Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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English Page · Branch 152 of 245
Book III · Lines 962–985
Ancient Greek
p. 312The Argonautica: Book III
p. 313Out from her breast her heart fell; likewise over her eyes
a mist spread, and a burning blush took hold of her cheeks.
She had no strength to raise her knees either forward or backward,
but there beneath, her feet were frozen fast; meanwhile
Every last handmaid drew away from the pair.
There face-to-face the two stood silent, robbed of speech,
like oaks, or like tall firs rooted high in the mountains,
which stand side by side, rooted in stillness on the hills
in windless calm; but struck once more by the rush of the wind,
they stir and roar in endless tumult; likewise Jason and Medea
were destined to speak their fill, stirred by the breaths of Love.
Aeson's son knew she had fallen beneath a destroying delusion,
sent by the gods; and softly wheedling her, he spoke these words:
Why, maiden, do you fear me so, when I am here alone?
Surely I am not as those other men, so proud and boastful,
not even when I still made my home in my own country,
was I like that. So do not be overawed before me, maiden,
question me as you please, or say whatever fills your mind.
But goodwill has brought us both together now in friendship,
here in a holy place, where it is not lawful to transgress,
speak openly, and ask; do not with words that delight me
deceive me; at the very start you made a solemn promise
to your own sister to give me charms fit for my heart's desire.
By Hecate herself and your own parents, hear my pleading,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book III · Lines 962–985
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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