Argonautica IV 236-293

The flight of the Colchians begins. The passage ends with a mysterious speech of prophecy from Argos.

236  ὥς ἔφατ(ο): acts as the trigger to the next part of the action; as soon as he finishes speaking his men put to sea. The repetition of αὐτῷ δ ̓ ἤματι stresses the immediacy of the action in the same way as 4.103 ἔνθ ̓ ἔπος ἠδὲ καὶ ἔργον and adds to the vigour of the transition.  

237  νῆάς . . . εἰρύσσαντο: εἰρύσσαντο: aor. ind. mid. 3rd. pl. The phrase recalls Od. 2.389–90.

237  ἅρμενα . . . βάλοντο: The phrase recalls Hes. Op. 808. βάλοντο = ἐνεβάλαντο.

238  πόντον ἀνήιον: 'they set sail," imperf. ind. act. 3rd pl. < ἄνειμι, "to set out for".

238–40  οὐδέ κε φαίης . . . ἐπιβρομέειν πελάγεσσιν: “You would not have said that such a great number made up a naval expedition but a great family of birds screaming over the seas.” These lines seem to be a shorthand version of a traditional epic simile. ‘You would say’ this, if you were an epic poet (Il. 4.429–30). In Homer the Greeks are silent, while the Trojans are noisy and likened to bleating sheep (Il. 4.433–6). A. is imitating this contrast but uses an object of comparison from another simile: Il. 3.2–3). Greek order and discipline - the Argonauts go on board in orderly fashion at 4.199–201 - develops into a topos, especially with the Persian War when the noisy East encounters the self– controlled West (Aesch. Pers. 399–407).

239  ἔμμεναι: pres. inf. act. (epic) < εἰμί (sum)

241  ἀέντος:  pres. part. act. masc. gen. sg. < ἄημι, "to blow"

241–3  οἱ δ ̓ ἀνέμου . . . Πελασγίδα γαῖαν ἵκηται: “Swiftly the wind blew, as the goddess Hera planned, so that most quickly Aeaean Medea might reach the Pelasgian land, an evil to the house of Pelias.” Hera is the directing deity of the Argonautica and so her name is placed in emphatic first position with immediately following pause. In raising a wind, she is carrying out a duty usually fulfilled by her husband. The elaborate word order of 241 emphasises that the wind rises because the goddess wishes it. ὄφρ ̓ ὤκιστα: a variation on the more common ὄφρα τάχιστα, stresses the speed with which Hera’s plan will be accomplished. The juxtaposition of adjectives, Αἰαίη ~ Πελασγίδα, underlines the theme of barbarian and Greek.

244–5  ἠοῖ ἐνὶ τριτάτῃ . . . πάροιθ ̓ Ἅλυος ποταμοῖο: A. shortens the formulae that Homer uses to describe landings (Il. 1.436–7 = Od. 15.498–9; also Il. 13.794, Od. 5.390). The chief emphasis of the passage is to be the mysteries of Hecate and the poet’s silence about them.

246  ἀρέσσασθαι: aor. inf. mid.< ἀρέσκω, "to make offerings to the gods"

246–50  ἡ . . . ἅζομαι αὐδῆσαι: “For Medea had ordered them to disembark and to propiate Hecate with sacrifices. I am in awe to speak of all that the maiden did in preparing these sacrifices (no one must know, nor must I let myself be tempted to sing of it).” Mystery rites, such as those of Eleusis and Hecate, were kept secret. One might have expected them to pray to Apollo the god of disembarkation. However, assistance from Hecate has ensured the success of the mission (4.147–8).

250–3  τό γε μὴν ἕδος ἐξέτι κείνου . . . καὶ τῆμος ἰδέσθαι: “From that time, however, the shrine which the heroes raised on the beach to the goddess remains till now, for men of a later day to see.” The Argonauts initiate rituals and cults and leave traces for future generations (ἀνδράσιν ὀψιγόνοισι). For other aitia concerning the marks which heroes have left on the physical world cf. 2.717 (temple to Homonoia), 1.1060–1 (tomb of Cyzicus), 2.841 (tomb of Idmon). γε μήν: is adversative and stresses that although nothing can be said about the ritual in honour of Hecate, the Argonauts physically mark the site with some kind of shrine not an altar. καὶ τῆμος: must mean ‘even now’ or ‘even today.’

