together into one, and briny spume
420 (323)boils above them, and the rugged shores
roar hoarsely. Therefore, if you are endowed
with prudent thoughts and truly fear the gods,
if you are not mere reckless adolescents
heading for a self-assured destruction,
heed my instructions now:
425Send out a dove
to fly before the ship and as an omen
test the Rocks. If it survives the flight
through them into the Pontus, all of you
no longer hold off on your outward journey
430but grip the oars solidly in your hands
and cleave that narrow stretch of sea. Survival
will then depend less on how hard you pray
than on how strong your hands are. Scorn distraction
and heave, heave all your strength into the oars—
435 (336)though, mind you, I do not forbid you prayer
before that time.
However, if the dove
dies halfway through, you may as well start sailing
for home again, since it is far, far better
to bow before god’s will. No, even if
440your ship had iron planks, you couldn’t then
escape a dismal fate between the Rocks.
Unlucky men, do not then disregard
my prophecy, not even if you think
the gods upon Olympus loathe me three times
445more than in fact they do—no, even if
you think they loathe me more than that—do not
defy the dove and push the Argo onward.
What will come to pass will come to pass.
But if you do outrun the Rocks’ concussion
450 (346)and coast, unscathed, into the Pontic Sea,
sail with the land of the Bithynians
to port and guard against the barrier reefs
until you round the swiftly flowing Rhebas
and Sable Promontory and at last
455make landfall on the Isle of Thynias.
From Thynias row out across the sea
and put in at the Mariandynian land
opposite. There a footpath switchbacks down
to Hades, and the Acherousian headland
460pierces the sky, and Acheron’s white spate
shoots out of an unfathomable chasm
and flows back down by cutting through the cape.
Once you have passed this river, you will pass
the uplands of the Paphlagonians.
465 (359)Their patriarch was Enetean Pelops—
such is the blood that courses through their veins.
There, underneath the astral Bear Helica,
a headland rises steep on all sides round.
Carambis is its name. The seaward face
470projects so high that Boreas’ squalls
split on its summit. You will find the Long Shore
stretching beyond it. At the farther end,
beyond a jutting cape, the river Halys
disgorges a bewilderment of froth.
475Not at all far from there, the Iris drains
its less tumultuously churning current
into the sea. Still farther on from there
a large, sharp cape projects out of the coast.
Beyond it you will find the Thermodon,
480 (370)which, after wandering across the mainland,
ends in a tranquil harbor at the base
of the Themiscyreian promontory.
Here are the steppes of Doeas, and the three
forts of the Amazons that stand upon them.
485Next you will reach those miserable wretches
the Chalybes who live upon a pinched,
illiberal soil. They are heavy drudges,
workers in iron. Tibarenians,
men rich in sheep, dwell on a plain nearby
490beneath the Genetaen cape, a site
sacred to Zeus the God of Guests and Hosts.
Next in line and neighbors to these men
the Mossynoeci dwell on woodland plains
and mountain spurs and cols. They build their homes
495 (381)from bark inside of towers made of timber,
rugged towers. They call the things ‘mossynes’
and take their name from them.
Once you have passed them,
make landfall on the barren isle nearby,
but only after using every means
500to drive off the repugnant, homicidal
birds who nest on it in countless numbers.
Here Otrera and Antiope,
two Amazonian queens, once built a shrine
in Ares’ name when they were on campaign.
505Here from the unforgiving sea a boon
will come to you, a boon I dare not name.
Still, I exhort you with benign insistence
to harbor there. Why should I go too far
a second time with my prophetic art?
510 (391)Why tell you everything from start to finish?
Beyond this island and the facing coastline
dwell the Philyres; the Macrones next,
and next in turn the multitudinous tribes
of the Becheirieans. Next in order
515dwell the Sapeires, the Byzeri, then
the warlike Colchians themselves at last.
Still, you should travel farther on until
you reach the limit of the Pontic Sea.
Here on the mainland near the city Cyta
520the raucous Phasis, after racing down
the Amarantian mountains and across
the plain of Circe, empties liberally
into the sea.
While rowing up that river
you will discern the towers of Aeëtes
525 (403)at Cyta, and the gloomy grove of Ares
where a serpent dreadful to behold,
a monster, glares all round, forever guarding
the fleece that lies across an oak tree’s crown.
