Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 133 of 245
Book III · Lines 505–528
Ancient Greek
p. 274The Argonautica: Book III
p. 275spoke out boldly among all the gathered lords and heroes:
Now is the time to decide what we do. I do not imagine
counsel will profit us nearly so much as the strength of our hands.
If your own mind is fixed on yoking Aeetes' bulls,
O hero, Aeson's son, and are eager to face the labor,
then keep the promise you gave him, and arm yourself for the trial.
But if your own heart does not wholly trust in its manhood,
do not yourself press on, nor, seated, cast your eyes
around these men in search of someone else to face it.
I will not hold myself back: death is the worst of sufferings.
So Peleus, son of Aeacus, spoke. Then Telamon's spirit
stirred; he sprang to his feet in haste. Idas rose as the third man,
proud in his heart; then rose the two sons of Tyndareus,
and with them Oeneus' son, numbered among the young heroes,
although the first down of manhood had not yet bloomed on his cheeks:
such strength and courage were lifting the spirit within him.
The others yielded before them and kept their silence. Then Argus
spoke these words to the men who were yearning to face the contest:
Friends, this is indeed the last recourse that is left us.
Yet I believe my mother will bring you aid in due season.
Though eager for the trial, hold yourselves back aboard
just a little while longer, as before; since waiting
still would be better than recklessly choosing an evil fate.
There, in the halls of Aeetes, a certain maiden was fostered,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book III · Lines 505–528
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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