Apollonius of Rhodes Quotes

... I have been very fond of Jason ever since the time when I was putting human charity on trial and as he came home from the chase he met me at the mouth of the Anaurus. The river was in spate, for all the mountains and their high spurs were under snow and cataracts were roaring down their sides. I was disguised as an old woman and he took pity on me, lifted me up, and carried me across the flood on his shoulders. For that, I will never cease to honour him.

Meanwhile Medea, though she was singing and dancing with her maids, could think of one thing only. There was no melody, however gay, that did not quickly cease to please. Time and again she faltered and came to a halt. To keep her eyes fixed on her choir was more than she could do. She was for ever turning them aside to search the distant paths, and more than once she well-nigh fainted when she mistook the noise of the wind for the footfall of a passer-by. But it was not so very long before the sight of Jason rewarded her impatient watch. Like Sirius rising from Ocean, brilliant and beautiful but full of menace for the flocks, he sprang into view, splendid to look at but fraught with trouble for the lovesick girl. Her heart stood still, a mist descended on her eyes, and a warm flush spread across her cheeks. She could neither move towards him nor retreat; her feet were rooted to the ground. And now her servants disappeared, and the pair of them stood face to face without a word or sound, like oaks or tall pines that stand in the mountains side by side in silence when the air is still, but when the wind has stirred them chatter without end. So these two, stirred by the breath of Love, were soon to pour out all their tale.

θάμβησαν δὲ νέοι μέγα κῶας ἰδόντες
λαμπόμενον στεροπῇ ἴκελον Διός. ὦρτο δ᾽ ἕκαστος
ψαῦσαι ἐελδόμενος δέχθαι τ᾽ ἐνὶ χερσὶν ἑῇσιν.

Time after time she opened her door to catch the first glimmer of day; and she rejoiced when early Dawn lit up the sky and people in the town began to stir.

Γυμνὸς δέμας, ἄλλα μὲν Ἄρει
εἴκελος, ἄλλα δέ που χρυσαόρῳ Ἀπόλλωνι.

Αἱ δ᾽, ὥστ᾽ ἠμαθόεντος ἐπισχεδὸν αἰγιαλοῖο
παρθενικαί, δίχα κόλπον ἐπ᾽ ἰξύας εἱλίξασαι
σφαίρῃ ἀθύρουσιν περιηγέι· αἱ μὲν ἔπειτα
ἄλλη ὑπ᾽ ἐξ ἄλλης δέχεται καὶ ἐς ἠέρα πέμπει
ὕψι μεταχρονίην· ἡ δ᾽ οὔποτε πίλναται οὔδει·
ὧς αἱ νῆα θέουσαν ἀμοιβαδὶς ἄλλοθεν ἄλλη
πέμπε διηερίην ἐπὶ κύμασιν, αἰὲν ἄπωθεν
πετράων.

And now, from somewhere in the bowels of the earth, from the smoky stronghold where they slept, the pair of bulls appeared, breathing flames of fire. The Argonauts were terrified at the sight. But Jason planting his feet apart stood to receive them... He held his shield in front of him, and the two bulls, bellowing loudly, charged and butted it with their strong horns...

With that she went and fetched the box in which she kept her many drugs, healing or deadly, and putting it on her knees she wept. Tears ran unchecked in torrents down her cheeks and drenched her lap as she bemoaned her own sad destiny. She was determined now to take a poison from the box and swallow it; and in a moment she was fumbling with the fastening of the lid in her unhappy eagerness to reach the fatal drug. But suddenly she was overcome by the hateful thought of death, and for a long time she stayed her hand in silent horror. Visions of life and all its fascinating cares rose up before her. She thought of the pleasures that the living can enjoy. She thought of her happy playmates, as a young girl will. And now, setting its true value on all this, it seemed to her a sweeter thing to see the sun than it had ever been before. So, prompted by Hera, she changed her mind and put the box away.

Her heart was warmed and melted like the dew on roses under the morning sun.

The youths marvelled to behold the mighty fleece, which gleamed like the lightning of Zeus. And each one started up eager to touch it and clasp it in his hands.

Πέτρας μὲν πάμπρωτον, ἀφορμηθέντες ἐμεῖο,
Κυανέας ὄψεσθε δύω ἁλὸς ἐν ξυνοχῇσιν,
τάων οὔτινά φημι διαμπερὲς ἐξαλέασθαι.
οὐ γάρ τε ῥίζῃσιν ἐρήρεινται νεάτῃσιν,
ἀλλὰ θαμὰ ξυνίασιν ἐναντίαι ἀλλήλῃσιν
εἰς ἕν, ὕπερθε δὲ πολλὸν ἁλὸς κορθύεται ὕδωρ
βρασσόμενον· στρηνὲς δὲ περὶ στυφελῇ βρέμει ἀκτῇ.
τῶ νῦν ἡμετέρῃσι παραιφασίῃσι πίθεσθε,
εἰ ἐτεὸν πυκινῷ τε νόῳ μακάρων τ᾽ ἀλέγοντες
πείρετε· μηδ᾽ αὔτως αὐτάγρετον οἶτον ὄλησθε
ἀφραδέως, ἢ θύνετ᾽ ἐπισπόμενοι νεότητι.
οἰωνῷ δὴ πρόσθε πελειάδι πειρήσασθαι
νηὸς ἄπο προμεθέντες ἐφιέμεν. ἢν δὲ δι᾽ αὐτῶν
πετράων πόντονδε σόη πτερύγεσσι δίηται,
μηκέτι δὴν μηδ᾽ αὐτοὶ ἐρητύεσθε κελεύθου,
ἀλλ᾽ εὖ καρτύναντες ἑαῖς ἐνὶ χερσὶν ἐρετμὰ
τέμνεθ᾽ ἁλὸς στεινωπόν· ἐπεὶ φάος οὔ νύ τι τόσσον
ἔσσετ᾽ ἐν εὐχωλῇσιν, ὅσον τ᾽ ἐνὶ κάρτεϊ χειρῶν.
τῶ καὶ τἆλλα μεθέντες ὀνήιστον πονέεσθαι
θαρσαλέως· πρὶν δ᾽ οὔτι θεοὺς λίσσεσθαι ἐρύκω.
εἰ δέ κεν ἀντικρὺ πταμένη μεσσηγὺς ὄληται,
ἄψορροι στέλλεσθαι· ἐπεὶ πολὺ βέλτερον εἶξαι
ἀθανάτοις. οὐ γάρ κε κακὸν μόρον ἐξαλέαισθε
πετράων, οὐδ᾽ εἴ κε σιδηρείη πέλοι Ἀργώ.

The bulls snorted and spurted from their mouths devouring flames, like a perforated crucible when the leather bellows of the smith, sometimes ceasing, sometimes blowing hard, have made a blaze and the fire leaps up from below with a terrific roar. The deadly heat assailed [Jason] on all sides with the force of lightning. But he was protected by Medea's magic.

Ὧς φάτο κυδαίνων· ἡ δ᾽ ἐγκλιδὸν ὄσσε βαλοῦσα
νεκτάρεον μείδησ᾽· ἐχύθη δέ οἱ ἔνδοθι θυμὸς
αἴνῳ ἀειρομένης.

Αἵδε δ᾽ ἀοιδαὶ
εἰς ἔτος ἐξ ἔτεος γλυκερώτεραι εἶεν ἀείδειν
ἀνθρώποις.

Thus he spake, honouring her; and she cast her eyes down with a smile divinely sweet; and her soul melted within her, uplifted by his praise.