252  ἰδέσθαι: "to be seen," aor. inf. mid. < εἶδον

253–6  αὐτίκα δ ̓ Αἰσονίδης . . . Ἄργος δὲ λιλαιομένοις ἀγόρευσεν: “Straightaway Aeson’s son together with the other heroes recalled Phineus how he had said that their voyage from Aea would be different. However it was unknown to all. Argos addressed them in their eagerness.”

253  σὺν δὲ καὶ ὧλλοι: is an Ionic form and could be an allusion to the Homeric text of Zenodotus who read it at Il. 2.1 and 10.1.  It is typical of A.’s eclecticism with respect to Homeric scholarship that A. has 1.1101, 3. 992 ὧς δὲ καὶ ὧλλοι as well as 1.910 ὧς δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι. This being so, it seems best to print the transmitted text ὧλλοι.

257–93 " We were going to Orchomenos, by the route which the truthful prophet whom you recently encountered told you to use." Argos’ first words remind us of another μάντις νημερτής, Teiresias, speaking to Odysseus: Od.11.100–1. His references to Egypt seem influenced by Herodotus ( 2.3.1) and by Plato (cf. 279 οἳ δή τοι γραπτῦς πατέρων ἕθεν εἰρύονται with the words of the priest at Tim. 23a.

257  νισσόμεθα is imperfect. The Argonauts are not going to Orchomenos in Boeotia, as the last line of the poem shows. The opening to the speech is abrupt. Before Argos begins to speak, Jason and the Argonauts have been discussing an alternative route (254 πλόον ἄλλον) and this phrase is picked up by Argos in the next line. He is about to describe the alternative return route that is hinted at in 2.421.

258  νημερτὴς ὅδε μάντις: Phineus. The prase recalls the phrase used of Proteus in the Odyssey, γέρων ἅλιος νημερτής (Od. 4.349).

258 ὅτῳ ξύμβλησθε πάροιθεν: "whom you met previously." ὅτῳ is dat. (< ὅστις) as normal after συμβάλλω.

259  ἔστιν γὰρ πλόος ἄλλος: “for there is another route, which the priests of the immortals who spring from Tritonian Thebes, told of”, a variation for the formula ἔστι δὲ τίς, marking a change in A.'s approach to the geography of the voyage. Phineus (in Book 2) had described the tribes and peoples that the Argonauts would encounter; Argos gives directions based on his knowledge of an ancient map. Ethnography has given place to cartography.

260  Θήβης Τριτωνίδος ἐκγεγάασιν: is a reference to the city. The general background to the passage is a section of Herodotus where he is consulting priests, designated as coming from a particular city (257–93n.). A. uses ‘geographical doublets’ (in this case Boeotian and Egyptian Thebes) not as a recherché literary display but as a way of joining Greek and Egyptian worlds.

261  οὔπω τείρεα πάντα τά τ ̓οὐρανῷ εἱλίσσονται: “Not yet did all the constellations whirl around the heavens.”  This and the following lines are an attempt to link the prehistory of Greece with that of ancient Egypt, which begins in 267. The whole line recalls Il. 18.485 and Hes. Th. 382. εἱλίσσω is a technical term for the movement of the planets; Arat. 265 (of the Pleiades).

262 οὐδέ ... ἦεν: "it was not possible." See LSJ εἰμί A.6 for this impersonal construction.

262–3  οὐδέ τί πω Δαναῶν ἱερὸν γένος ἦεν ἀκοῦσαι / πευθομένοις: “nor was it possible for enquirers to learn of the sacred race of the Danaans.” Does πευθομένοις refer to the priests of Thebes, travelling historians such as Herodotus, or Alexandrian geographers such as Timagetus (see further (Green 1997, 302) and Timosthenes? Τhe vagueness adds to the mystery. πυνθάνομαι is a word associated with the traveller Herodotus (2.2.2). The enjambment gives it added stress.

263–5  οἶοι δʼ ἔσαν Ἀρκάδες Ἀπιδανῆες . . . οὔρεσιν: “only the Apidanean Arcadians existed, Arcadians, who are said to have lived before the moon, eating acorns in the mountains.”  Aristotle said that Arcadia, before the Greeks, had a population of Pelasgians who ruled the land before the moon was in the sky and that for this reason they were known as Προυσέληνοι (Arist. fr. 591 Rose).

265  οὐδὲ Πελασγίς: “nor at that time was the Pelasgian land.” A.’s use of ‘Pelasgian’ is sometimes particular, as at 1.580, and sometimes a general term for the ancient time before the Hellenes, as here.

266  Δευκαλίδῃσιν: The four-syllable word at the end of the line echoes the portentousness of the speaker’s statement.

