1347     "Κλῦτε, φίλοι: τρεῖς γάρ μοι ἀνιάζοντι θεάων,
1348 στέρφεσιν αἰγείοις ἐζωσμέναι ἐξ ὑπάτοιο
1349 αὐχένος ἀμφί τε νῶτα καὶ ἰξύας, ἠύτε κοῦραι,
1350  ἔσταν ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς μάλ' ἐπισχεδόν: ἂν δ' ἐκάλυψαν
1351 πέπλον ἐρυσσάμεναι κούφῃ χερί, καὶ μ' ἐκέλοντο
1352 αὐτόν τ' ἔγρεσθαι, ἀνά θ' ὑμέας ὄρσαι ἰόντα:
1353 μητέρι δὲ σφετέρῃ μενοεικέα τῖσαι ἀμοιβὴν
1354 ὧν ἔκαμεν δηρὸν κατὰ νηδύος ἄμμε φέρουσα
1355  ὁππότε κεν λύσῃσιν ἐύτροχον Ἀμφιτρίτη
1356 ἅρμα Ποσειδάωνος. ἐγὼ δ' οὐ πάγχυ νοῆσαι
1357 τῆσδε θεοπροπίης ἴσχω πέρι. φάν γε μὲν εἶναι
1358 ἡρῷσσαι, Λιβύης τιμήοροι ᾐδὲ θύγατρες:
1359 καὶ δ' ὁπόσ' αὐτοὶ πρόσθεν ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἠδ' ὅσ' ἐφ' ὑγρὴν
1360  ἔτλημεν, τὰ ἕκαστα διίδμεναι εὐχετόωντο.
1361 οὐδ' ἔτι τάσδ' ἀνὰ χῶρον ἐσέδρακον, ἀλλά τις ἀχλὺς
1362 ἠὲ νέφος μεσσηγὺ φαεινομένας ἐκάλυψεν."

(4.1363-1369) Thus he spake, and all marvelled as they heard. Then was wrought for the Minyae the strangest of portents. From the sea to the land leapt forth a monstrous horse, of vast size, with golden mane tossing round his neck; and quickly from his limbs he shook off abundant spray and started on his course, with feet like the wind. And at once Peleus rejoiced and spake among the throng of his comrades:

1363     Ὧς ἔφαθ': οἱ δ' ἄρα πάντες ἐθάμβεον εἰσαΐοντες.
1364 ἔνθα τὸ μήκιστον τεράων Μινύῃσιν ἐτύχθη.
1365  ἐξ ἁλὸς ἤπειρόνδε πελώριος ἔκθορεν ἵππος,
1366 ἀμφιλαφής, χρυσέῃσι μετήορος αὐχένα χαίταις:
1367 ῥίμφα δὲ σεισάμενος γυίων ἄπο νήχυτον ἅλμην
1368 ὦρτο θέειν, πνοιῇ ἴκελος πόδας. αἶψα δὲ Πηλεὺς
1369 γηθήσας ἑτάροισιν ὁμηγερέεσσι μετηύδα:

(4.1370-1379) "I deem that Poseidon's ear has even now been loosed by the hands of his dear wife, and I divine that our mother is none else than our ship herself; for surely she bare us in her womb and groans unceasingly with grievous travailing. But with unshaken strength and untiring shoulders will we lift her up and bear her within this country of sandy wastes, where yon swift-footed steed has sped before. For he will not plunge beneath the earth; and his hoof-prints, I ween, will point us to some bay above the sea."

1370     "Ἅρματα μὲν δή φημι Ποσειδάωνος ἔγωγε
1371 ἤδη νῦν ἀλόχοιο φίλης ὑπὸ χερσὶ λελύσθαι:
1372 μητέρα δ' οὐκ ἄλλην προτιόσσομαι, ἠέ περ αὐτὴν
1373 νῆα πέλειν: ἦ γὰρ κατὰ νηδύος ἄμμε φέρουσα
1374 νωλεμὲς ἀργαλέοισιν ὀιζύει καμάτοισιν.
1375  ἀλλά μιν ἀστεμφεῖ τε βίῃ καὶ ἀτειρέσιν ὤμοις
1376 ὑψόθεν ἀνθέμενοι ψαμαθώδεος ἔνδοθι γαίης
1377 οἴσομεν, ᾗ προτέρωσε ταχὺς πόδας ἤλασεν ἵππος.
1378 οὐ γὰρ ὅγε ξηρὴν ὑποδύσεται: ἴχνια δ' ἡμῖν
1379 σημανέειν τιν' ἔολπα μυχὸν καθύπερθε θαλάσσης."

(4.1380-1392) Thus he spake, and the fit counsel pleased all. This is the tale the Muses told; and I sing obedient to the Pierides, and this report have I heard most truly; that ye, O mightiest far of the sons of kings, by your might and your valour over the desert sands of Libya raised high aloft on your shoulders the ship and all that ye brought therein, and bare her twelve days and nights alike. Yet who could tell the pain and grief which they endured in that toil? Surely they were of the blood of the immortals, such a task did they take on them, constrained by necessity. How forward and how far they bore her gladly to the waters of the Tritonian lake! How they strode in and set her down from their stalwart shoulders!

