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Jason and the Argonauts

Page 9

by Apollonius Of Rhodes


  while Polydeuces with superior skill

  baffled the onslaught and remained uninjured.

  Once he had learned the strengths and weaknesses

  of his opponent’s brutish fighting style,

  100he stood his ground and gave him blow for blow.

  Imagine shipwrights’ hammers, how they pound

  tapering dowels into sturdy planks—

  the thumping sounds incessantly—that’s how

  the cheeks and chins of both opponents sounded.

  105 (83)Teeth shattering with constant horrid cracks,

  the men did not stop pummeling each other

  until sheer lack of breath had overcome them.

  They drew apart a spell and, panting, woozy,

  wiped streams of perspiration from their brows.

  110Soon, though, they charged again, like bulls in heat

  fighting to win a pasture-fattened heifer.

  Amycus stretched his torso, stood on tiptoe

  like a butcher poised to slay an ox,

  then brought the weighty bottom of his fist

  115hammering down. But Polydeuces tilted

  his head in time and dodged the brunt of it.

  The heavy blow went glancing off his shoulder.

  Then Polydeuces leaned in closer, locked

  his leg behind his foe’s, and with a swift heave

  120 (95)haymakered him above the ear. The skull

  cracked, and Amycus crumpled to his knees

  in agony. The Minyan heroes cheered

  when life came spurting from the big man’s head.

  Far from abandoning their king, however,

  125his loyal soldiers took up gnarled clubs

  and hunting spears and charged at Polydeuces

  in one mad rush. The heroes interlocked

  their shields before him and unsheathed their swords.

  Castor was first to strike. A man ran up,

  130and Castor axed him in the head, the head

  split down the middle, and the halves flopped over

  onto his shoulders. Straight out of his triumph

  Polydeuces felled Itymoneus

  and Mimas: with a flying leap he struck

  135 (106)the one beneath the chest and knocked him flat;

  then, when the other made a rush, he struck

  his left eye with his right hand, tore away

  the eyelid, and the eyeball stood there naked.

  Amycus’ hotheaded squire Oreides

  140wounded Talaus the son of Bias

  but missed the kill, because his brazen spear tip

  merely grazed the skin beneath the belt

  and wholly missed the vitals. Then Aretus

  leveled his weather-hardened club and thumped

  145Iphitus, rugged scion of Eurytus.

  But Iphitus was not yet doomed to die,

  and soon enough Aretus was himself

  cut down by Clytius’ sword. Ancaeus,

  the dauntless son of King Lycurgus, took up

  150 (119)a massive ax and, with his left arm swinging

  a shield of black-bear hide before him, leapt

  fiercely into the fray. When Telamon

  and Peleus, offspring of Aeacus, rushed in

  behind him, warlike Jason joined their charge.

  155Imagine how, upon a winter’s day,

  gray wolves will suddenly descend, unmarked

  by herdsmen and precision-sniffing hounds,

  to terrorize a flock of countless sheep—

  how, as the wolves glare back and forth deciding

  160which one to pounce on first and carry off,

  the sheep stand clumped together, tripping over

  each other—that’s the way the heroes sent

  grim panic through the proud Bebrycians.

  And as when beekeepers or herdsmen smoke

  165 (131)a giant hive concealed in a rock,

  the bees at first are crowded and confused,

  abuzz with rage, and then the sooty coils

  of vapor suffocate them, and they all

  dart from the rock and scatter far and wide,

  170so the Bebrycians did not hold firm

  for long, but fled in all directions, bearing

  news of Amycus’ demise. The fools

  had not yet realized another crushing

  disaster was at hand. That very day,

  175now that their king was dead, the hostile spears

  of Lycus and his Mariandynians

  were pillaging their villages and vineyards

  (the two were rival peoples, always feuding

  over a territory rich in iron).

  180 (142)So the heroes raided all the stalls

  and rounded up vast flocks and, as they did it,

  this was how they were talking to each other:

  “Just think of how those cowards would have fallen

  if Zeus had somehow left us Heracles.

  185I am quite sure that, had he been at hand,

  the boxing match would not have taken place.

  No, when Amycus swaggered up to us

  to bray his laws, a thumping would have made him

  forget his pride and all his proclamations.

  190We did a thoughtless thing indeed by leaving

  that man behind and heading out to sea.

  Each one of us will come to know death ruin

  intimately, now that he is gone.”

  That’s how they talked, but Zeus, of course, had brought

  195 (154)the loss of Heracles to pass on purpose.

  The heroes spent the night there, bound the wounded,

  and, after making sacrifice, prepared

  a mighty banquet. After dinner, though,

  slumber was far from holding sway beside

  200the wine bowl and the blazing sacrifices.