267  ἦμος ὅτ(ε): "in the days when." The second part of the prehistory begins and primeval Greece is linked with ancient Egypt. The wealth and fertility of Egypt is mentioned in Greek literature, since Achilles’ declaration that he would not yield to Agamemnon, even if he offered him all the riches that ‘pour into Orchomenos, or Thebes in Egypt’ (Il. 9.379–85). 

267  ἐκλήιστο: < κλῄζω: plup. ind. mp. 3^rd. sg. (Ιonic). A. uses κληΐζομαι rather than καλέω and, by analogy, forms from it a pluperfect ἐκλήισμαι (4.267, 1202). The archaic form and the spondaic ending increase the assonance and sonority of the line.

270   Ἠερίη: “when Egypt . . .was called fertile Eerie.” A.’s different uses of ἠέριος seem to reflect Alexandrian Homeric scholarship. In Homer it means either ‘at early dawn’ or ‘misty’ and the former meaning is found at 3.417 when Aietes talks of yoking his bulls ‘early in the morning’. There is no authority for the word used as a proper name, apart from Et. Mag. (421.11 Gaisford) Ἠερίη· ἡ Αἴγυπτος τὸ πρὶν ἐκαλεῖτο. What A. may have done here is to take a rare Homeric adjective and turn it into a proper name, supposedly used in antiquity.

 268  μήτηρ Αἴγυπτος προτερηγενέων αἰζηῶν: "Egypt, mother of vigorous (men) born in ancient times." Composed of only four words and heavy with long vowels also emphasises the weightiness of Argos’ pronouncements. προτερηγενέων is a rare word and A. writes αἰζηῶν, rather than ἀνθρώπων, for its sound and for its elevated tone.

269  καὶ ποταμὸς Τρίτων: “and the river wide-flowing Triton.” ‘This was what the Nile was called in former times’ comments Σ (p. 277 Wendel). There is no other authority for ‘Triton’ as a name for the river except Lycophron Alex. 576 (also 119).

269-70  ᾧ ὕπο πᾶσα / ἄρδεται Ἠερίη: “by which all Eerie is watered,” recalling Eur. Hel. 1–3.

270-1  Διόθεν δέ μιν οὔ ποτε δεύει / ὄμβρος: “and never does the rain from Zeus moisten the earth.” There is the possibility that A. is playing with possible meanings of δεύω, more usually ‘wet’ or ‘drench’ but also ‘miss, want’ (= δέω, LSJ δεύω (B)).

271  ἅλις προχοῇσι: Take ἅλις with the rest of the line, not ὄμβρος, omitting δέ, which was added to avoid the asyndeton. The floods (προχοῇσι) provide sufficient irrigation (ἅλις). This interpretation is supported by Tibull. 1.7.23.

272-3  ἔνθεν δή τινά φασι . . . Εὐρώπην Ἀσίην “From this land, it is said, a certain (king) made his way all round through the whole of Europe and Asia.” The use of indefinite τινά conveys a sense of the distant past, as well as the conjectural vagueness of the style of the earliest geographers. However, ‘campaigning through Europe and Asia’ and ‘founding many cities’ might also allude to the conquests of Alexander. It has been generally assumed that Argos means Sesostris, a semi-mythical king of Egypt whose conquests are described in Hdt. 2.102–11.

 273  Εὐρώπην Ἀσίην τε: The landmass, according to ancient geographers was divided into three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. 

βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ λαῶν: recalls Od. 13.143 = 18.139 βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ ἔικων, also Il. 17.329. It has its origins in early hexameter poetry but is later developed by the Hellenistic poets. A. develops the use of σφωίτερος compared with Homer (LSJ σφωίτερος II).

274–6  μυρία δ ̓ ἄστη / νάσσατ ̓ ἐποιχόμενος, τὰ μὲν ἤ ποθι ναιετάουσιν, / ἠὲ καὶ οὔ: “and countless cities did he found wherever he came, of which some are still inhabited and some not.” While, on the one hand, A. specifically places Sesostris’ city founding in a primeval time, before the constellations, before the moon, μυρία δ ̓ ἄστη: could be a reference to the 33,333 cities of Ptolemaic Egypt (Theocr. 17.82–4), which according to Hunter ad loc. is a number that derives from Hecataeus of Abdera (Diod. Sic. 1.31.7–8) and evokes the Egyptian and Ptolemaic passion for counting and census making. It might also contain a reference to Herodotus’ opening (Hdt. 1.5.3–4) in which he says that he will describe how some cities have become great and others small.

