Argonautica IV 1483-1534

The Deaths of Mopsus and Kanthus:

In a manner that is typical of the Argonautica, Apollonius gives his narrative an unexpected turn by dramatising the deaths of two minor members of the crew, one of them the insignificant Kanthus, and the other, the seer Mopsus, both of whose fates were predestined at 1.82-5. Kanthus is killed during an episode connected with the rustling of livestock, a common occurrence in the epic world, while Mopsus succumbs to one of the natural hazards of Libya, that is, a bite from a poisonous snake.

1485  Κάνθε: the poet addresses his character in direct apostrophe. The Argonauts have been previously addressed as a group before (1383-7) and will be afterwards (1773-81) but this is the only example of an appeal to a single character; see further (Klooster 2013, 161). The opening statement is simple and direct and thus emphasises the emotion of the moment. Κῆρες: the Keres or “Fates of Death”; see further Hulse (2021,4 n.19).

1486  συνήντεες: “you chanced upon”: imperf. ind. act. 2^nd. sg. (attic, epic, ionic) < συναντάω.

1486-7  ἀνὴρ / αὐλίτης: “a shepherd, lit. a man of the sheepfold.” The earlier of the two great wars of Greek mythology, the Theban was fought according to Hesiod (Op. 163) μήλων ἕνεκ᾽ Οἰδιπόδαο.

1487  σ᾿ ἑῶν μήλων πέρι: using antistrophe (πέρι) to help bind the phrase together: “about his own sheep.” ἑῶν: masc. gen. pl. < ἑός (his, her own).

1487-8  τόφρ(α): “while” is used here as temporal conjunction: “while you were bringing them to your needy (ἑτάροισιν δευομένοις) companions.” The optative stresses Kanthos’ future intention, even though the action described is in the past. ἀλεξόμενος κατέπεφνεν: “in defence (of his sheep) slew you.” ἀλεξόμενος: fut. part. mid. masc. nom. sg. < ἀλέξω. Kaphauros threw the stone to defend his sheep.

1489  λᾶι βαλών: “hitting (you) with a stone.” μέν: is emphatic, “(not) at all.” ἀφαυρότερός: Hector is also hit be a stone, thrown in battle at Il. 15.11, where A. may possibly have seen a text that read the comparative of the adjective (ἀφαυρότερός), the meaning of which is disputed, generally “feeble, powerless”, but here it may refer to the status of his birth (see the following lines).

1490  υἱωνός: “the grandson of Lycoreian Phoebus.” A. seems to be playing on ἀφαυρότερός ~ Κάφαυρος.

1491  κούρης τ᾿ αἰδοίης Ἀκακαλλίδος: “and of the chaste Akakallis.”

1492  ἀπένασσε: recalling Il. 16.86 περικαλλέα κούρην ἂψ ἀπονάσσωσιν: “removed to, settled in.” βαρὺ κῦμα φέρουσαν: “heavily pregnant.”

1494  Ἀμφίθεμιν Γαράμαντά: “they call the child Amthemis (and) Garamas.” He has a Greek and native name (Garamantes).

1495  Τριτωνίδι νύμφῃ: “with a Tritonian nymph”, another Greek Libyan link.

1496: Νασάμωνα: eponymous hero of the Nasamones; see further (‘The Nasamones of Awjila - Livius’ 2006).

1497  ἐπὶ ῥήνεσσιν ἑοῖσιν: “in defending his sheep” < ῥήν (not found in nom.) only here and at Nicander Th. 453, perhaps formed < πολύρρην.

1498  οὐδ᾿ . . . ἠλεύατο: “nor did he avoid.” ὅ γ᾿: i.e. Kathauros.

1499  ὡς μάθον οἷον ἔρεξε: “when they learned what he had done.” ἀνάειραν: “they lifted up”: aor. ind. act. 3^rd. pl. (epic, doric, ionic, aeolic) < ἀναείρω. The description of the incident is written in A.’s more laconic style.

1500: †πυθόμενοι†: read πευθόμενοι and understand the sense to be (with Rieu): “when they heard of the outrage (ὡς μάθον οἷον ἔρεξε; see above), they dealt with him (1498), they found the body (πευθόμενοι) and brought it back to the camp (νέκυν δ᾿ ἀνάειραν ὀπίσσω).” The transmitted text, under this interpretation is not “weak and repetitive. There have been other attempts at emendation (πυθόμενον, “decomposing”, κευθόμενον, “hidden, buried”), neither of which entirely convince. A. reserves more elaborate description for the death of Mopsus, who is of higher status among the Argonauts. Also the simplicity of the style adds more point to the ironical remark in 1501. γαίῃ δ᾿ ἐνὶ ταρχύσαντο: Kanthos is given a burial typical of a Homeric hero: Il. 16.456.

1501  μυρόμενοι: the Iliadic flavour continues: Il. 19.6. τὰ δὲ μῆλα: “Not enough attention has been paid to the splendid deadpan humour of 1501, where genuine tragedy is at one quick stroke subverted by the practical demands of rounding up meat on the hoof” (Green ad loc.).

