Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 35 of 245
Book I · Lines 818–841
Ancient Greek
p. 74The Argonautica: Book I
p. 75Only spear-won captive maidens inside every house
in dances, assemblies, and banquets: these alone mattered,
until a god infused our hearts with sudden, overpowering courage,
never again, when husbands journeyed back from Thrace,
to open towers; thus they must choose the lawful course
or sail with captive women to some other land.
They asked for all the sons, as many of the male line
remained in the city; then they went back to the place
where even now they dwell in Thrace's snowy plowlands.
So turn and live as native settlers here among us;
if dwelling here should win your willing heart's approval,
the royal rights of Father Thoas become your own.
I think you will not scorn this deep-soiled land, the richest
of islands that lie settled throughout the Aegean Sea.
Come now, go to the ship and tell your companions
our message in full; do not linger outside the city.
Hypsipyle spoke, obscuring what murderous fate
befell the men; Jason in turn spoke this reply:
Hypsipyle, gladly would we meet your deeply welcome aid,
the gift you grant to meet our present, pressing need.
When every fact is duly told in order, I return
back to the city. Keep the entire royal sovereignty
yours, with the island. No contempt drives my refusal,
but grievous labors press me hard and drive me onward.
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 818–841
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