Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 158 of 245
Book III · Lines 1106–1129
Ancient Greek
p. 324The Argonautica: Book III
p. 325But Aeetes is not such a man among men as you say
Minos, Pasiphae's spouse, was; I am no Ariadne.
So never speak again of welcome owed to strangers.
Only remember me when you have reached the city Iolcus,
and I will remember you, even against my parents' will.
And may some rumor come to me from very far away,
or let a bird bring word when you have forgotten me;
or may the swift winds bear me myself across the sea,
snatching me hence away to the distant city Iolcus,
to stand face-to-face and heap bitter reproaches on you,
and remind you: my favor saved you. If only I could stand
then in your halls, an unexpected guest beside the hearth.
So she spoke, pouring down her cheeks the tears of her sorrow;
Then Jason gave her a direct and ready answer:
Strange girl, let the empty winds go wandering at pleasure,
and let the messenger bird go too--these words are empty.
If ever you reach those far dwellings and the land of Hellas,
held high in honor by women, revered by men
so shall you stand; all will revere and serve you as goddess,
because the sons of some came safely home again,
by your counsel, while others' brothers and kinsmen in turn
and many stalwart husbands were saved out of disaster.
And you shall prepare our bed within the bridal chambers;
nothing else will ever divide the two of us from love,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book III · Lines 1106–1129
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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