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ARGONAUTICA BOOK 4 [1422]

(4.1422-1431) So he spake, beseeching them with plaintive voice; and they from their station near pitied their pain; and lo! First of all they caused grass to spring from the earth; and above the grass rose up tall shoots, and then flourishing saplings grew standing upright far above the earth. Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow's sacred trunk. And forth from these trees their forms looked out, as clear as they were before, a marvel exceeding great, and Aegle spake with gentle words answering their longing looks:

1422     Ὧς φάτο λισσόμενος ἀδινῇ ὀπί: ταὶ δ' ἐλέαιρον
1423 ἐγγύθεν ἀχνυμένους: καὶ δὴ χθονὸς ἐξανέτειλαν
1424 ποίην πάμπρωτον: ποίης γε μὲν ὑψόθι μακροὶ
1425  βλάστεον ὅρπηκες: μετὰ δ' ἔρνεα τηλεθάοντα
1426 πολλὸν ὑπὲρ γαίης ὀρθοσταδὸν ἠέξοντο.
1427 Ἑσπέρη αἴγειρος, πτελέη δ' Ἐρυθηὶς ἔγεντο:
1428 Λἴγλη δ' ἰτείης ἱερὸν στύπος. ἐκ δέ νυ κείνων
1429 δενδρέων, οἷαι ἔσαν, τοῖαι πάλιν ἔμπεδον αὔτως
1430  ἐξέφανεν, θάμβος περιώσιον, ἔκφατο δ' Λἴγλη
1431 μειλιχίοις ἐπέεσσιν ἀμειβομένη χατέοντας:

(4.1432-1449) "Surely there has come hither a mighty succour to your toils, that most accursed man, who robbed our guardian serpent of life and plucked the golden apples of the goddesses and is gone; and has left bitter grief for us. For yesterday came a man most fell in wanton violence, most grim in form; and his eyes flashed beneath his scowling brow; a ruthless wretch; and he was clad in the skin of a monstrous lion of raw hide, untanned; and he bare a sturdy bow of olive, and a bow, wherewith he shot and killed this monster here. So he too came, as one traversing the land on foot, parched with thirst; and he rushed wildly through this spot, searching for water, but nowhere was he like to see it. Now here stood a rock near the Tritonian lake; and of his own device, or by the prompting of some god, he smote it below with his foot; and the water gushed out in full flow. And he, leaning both his hands and chest upon the ground, drank a huge draught from the rifted rock, until, stooping like a beast of the field, he had satisfied his mighty maw."

1432     "̂Ἠ ἄρα δὴ μέγα πάμπαν ἐφ' ὑμετέροισιν ὄνειαρ
1433 δεῦρ' ἔμολεν καμάτοισιν ὁ κύντατος, ὅστις ἀπούρας
1434 φρουρὸν ὄφιν ζωῆς παγχρύσεα μῆλα θεάων
1435  οἴχετ' ἀειράμενος: στυγερὸν δ' ἄχος ἄμμι λέλειπται.
1436 ἤλυθε γὰρ χθιζός τις ἀνὴρ ὀλοώτατος ὕβριν
1437 καὶ δέμας: ὄσσε δέ οἱ βλοσυρῷ ὑπέλαμπε μετώπῳ:
1438 νηλής: ἀμφὶ δὲ δέρμα πελωρίου ἕστο λέοντος
1439 ὠμόν, ἀδέψητον: στιβαρὸν δ' ἔχεν ὄζον ἐλαίης
1440  τόξα τε, τοῖσι πέλωρ τόδ' ἀπέφθισεν ἰοβολήσας.
1441 ἤλυθε δ' οὖν κἀκεῖνος, ἅ τε χθόνα πεζὸς ὁδεύων,
1442 δίψῃ καρχαλέος: παίφασσε δὲ τόνδ' ἀνὰ χῶρον,
1443 ὕδωρ ἐξερέων, τὸ μὲν οὔ ποθι μέλλεν ἰδέσθαι.
1444 ἥδε δέ τις πέτρη Τριτωνίδος ἐγγύθι λίμνης:
1445  τὴν ὅγ' ἐπιφρασθείς, ἢ καὶ θεοῦ ἐννεσίῃσιν,
1446 λὰξ ποδὶ τύψεν ἔνερθε: τὸ δ' ἀθρόον ἔβλυσεν ὕδωρ.
1447 αὐτὰρ ὅγ' ἄμφω χεῖρε πέδῳ καὶ στέρνον ἐρείσας
1448 ῥωγάδος ἐκ πέτρης πίεν ἄσπετον, ὄφρα βαθεῖαν
1449 νηδύν, φορβάδι ἶσος ἐπιπροπεσών, ἐκορέσθη."