  Once they had crowned their golden hair with laurel

  that grew along the same shore where the cables

  were bound, the heroes sang a victory ode

  in harmony with Orpheus’ lyre,

  205and the unruffled shore enjoyed their singing,

  since they were celebrating Polydeuces,

  the boy whom Zeus had fathered in Therapna.

  But when the sun came over the horizon,

  lit the dewy hills and roused the shepherds,

  210 (166)the heroes lugged aboard the spoils that seemed

  most useful, loosed the cables from the laurel,

  and coasted with a friendly wind behind them

  into the roiling Bosporus.

  There wave

  on wave, like heaven-climbing mountains reaching

  215above the clouds, shoot up before a ship’s prow,

  hover a while and then come crashing down.

  One would assume no vessel could endure

  so dire a doom suspended like a savage

  storm cloud above the mainmast. But these threats

  220are navigable to a hardy helmsman.

  So, guided by the skillful hands of Tiphys,

  they coasted onward, frightened but alive,

  and lashed their cables on the following day

  to Thynia on the opposing coast.

  225 (178)Phineus the son of Agenor

  was living in a house there near the shore,

  suffering more than any man alive

  because of the prophetic skill Apollo

  had granted him some years before. You see,

  230he never paid due reverence to the gods,

  not even Zeus himself, since he divulged

  their sacred will too
thoroughly to mortals.

  Zeus smote him, therefore, with a long old age

  and plucked the honeyed sunlight from his eyes.

  235Still worse, he never could enjoy the lavish

  banquets the locals heaped up in his house

  when they arrived to ask their fortunes. Harpies

  would always swoop down with rapacious maw

  and snatch the food out of his hands and lips.

  240 (189)Sometimes they left behind no food at all

  and sometimes just a morsel, so that he

  might go on living in despair. Still worse,

  they left a foul stench on the leftovers,

  and no one dared to lift them to his mouth

  245or even stand nearby, because they reeked

  so hideously.

  As soon as Phineus

  discerned the heroes’ footsteps and halloos,

  he knew what men had come—those at whose coming

  the oracle of Zeus had prophesied

  250he would again be able to enjoy

  comfortable meals. He struggled out of bed

  like an ethereal dream and then, propped on

  a walking stick, tapped over to the door

  by fingering his way along the walls.

  255 (200)His joints were trembling with age and weakness

  as he divined the exit. Scabrous skin

  coated in dirt was all that held his bones

  together. Once he reached the door, his knees

  buckled. He crumpled on the courtyard threshold.

  260Dark dizziness enveloped him. The ground,

  it seemed, was spinning, and he slipped away

  into a torpor, helpless, speechless, still.

  Soon as the heroes spotted him, they gathered

  around in awe. After a while he sucked

  265a rasp up from the bottom of his lungs

  and uttered prophecy unto them:

  “Hear me,

  bravest of the Hellenic heroes—that is,

  if you are actually the men whom Jason

  leads in the Argo questing for the fleece

  270 (210)under the orders of a ruthless king.

  Yes, it is you. My mind has grasped the fact

  through divination. Racked by miserable

  afflictions though I am, I still shall give

  Apollo son of Leto proper credit.

  275By Zeus the guardian of suppliants

  and sternest judge of sinful men, by Phoebus,

  by Hera, too, who most of all the gods

  protects your quest, I beg you, help me please!

  Save an accursed man from degradation.

  280Please, oh, please, do not just sail away

  and with indifference leave me as I am.

  Not only has a Fury dug her feet

  into my eyes, not only must I drag out

  old age interminably day by day,

  285 (222)but, in addition to these woes, a still

  more bitter evil lurks above me: Harpies

  swoop down from some exotic nest of spite

  and rip the food out of my mouth. I know

  no way I can relieve myself of them.

  290When famished for a meal, more easily

  could I escape from my own mind than them,

  so swiftly do they plummet through the air.

  And even when they leave some scrap behind,

  it breathes an odor putrid and unbearable.

  295No mortal could endure approaching it,

  not even if his heart were forged of iron.

  But bitter, cruel necessity compels me

  to stay there all the same and, while I’m there,

  force it into my miserable stomach.

  300 (234)An oracle holds the sons of Boreas

  shall stop the Harpies’ aerial thefts and, trust me,

  whoever does so will be dear to me,

  that is, if I am still that Phineus known

  for wealth and seercraft, and if indeed

  305I am my father’s son, and if indeed,

  when king of Thrace, I purchased Cleopatra

  (the sister of you sons of Boreas)

  with bridal gifts and brought her to my home.”