Neither day nor night does honeyed slumber
530vanquish the thing’s insatiable surveillance.”
Such was his prophecy, and terror gripped
the heroes. Long they stood there gaping, dumbstruck.
At last the son of Aeson, at a loss
before the terror of it all, spoke out:
535“Venerable man, thus far you have foretold
the ways and worries of our quest’s completion
and warned us of the omen we must heed
when passing through those dreadful Clashing Rocks
into the Pontic Sea. But I am eager
540 (414)to learn as well if we must suffer through them
a second time while sailing back to Greece.
How can I do it? How can I survive
a second endless journey through the sea?
I am an untried man, my comrades, too,
545are untried men, and Colchian Aea
lies at the limit of the Pontic Sea,
the far end of the earth!”
So Jason spoke.
The hoary prophet uttered in response:
“Once you have passed those deadly Rocks alive,
550my son, have confidence. Some god will guide you
along a different path out of Aea,
and on the way there you’ll have guides enough.
But I advise you, friends, do not dismiss
the goddess Cypris and her slippery
555 (424)assistance, since the glorious fulfillment
of your adventure
lies with her. No further,
ask me no further questions on these matters.”
So prophesied the son of Agenor.
Just then the sons of Thracian Boreas
560came swooping down out of sky and brought
their feathered feet to rest upon the threshold.
All the heroes leapt out of their seats
at their return. Still panting from exertion,
Zetes informed his eager audience
565how far they drove the Harpies, how the goddess
Iris had flown in, blocked the slaughter of them,
and kindly sworn an oath, and how the Harpies
had taken refuge in a giant cave
within Mount Dicte.
Their report delighted
570 (436)everyone, but Phineus most of all,
and Jason son of Aeson, overflowing
with kindliness, addressed the aged man:
“Phineus, certainly some god has looked
warmly on your distress and brought us here
575from Hellas so that Boreas’ sons
could save you. Now, if only light could shine
again within your eyes, I’d be as happy
as if I had returned to Greece in safety.”
So he proclaimed, but Phineus glumly answered:
580“My blindness, Jason, cannot be undone,
nor is there hope it will be in the future.
My eyes are void, completely withered. No,
I wish some god would grant me death instead.
When I am dead and gone, I shall be basking
in perfect brilliance.”
585 (448)Thus the two men spoke,
and soon thereafter, while they were conversing,
Dawn the Early Riser came again,
and Phineus’ neighbors gathered round him—
the men who, in the time before the Harpies,
590came every morning, bearing him some food
out of their stores. An old man even then,
he gave his prophecies and heartfelt blessings
to all who came, even the poorest of them,
and soothed the woes of many with his art.
595That’s why the people came and cared for him.
Among them was a certain man, Paraebius,
Phineus’ most devoted friend,
and he was glad to find the strangers there
because the seer had long ago proclaimed
600 (459)a band of heroes on a voyage bound
from Hellas to Aeëtes’ citadel
would tie their cables to the Thynian land
and, with divine approval, stop the Harpies
from landing there. Once Phineus had sated
605these guests with prudent words, he sent them out
and asked Paraebius alone to stay
among the heroes. Then he sent him out
to lead the finest sheep out of the folds.
Once he had left them, Phineus explained
610gently about him to the gathered oarsmen:
“My friends, not everyone is arrogant
and heedless of a favor done to him.
This man, such as he is, once came to me
to learn about his destiny. You see,
615 (471)though he had labored much and struggled more,
an ever-growing scarcity of means
kept grinding him away. Day after day
matters were worse for him until no ease
relieved his toil.
In fact, he had been paying
620the dire wages of his father’s error.
One day his father, in the act of felling
trees in the mountains, scorned a wood nymph’s plea.
You see, she had been weeping, begging him
please not to chop her oak tree down, her age-mate.
625She had been living in its trunk and boughs
for many years. He was a young man, though,
and scornful, so he rashly cut it down.
The wood nymph fixed the fate of constant failure
on him and all his heirs as retribution.
630 (484)When Paraebius, that fellow’s son,
came to me, I discerned the curse and told him
to build an altar to that Thynian nymph
and lavish gifts upon it in atonement,
begging her, all the while, please to forgive
635his father’s malice. Ever since he slipped
that god-sent doom, he has remembered me.
