Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics)

by Apollonius Of Rhodes

  1.425 Think of Apollo: The simile influences Virgil’s description of Aeneas as Apollo at Aeneid 4.143–50. Apollo thus informs the poem as patron god of song, figure of comparison, and through his own two appearances as himself. The comparison of Jason to Apollo, and of Medea to Artemis in Argonautica 3, lends a particularly complex character to their eventual union.

  1.456 the course he thought most prudent: One of many moments that mark Jason as cautious, a potentially ambivalent value in a traditionally heroic setting.

  1.468 mighty Heracles: The heroes first choose Heracles as their leader, a moment that problematizes Jason’s position among the assembled men and is indicative of a contrast of heroic types: managing details and alliances are not Heracles’ standard attributes.

  1.498 the tasks at hand: While eschewing to narrate the building of the Argo, the poet gives a detailed description of embarking the ship. A primary model for the scene is Odysseus’ building of the raft in Odyssey 5.

  1.540–41 divvying / the benches: Apollonius’ response to an oft-repeated Homeric “set scene.” Such scenes of eating, dressing, sleeping, and rising are a standard feature of Homer, and a characteristic of oral poetry.

  1.625 like a man in sorrow: Jason’s thoughtful, often reflective nature is at odds with the behavior of many an epic hero, as Idas’ challenge here illustrates.

  1.663 forecast with your prophet’s art: A main model for this scene is Eurymachus’ mistreatment of the seer Halitherses at Odyssey 2.178–80.

  1.675 He sang of how the earth: Orpheus’ cosmogony (“origin of the world”) is a reflection of earlier cosmogonic hexameter poetry. Orpheus was himself thought by many to have been the first poet.

  1.742 the gods looked down from heaven: Another Apollonian response to a repeated Homeric scene, where the gods’ major pastime in the Iliad is as spectators of the events on the battlefield. This is the only such scene in the Argonautica.

  1.754 infant Achilles: The moment is emblematic of the poem’s relationship to the Homeric epics. The Argonautica saga is of an earlier generation than the Trojan War, while Apollonius’ poem is composed after, and in light of, the Homeric epics.

  1.774 Fish both big and small: A fragment of the lyric poet Simonides (PMG 567) tells of Orpheus charming the birds and fish with his song, and suggests that Apollonius may well have had Simonides in mind here.

  1.837 Hipsipyle: Earlier treatments of Hipsipyle and the Lemnian women include Aeschlyus and Euripides. Considerable fragments of the latter’s play are extant. Callimachus (fr. 226 Pf.) also treated this story.

  1.843 Oenoa: This unusual aetion plays, in chiastic form, with the possibilities of etiological transformation: Oenoa becomes Sicinus, Oenoa bears Sicinus.

  1.874 why have I digressed so widely: One of several moments where the poet marks that his is not a continuous, linear treatment.

  1.971 Over either shoulder: The description of Jason’s cloak is a remarkable ecphrasis, a description of a work of art, or of a natural phenomenon in the manner of a work of art, in ancient Greek poetry. Over his shoulders Jason places seven scenes of Greek mythology; the final one blends into the Argonautica narrative—Phrixus is the father of the four Colchians whom the Argonauts encounter in Book 2.

  1.998 the shield of Ares in her hand: Throughout the poem Apollonius plays on the reader’s familiarity with the narrative told in Odyssey 8 of the love affair of Ares and Aphrodite, and Hephaestus’ punishment of the errant couple. Aphrodite gazing at her own reflection is a standard theme of Hellenistic art.

  1.1024 Phrixus: Son of the Boeotian king Athamas (who is Jason’s great-uncle), Phrixus is driven, together with his sister Helle, by a cruel stepmother to flee on the back of a golden ram. Helle falls from the ram’s back, thus giving her name to the Hellespont. Phrixus arrives in Colchis, where the golden ram is sacrificed, its fleece left to be guarded by a dragon. It is this fleece that Jason and the other Argonauts are sent to obtain.

  1.1039 like the star: The first comparison of Jason to a celestial body. These similes highlight both Jason as the object of the (particularly female) gaze and the potentially destructive power of Eros (Love).

  1.1076 a vicious plot of Cypris: This episode, while part of a traditional myth, may have had particular resonance at the Ptolemaic court, where love and bloodshed were a feature of the lives of the reigning family.

