Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 25 of 245
Book I · Lines 577–601
Ancient Greek
p. 54The Argonautica: Book I
p. 55home to the fold, while he walks ahead with a clear-toned pipe,
sweetly shaping a shepherd's song: so these also
kept close behind; and a pursuing wind always carried Argo.
At once the mist-veiled, cornfield-rich land of the Pelasgian people
sank away, while they coasted beyond the Pelian crags,
ever pressing ahead; and Cape Sepias dwindled behind,
sea-girt Skiathos appeared, and far away they saw
Peiresiae there, and Magnesia's calm mainland shore,
and the tomb of Dolops; there, when evening fell, the men
made land, as backward-blowing winds opposed their course;
and honored Dolops there at dusk by slaughtering sheep
as seas rose high; for two days on the shore
they rested; but on the third day launched the ship forth,
Argo, stretching her vast sail high overhead.
That coast even now is called Aphetae of Argo.
From there they ran onward, coasting past Meliboea,
At dawn they saw Mount Homole close before them,
leaning seaward, they measured its length; it was not long
before they cast behind them Amyrus' flowing waters.
Thence they beheld Eurymenae and ravines lashed by surge
of Ossa and Olympus; afterward, still voyaging onward,
Pallene's slopes beyond Canastra's jutting headland
they crossed by night, sped onward by the breathing wind.
At dawn as they journeyed, Mount Athos rose into sight,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 577–601
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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