1502  Ἀμπυκίδην . . . Μόψον: the death of Mopsus is described much more elaborately, with a degree of Gothic and almost clinical detail.

1503: ἀδευκέα . . . αἶσαν: Hom. only in Od., ὀλέθρῳ ἀδευκέϊ 4.489; 10.245 ἀδευκέα πότμον; 6.273 φῆμιν ἀδευκέα.

1504: prophecy and the (non) avoidance of death is another familiar Homeric motif: Il. 2.832. Prophecy also failed to save Idmon.

1505: μεσημβρινὸν ἦμαρ ἀλύσκων: “avoiding the midday sun.” The belief persists in rural Greece to this day that midday is “the dangerous hour” (η κακη ώρα).

1506  δεινὸς ὄφις: enter “a fearsome snake”! νωθὴς . . . χαλέψαι: “(too) sluggish to attack.” ἑκὼν ἀέκοντα: = “unless provoked.” The present specimen (as so often) seems to be something of a mixture: it is a sand burrower (άμμοδύτης: Strabo 17.1.21, C. 803), and in many respects (Vian 1981, 200) resembles Nicander's description (161–66, 187–88) of the Egyptian cobra (ἄσπις), with its sluggishness, its rearing and writhing, and its numbing, incurable, but relatively painless bite (Arist. HA 607a22). But there are differences: A.'s serpent, unlike the cobra, does not attack unless provoked, and the corrosive force attributed to its venom (1529–31) seems to have been more characteristic of the seps (σήψ probably the desert horned viper or Egyptian asp: cf. Nik. Ther. 327–31; Ael. NA 15.18, 16.40; Luc. Bell. Civ. 9.723, 762–88.

1507  ὑποτρέσσαντος: genitive absolute or gen. after a verb of touching (Goodell 510a). οὐδ᾿ ἂν . . . ἐνωπαδὶς ἀίξειεν: “would not dash at anyone who shrank away.”

1508: ἀλλὰ μὲν ᾧ τὰ πρῶτα: “but into whatever at first”, depending on ζωόντων (“of living things”) in the next line. ἐνείη: aor. opt. act. 3^rd. sg. <ἐνίημι.

1509: ὅσα γαῖα φερέσβιος: “as many as the fruitful earth”, (1509-12) imitated by Euphorion fr. 50 Powell (= 70 Lightfoot ,= LIV Meineke; see further (Meineke 1843, 96)) to describe the effect of the Lernaean Hydra’s poison.

1510  οὐδ᾿ ὁπόσον πήχυιον: “death is only a cubit away”, also perhaps referring to the length of the snake. The feminine caesura (and the position of πήχυιον) give the line an unexpected rhythm that emphasises the unusual comparison.

1511-2  οὐδ᾿ εἰ Παιήων / . . . φαρμάσσοι: “not even if Paeëon were to apply drugs.” εἴ μοι θέμις ἀμφαδὸν εἰπεῖν: “if it is right for me to say this openly”, the same kind of mock solemnity that the poet declares at 250(n.): he might be referring to Apollo (see link) but he adds a note of mystery to the moment.

1512  ἐνιχρίμψῃσιν ὀδοῦσιν: “even if the fangs have only grazed the skin”, perhaps better than “bite, attack.”

1513  ἰσόθεος . . . Περσεύς: “Perseus, equal to the gods.” Λιβύην ὑπερέπτατο: “flew over Libya.” Perseus was perhaps associated with Chemmis in Egypt.

1514  Εὐρυμέδων: Perseus has two names. The reason why his mother gave him this second name (καὶ γὰρ τὸ κάλεσκέ μιν οὔνομα μήτηρ) might have been told in Apollonius’ poem “The foundation of Alexandria”; see further (Barbantani 2014).

1515  βασιλῆι: Polydectes of Seriphos.

1516  κυανέου στάγες αἵματος: “drops of dark blood.”

1517  αἱ πᾶσαι: to be taken with ὅσσαι in the previous line: “as many as . . . all of them (κείνων).” ἐβλάστησαν: “brought forth.”

1518  τῷ δ᾿ ἄκρην ἐπ᾿ ἄκανθαν: lit. “on the end of the spine (belonging) to it.” ἐνεστηρίξατο: “pressed down on.”

1519  ἐπιπροφέρων: “pressing forward.” λαιὸν . . . ταρσὸν ποδός: “the left sole of his foot.”

1520  κερκίδα καὶ μυῶνα: “squarely (= μέσσην) between the lower leg and the calf muscle.” πέριξ ὀδύνῃσιν ἑλιχθείς: “writhing around (πέριξ used adverbially) in pain.”

1521  σάρκα δακών: “biting the flesh (in apposition to μέσσην / κερκίδα καὶ μυῶνα).” ἐχάραξεν: “he tore the flesh.” ἀτὰρ Μήδεια: Medea and her maids flee in terror. Perhaps with her knowledge of drugs and poisons, M. immediately understands what has happened.