  1.1153 Cypris Queen of Love: An apparent but false ending to the heroes’ quest, a traditional feature of epic poetry.

  1.1156 had Heracles not called them: The isolation from Heracles is a theme that gains ground throughout Argonautica 1, leading to his final separation from the Argonauts at the end of the book.

  1.1178 As bees swarm: While the simile has Homeric models, it is especially apt here in the context of the Lemnian women. Apollonian similes often have complex associations with the surrounding narrative.

  1.1213 and you have borne a son: A passage Virgil may have had in mind in composing Dido’s tragic lament at Aeneid 4.327–30 that Aeneas has not left her the succor of a child.

  1.1233 of which it is forbidden me to sing: A type of religious praeteritio that allows just a hint of what cannot be told. Cf. Callimachus fr. 75.4–7 for a similar first-person injunction that breaks into a surrounding narrative.

  1.1259 savage Earthborn Giants: The reference to the Earthborn Giants at once marks the island as primordial (so almost part of preheroic cosmogonic narrative) and underlines the early place of the Argonautica saga in Greek mythology.

  1.1275 the stone that served as anchor loose: Another of many aetia in the poem, this one was also treated by Callimachus toward the end of his four-book Aetia (frr. 108–9 Pf.).

  1.1299 like Jason’s: Apollonius figures Cyzicus as something of a tragic double to Jason, hence the particular irony that Jason kills his young host—Jason’s moment of epic heroism in the first book of the poem turns out to be one of unwitting manslaughter.

  1.1322 Jason’s Way: An aetion that marks the importance of mythohistory in Greek thinking about the past.

  1.1380 Just as he joined: Cyzicus is killed at the moment of beginning a career as a heroic warrior, just as Jason’s first act as a heroic warrior is to slay his host.

  1.1425 fastening a noose around her neck: Cleite, in the manner of many female characters in Greek tragedy, hangs herself. On the tragic convention of women hanging themselves, see Loraux 1987.

  1.1460 Mother of the Blessed Gods: The role of the Mother of the Gods (often figured as Rhea, or Cybele, or a combination of the two divinities) prefigures her role in Aeneid 9.

  1.1559 broke his oar: Heracles’ superhuman strength is ill-adapted to a cooperative effort like rowing—again his nature as a solitary figure sets him apart from the other heroes.

  1.1600 after dire Orion: The simile is a particularly fitting one, since Orion, the solitary hunter, is cast apart from humanity (as a constellation), just as Heracles will shortly be separated from the Argonauts, and his solitary journey will appear around the periphery of the poem.

  1.1607 Hylas: This figure appears in treatments by Apollonius’ contemporaries Theocritus (Idyll 13) and Callimachus (Aetia frr. 24–25 Pf.), as well as the Roman poets Propertius (1.22) and Valerius Flaccus. In Apollonius’ treatment, unlike Theocritus’, the relationship of Heracles and Hylas is not specifically an erotic one.

  1.1637 how flush with beauty: A recurrent feature in Apollonius’ poem is the female erotic gaze, here of the water nymph on first catching sight of Hylas. Apollonius has a marked interest in the female psyche, which he develops to the greatest extent in his treatment of Medea in the third and fourth books of the poem.

  1.1648 so her right hand tugged: A scene, oft repeated in Western art, of transference between two worlds, a motif with which Ovid was to excel in the Metamorphoses. The initial mirror scene in Alice Through the Looking-Glass would be a well-known modern parallel.

  1.1686 goaded by a gadfly: The gadfly (Gr. myops) image recurs in the appearance of Eros at Aeët
es’ palace in Argonautica 3. The simile here in Argonautica 1 is thus a very subtle suggestion on the poet’s part of the relationship of Heracles and Hylas.

  1.1746 Glaucus: This part-wondrous figure appears to “interpret” the gods’ will to the heroes of the Argo; the Greek term hypophetes, “interpreter,” recalls the poet’s address to the Muses in the opening of the poem, and creates an understated moment of almost ring composition.

  1.1818 they rowed ashore: Although there is no proem to the second book of the Argonautica (unlike Books 3 and 4), Jason’s moment of landing forms a metapoetic closure to the first book. The second book likewise concludes with such a moment of disembarking.

  BOOK 2

  2.1 Haughty Amycus: The savage Bebrycian king is the antithesis of the correct host, and so takes on something of the role of the Cyclops Polyphemus in Odyssey 9. Apollonius’ contemporary poet Theocritus also narrates the boxing match of Amycus and Polydeuces in Idyll 22 (see Introduction).

