Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 33 of 245
Book I · Lines 770–793
Ancient Greek
p. 70The Argonautica: Book I
p. 71once on Maenalus gave this guest-gift into his hands,
meeting him gladly; for she deeply longed to follow
that road, but he himself willingly held the maiden back,
fearing bitter quarrels arising over love of her.
He strode on to the city, bright as a radiant star,
which maidens, confined within their newly built chambers,
behold as it climbs high, clearing the household roofs,
and through blue-black air its beauty charms the maidens' eyes,
beautiful, glowing red, while the watching maiden rejoices,
longing for a youth who dwells far off among strangers,
her parents rear the girl for one far-dwelling bridegroom;
So Jason, star-like, strode along the road to town.
When Jason and Iphinoe passed within the city gates,
the common women surged behind the passing stranger,
rejoicing in the stranger; he fixed both eyes upon earth
he went unheeding on, until he reached the splendid halls
of Hypsipyle; her servants threw wide the doors at his coming
the double doors, joined fast with well-made panels.
There Iphinoe led him toward a gleaming chair,
through the beautiful porch, and with swift steps seated Jason
facing her mistress; Hypsipyle turned her eyes aside,
her maiden cheeks grew crimson, vivid with her blush;
still in her modesty she addressed the stranger with beguiling words:
Stranger, why do you linger so long outside our towers,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 770–793
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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