In fact, whenever I excuse him for a time,
he grudgingly departs, so scrupulous
is he in standing by me in my troubles.”
640So Phineus explained, and there he was,
Paraebius, at hand again, returning
with two sheep chosen from his master’s sheepfold.
Jason arose and, at the old man’s bidding,
the sons of Boreas stood up beside him.
645 (493)Then, calling on Apollo God of Prophets,
Phineus slew the victims on the hearth
just as the day was drawing to a close.
The younger men prepared a heartening feast
for their companions. When they all had eaten,
650some went to sleep among the Argo’s cables,
others in clusters all throughout the house.
That morning the Etesian Winds arose.
These are the winds that blow throughout the world
with equal strength, at the behest of Zeus.
655A maiden named Cyrene, it is said,
once tended sheep among the men of yore
along the flats of the Peneus River.
She plied this trade because virginity
was sweet to her, and an untainted bed.
660 (503)One day, while she was pasturing her flocks
along the riverbank, Apollo snatched her
up from Haemonia and set her down
among the nymphs who dwell in Libya
beside the Hill of Myrtles. There she bore
665Phoebus a child, a son named Aristaeus
(though men in barley-rich Haemonia
know him as Agreus and Nomius).
The god so loved Cyrene that he made her
an ageless huntress in her newfound land.
670He carried off the child, though, to be brought up
in Cheiron’s cave. When he was grown, the Muses
arranged his marriage and instructed him
in all the arts of prophecy and healing.
They also made him keeper of the sheep
675 (514)that grazed the Athamantian plain of Phthia
beside steep Othrys and the holy-flowing
Apidanus.
When down out of the heavens
the Dog Star Sirius was searing all
the isles of Minos, and for many days
680the locals suffered but could find no cure,
they begged assistance from the oracle
of Phoebus, who commanded them to summon
Aristaeus to expel the drought.
So, at his father’s bidding, he set forth
685from Phthia, rounded up some Parrhasians
(who are, in fact, the heirs of Lycaon),
and settled them in Ceos. There he raised
a mighty shrine to Zeus the God of Rain
and duly offered on the mountaintops
690 (524)sacrifice to the Dog Star Sirius
and Zeus the son of Cronus. That is why
Etesian winds descend from Zeus to cool
the earth for forty days, and still today
the priests in Ceos offer sacrifice
695before the Dog Star Sirius appears.
So runs the story of the winds.
The heroes
were held up there awhile and, every day
they stayed, the Thynians sent them countless presents
to thank them for relieving Phineus.
700Then, once the gales had calmed, they built an altar
in honor of the twelve immortal gods
on the opposing shore, heaped it with gifts,
boarded the Argo, and began to row.
And they did not forget to bring along
705 (536)a bashful dove—Euphemus was the one
who seized it, frightened, trembling, in his hand.
Then they unbound the cables from the land.
Nor did Athena fail to mark their heading.
All in an instant she had set her feet
710upon an airy cloudlet that provided
swift conveyance, weighty though she was,
and so she hastened to the Pontic Sea
to do the crew a favor. When a man
goes traveling outside his fatherland
715(as we long-suffering mortals often do),
no land seems out of reach, the ways and means
shine in his mind, and he can see his house
and picture traveling by path and channel
and with his swift thoughts visit now one country
720 (546)and now another in imagination,
so Zeus’ daughter leapt out of the cloud
and instantly set foot upon the hostile
Thynian shore.
Soon as the heroes reached
the narrows of the mazy strait, they found
725sharp outcrops closing in on either side
and hectic whirlpools churning up white water
around the ship. They made their way in horror.
The rumble of the Clashing Rocks already
assailed their senses, and the sea-washed headlands
echoed the noise.
730Euphemus then ascended
the prow beam, dove in hand, and all the oarsmen,
under the orders of the steersman Tiphys,
rowed at their ease to save up strength enough
to pull them through the crisis. When the heroes
735 (560)rounded the final bend, they saw the Rocks
dividing, and their spirit drained away.
Euphemus launched the dove, which on its wings
shot forth and flew between the ranks of oarsmen.
They turned their heads to watch it go, and then
740the two rock faces crashed together. Spouts
of seething spray shot upward like a mist,
the sea was far from cheerful in its roaring,
and everywhere the mighty air was trembling.
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