Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes Read Free Book Online Page A

shall speak no further of such matters.
    Farewell, Electra, and farewell, you powers
    whose task it is to guard and keep the secrets
    of which it is forbidden me to sing.
    Off Samothrace they briskly pulled their oars
    1235 over the Black Gulf’s depths. The land of Thrace
    was larboard, and the isle of Imbros starboard
    there on the seaward side, and just at sunset
    they reached a finger of the Chersonese.
    A stiff south wind was blowing for them there,
    1240 so they unfurled the canvas to the gale’s
    beneficence and soon approached the roiling
    narrows of Helle daughter of Athamas.
    By morning they had left the sea astern.
    (They had, in fact, been sailing all night long
    1245 (929) within a farther sea between the headlands
    of Rhoeteum.) The land of Ida starboard,
    Dardania abaft, they passed Abydos,
    Percota, sandy beaches in Abarnis,
    and holy Pityeia. Thus they crossed
    1250 by oar and sail before the next sunrise
    the whole length of the Hellespont and all
    its dark whirlpools.
    There is a lofty island
    that slopes on all sides down to the Propontis.
    A steep and sea-washed spit of land connects it
    1255 to mainland Phrygia and a wealth of grain.
    Two of its shores are welcoming to ships,
    both of them north of the Asepus River.
    The island had the name of Black Bear Mountain,
    and there weresavage Earthborn Giants on it,
    1260 (943) great wonders for the locals to behold:
    six rippling arms grew out of each of them—
    two sprouting out of their colossal shoulders,
    four farther down along their frightening flanks.
    The Doliones dwelled there, all the same,
    1265 along the spit and island’s rim. Their king was
    Cyzicus son of Aeneus. Aeneta,
    daughter of divine Eusorus, bore him.
    Though wild and violent, the Earthborn Giants
    never attacked the Dolionan people
    1270 because they were descended from Poseidon—
    he guarded them.
    A Thracian gale impelled
    the
Argo
toward this island, and the heroes
    moored in a harbor called the “Handsome Port.”
    Here it was that, at Tiphys’ suggestion,
    1275 (957) they cutthe stone that served as anchor loose,
    dropped it into the stream Artacia,
    and chose a larger one to suit their needs.
    Years later, to fulfill Apollo’s plan,
    the sons of Neleus (that is, the ones
    1280 that settled Asia Minor) set apart
    the very stone abandoned by the heroes
    as sacred in the temple of Athena,
    Helper of Jason, and the gift, of course,
    was quite appropriate.
    The Doliones
    1285 and Cyzicus their king received the heroes
    and, after finding out their names and mission,
    warmly invited them to stay as guests.
    Cyzicus urged them please to row in farther
    and make their mooring in the city harbor,
    1290 (965) and so they did and, after raising there
    an altar to Apollo God of Landings,
    busied themselves preparing sacrifices.
    The king himself supplied what they required—
    some sweet wine and a flock of sheep. You see,
    1295 Cyzicus had received a prophecy
    that claimed a godlike crew would land one day,
    and he should rush warmly to welcome them
    and take no thought of war. His beard was downy,
    like Jason’s, and had only lately sprouted,
    1300 and fate had not yet graced him with a child.
    Cleite, his plush-tressed, newly wedded wife,
    daughter of Merops of Percota, shared
    a chamber with him in the royal palace,
    but labor pains were still unknown to her.
    1305 (978) Cyzicus only recently had led her
    out of her home on the opposing coast,
    and he had paid her father many gifts
    to buy the right to wed her. Nonetheless,
    he brought himself to leave the marriage chamber
    1310 and bridal bed and entertain the heroes.
    He had dismissed suspicion from his heart.
    They asked each other questions at the feast—
    Cyzicus learned of Pelias’ bidding
    and the objective of their quest. The heroes,
    1315 in turn, inquired about the neighboring cities
    and the whole basin of the vast Propontis,
    but Cyzicus’ knowledge ranged no further,
    much