276  πουλὺς γὰρ ἄδην παρενήνοθεν αἰών: “A great age has passed by unceasingly (since then).” The Ionicism πουλύς is appropriate in a passage with an Herodotean background.

 277–8  Αἶα γε μὴν . . . ναιέμεν Αἶαν: “On the other hand (γε μὴν), Aia remains unshaken even now and the sons of those men whom settled there to dwell in Aia.” For adversative γε μήν see 250–3n. and Hdt. 1.1.1 ‘having settled in the land where they continue even now to inhabit’ (the Phoenicians’ first colonisations). For more Herodotean references to Aia: 1.2.2, 7.193.27.197.3 Aia was originally a mythical land in the far east. It was the golden home of the rising sun; cf. Mimn. fr. 11a 1–3 IEG Αἰήταο πόλιν, τόθι τ ̓ ὠκέος Ἠελίοιο. The earliest evidence of its identification with Colchis is Eumelus Corinthica. ἔτι νῦν μένει ἔμπεδον: is part of an implicit comparison with Egypt. The stability of its institutions and its use of writing (279 γραπτούς / γραπτῦς) were defining characteristics of Egypt; cf. Pl. Phdr. 274c5–75b1. αὖθι : The transmitted text is ὅγε. The usually printed ὅσγε does not exist as a demonstrative pronoun in either A. or Homer. With recently published P.Oxy. 5424 (Benaissa, Slattery, and Henry 2019, 108), read αὖθι which provides “a definite solution to a long standing puzzle.” The relative pronoun made its way into the text from an annotation indicating that Sesostris is the subject of the verb. ναιέμεν Αἶαν: another phonetic echo: Il. 15.190 πολιὴν ἅλα ναιέμεν αἰεὶ (272–4n. κάρτεϊ λαῶν). There is a similar anagrammatic and assonantal pattern at Philitas fr.12.3 Lightfoot ἀμφὶ δὲ τοι νέαι αἰὲν ἀνῖαι τετρήχασιν. For the epanalepsis (here with polyptoton) see 263–4n.

279–81  οἳ δή τοι γραπτοὺς πατέρων . . . πέριξ ἐπινισσομένοισιν: ‘(They) who preserve the inscribed writings of their fathers, tablets upon which are (marked) all the roads and the limits, on sea and land, for those who journey around.” There are echoes of Herodotus describing Aristagoras of Miletos, asking Cleomenes of Sparta for military assistance (Hdt. 5.49); also Pl. Tim. 23a quoted on 257–93n., Diog. Laert. 5.51.10 ἀναθεῖναι δὲ καὶ τοὺς πίνακας ἐν οἷς αἱ τῆς γῆς περίοδοί εἰσιν. The added significance of these tablets lies in the fact they preserve knowledge that comes from Egypt through the Colchians, who, according to Herodotus, (Hdt. 2.104) were descended from the Egyptian conquerors under Sesostris. The description is part of the cartographical theme, which runs throughout the Argonautica, particularly the latter half; on maps and narrative.

ἕθεν: "their," genitive of the relative possessive pronoun, = οὗ. There are five forms of the gen. of the 3rd person singular pronoun in A. ἕθεν, εἷο, ἑοῦ, ἑοῖο, and οὗ (in the combination οὗ ἕθεν). ἕθεν is used not only for the 3rd person singular reflexive (e.g. 2.973), but also here for the 3rd person plural. It adds an appropriate archaic tone to Argos’ description of ancient times. εἰρύονται: the same is true of the rare use of ἐιρύομαι to mean “guard, protect, preserve,” based on Il. 1.238–9 where εἰρύαται is explained as an Ionicism for εἴρυνται, a perfect form with present sense, ‘have guarded and still guard’. πείρατ ̓ ἔασι: recalls Hes. Th. 738 ἑξείης πάντων πηγαὶ καὶ πείρατ ̓ ἔασιν. The more usual phrase is πείρατα γαίης, often associated closely with Oceanus. As part of the variation A. has added another epic phrase ἐπὶ τραφερήν τε καὶ ὑγρήν changed from its more usual accusative form (Il. 14.308,). πέριξ: recalls Hdt. 4.36. Argos, in describing his own ancient, engraved map, stresses that he, like Herodotus, holds the key to accurate information.

278:  αὖθι instead of the difficult transmitted ὅγε is owed to the new Papyrus reading (P.Oxy. 5428: Slattery, and Henry 2019), 

282–3  ἔστι δέ τις ποταμός . . . περῆσαι: ‘There is a river, the uppermost horn of Ocean, broad and exceeding deep, crossable in a merchant ship.” This type of scene-setting goes back to Homer (Il. 11.722, 6.152; see further (Hulse 2015, 184) for a fuller commentary on this passage (and others).

