The Argonautica

So he spoke; Euphemus did not leave the answer fruitless;

the prophecies filled Euphemus with joy; he cast the clod

beneath the water. From it an island rose above the sea,

most beautiful, the holy nurse of Euphemus' descendants,

who once in former days inhabited Sintian Lemnos,

Tyrrhenian men expelled those descendants from Lemnos;

those exiles reached the Spartan hearth, then left that land;

Theras, Autesion's noble son, then led them onward

to island Calliste and gave it the new name Thera

from his own name. But this came after Euphemus' day.

From there they swiftly left the boundless swell behind;

Aegina's shores they reached and halted; then at once

they held a blameless contest to fetch the water swiftly,

to learn who drew and first returned to Argo;

for need and the ceaseless fair wind drove them onward.

There even now young Myrmidons shoulder brimming jars,

and race on light, swift feet along the measured course,

each striving hard to win the glorious victor's prize.

Grant grace, race of blessed chieftains! And may these songs

year after year grow sweeter for mortals to sing.

For now my song has reached the glorious bounds and end

of all your labors; no further trial confronted you

again, when homeward bound, departing Aegina's shore,

no raging storm-winds barred their passage; calmly