  2.13 who they might be: Inquiring of a guest’s origin and purpose is one of the standard features of correct xenia, or guest-friendship, a central social relationship in ancient mythology (and one that ensures safe travel). Cyzicus is, tragically, a correct host: Amycus is the opposite. Both come to terrible ends, the latter deservedly.

  2.27 Polydeuces: Polydeuces is the immortal brother and twin of Castor (their sisters are Helen and Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon). He answers to the call to engage in a brutal athletic combat, rather than Jason, another moment where the narrative problematizes Jason’s role as leader of the Argonauts.

  2.46 they had found a spot: Boxing is an ancient sport for which there were contests at Pan-Hellenic games, and which was celebrated in ancient art and literature. Here, however, “civilized” athletic competition is turned into mortal combat.

  2.55 like the star of heaven: Heroic comparisons to celestial bodies, a standard feature of heroic vocabulary, usually refer to Jason in the Argonautica. The comparison of Polydeuces, as the subsequent description of his youthful appearance, again casts him in a role of something of a substitute for Jason.

  2.90 On a choppy sea: This simile, which compares the forceful combat of the two fighters to the struggle of a ship and a powerful wave, is particularly effective given the surrounding narrative of the Argo and its struggle with forces of nature.

  2.129 Castor was first: The combat between superheroes being over, Polydeuces’ mortal brother, Castor, then enters the limelight. Castor and Polydeuces, the Dioscuri, are important gods in Alexandria, and they figure prominently in the promotion of Ptolemaic cult iconography.

  2.164 And as when beekeepers: A remarkable juxtaposition of similes, one from herding, one from beekeeping, that have earlier epic antecedents but also reflect a vivid Hellenistic interest in didactic poetry, of which some lost examples include Nicander’s Georgics.

  2.184 if Zeus had somehow left us Heracles: Once Heracles has left the Argo’s enterprise, he will reappear in a variety of ways on the periphery of the narrative, in comparisons, missed sightings, and future references. Heracles’ constantly present absence is one of the most striking features of Apollonius’ “modern” epic.

  2.203 sang a victory ode: A reference at once to the performed poetic art of epinician (poems sung in celebration of athletic victory) and to Hellenistic inheritance of the genre as both performed art and text; among the extant models of the Argonautica is Pindar’s fourth Pythian Ode, composed in honor of Archesilaus IV, king of Cyrene.

  2.225 Phineus the son of Agenor: The story of Phineus, his commission of sacrilege and his blinding, bears strong resemblances to that of the Theban seer Tiresias. As in Odyssey 11, the seer’s revelation, here of the course of the Argo through the Black Sea to Colchis, follows upon his being nourished, here by the Argonauts driving off the Harpies. There are also marked parallels with Callimachus Hymn 5, which tells of the blinding of Tiresias.

  2.237 Harpies: These make a vivid reappearance in the third book of Virgil’s Aeneid, where Virgil figures them specifically (lines 212–13) in their post-Phinean (and so post-Apollonian) existence.

  2.312 As soon as Zetes: A fragment of the lyric poet Simonides (fr. 3 W.) may suggest (the text is very fragmentary) that Simonides treated of the brothers Zetes and Calais in his Plataea Elegy. This receives some support from a scholion (ancient commentary note) to Apollonius 1.211–15 (on Zetes and Calais) that notes that Simonides narrated the birth of the two heroes in his (now lost) Sea Battle.

  2.364 when their muzzles near the quarry’s haunches: The simile recalls something of the description of the golden brooch that the real (but disguised) Odysseus tells Penelope that he once saw Odysseus wearing (Odyssey 19.226–31).

  2.372–73 had not / swift Iris seen them: In general, divine intervention in the Argonautica is rare, and markedly different from divine intervention in Homer (where gods appear to mortals in disguised form). Iris, the divine version of the rainbow, is something of an exception here, although again her appearance is rare.

  2.398 as people do in dreams: One of several moments in the poem where Apollonius reflects a contemporary interest in the psychology of dreams.

  2.406 but what they do permit I shall reveal: Phineus in his most Tiresias-like role. However, Tiresias foretells to Odysseus the future only upon his successfully reaching the island where the cattle of the Sun are pastured. The journey up to that point, beginning with the Sirens and the Clashing Rocks, is revealed rather by Circe at the opening of Odyssey 12, including her reference to the successful passage of the Argo (lines 70–72).