1522  ὁ δέ: Mopsus, on the other hand, does not panic and examines his gory wound (φοίνιον ἕλκος). The coma only comes upon him gradually.

1523  θαρσαλέως: “bravely / calmly.” 

1524  σχέτλιος: “poor wretch”, an exclamation often used when a victim is unaware of the consequences of an action. In Homer and Herodotus it denotes cruelty or, occasionally, inhuman courage; in tragedy “cruel” is again the usual sense, but ‘miserable’ is attested in Prometheus Vinctus (Aesch. PV. 644) and Euripides (Eur. Hec. 783). ἦ τέ: the first particle strengthens the assertion that A. is about to make. The second acts as a connective. ἤδη: again emphasising the immediacy of the moment. κῶμα: Mopsus is losing consciousness: Nic. Ther. 188-9 “the man dies without distress, and a sleepy lethargy brings on the end of his life.”

1525  Il. 5.696 “of a mist over the eyes, as of one dying”: κατὰ δʼ ὀφθαλμῶν κέχυτʼ ἀ.

1526-7  Nic. Ther. 247-55. βεβαρηότα γυῖα: perf. part. act. neut. acc. pl. (epic) < βαρέω: “heavy / weighed-down limbs.”

1527-8  ψύχετ᾿ ἀμηχανίῃ: “grew cold in powerlessness.” ἀμφαγέροντο: “gathered round.” Jason and the rest of the Argonauts are astounded (περιθαμβέες) at the very terrible fate (ἀδινῇ . . . ἄτῃ) that their comrade has suffered.

1529  οὐδὲ μὲν οὐδ᾿ ἐπὶ τυτθόν: a very strong expression: “not even for a short space of time.” ἀποφθίμενός: “after his death.”

1530  κεῖσθαι ὑπ᾿ ἠελίῳ: “to lie under the sun.” The corrupting effect of some snake venom on flesh, bone, and tissue is widely documented in our ancient sources: beside Nic. Ther. 327–31 and Ael. NA 15.18, 16.40 (cited above on 1506), see Nonn. D. 4.354–55; and Lucan, in particular: (Bell. Civ. 9.762–87, 770–76); see further (Green 1997, 350–51). πύθεσκε: “began to rot.” ἔνδοθι σάρκας: “his flesh within.” The venom is thought of as breaking down the body tissue.

1531  ἰὸς ἄφαρ: “immediately the poison.” μυδόωσα δ᾿ ἀπὸ χροὸς ἔρρεε λάχνη: “the hair grew moist and dropped away from the flesh (ἀπὸ χροός), perhaps recalling the grotesque description of Thersites at Il. 2.219.

1532  χαλκείῃσι: agrees with μακέλῃσιν: “with bronze mattocks.” Ap. models his funeral scene on Homer's treatment of the funeral of Patroklos (Il. 23.250 ff.), and repeats it, with necessary variations, at 1.1063-65, 2.835–44.

1533  ἐμοιρήσαντο δὲ χαίτας: lit. “they shared their hair,” i.e. they tore their hair; see further 27-9n.

1534  ἐλεεινὰ παθόντα: “who had suffered piteously.” ἐλεεινά: acc. plur. used as an adverb.

1535  (Burkert 1985, 192–94) for a discussion of such practices as raising a barrow and cutting off locks of hair (paralleled at Il. 23.135–36; see on 1532). On the triple circling of the grave, see Il. 23.13, and Virg. Aen. 11.188–89; also 75-6n.

1536  εὖ κτερέων ἴσχοντα: “(the body) which received a proper share of funeral honours.” χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔθεντο: “placed heaped earth on (it),” only in phrase χυτὴ γαῖα a mound of earth, esp. a sepulchral mound, like χῶμα, Il. 6.464, 14.114, Od. 3.258.

Bibliography:

Hulse, P. 2021. Medea’s Passion and Rhetoric: Two notes on P.Oxy. 5428. ZPE.

Barbantani, Silvia. 2014. ‘Mother of Snakes and Kings. Apollonius Rhodius’ Foundation of Alexandria.’ 2014 (8): 209–45. https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/58932#.XNBi5S-ZOX0.

Burkert, W. 1985. ‘Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical Transl’. J. Raffan.

Green, P. 1997. The Argonautika by Apollonios Rhodios Translated with Introduction, Commentary and Glossary. Berkeley.

Klooster, Jacqueline. 2013. Apostrophe in Homer, Apollonius and Callimachus. Über die Grenze. De Gruyter. https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110331721/10.1515/9783110331721….

Meineke, A. 1843. Analecta Alexandrina: Sive Commentationes de Euphorione Chalcidensi, Rhiano Cretensi, Alexandro Aetolo. Parthenio Nicaeno (Berlin.

‘The Nasamones of Awjila - Livius’. 2006. 2006. https://www.livius.org/articles/place/nasamones/.