Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 115 of 245
Book III · Lines 73–96
Ancient Greek
p. 238The Argonautica: Book III
p. 239high on his shoulders, and carried me clear through the rushing water.
Therefore honor unending is wrapped round Jason by me;
Pelias pays no price for his outrage unless you grant homecoming.
So Hera spoke, and speechless amazement seized Cypris.
Seeing Hera entreat her, she held the goddess in reverence,
then answered the goddess with gentle and welcoming words:
Sovereign goddess, may nothing baser ever come to pass
than Cypris herself, if ever I slight your deep longing,
for any word or deed these helpless hands accomplish;
and let no answering favor ever pay me back.
So she spoke; Hera answered again with deliberate foresight:
We come in need of neither force nor strength of the hands.
Only call quietly on your own son and bid him
charm Aeetes' daughter with longing for Aeson's son.
If she, kindly disposed, will join in counsel with Jason,
then, easily taking the Golden Fleece, I believe he
will return to Iolcus, since guile runs deep in the maiden.
So Hera spoke; then Cypris addressed both goddesses:
Hera and Athena, he would obey you far sooner
than he obeys me. Even shameless Eros, in your presence,
a little sense of shame will show within his eyes; but me
he gives no respect, but always contends and openly scorns me.
And truly, hemmed in by all of the boy's wicked mischief,
I meant in his presence to break his harsh-sounding arrows,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book III · Lines 73–96
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Apollonius’s Argonautica follows Jason and the Argonauts from their gathering at Pagasae through the voyage to Colchis and the difficult return home. This exact line-for-line edition pairs the Ancient Greek poem with an independent metrical English translation prepared by Diotimos Editions, preserving one English verse for every Greek reading line across all four books.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek reading text follows the Perseus transcription derived from George W. Mooney’s 1912 edition, pinned to a stable canonical-greekLit commit. Mooney and LSJ provide the principal controls for Books I–III; Peter Hulse’s Dickinson commentary directly supports Book IV. Deleted records and canonical numbering gaps remain documented rather than being silently repaired. The supplied release identifies itself as a complete source-audited working edition and recommends independent classicist review before print publication.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent translation directly from the Greek. Its six-beat English house form preserves the poem’s source order, imagery, learned names, narrative delays, shifts of register, and line-by-line correspondence while allowing syntax to move across adjacent verses where the Greek requires it.
Rights
Apollonius’s ancient Greek source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos. The pinned Perseus Greek transcription is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- public-domain-base-witnessPinned Perseus Greek transcription — canonical-greekLit
- print-control-and-commentaryGeorge W. Mooney’s 1912 Argonautica — Internet Archive
- book-four-commentaryApollonius Argonautica, Book IV — Dickinson College Commentaries
- lexical-controlLiddell–Scott–Jones Greek-English Lexicon — Scaife ATLAS
- greek-transcription-licenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0