  2.450 into the Pontic Sea: The geography of the Black Sea reflects Ptolemaic imperial interests in the area, and is dependent on a wide variety of models, among them Xenophon’s Anabasis.

  2.510 everything from start to finish: One of many moments of “Callimachean” metapoetics in the Argonautica. The poet, or here his spokesman Phineus, eschews a purely linear narrative in favor of an episodic one, with more attention to particular episodes.

  2.543 a second endless journey: By this subtle sleight of hand, Apollonius introduces the possibility that the return journey will be by a different route than the outward one.

  2.554 the goddess Cypris: Cypris (Aphrodite) plays a major role in bringing about the action of the third and fourth books of the Argonautica, but particularly the third. The reference to a second journey, and to Aphrodite’s role in the fulfillment of the quest, thus introduces the themes of the third and fourth books, interestingly, in reverse order.

  2.576–77 if only light could shine / again: It is worth noting that Jason’s wish, as Phineus observes in his response, invokes an impossibility, what is often referred to as a poetic adynaton. This is another surprisingly awkward moment in Jason’s portrayal.

  2.596 Paraebius: The narrative (on first reading seemingly superfluous) of the figure Paraebius effects a remarkable parallel with Apollonius’ contemporary poet Callimachus. Paraebius’ father sacrilegiously cuts down a tree in which a nymph dwelt, as does Erysichthon, the mortal sinner of Callimachus Hymn 6 (to Demeter). The juxtaposition of Phineus and Paraebius reflects the heroes of Callimachus Hymns 5 and 6, and suggests that Apollonius knew these hymns in that order. See further in the Introduction.

  2.619 he had been paying: In Greek religious thought, miasma (pollution, sin) can be inherited as well as earned. Agamemnon in Aeschylus’ play of that name is a classic example of a figure who both inherits the pollution of others and also brings about pollution by his own actions.

  2.652 the Etesian Winds arose: The Etesian Winds figure in Callimachus’ Aetia (fr. 75), as does a mythographical history of the island of Ceos; the rape of Cyrene figures in Callimachus’ Hymn 2. Cyrene will also appear at the end of Argonautica 4. Apollonius seems to be framing the Medea/Jason episode in a variety of ways.

  2.678 Dog Star Sirius: On his approach to Medea at Argonautica 3.1239–1243, Jason is compared to this destructive image. This is one of several moments of intratextual recall in th
e poem.

  2.705 Euphemus was the one: Euphemus recurs at the end of Argonautica 4, where again he holds a crucial element of future discovery in his hand, in the latter case a clod of earth from Libya that will transform into the island of Thera.

  2.708 Nor did Athena fail: One of the rare moments of divine intervention in the poem, mirrored by the action of the nymphs in Argonautica 4. Here, as will be true later in the book when the heroes catch sight of Apollo, the god appears in divine form.

  2.791 just as the gods had fated: An aetion that places the episode within a larger canvass of divine Fate. There is a striking parallel for this in the Phaeacians becoming stone on returning from delivering Odysseus safely to Ithaca in Odyssey 13.

  2.813 with subtle words and sidelong purpose: Modeled in part on Agamemnon in Iliad 2, the passage is one of several in the Argonautica that highlights political astuteness and diplomacy as desirable qualities in a leader.

  2.863 Imagine oxen laboring to furrow: One of many moments in Book 2 that prefigures what is to come later in the poem—here, the fire-breathing bulls that Jason will yoke as a feat of heroism in Book 3.

  2.874 “the morning twilight”: An hour that Callimachus evokes in a vivid description in one of the few longer fragments of his Heacle

  (fr. 74) as the “predawn.”

  2.877 The son of Leto: A truly remarkable moment in the poem, in which the Argonauts catch sight of the god Apollo as himself. A similar moment of revelation occurs when Apollo causes light to shine for the Argonauts toward the end of Argonautica 4.

  2.914 a choral dance: The Argonauts perform a paean, a choral dance in honor of Apollo. There is a close parallel with this passage in Callimachus Hymn 2 (to Apollo), including the ritual cry Hie, hie. In both cases the poets have transposed a lyric poetic form into a hexameter narrative.

  2.954 a cave that leads to Hades: These lines both echo the shadowy opening of Odyssey 11 and prefigure the site of Aeneas’ descent into the Underworld in Aeneid 6. There is, however, a crucial difference: in Apollonius the expected journey downward (Gr. katabasis) does not occur; rather, this is replaced by the ingress to the river Phasis and the land of the Colchians.