(4.1450-1457) Thus she spake; and they gladly with joyful steps ran to the spot where Aegle had pointed out to them the spring, until they reached it. And as when earth-burrowing ants gather in swarms round a narrow cleft, or when flies lighting upon a tiny drop of sweet honey cluster round with insatiate eagerness; so at that time, huddled together, the Minyae thronged about the spring from the rock. And thus with wet lips one cried to another in his delight:

1450     Ὧς φάτο: τοὶ δ' ἀσπαστὸν ἵνα σφίσι πέφραδεν Αἴγλη
1451  πίδακα, τῇ θέον αἶψα κεχαρμένοι, ὄφρ' ἐπέκυρσαν.
1452 ὡς δ' ὁπότε στεινὴν περὶ χηραμὸν εἱλίσσονται
1453 γειομόροι μύρμηκες ὁμιλαδόν, ἢ ὅτε μυῖαι
1454 ἀμφ' ὀλίγην μέλιτος γλυκεροῦ λίβα πεπτηυῖαι
1455  ἄπλητον μεμάασιν ἐπήτριμοι: ὧς τότ' ἀολλεῖς
1456 πετραίῃ Μινύαι περὶ πίδακι δινεύεσκον.
1457 καί πού τις διεροῖς ἐπὶ χείλεσιν εἶπεν ἰανθείς:

(4.1458-1460) "Strange! In very truth Heracles, though far away, has saved his comrades, fordone with thirst. Would that we might find him on his way as we pass through the mainland!"

1458     "̂Ὠ πόποι, ἦ καὶ νόσφιν ἐὼν ἐσάωσεν ἑταίρους
1459 Ἡρακλέης δίψῃ κεκμηότας. ἀλλά μιν εἴ πως
1460  δήοιμεν στείχοντα δι' ἠπείροιο κιόντες."

(4.1461-1484) So they spake, and those who were ready for this work answered, and they separated this way and that, each starting to search. For by the night winds the footsteps had been effaced where the sand was stirred. The two sons of Boreas started up, trusting in their wings; and Euphemus, relying on his swift feet, and Lynceus to cast far his piercing eyes; and with them darted off Canthus, the fifth. He was urged on by the doom of the gods and his own courage, that he might learn for certain from Heracles where he had left Polyphemus, son of Eilatus; for he was minded to question him on every point concerning his comrade. But that hero had founded a glorious city among the Mysians, and, yearning for his home-return, had passed far over the mainland in search of Argo; and in time he reached the land of the Chalybes, who dwell near the sea; there it was that his fate subdued him. And to him a monument stands under a tall poplar, just facing the sea. But that day Lynceus thought he saw Heracles all alone, far off, over measureless land, as a man at the month's beginning sees, or thinks he sees, the moon through a bank of cloud. And he returned and told his comrades that no other searcher would find Heracles on his way, and they also came back, and swift-footed Euphemus and the twin sons of Thracian Boreas, after a vain toil.