282  κέρας Ὠκεανοῖο: is a reversal of the beginning of Hes. Th. 789. The metaphor is probably connected with the representation of rivers as bulls (also Eur. Or. 1378). νηὶ περῆσαι: another Herodotean touch: Hdt. 4.47–8, 5.52.4 ἐστὶ ποταμὸς νηυσιπέρητος.

284  Ἴστρον μιν καλέοντες ἑκὰς διετεκμήραντο:  ‘they call it Ister and have marked it far off.’ The Greeks had known about the lower reaches of the Ister for a long time. Hdt. (4.48) describes the Ister as the most important of the rivers known to him and located its sources in the land of the Celts: (quoted above). According to A., the Black Sea and Adriatic Sea are linked by the Ister, which he sees as a network of waterways connected with the Okeanos. ἑκὰς διετεκμήραντο: refers to the primitive maps denoted by γραπτῦς (γραπτούς) / κυρβιας in 279–80. ἑκάς (and ὕπατον in 282) must refer to the river as the ὕπατον κέρας Ὠκεανοῖο, marked at the outer limits of the map, Ocean being the great river encompassing the earth and the source of all other rivers.  

285–7  ὅς δή . . .  μορμύρουσιν: “which for a while cuts through the boundless pasture alone in one stream; for beyond the blasts of the north wind, far off in the Rhipaean mountains, its springs bubble forth.”  ἀπείρονα . . . ἄρουραν is a combination of ἀπείρονα γαῖαν (Il. 7.446 and often) and ζείδωρον ἄρουραν (Od. 5.463 and often). Perhaps read τέμνει (with Fränkel ad loc.) rather than transmitted τέμνετ ̓, which as a present middle form with elision is difficult to parallel. τέμνει is supported by Od. 3.175, Pi. P. 3.68, Hdt. 2.33 and Eur. El. 410–1

More Herodotean reminiscences complete these lines: εἷς οἶος: 2.17.3, πηγαί 1.189: ὑπὲρ πνοιῆς βορέαο: varies Il. 5.697, and 15.171(Bacchyl. 5.46 ῥιπᾷ γὰρ ἴσος βορέα). There is word play between πνοιῆς βορέαο and Ῥιπαίοις ἐν ὄρεσσιν. The blasts (ῥιπαί) of Boreas were supposed to come from these mythical mountains.Ῥιπαίοις ἐν ὄρεσσιν shows A. closely following Timagetus, 

288–90  ἀλλ ̓ ὁπόταν . . .  τῇδ ̓ ὕδωρ: “But when it enters the boundaries of the Thracians and Scythians, here, dividing its stream into two, it sends its waters partly into the eastern sea.” In general Herodotus’ description of the course of the Ister (284n.). In view of Hdt. 4.125.4, Pl. Leg. 778e perhaps read οὔρων for the mss. οὔρους. διχῆ with σχίζω: Pl. Tim. 21e, Hdt. 1.75.5

289: The second mss. ἔνθα seems awkward. Perhaps read αὖθι and cf. 1.303 1.315. See also the new Papyrus reading at line 278. The passage would be construed ἔνθα διχῆ . . . σχιζόμενος, τὸ μὲν αὖθι . . . τὸ δ ̓ ὄπισθε. Perhaps the scribe had the common Homeric tag ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα in mind.

Perhaps read ἠοιήν for transmitted Ἰονίην. An allusion to the Pontos is required: the eastern sea (the Black Sea) as seen from the Greek perspective

290–3  τὸ δ ̓ ὄπισθε βαθὺν . . . ὑμετέρης γαίης Ἀχελώιος ἐξανίησιν: “and behind it the other branch flows through a deep gulf that connects with the Trinacrian sea, that sea which lies along your land, if indeed Achelous flows forth from your land.” One ancient name of Sicily, referring to its triangular shape, was Trinakria. Perhaps A. had in mind the myth of Arethusa A. seems to think that the western branch of the Ister similarly flowed under the Adriatic, either to join up with the Acheloos or else, like the Alpheios, to Sicily. εἰσανέχοντα recalls another Herodotean passage: Hdt. 7.198. παρακέκλιται: "lies beside" < παρακλίνω: perf. ind. mp. 3^rd. sg. used as a geographical term (Hecat. 1 F 286 FGrH = M449.8, Call. h. 4.72, A.R. 4.1239.