  So spoke the son of Agenor, and deep

  310compassion worked its way through all the heroes,

  especially the sons of Boreas.

  As soon as Zetes had repressed his tears,

  he went up to the venerable man,

  a man of sorrow, took his hand and said:

  315 (244)“Sad old man, of all the men on Earth

  not one, I swear, has suffered more than you.

  Why have so many woes been heaped upon you?

  Surely you must have uttered prophecies

  in awful brashness to offend the gods

  320and make them rage so violently against you.

  Nevertheless, keen as we are to help,

  the minds within us are uneasy, wondering

  whether some god has truly offered us

  this special honor. Here among us mortals

  325gods’ punishments hit all too close to home.

  So, though we long to help you, we shall not

  drive off the Harpies till you promise us

  that we shall not incur the gods’ disfavor

  because of it.”

  So Zetes sought assurance.

  330 (254)The old man opened up his empty orbs,

  swiveled them round to him and answered,

  “Hush,

  my child. Don’t fill your head with thoughts like those.

  I call as witness Leto’s son, the god

  who kindly taught me the prophetic art;

  335I call the dismal fate that is my lot,

  to wit, this smoky cloud upon my eyes;

  I call as well the Gods of Underground

  (when I am dead, may they be kind to me)—

  yes, in the names of all these powers, I swear

  340the gods will not resent the help you give me.”

  After this oath the sons of Boreas

  were keen to drive the Harpies off. Straightway

  the younger heroes put a feast together,

  the Harpies’ final meal, and Calaïs

  345 (265)and Zetes stood on either side of Phineus,

  ready to snatch their weapons up as soon as

  the Harpies swooped.

  At just the very moment

  the old man laid his hands on food, the Harpies

  descended without warning from the clouds,

  350like gales, like lightning, shrieking out their hunger.

  The heroes shouted when they saw them coming

  but, even as they shouted, whoosh! the creatures

  had gobbled up the banquet and were gone

  far, far away across the sea. The stench

  355they left behind them was insufferable.

  Nevertheless, the sons of Boreas

  took sword in hand and flew off in pursuit.

  Zeus gave them boundless speed. Without his help,

  they never could have kept up since the Harpies

  360 (277)had always outstripped even Zephyr’s gales

  both when they dived for Phineus and left him.

  Imagine mastiffs on a mountainside,

  pedigreed trackers, chasing goats and deer—

  how, when their muzzles near the quarry’s haunches,

  365their fangs can snap and snap to no avail,

  that’s how the brothers Calaïs and Zetes

  swooped in behind the Harpies’ tail feathers

  and grazed them w
ith their fingertips in vain.

  They were at last quite close to catching them

  370way out above the Ever-Floating Isles

  and surely would have cut the fiends to pieces,

  contrary to the gods’ intent, had not

  swift Iris seen them, streaked out of the sky,

  and halted them with these imperious terms:

  375 (288)“Justice forbids you, sons of Boreas,

  from touching with your swords almighty Zeus’

  feathered hounds, the Harpies. But I here

  do solemnly proclaim that they shall never

  again return to bother Phineus.”

  380She swore an oath upon the river Styx

  (the gods’ most firm and formidable pledge),

  vowing the Harpies never in the future

  would come and harry Phineus’ house—

  so had the Fates ordained. The brothers yielded

  385before the oath and turned around to fly

  back to the ship, and still today men call

  the islands where they turned the Turning Isles

  and not the Floating Isles (their former name).

  Then Iris and the Harpies parted ways:

  390 (299)the latter to Minoan Crete to find

  their cage again; the former fluttering

  on rapid wings back up to Mount Olympus.

  The men meanwhile were scrubbing years of foulness

  off the old man’s hide and sacrificing

  395sheep taken from the plunder of Amycus.

  Once they had cooked them up, they held a banquet.

  Phineus ate as well, and ravenously,

  sating his lust as people do in dreams.

  When they had dined and drunk themselves to fullness,

  400the heroes stayed awake all night awaiting

  Zetes and Calaïs. The aged seer

  sat at the hearth among them, prophesying

  how they should travel to complete their quest:

  “Now heed me well. The gods do not permit you

  405 (312)to know in detail all that is to come,

  but what they do permit I shall reveal.

  You see, I made an error long ago

  by rashly prophesying Zeus’ plans

  from start to finish. He himself insists

  410humanity possess, through divination,

  abridged foreknowledge, so that we are always

  lacking some portion of divine intent.

  When you depart from me, you will discern,

  first off, the Cobalt Clashing Rocks, two headlands

  415right where the estuary narrows. No one,

  and I repeat, no one, has ever sailed

  between them. Lacking deep bedrock to root them

  into the ocean floor, they often crash

 

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