1380      Ὧς ηὔδα: πάντεσσι δ' ἐπήβολος ἥνδανε μῆτις:
1381 Μουσάων ὅδε μῦθος: ἐγὼ δ' ὑπακουὸς ἀείδω
1382 Πιερίδων, καὶ τήνδε πανατρεκὲς ἔκλυον ὀμφήν,
1383 ὑμέας, ὦ πέρι δὴ μέγα φέρτατοι υἷες ἀνάκτων,
1384 ᾗ βίῃ ᾗ τ' ἀρετῇ Λιβύης ἀνὰ θῖνας ἐρήμους
1385  νῆα μεταχρονίην ὅσα τ' ἔνδοθι νηὸς ἄγεσθε,
1386 ἀνθεμένους ὤμοισι φέρειν δυοκαίδεκα πάντα
1387 ἤμαθ' ὁμοῦ νύκτας τε. δύην γε μὲν ἢ καὶ ὀιζὺν
1388 τίς κ' ἐνέποι, τὴν κεῖνοι ἀνέπλησαν μογέοντες;
1389 ἔμπεδον ἀθανάτων ἔσαν αἵματος, οἷον ὑπέσταν
1390  ἔργον, ἀναγκαίῃ βεβιημένοι. αὐτὰρ ἐπιπρὸ
1391 τῆλε μάλ' ἀσπασίως Τριτωνίδος ὕδασι λίμνης
1392 ὡς φέρον, ὡς εἰσβάντες ἀπὸ στιβαρῶν θέσαν ὤμων.

(4.1393-1421) Then, like raging hounds, they rushed to search for a spring; for besides their suffering and anguish, a parching thirst lay upon them, and not in vain did they wander; but they came to the sacred plain where Ladon, the serpent of the land, till yesterday kept watch over the golden apples in the garden of Atlas; and all around the nymphs, the Hesperides, were busied, chanting their lovely song. But at that time, stricken by Heracles, he lay fallen by the trunk of the apple-tree; only the tip of his tail was still writhing; but from his head down his dark spine he lay lifeless; and where the arrows had left in his blood the bitter gall of the Lernaean hydra, flies withered and died over the festering wounds. And close at hand the Hesperides, their white arms flung over their golden heads, lamented shrilly; and the heroes drew near suddenly; but the maidens, at their quick approach, at once became dust and earth where they stood. Orpheus marked the divine portent, and for his comrades addressed them in prayer: "O divine ones, fair and kind, be gracious, O queens, whether ye be numbered among the heavenly goddesses, or those beneath the earth, or be called the Solitary nymphs; come, O nymphs, sacred race of Oceanus, appear manifest to our longing eyes and show us some spring of water from the rock or some sacred flow gushing from the earth, goddesses, wherewith we may quench the thirst that burns us unceasingly. And if ever again we return in our voyaging to the Achaean land, then to you among the first of goddesses with willing hearts will we bring countless gifts, libations and banquets."

1393     Λυσσαλέοις δἤπειτ' ἴκελοι κυσὶν ἀίσσοντες
1394 πίδακα μαστεύεσκον: ἐπὶ ξηρὴ γὰρ ἔκειτο
1395  δίψα δυηπαθίῃ τε καὶ ἄλγεσιν, οὐδ' ἐμάτησαν
1396 πλαζόμενοι: ἷξον δ' ἱερὸν πέδον, ᾧ ἔνι Λάδων
1397 εἰσέτι που χθιζὸν παγχρύσεα ῥύετο μῆλα
1398 χώρῳ ἐν Ἄτλαντος, χθόνιος ὄφις: ἀμφὶ δὲ νύμφαι
1399 Ἑσπερίδες ποίπνυον, ἐφίμερον ἀείδουσαι.
1400  δὴ τότε δ' ἤδη τῆμος ὑφ' Ἡρακλῆι δαϊχθεὶς
1401 μήλειον βέβλητο ποτὶ στύπος: οἰόθι δ' ἄκρῃ
1402 οὐρῇ ἔτι σκαίρεσκεν: ἀπὸ κρατὸς δὲ κελαινὴν
1403 ἄχρις ἐπ' ἄκνηστιν κεῖτ' ἄπνοος: ἐκ δὲ λιπόντων
1404 ὕδρης Λερναίης χόλον αἵματι πικρὸν ὀιστῶν
1405  μυῖαι πυθομένοισιν ἐφ' ἕλκεσι τερσαίνοντο.
1406 ἀγχοῦ δ' Ἑσπερίδες κεφαλαῖς ἔπι χεῖρας ἔχουσαι
1407 ἀργυφέας ξανθῇσι λίγ' ἔστενον: οἱ δ' ἐπέλασσαν
1408 ἄφνω ὁμοῦ: ταὶ δ' αἶψα κόνις καὶ γαῖα, κιόντων
1409 ἐσσυμένως, ἐγένοντο καταυτόθι. νώσατο δ' Ὀρφεὺς
1410  θεῖα τέρα, τὰς δέ σφι παρηγορέεσκε λιτῇσιν:
1411 "Δαίμονες ὦ καλαὶ καὶ ἐύφρονες, ἵλατ', ἄνασσαι,
1412 εἴτ' οὖν οὐρανίαις ἐναρίθμιοί ἐστε θεῇσιν,
1413 εἴτε καταχθονίαις, εἴτ' οἰοπόλοι καλέεσθε
1414 νύμφαι: ἴτ' ὦ νύμφαι, ἱερὸν γένος Ὠκεανοῖο,
1415  δείξατ' ἐελδομένοισιν ἐνωπαδὶς ἄμμι φανεῖσαι
1416 ἤ τινα πετραίην χύσιν ὕδατος, ἤ τινα γαίης
1417 ἱερὸν ἐκβλύοντα, θεαί, ῥόον, ᾧ ἀπὸ δίψαν
1418 αἰθομένην ἄμοτον λωφήσομεν. εἰ δέ κεν αὖτις
1419 δή ποτ' Ἀχαιίδα γαῖαν ἱκώμεθα ναυτιλίῃσιν,
1420  δὴ τότε μυρία δῶρα μετὰ πρώτῃσι θεάων
1421 λοιβάς τ' εἰλαπίνας τε παρέξομεν εὐμενέοντες."


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