1461     ̂Ἠ, καὶ ἀμειβομένων, οἵ τ' ἄρμενοι ἐς τόδε ἔργον,
1462 ἔκριθεν ἄλλυδις ἄλλος ἐπαΐξας ἐρεείνειν.
1463 ἴχνια γὰρ νυχίοισιν ἐπηλίνδητ' ἀνέμοισιν
1464 κινυμένης ἀμάθου. Βορέαο μὲν ὡρμήθησαν
1465  υἷε δύω, πτερύγεσσι πεποιθότε. ποσσὶ δὲ κούφοις
1466 Εὔφημος πίσυνος, Λυγκεύς γε μὲν ὀξέα τηλοῦ
1467 ὄσσε βαλεῖν: πέμπτος δὲ μετὰ σφίσιν ἔσσυτο Κάνθος.
1468 τὸν μὲν ἄρ' αἶσα θεῶν κείνην ὁδὸν ἠνορέη τε
1469 ὦρσεν, ἵν' Ἡρακλῆος ἀπηλεγέως πεπύθοιτο,
1470  Εἰλατίδην Πολύφημον ὅπῃ λίπε: μέμβλετο γάρ οἱ
1471 οὗ ἕθεν ἀμφ' ἑτάροιο μεταλλῆσαι τὰ ἕκαστα.
1472 ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν οὖν Μυσοῖσιν ἐπικλεὲς ἄστυ πολίσσας
1473 νόστου κηδοσύνῃσιν ἔβη διζήμενος ̣̣ργὼ
1474 τῆλε δι' ἠπείροιο: τέως δ' ἐξίκετο γαῖαν
1475  ἀγχιάλων Χαλύβων: τόθι μιν καὶ Μοῖρ' ἐδάμασσεν.
1476 καί οἱ ὑπὸ βλωθρὴν ἀχερωίδα σῆμα τέτυκται
1477 τυτθὸν ἁλὸς προπάροιθεν. ἀτὰρ τότε γ' Ἡρακλῆα
1478 μοῦνον ἀπειρεσίης τηλοῦ χθονὸς εἴσατο Λυγκεὺς
1479 τὼς ἰδέειν, ὥς τίς τε νέῳ ἐνὶ ἤματι μήνην
1480  ἢ ἴδεν, ἢ ἐδόκησεν ἐπαχλύουσαν ἰδέσθαι.
1481 ἐς δ' ἑτάρους ἀνιὼν μυθήσατο, μή μιν ἔτ' ἄλλον
1482 μαστῆρα στείχοντα κιχησέμεν: οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ
1483 ἤλυθον, Εὔφημός τε πόδας ταχὺς υἷέ τε δοιὼ
1484 Θρηικίου Βορέω, μεταμώνια μοχθήσαντε.

(4.1485-1501) But thee, Canthus, the fates of death seized in Libya. On pasturing flocks didst thou light; and there followed a shepherd who, in defence of his own sheep, while thou weft leading them off to thy comrades in their need, slew thee by the cast of a stone; for he was no weakling, Caphaurus, the grandson of Lycoreian Phoebus and the chaste maiden Acacallis, whom once Minos drove from home to dwell in Libya, his own daughter, when she was bearing the gods' heavy load; and she bare to Phoebus a glorious son, whom they call Amphithemis and Garamas. And Amphithemis wedded a Tritonian nymph; and she bare to him Nasamon and strong Caphaurus, who on that day in defending his sheep slew Canthus. But he escaped not the chieftains' avenging hands, when they learned the deed he had done. And the Minyae, when they knew it, afterwards took up the corpse and buried it in the earth, mourning; and the sheep they took with them.

1485      Κάνθε, σὲ δ' οὐλόμεναι Λιβύῃ ἔνι Κῆρες ἕλοντο.
1486 πώεσι φερβομένοισι συνήντεες: εἵπετο δ' ἀνὴρ
1487 αὐλίτης, ὅ σ' ἑῶν μήλων πέρι, τόφρ' ἑτάροισιν
1488 δευομένοις κομίσειας, ἀλεξόμενος κατέπεφνεν
1489 λᾶι βαλών: ἐπεὶ οὐ μὲν ἀφαυρότερός γ' ἐτέτυκτο,
1490  νἱωνὸς Φοίβοιο Λυκωρείοιο Κάφαυρος
1491 κούρης τ' αἰδοίης Ἀκακαλλίδος, ἥν ποτε Μίνως
1492 ἐς Αιβύην ἀπένασσε θεοῦ βαρὺ κῦμα φέρουσαν,
1493 θυγατέρα σφετέρην: ἡ δ' ἀγλαὸν υἱέα Φοίβῳ
1494 τίκτεν, ὃν Ἀμφίθεμιν Γαράμαντά τε κικλήσκουσιν.
1495  Ἀμφίθεμις δ' ἄρ' ἔπειτα μίγη Τριτωνίδι νύμφῃ:
1496 ἡ δ' ἄρα οἱ Νασάμωνα τέκεν κρατερόν τε Κάφαυρον,
1497 ὃς τότε Κάνθον ἔπεφνεν ἐπὶ ῥήνεσσιν ἑοῖσιν.
1498 οὐδ' ὅγ' ἀριστήων χαλεπὰς ἠλεύατο χεῖρας,
1499 ὡς μάθον οἷον ἔρεξε. νέκυν δ' ἀνάειραν ὀπίσσω
1500  πευθόμενοι Μινύαι, γαίῃ δ' ἐνὶ ταρχύσαντο
1501 μυρόμενοι: τὰ δὲ μῆλα μετὰ σφέας οἵγ' ἐκόμισσαν.


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